The Middle - Volume Three ✔️

Chapter 9

Jamie

Once I'm dressed, I head downstairs to find Patrick playing with Benji in the back yard again. This warms my heart. But I have a better idea.

"Let's take him to the beach." At the word 'beach', Benji's tail starts wagging furiously.

"Sounds good." Patrick says casually, throwing his beanie over his head.

"You wanna stop by your place to change?" I ask.

"Nah, I'm good. Its not like I slept in these clothes... They'll be fine." He grins at me.

He's noticed I'm wearing his hoodie again. "I see you didn't wanna change either?" His grin widens.

I run a hand through my hair sheepishly, "You know I love wearing this."

"Yeah, but you could wash it once in a while." He says playfully.

"It still kinda smells like you since you wore it yesterday." I say automatically, pulling the zipper up a little. It is quite cold out.

He raises his eyebrows in interest. What did I say? Was there something wrong with me saying that?

"Well as long as it's a good smell, I'll let you off." He nudges me a little as he walks past me into the kitchen and says "What, no scarf today?" Benji follows him quickly, eager to get to the beach.

My hickey's have calmed down, but now that he's mentioned it, I'm a little self conscious about it. I grab my woolly scarf from the coat closet, grab my keys from the fruit bowl on the kitchen table, and head out the front door with Patrick and Benji.

Benji bounds down the porch steps and over to my car. He knows where we're going, and he's excited. He loves the beach as much as I do. I push the automatic button on my car keys to unlock my car so Patrick and Benji can get in, then I turn around to lock the front door to the house. When I turn to walk down the porch steps, I trip over my own feet and fall down the steps.

"Woah! You actually are like Bambi today, huh?" Patrick says, just as he catches me at the bottom of the steps. "Good job I've been around to catch you."

I feel like a fucking moron. "Yeah, well, it's probably your fault I'm so weak in the knees." I dust myself off and start walking over to my car, he just laughs.

"Here, let me drive." He holds out his hand for my keys. "I don't want you and your weak knees getting us into an accident." He grins at me.

I sigh dramatically and reluctantly hand over my keys. "Fine!" He's driven my cars plenty of times in the past, it's no big deal.

As Patrick backs the car out of the driveway, I notice Benji shifting uncomfortably in the backseat. I turn around to see what's wrong, and see that one of my guitars is propped up on one side of the backseat. I pull it into the front with me to give Benji more room.

"Can I request Taylor Swift?" Patrick says, flashing me that gorgeous smile of his before turning his attention back to the road.

"You don't wanna listen to the radio?" I ask.

"When you're sitting there holding a guitar? Not a chance." He's concentrating on the road ahead of him now, and I'm just smiling over at him. He really is... gorgeous.

As much as I don't wanna admit I know one of Swifty's newer songs, I can't help myself. I start playing the opening chords of 'Gorgeous', and Patrick laughs.

"I didn't realise you were such a big Taylor fan" he mocks me.

I don't know the song all that well, so I just sing along to the chorus. "You're so gorgeous, I can't say anything to your face, cuz look at your face!" I screw my face up at him as I sing the last line, and he laughs.