The Middle - Volume Three ✔️

Chapter 59 (Patrick)

Patrick

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay without me?” Joel asks for the tenth time while throwing more t-shirts into his duffel bag. How long is he planning on staying at Sarah’s?

“For the last time, yes.” I tell him, rolling my eyes. “Jay was cool with me last night, and I’m not gonna hide out here and ignore him, I promise.”

He gives me a doubtful look before hauling his bag over his shoulder. I haven’t told him the truth about my talk with Jamie last night, and I’m not going to. He’s worried enough as it is, and he deserves to just relax and spend some time with his girlfriend for a few days, just like Jay did. Away from me, and away from all this shit.

“I might even go over to Jamie’s tonight, actually.” I say as we make our way from his bedroom to the front door. I have no intention of going over to Jamie's so soon after what happened last night, but he doesn't need to know that.

“To hang with Jay?” Joel asks casually.

“Well, yeah. And Jamie.” Obviously, it’s her house. “And Benji” I add quickly when he stops at the door and gives me a funny look.

“Dude, she’s going to Scotland today.” He says. Um, what? “Her flight's in like an hour, didn’t she tell you last night? Haven’t you checked your phone at all today?”

“No. Uh, no. She didn’t mention that.” Well I feel stupid. She’s going to fucking Scotland? Today!?

I pull out my phone and see loads of notifications. I skipped classes this morning, for obvious reasons, I’ve only been awake for like 2 hours actually. I see that Jay and Joel told Jamie to have a good trip, and she replied telling Joel to enjoy New York. They’ve actually talked in our group chat, after almost 2 weeks of silence. This feels like progress, I should write something too. But, fuck, she’s on her way to the fucking UK right now?

“Okay, what is it?” Joel asks, the worry thick in his voice. “Why wouldn’t she tell you? I thought you said your talk with her went okay...?”

He's clearly doubting that now, fuck. And as much as I’m freaking out about the fact that she’s leaving the country right now, after what happened between us last night, I can’t let him worry about this.

“It did! Everything's okay. She probably just...forgot?” I have absolutely no excuse for why she wouldn’t tell me about this, other than the obvious...we were otherwise occupied.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe she didn’t tell you.” He shakes his head and looks down at the ground.

I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything.

“Maybe she was worried about how you’d react or something.” He says, almost to himself. But yeah, that makes sense.

“Yeah, probably.” I say. “Is she going over there to see Helen?”

“Yeah, she’s staying with them for a few days. She’ll be home late on Sunday night.” Joel informs me, good to know. “I guess she just wanted to get away too, you know?”

“Same as you and Jay.” It’s fair enough. All three of them need some distance from me, I can’t blame them.

“Right. This will be good for her, though. And you too. Maybe some real distance from her will do you good.” He says with a small smile.

I nod my head in agreement. But inside, I couldn’t agree less. I don’t like knowing that she’s gonna be so far away. Or that she wants to be so far away. From me... Fuck.

“Totally.” I say, cause what else do I say? “Let me know when you get to Sarah’s. And have fun, okay?”

“I will.” He opens the front door. “Let me know how things are with Jay. And behave yourself, okay? He was cool with you last night, but it’s still... Delicate.”