Jamie
Aubrey came back to my place after we talked at Symposium for a while. She's been with John almost constantly over the holidays, so I guess she was glad to spend some time with a friend for a while instead, and I was glad to have her around distracting me from my thoughts. She told me she's planning on singing some Demi Lovato song I've never heard of at the Grill tonight, and she asked me what I have planned with the guys. I told her I have no idea, which is the truth. So now we're sitting in my garage with the door open so that Benji can wonder in and out, drinking shitty instant coffee and talking shit about the latest celebrity gossip. It's nice, I haven't had mindless chat like this in a while. But before I know it, it's after 5pm and I realise I'm pretty hungry. Jay and Joel should be back soon, too.
Aubrey's telling me about the latest rumoured romance of Kendall Jenner, when I hear a car pull up outside. A few minutes later, Jay and Joel walk through the garage door.
"Ladies." Joel greets us brightly.
"How's it going, Aubrey?" Jay asks.
"I'm good! How are you guys? Did you enjoy the holidays in New York?" She asks as they approach us and sit down on the sofa opposite us.
"Yeah, it was awesome. New Year's in Times Square was so cool." Joel tells her.
"I was here, I only drove to New York today to take Erin back." Jay explains.
"Oh?" Aubrey asks, she turns to me, "I thought you said Jay was in New York with Erin?"
"Yeah, sorry I didn't explain that properly. Erin and Jay spent the holidays here in North Bridge, he was only driving her back to NYU this afternoon. Joel went along for the ride because they took Sarah home too."
"Wait, so why were you and Sarah in North Bridge too?" Aubrey asks Joel. She's totally confused.
"We came back here after New Year's so Sarah could see everyone again before school starts." Joel explains with a smile. Yeah, whatever Joel. I know why you really came back early.
"Ah, okay." Aubrey says, satisfied. "I thought you'd just been hanging around with Patrick and Benji for the past couple of weeks." She says to me, dismissively waving her hand at me.
I chance a quick look over at Joel, but he isn't looking at me, he's tapping away at his phone.
"Where is Patrick?" Jay asks. "We thought he'd be here already. What are you guys doing for dinner?"
Clearly, he isn't that interested in Patrick's whereabouts at the moment. But he will be when he realises Patrick isn't coming tonight, at all.
"We were thinking Chinese food." Aubrey informs him.
"Patrick's gonna meet us at the Grill." Joel says, looking at his phone.
Okay – what?!
I pick my phone up off of the worktop behind me and see that I have a few new notifications:
Joel @ The Middle, 17:21: P – you coming to Jamie's for dinner?
Patrick @ The Middle, 17:22: Nah, I'll see you at the Grill.
What the hell? I open my private chat with Patrick, about to message him to ask why he's changed his mind now. But I see that he's already typing a message to me, so I wait for it to come through. A couple of minutes later, I see the message flash up on my lock screen.
Patrick, 17:24: I'm gonna play at the Grill, it would be weird if I didn't, right? Jay and Joel wouldn't buy any excuse I can think of for not going, so I'll see you guys there. I'll give you space, you'll only see me on stage. Sorry for fucking around with this. P x
YOU ARE READING
The Middle - Volume Three ✔️
Romance#1 - Shocks 26/9/19 "Never knew you had such a dirty mouth." I say, finally opening my eyes to see her giggling at me and biting her lip. I don't even hesitate about what I need to do next. I flip her over so that she's lying on her back on the bed...
