Metronome (FOB FanFic ft. Tyler Joseph)

Chapter 21

I didn't know which hurt more. The pain of sitting through the services that were held for Tyler, where his family and friends had gathered all together to catch up and to mourn over his death, or the pain of walking through the door of the house we used to share, knowing that he never was going to come back.

I threw my jacket and bag down and dragged myself upstairs, pulling out my phone and seeing that I had ten missed calls. Three of them were from Joe, one was from my mom, and six were from Jenna.

I sighed and locked my screen, reaching the top of the steps just as my doorbell rang. I groaned and shouted, "I'M NOT HOME! GO AWAY!"

"Evie, open up," Patrick's voice responded to me. I rolled my eyes. Of course it had to be him. "Please."

I exhaled loudly and turned around, trudging back down the steps and answering the door. I rested my forehead against the door and muttered, "What do you want, Patrick?"

"Where have you been?" He inquired angrily, brushing past me and inviting himself into my house, "What happened to being at my classroom at six o'clock sharp?"

I spun around to face him, giving him the lame excuse of, "I forgot."

"You forgot?" He scoffed, "You forgot. Really, Evie?"

"Look, I don't need to deal with your bullshit right now. So can please just get out of my house and leave me alone?" I threw my hand behind me, motioning for him to leave.

"No," He objected, standing his ground and crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm not going to leave. Because when I leave people alone, they leave me." He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and added on wearily, "And I don't want you to leave me."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "I'm not going to leave you, Patrick. I'll be there tomorrow morning, I promise. Six o'clock sharp. I just...I need to be alone for tonight."

"No!"

"Patrick, I'm serious!" I yelled at him, losing my patience as tears began to blur my vision, "Get the fuck out of my house! I need to be alone right now!"

"Why?"

"Because my boyfriend just died!" My cheeks grew red and my throat swelled up, the words that had just slipped past my lips hitting me for the first time since the night Tyler died.

After that night, I just shut down. The world around me became irrelevant. I didn't care about anything. I just went through the motions I was supposed to go through. I attended his calling hours, I attended his funeral, I attended his burial. I attended it all. And it hadn't hit me until that moment, right there with Patrick in the foyer of Tyler's and my house, he was gone. Forever.

I couldn't hold my tears back anymore and they began to stream down my cheeks. I tried to keep myself together, but it wasn't long before I whimpered and covered my face, letting out all of the emotions I'd kept pent up for the past few days.

Patrick just stared at me, conflicted as to what he should do. Should he try and comfort me or should he just leave?

My knees went weak and I collapsed, hunching over as the sobs wracked my body.

"Evie..." He cooed, bending down on one knee and gently plucking my hands away from my reddened and wet face. He couldn't help but smile at my disheveled appearance. The grin didn't last long, though, and he recomposed himself, "I-I'm so sorry. I-I didn't know."

I sniffled, my crying beginning to subside.

"Is...Is there anything I can do for you?" He inquired, his voice timid.

I shook my head no.

"Are you sure?"

"Like I said...I just want to be alone," I grumbled, avoiding his gaze by staring at a small piece of glass on the floor near the wall from the key bowl that Jenna had pushed off of the table I threw her into the night I caught her and Tyler. I must've missed it while cleaning up.

Patrick heaved a sigh and rose to his feet, "Well...if that's what you want, if that's what you really want, then I'll go." He stood there for a little bit, anticipating me to say something. To tell him that I wanted him to stay. But instead, I remained silent.

It was obvious he was hurt by my response (or should I say lack of response).  "Alright, Evie, I get it. I understand." He hesitated a little before bending down once more and kissing me on my head. He slowly pulled away and glanced down at me, frowning, "I'm leaving."

I sat there with my head tilted down as he walked past me and out of my house, closing the door behind him.

Silence blanketed over the property and it was then that I realized the pain I was feeling because Tyler wasn't there wasn't because I didn't have him. It was because I didn't have anybody like him. Somebody who would be there for me. Somebody who would love me like he did when we first started dating. Somebody who would make me feel that I was worth something and that I could do whatever I set my mind to.

But I did have that someone.

And I just let him walk out of the door, and possibly out of my life.

I gasped and scrambled to my feet, ripping the door back open, "Patrick, wait!"

His head snapped up at my voice. He was standing by his car, his keys in his hands, about to get in.

"Come back," I murmured, hiding shyly behind the door, "I don't want to be alone."

He chuckled and walked around the front of his car, folding his arms over his chest, "But you just told me you did."

"I also told you that I didn't want to learn piano from you anymore. But here I am, still taking lessons from you." I could see the blush creep up into his cheeks in the darkness of the night. "So what do you say?" I bit my lip, "Will you come back?"

He heaved a sigh and began taking steps back towards the house. He approached me and slipped his hands into his pockets, "You're a very confusing person, Evelyn, you know that?"

"Only for you, Asshole," I retorted, smiling through the tears that were still falling from my eyes.