The Middle - Volume Three ✔️

Chapter 40

Jamie

"And you're sure everything's okay?" Joel asks me for the seven millionth time.

"Yes, Joel." I tell him with a sigh. "I'm fine. Everything is fine."

I walk over to the rolling garage door and open it. The sun's shining and this way Benji can roam around the front yard while we're playing.

"Patrick was just acting so... Normal, this morning." Joel says, picking up his bass guitar and sitting down on the couch.

"And that's a bad thing, why exactly?" I ask him sarcastically, picking up my own acoustic guitar and joining him on the couch.

"I don't know. I just thought maybe something else had happened between you guys." He looks up from his guitar. "You would tell me, right?"

"You know what, Joel? No, I probably wouldn't. Because it's between me and Patrick. We need to figure this shit out on our own, okay? Now can we stop talking about this? They'll be here any second."

"Okay, but you know you can tell me anything, right?" He smiles at me, but I can see the worry on his face.

Yes, Joel. So you keep telling me. Now can we please just shut the fuck up and await the arrival of Jay and Patrick? I'm jumpy and anxious about it as it is. I don't know how Patrick's gonna be, and I have no idea how this is gonna go. It's the first time the four of us are all jamming together since before the holidays. It's my favourite thing in the world to do, and we've done it hundreds of times in the past. But this time, I am fucking shitting a brick.

He seemed so pissed at me last night after having the most amazing sex I have ever had in my life. I know I annoyed him by saying I wanted him to act normal, but he hurt my feelings when he said he didn't wanna spend the night with me. And I understand why he didn't want to, I really do. I wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him and say 'for fuck sake boy, can't you see that I'm crazy about you now? Can't you see that I am fucking falling for you, hard and fast?!' It's barely been a week, and he's changed my world completely.

I wanted to tell him that last night, I really did, it was the whole reason I went over to his mom's in the first place. But we got a little carried away in his old bedroom...then I thought he'd spend the night with me. I thought I'd be lying in my bed wrapped up in his arms, and it was then that I wanted to do it. I could talk to him then and tell him how my heart feels like it's gonna explode every time I look at him now. I could have told him I don't give a fuck what Jay or Joel or anyone else thinks about it, all I care about is us. I could have told him that I'm gonna let Noah down, because I don't love Noah. I never did, not really. But how I feel about Patrick...

But that didn't happen, obviously. And now, here we are. About to meet up at my place for band practice, like we always do. And we're both gonna act normal I guess. We need to, in front of Jay.

"They were out of bagels, but it is almost noon." I hear Jays voice and look up from my guitar.

Jay's walking into my garage, with a coffee holder with 4 to-go cups in it. Patrick has stopped to pet Benji on the front lawn. He's wearing a plain white t-shirt today, fuck. He looks amazing in his usual dark clothes, but when he wears white. Ugh. You can just see his tattoos through the thin material too. I try to spot the Jamie tattoo as he straightens up after petting Benji and makes his way into the garage.

"Well there's no food in the house, I really need to go grocery shopping." I tell Jay.

"We could do that together after this if you want?" Jay offers as Patrick hands Joel his coffee.

"Yeah, sure." I say, taking a coffee cup from Patrick and making eye contact with him for the first time. He looks... Completely normal. And I feel my heart skip a beat.