/Chapter 14\
Everything seemed to blur together after we dropped off Patrick. Joe and Andy bringing me home, them telling me he'd be alright by tomorrow (and me just nodding), Dad asking me how my night went. Nothing registered. It was like I was walking through a dream: I couldn't really feel anything. Not until when I woke up the next morning did I fully realize what had happened.
Patrick and Pete fought each other twice.
Pete knocked out Patrick.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. At least I didn't have to deal with it today. Sitting up, I checked my phone for the time and any unseen notifications. 10:24 AM. Three of my reblogs were reblogged on Tumblr, a new song was added to a playlist on Spotify, and five texts. All of them from Patrick's phone.
From: Patrick ♡
Hey
From: Patrick ♡
I'm sorry about what happened last night... I hate that it probably completely messed up your night
From: Patrick ♡
I had fun dancing with you to ATL though, so thank you for that :)
From: Patrick ♡
This is Joe. Trick fell asleep while texting you (smiling, may I add). If you want to visit him, just let me know.
From: Patrick ♡
Actually, Quinn is bringing over a pizza for Trick later on so you're invited to join us. You, me, Trick, Quinn, Lizzie, Andy. If you can go, I'll be over at 5:30.
Taking a deep breath, I tossed the comforter off of me. Was I ready to see them all again? I mean, everything just felt wrong now... Maybe a bowl of cereal could help me make a decision. I stood up and sharply inhaled at the cold temperature of the floor's surface. My bare feet hated doing this every morning. Trying to ignore the walking-on-ice feeling, I walked over to my closet and pulled out a black hoodie, slipping it over my head. Suddenly, there was a quick knock on the door.
"Are you up?" Jess's voice called. Great, I got to deal with the Devil herself this morning. I just hoped that she didn't tell my dad about our little kerfuffle the night before. I knew he would side with me, but I would still hear the same words he always told us when this happened: I know it's hard to get along with people sometimes, but we all need to put forward some effort to make this work. And I really didn't want to hear that this morning.
"Yes," I groaned in response.
"Then get out here. You need to talk to your father." That caught my attention. I hurried over to the door and pulled it open, meeting Jess's tired eyes.
"About what?"
"He's worried about you. You're acting weird. He wants to know why you seemed so blank last night," she bluntly stated. I nodded after a minute.
"Okay." After joining her in the hall and closing my door, I followed her into the living room, where my dad was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "Dad?" He immediately looked up, his face seeming to relax when he saw me.
"Hey," he shakily answered.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm assuming you know what's wrong, since you're out of your room."
"Yeah, but... why?" I asked. A sigh escaped his mouth.
"Zenna, if I know you as well as I think I do, you can't handle keeping things bottled up. You have to talk about it. When you came home last night, you looked blank, miserable, those kinds of things. I just want to know what happened so that you don't have to go through the Mourning Period again." The Mourning Period happened after my mother passed. I was distraught, and I shut out anyone who tried to talk to me, giving them a blank stare in reply to their questions. Lonely way to spend six months.
"Dad, these are two completely different situations," I hesitantly replied.
"I know, but still. I'm your dad, I'm allowed to worry about these things." A small but unsure smile sat on his lips. We stared at each other for a minute, and I could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on. Well... it wouldn't do any good to keep it in.
"Dad..." I sighed, walking over and plopping down next to him. He immediately wrapped his arm around me and let me rest my head on his shoulder. I knew that he knew how off I felt; it was always like he could sense even the slightest mood change. So, after a deep inhale and exhale, I explained my situation to he and Jess (well, not really to her, but she stood in the doorway listening the whole time). I told them almost every detail about the party and about Patrick's advances towards me, leaving out Brendon stumbling in drunk during the argument so that Jess wouldn't bother me about the alcohol there. I talked about Patrick holding my hand and dancing with me, and then about Pete and I's friendship. I left out the story of Gina, considering it would take a while to explain and probably would make them both a little uneasy about me being around the two. Lastly, I told them about seeing Joe's question. After I finished, we stayed in silence for a minute until Jess broke the silence.
"I understand why you would feel weird about seeing them again," she mumbled, and it was a genuine statement. It at least sounded genuine. When I glanced over at her, her head was down and she was playing with her fingers. She actually cared for a moment. For the first time since meeting her when she and my dad got together, I felt like I could connect to her. I knew it would end in a few minutes, but still.
"That's quite a pickle you're in, my dear," Dad exclaimed, rubbing my shoulder a little. "I wish I could think of more to help you feel better. All I can really say is remember that your mental health and security are more important than making others happy. Love yourself, then love others. If you want to go tonight, you can, but it might not be the best." He was right. If I couldn't stay calm in a situation like this, then how was I expected to go back into it good as new? I looked up at him, who was already looking down at me.
"You're right." And with that, I shot up, gave my father a hug, and bolted into my room, where my phone was still on its charger.
To: Joe
Sorry, I can't go today. I'll see you guys on Monday.
<><><><><><><><>
AN: sorry, this is more of a filler chapter. finally got it done though! i've been busy with homework stuff and boyfriend stuff, but i wrote as much as i could whenever i could. :)
over 10K reads! 12K now, i'm pretty sure. holy frick. i'm so grateful for each and every one of you who take the time to read this and vote and comment on all of the chapters. thank you. ❤️
got a little question for all of you: what would you do now if you were zenna? would you still willingly dive headfirst into a relationship with patrick, or would you take some time to get to know both he and pete more?
goal: can we get to 25 votes and 15 comments? thank you, lovelies.
(p.s.: i may be having a new patrick fanfic coming out soon... watch out for it...)
YOU ARE READING
The Flier (Patrick Stump)
Fanfiction"Do you promise that you'll catch me if I fall?" I hopefully asked. He stayed silent but still stared into my eyes. "Do you swear?" After a second, he cleared his throat and nodded, replying with a simple "Always."
