Peterick//More Than You Bargained For

twenty: more peas

"Excuse me?" Brendon chokes on his peas.

Pete looks down at his food.

It's Wednesday, officially a week until Pete leaves. I told Pete last night that he needed to tell Brendon and Ryan about the move, or I'd tell them myself. And I knew that they wouldn't be happy if they had to hear about it secondhand.

So here we are, sitting at lunch while Ryan nervously pats Brendon's back as he gasps for air after hearing the news from Pete.

"Next week?" Ryan asks.

I confirm, "Yes. Wednesday."

"When did you find out about this?"

Pete doesn't respond. I sigh and tell Ryan, "Sunday."

Once Brendon's coughing fit subsides, he bangs his fist on the table, making Pete flinch. "Three fucking days I didn't know about this?" He growls.

I try to defend Pete, "Brendon, give him some wiggle room. He didn't even know how to react, and it hit him pretty hard."

Brendon shakes his head. "This isn't something you can just hide from your friends because your fucking feelings are hurt. You should have told us sooner."

Pete still doesn't say anything. He seems very interested in his tuna sandwich.

"Does it really matter? Look, we have a week left with him. Let's just make it the best week we can."

"Yes, it does really matter." Brendon argues, "We could have spent two more days together instead of you doing everything you could to keep away from us."

I begin to get irritated with Brendon's persistence. Ryan notices and grabs his hand delicately. "It's okay, Bren. Calm down," he says softly.

"I will not calm down until Pete apologizes-"

Pete suddenly looks up, a furious look on his face. "You're fucking kidding me," he says with disbelief. "You're mad at me because I needed to process changes in my life? You're scolding me as if I'm the one who wanted to move. Well it's not my fucking fault, Brendon. It's not my choice that I'm moving. All I want to do is spend my last week here with you guys. And I'd rather not have you riding my ass the entire time about how I don't tell you everything that goes on in my life the fucking second it happens." And with that, Pete stands up and stalks away from the table, leaving the three of us in silence.

I rub my eyes after a moment. "You couldn't just leave it alone," I remark as I follow Pete out of the room.

I find Pete sitting on a bench alone outside. He's looking down with his hoodie up over his head.

I take a seat next to him and sit in silence. I know that sometimes he doesn't want to be alone, but he doesn't really want to talk either. This is one of those times.

After a few minutes, Pete says, "I'm sorry."

I cock my head to the side. "You're sorry?"

He nods.

"For what?"

"I don't know." He stands up begins to pace nervously. "I-It's just that Brendon's pissed and I feel bad for not telling him sooner and he probably won't even want to hang out before I leave now. And Ryan just doesn't give a shit, and you probably don't either. Why are you even here?" He stops short and looks at me.

"Why am I here?" I repeat. "I'm here because I'm trying so hard to support you and make sure you're okay. Screw Brendon. He's being a dick, as he always is. But he doesn't mean it. He just doesn't know how to react."

Pete shakes his head. "Or he just doesn't give a shit."

I chuckle. "You wouldn't believe the threat he gave me the other day," I say under my breath.

"What?"

"Trust me, Pete, he genuinely cares about you. Can you take my word for it?"

He reluctantly nods. I grab his hand and pull him back towards the bench, and he sits next to me. "What am I gonna do without you?" He asks softly, rubbing my hand.

"I don't know," I breathe.

"And what about our drama scene? The show is next Friday. Not too sure you can perform Romeo and Juliet without half the cast," he chuckles.

I shrug. "I guess I'll talk to Ms. Smith today. I don't really care what she has me do."

Pete looks up at me with those big, brown eyes. My eyes linger down to his lips.

His soft, smooth lips that I could live in forever.

Knowing that we'd definitely get beat up if I kissed him, I pull him into a hug.

He hugs back, holding tightly. I almost gasp in pain when his arms make contact with the bruises running up and down my back and torso.

He notices I'm in pain. He pulls back, looking concerned. "What is it?"

"Nothing," I attempt to lie. I know that if I tell Pete about last night, he'll personally try to beat the shit out of Travis. I don't want him to get hurt.

He raises his eyebrows. "Did I hurt you?"

I shake my head. "No, no. It's not that. I'm fine."

He opens his mouth to speak when the lunch bell rings.

Saved by the bell.

He lets it go, and we stand up together and enter the building again to go to class.

Brendon walks up beside us and asks, "Hey, can I steal Pete for a minute?"

I smile and nod, letting myself fall back into stride next to Ryan. "Is he gonna play nice?" I ask the boy.

"He feels kind of bad. I'm sure he'll find some way to make it up to Pete. He said something about the four of us hanging out tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Have him text me the details," I text Ryan before turning into class.

The rest of the day goes by smoothly, and I talk to my drama teacher about Pete leaving. She decides to put me in Brendon and Ryan's group, with me as Juliet.

Which means I get to sit there while Lady Capulet and the Nurse basically play a game of tug-of-war with me.

It's quite ironic, considering nobody would ever fight over me in reality.

Maybe Pete, but he doesn't have any competition. I'm all his.

But once he leaves, I'll be alone. And nobody will want me.

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A/N

Yay nighttime updates! Im gonna start spacing out my updates more bc writing 2 fics and tryna update every day is too much,,

ANYWAY hope y'all are doing well, if you enjoyed this filler chapter drop a vote, and bon voyage bitches