Guilty Conscience

Chapter 3

The following week went by quickly enough. Pete had so far been unsuccessful in breaking it off with Kai, but it seemed to Patrick that he wasn't really trying that hard to anymore. He had promised Pete he would do his best to introduce him to Mikey again when Kai wasn't around. If she was though, which she seemed to always be, he guessed he would just try to keep Mikey from seeing that. He wasn't sure how that was going to work, but he would try.

The abandoned building was apparently the hot new hangout spot and there was going to be a "super secret" party there this weekend. Pete, of course, insisted that they go; and Patrick, of course, agreed to it.

Friday night he knocked on Pete's door and was greeted by his rather distressed looking best friend. Pete stepped out onto the porch with Patrick instead of inviting him in and closed the door. In a hushed tone he flatly said "She's here.". Patrick gave him a confused look. "Kai, she somehow found out about the party and just showed up." Patrick's brows went up in surprise. Before he could say anything though, the door opened again & Kai stood there smiling "Hey Pat, what's going on?" He frowned at her "Don't call me that." He brushed past her to go put his bag in Pete's room before rejoining them on the porch and all heading out. "So what's the plan?" He asked Pete, trying to leave the question open enough in case he was going to try to ditch Kai. She answered for him though. "What do you mean, what's the plan? We're going to the big party. Duh." Pete locked eyes with Patrick & he just sighed.

It seemed that pretty much all the kids at school had heard about the "super secret" party and had shown up. Judging by all the plastic cups in peoples hands, there seemed to be a decent alcohol supply somewhere. Someone had gotten one of those huge flashlights and had it lighting up the entire downstairs main hallway. People sat on random desk chairs talking, some had brought pillows & blankets to chill on. Others were busy ghost hunting on other floors. They wandered around and found a desk setup with an abundance of different beverages by where the flashlight was, like a beacon to underage intoxication. Pete & Kai grabbed cups. "Come on 'Trick, it's a party, have some fun." Was all it took this time to convince Patrick to accept the cup his friend offered him. Might as well.

There was a slip-n-slide in one of the hallways for some reason. How had they found water for it? Was that even safe? Who knows. Didn't seem like anyone cared either. There was stomping around upstairs and muffled music down the hall. Patrick wandered away from the soaked group of kids, toward the music. He had lost Pete a couple drinks ago, but that was fine. It didn't matter anyways, he was fine on his own. At least that's what he told himself as he walked through the makeshift dance floor surrounding a battery powered cd player. He weaved through the crowd to find somewhere quieter, maybe the next floor up. There were lots of people talking at the top of the stairway, but it seemed like only a few were still up here wandering around.

He had his flashlight aimed at the floor & the noise below drowned out the footsteps, so he didn't notice when someone walked up and grabbed his arm. He yelped and spilled the rest of his drink onto the floor. He dropped the cup and stared at it dejectedly. The person who grabbed him stepped around in front of him waving their hand in front of his face. He blinked heavily & looked up turning his flashlight to their face, a bit too far. The person brought their arms up to block the light. "Woah, you trying to blind me or something?" "Mikey?" Patrick wondered aloud. Mikey grabbed the flashlight from Patricks hand, redirecting the beam. "Yeah, Patrick, it's Mikey." He paused "I saw you wander off from the dance party back there looking a little lost. You good?" Patrick nodded & started walking down the dim hallway again "Yeah... just... just gonna go...." He didn't finish the sentence, but Mikey followed after him, lighting the hall for them. "Where?" "Quiet" was all he responded. They only took a few more steps before they heard the music shut off. "Must have run out of batteries." Mikey commented, stopping after a couple more steps, noticing his companion wasn't beside him. He turned around to see the other boy leaning against the wall then sliding down it to sit on the floor. Mikey crouched down beside him. "You sure you're alright?" Patrick leaned his head back against the wall. Before taking his glasses off and wiping his faces with his arm. He was crying, Mikey realized. He leaned in and hugged the other boy to him. In a soothing tone he asked "You wanna tell me what's wrong?" Patrick leaned into the embrace, burying his face in Mikey's shirt & mumbling "I'm tired of this, I don't want to be here." Mikey rubbed circles on his back & continued to talk to him in a soothing tone. "It's okay, we don't have to be here. Why don't we leave?" Patrick sniffled "I can't. I can't leave Pete. He'll worry." Mikey sat back to look at him. "It's okay, we'll just be outside. Get some fresh air." Patrick nodded & Mikey used the tail of his jacket to wipe his face dry before he put his glasses back on & helped him up.

When they reached the stairs they could hear yells and laughter on the floor below them. It seemed like everyone had relocated from that area to further down the hall. The large flashlight had been moved and the hall below was once again dark. They went down the steps, Mikey carefully lighting them as they went. They could see the brighter light coming from a door Patrick had been sure was locked last time they had been there. It definitely sounded like that's where everyone was too. They made their way outside & wandered a short distance into the woods before stopping in a small clearing and sitting down against a tree to talk. "Why do you go along to stuff like this if you don't really want to?" Mikey asked. The shorter boy shrugged. "Pete's my best friend." "But he's got his girlfriend, and you look pretty miserable every time I see you with them." "She's not his girlfriend... I'm not really sure if he likes her or not...". "I mean he had his tongue down her throat that night I first met you, so I'd assume he doesn't hate her." Patrick shrugs again "It's not always like that.".

Before he can explain further though, there were several sudden pops, a loud bang, & screaming from the building. They jumped up - Mikey had to steady Patrick after the quick movement - but they moved as quickly as they could back to where they could see flames coming from the side of the building and a sea of kids running to escape. Mikey grabbed Patrick's hand & tried to pull him back further away. He pulled his hand away and took a step closer before Mikey grabbed his arm. He tried to pull away again "I have to go find Pete.". "No." Mikey told him firmly. "You can't do that Patrick. The cops are definitely going to show up after that and you're kinda drunk." He sighed. "Lets just go to my house. I'll take you back home or to Pete's or wherever tomorrow. Okay?" Patrick felt like this was probably a bad idea, but couldn't exactly put together why, so he just nodded. Mikey grabbed his hand again & pulled him along further through the woods until they exited into the back of a neighborhood Patrick didn't recognise. At least the boy he was being led by seemed to know where they were going.

They followed the sidewalk down to a two story house & went inside. Gerard and Frank seemed to be passed out on the couch, or so he thought. "Heyyyyy!'' Frank greats when he notices them trying to pass by. Patrick trips over nothing and falls flat on his face & Gerards eyes pop open "Aww, Miiikes, I'm so proud of youuu." He laughs. "Shut up & go downstairs before mom gets home & sees you two trashed." Mikey snaps at his brother as he helps Patrick from the floor.

They then headed up the stairs to Mikey's room. He dug through his dresser, tossing Patrick some pajamas. "They're not gonna fit well but they should be fine for now," he says as he tries to help him change into them, but Patrick shoves him away. "Okay okay, get changed. I'll go get you some water." He left the room & Patrick did as he was told with only a bit of difficulty. Mikey returned with water, pillows, blankets & a bottle of ibuprofen, to see Patrick sitting there on the floor. Mikey drops the pillow & blankets next to him. "No, you're sleeping on the bed. I'll sleep on the floor. You're going to have a rough enough morning as it is." Patrick didn't argue. He crawled into the bed & took the bottle of water he was handed, drinking half of it before setting it aside, laying down and falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Mikey left the medicine and water on the side table and situated himself on the floor before also going to sleep.