Guilty Conscience

Chapter 6

It took a quickly thought up explanation of who this new friend his mother had never heard of was. She seemed very surprised when Patrick told her it wasn't Pete he was meeting up with. He chose to just omit how they actually met and tell her he was someone from school, they didn't have classes together so they've only hung out a few times recently. He of course also didn't tell her that he had already stayed over at Mikey's house one night she thought he was with Pete or that he was pretty sure Pete hated him for that. She believed him, and why shouldn't she? Nothing he had told her was technically a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth.

Early Saturday afternoon he met up with Mikey at a small cafe. They didn't really have much of a plan but they'd figure it out as they went.

Patrick hurried off to the little cafe he was supposed to be meeting Mikey at. He knew he was a bit too early so I planned to just wait on a bench outside and people watch for a bit. To his surprise, he found the other boy already waiting on that bench for him. He jogged over to greet him. "Hey, Mikey, you're here early."

He was answered with a smirk. "So are you."

The shorter boy bushed a little and looked down at the pavement as Mikey stood, put a hand on Patrick's shoulder & reassured, "It's alright. Just means we can hang out a bit longer."

Patrick nodded and met his eyes again. "Yeah, okay." He smiled.

Mikey smiled back and offered his arm "shall we?"

Patrick blushed a bit more, biting his cheeks to stop a giggle as he linked their arms together.

They started off into the cafe, got seated across from each other at their table and placed their orders. They had a bot of small talk before Mikey finally asked "Pete still mad at you."

Patrick frowned and answered, sadly "Y- yeah"

Mikey immediately felt bad for asking. "I'm sorry, Patrick." He tried to comfort, placing a hand over Patrick's folded hands. "I didn't mean to make you sad. You guys are best friends, I'm sure he can't stay upset with you."

Patrick just nodded. He didn't want to voice his thoughts that he was positive that Pete would indeed stay mad at him as long as he continued to spend time with Mikey. He knew if he told Mikey what the problem actually was he would probably also stop being his friend to fix his friendship with Pete. Patrick absolutely didn't want that though. He understood Pete had a crush on Mikey but it really annoyed him that Pete had such a problem with him being friends with both of them. He really liked both Pete and Mikey, but it was different with Mikey for some reason he couldn't explain. He just figured it was because he was a new friend and he'd known Pete most of his life. No matter what though he knew he wasn't going to let Pete stop him from being friends with Mikey. He hoped he would stop being so jealous soon and they could just all be friends soon.

Their food arrived and they talked about music, favorite bands, some of their hobbies, stuff they liked to do when they weren't being dragged around by their other friends.

Patrick was a bit embarrassed when Mikey insisted on paying for both their meals and tried to make a half hearted joke about this not being a date, only to blush bright red, when Mikey responded with a wink and said "It could be."

Mikey made a note to do stuff like that more. He thought it was very cute when Patrick blushed.

They left the cafe and walked around a bit, stopping in a record shop for a bit before eventually walking to the park in the evening.

When they got away from the busy streets and into the park, they were pretty much alone. As they continued to walk, Mikey took a step closer to Patrick and grabbed his hand. Patrick was startled at first and pulled his hand away from Mikey, stopping in place. Mikey had walked an extra step, not expecting that reaction, before he stopped and turned around to face Patrick who was just staring at him in shock." I'm so sorry, Patrick! I thought it'd be okay, since we did before... That was different, I know, I should have asked. I get that it was too much. We can just pretend that never happened." The panicked words rapidly fell from his lips as he tried to apologies for his action.

Patrick finally snapped out of the shock. His gaze turned to the ground as he shook his head then took a step toward Mikey and grabbed his hand again. This effectively halts Mikey's apology. Patrick blushed bright red, continuing to stare intently at his feet as he spoke just above a whisper. "It's okay. You just surprised me is all."

Mikey shifted a bit awkwardly, nodding and giving Patrick's hand a gentle squeeze as he quietly answered "okay" before turning back around so they could continue walking.

They walked in silence for a little while after that, just enjoying the fresh air. Once they had gotten to the swings, Mikey finally let go of Patrick's hand and grabbed the chains of one swing, standing behind it. "Get on, I'll push you." Patrick complied and they both laughed and had a fun time as Mikey tried to see how high he could push the other and made jokes. They did that until Patrick got a bit freaked out by going even with the top of the swingset then they both just sat on the swings next to each other and talked until it was very dark.

Patrick suddenly remembered he indeed had a curfew since he was staying at home this weekend and hurriedly checked his watch. "Oh no!" He used his feet to fully stop the swing and stood up.

Mikey did the same, worriedly questioning "What happened? What is it?" he followed as Patrick was practically speed walking out of the park.

"I'm too used to staying at Pete's, I forgot I was supposed to be home over an hour ago!" His voice went higher as he spoke.

"You could always just stay at my house again." Mikey half joked, secretly hoping for a yes.

Patrick wasn't very amused though and said flatly. "I would definitely get in more trouble for that."

"Yeah, sorry. No time to joke." Mikey agreed, not wanting to make things worse. "Let's just get you home. I'll walk with you."

They were out of breath by the time they got to Patrick's house. They stopped on the front porch and Mikey hugged him. He had a bit of a delayed reaction, hugging back then waving bye before quietly trying to sneak into the house.

By some miracle his mom was already asleep and he was able to get to his room unnoticed. He changed into his pajamas and flopped into the bed with a sigh.

He was more confused than ever about Mikey and what his feelings were for him. He had a lot to think about.