Homewrecker With A Heart Of Gold (Patrick Stump FanFic ft. Zack Merrick)

Chapter 12

-Zack's POV-

I stumbled down the upstairs hallway of my house, all of the lights off and a blanket of silence cast over the entire residence. I grasped the doorknob to the room I knew belonged to Gwen's and my bedroom and carefully pushed the door in, light flooding into the dark hallway. I fully opened the door and saw Gwen still awake, sitting in bed and reading a book. She glanced up at me over the rim of her glasses for a split second before returning her attention to the novel in her hands.

I heaved a sigh and quietly closed the door behind me. My eyes trailed over to the digital clock that read 2:38. "Hey. What are you still doing up?" I asked her, my voice louder than I wanted it to be, not wanting to wake our son - who was two doors down - up. But with the alcohol in my system, it was a miracle that I was even standing up straight.

"I couldn't sleep," She murmured, refusing to look up from the words her eyes seemed to be glued to.

I slipped my shirt over my head and tossed it carelessly to the side, the garment of clothing falling over the back of the chair sitting in front of our vanity. I made my way over to the bed and climbed in beside her, peering over her shoulder to see what book she was reading.

"Gone Girl?" I inquired, glancing up at her. She hummed in response, as opposed to giving me a verbal one. I could sense the tension between the two of us and shifted uncomfortably on the mattress, moving a little away from her and lying on my back, folding my hands on top of my stomach as I stared up at the white ceiling.

"Where'd you go?" She broke the reticence we shared. I caught a glimpse of her looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Just out for drinks," I told her, lacking remorse in my voice, "Hey, that boyfriend of yours, does he not drink?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Oh don't play stupid."

"I really don't know who you're talking about."

"Patrick, Gwen, I'm talking about Patrick."

She scoffed in disbelief and set the book aside. "Zack, he's not my boyfriend." She pulled her legs in so that she was sitting cross-legged and turned towards me. "And besides, what does it matter to you whether he drinks or not?"

"I invited him to come with me," I disclosed to her, causing her eyes to double in size, "Yeah, we went to that really cool bar I took you to that one time. Remember? The one with all of the vintage video games? Yeah, I asked him to meet me at that one. I got him and me drinks and he didn't even touch one! Okay, I think he touched one, but he didn't drink it. Talk about rude..."

"Why would you do that?" She questioned, absolutely baffled by what I had done.

"What? That place is awesome. I even got a high score on one of the machines after he left!" I exclaimed, shooting up so that I was mirroring her, "Oh my god, Gwen, it was the best thing ever. I had everyone around me and I just kept going and going and going and-"

"No, Zack, I'm not talking about that," My wife interrupted me, preventing me from continuing with my story about my feat, "I'm talking about you inviting Patrick to come with you. Why the hell would you invite him out for drinks?"

I stared at her blankly, my inebriation making it difficult for me to understand what she was saying. "What do you mean why? I just wanted to tell him to be careful around you. And that all of his efforts are going to be for nothing because you're going to choose me in the end. You always do."

Gwen shook her head. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to choose you over Patrick. He's everything you're not!"

"Yeah? So? You said the same thing about Alex, about Brendon, and about Lynn too!"

"Lynn and I weren't even a thing!" She shouted at me, "She and I were just friends! It was nice having someone to talk to that I wasn't friends with just because of you!"

I shot my finger up and put it over her lips. "Shh! You're going to wake Chase up!"

"Or for fuck's sake, Zack." Gwen swatted my hand away from her mouth. "Don't you get it? This isn't working out anymore. I know you're buzzed and when you wake up tomorrow morning this will all have slipped from your mind, but I'm sick and tired of living like this. I'm not happy; you're not happy. Even Chase isn't happy! When are you going to admit to yourself that us breaking up will be for the best?"

"Never," I answered her question honestly, the response being the same whether I was sober or drunk, "Gwen, I love you and I know you love me too. You're just going through another one of your phases again."

"Phases?" She repeated me, crossing her arms over her chest, "What do you mean phases?"

I chuckled, running a hand through my hair. "I don't know. It's just like...whenever I'm away, it's like you think it's okay for you to find someone else to keep you company, sleep with you at night, help raise Chase. But it's not okay! You forget that, even though I may not physically be here for you, I'm always just a phone call away. I'm still here, Gwen, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon." Her face dropped, my drunken words hitting a soft spot. "Do you know how much it hurts me to know that you don't trust me enough to come back home after every tour, or to stay faithful to you while I'm away? You knew what you were getting yourself into when we first started dating; you told me you were okay with me being gone for long periods of time-"

"That was before I got pregnant," She, for the second time that night, cut me short. Tears of - what I hoped was - regret filled her eyes, making them glisten in the light coming from the lamp on her nightstand. "Zack, I never pictured my life to be like this. I know when we first started dating we talked about getting married and having kids one day, but not when we were still teenagers. I didn't want to grow up that fast. I missed out on a lot of things because I had to stay home and watch Chase, all while you were out with your fucking friends doing god knows what. I never got to try new things and meet new people. Whereas you were having the time of your life, fucking around with your buddies without a care in the world! So I'm sorry if I see new people every now and then. I'm just trying to make up for lost time."

"You're trying to make up for lost time?" I repeated, finding it hard to sympathize with her story. She didn't realize that I felt just as restrained as she did. She didn't understand that I wasn't having the time of my life, fucking around with my buddies without a care in the world, because I did care, and I never really participated in the things my friends did. Instead, I worried about her and our son, planning ways I could see them in my crazy life I had outside of being a father. But she didn't know that, and she wasn't willing to acknowledge it either. "You do realize it isn't just my fault that we had a kid when we were teenagers, right? It's just as much yours as it is mine. If you didn't want Chase, then you shouldn't have-"

"You didn't want me?"

Our heads snapped in the direction of our bedroom doorway, the door open and our son standing in the middle of the threshold, dressed in his pajamas and holding his blanket in his arms. His lip was quivering and his eyes were swollen with tears.

"Oh my god, Chase, no!" Gwen tried to redeem herself, jumping out of the bed and rushing up to our son, engulfing him in a tight hug, "No, honey, I'm glad I have you and I wouldn't want it any other way."

"But th-th-that's not what Daddy said," He stammered, starting to sob.

"Your dad was just talking nonsense," She replied, glaring back at me.

"Yeah, Chase, your mom and I love you very much," I added on, tilting my head down.

Chase broke down in his mother's arms, the cries he was producing wracking his body and making it difficult for Gwen to comfort him.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, making my way over to the two of them and squatting down, wrapping my arms around them.

"I love you both."