After The Dance (FOB FanFic ft. Panic! At The Disco)

~PART THREE~ [Chapter 38] Don't Forget Where You Belong (Lexy)

(Lexy's POV)

I was in my room, stuffing my bag with my clothes. It was nearly midnight and my dad was asleep (or so I hoped).

Tonight was the night I was finally going to leave. Go back to Chicago.

I wrote my dad a note telling him where I went and that he could call me anytime he wanted, unlike Catherine's note that basically told us she never wanted to see or hear from us again. I even told him in the note that he could come visit me too.

I walked over to my dresser and pulled open a drawer when I noticed a picture that was stuck in the corner of the mirror. I picked it out and looked at it.

It was of me and Patrick from the homecoming dance. The dance was almost over, not many people were still around, when we decided to get a picture of us taken We walked over to the camera guy who was just about to pack up and asked him if we could get our picture taken. He sighed before agreeing and moving us over to the backdrop, setting us up as if we were a couple - Patrick stood behind me, my arms were folded over my front and his arms over my arms, his hands over my hands. I think I speak for both of us when I say I don't think I've ever felt more awkward in my life. But you know, that was before we liked each other more than friends, or at least before we knew we liked each other in that way. I remembered that right after the picture was taken and the blinding light flashed, he and I burst out in laughter.

That's when I noticed there was a second picture behind the one of Patrick and me. I flipped the pictures around to reveal the picture was of Mikey and me. We were sitting on his couch in the Way's living room and I was curled up beside him, burying my face into his side in an attempt to avoid getting my picture taken. The camera was in his hand, stuck in the air out in front of us as if we were going to take a profile picture for MySpace. He had a wide smile on his face as he tried to keep himself from laughing before he snapped the shot. I remembered that day and how in love we were. Before I knew he was still seeing that Alicia girlfriend.

I set the pictures back in their place. I grabbed a handful of clothes and transferred them over to the duffel bag I had opened on my bed.

Just then, my phone began to vibrate my entire nightstand, where I had left it. I rushed over to it and picked it up. It was Pete. I cocked my eyebrow in confusion before pressing the answer button and putting the phone up to my ear. "Pete?" I whispered.

"No, it's Catherine," My sister's voice sounded on the other end of the line.

"Catherine!" I exclaimed as quietly as I could manage, "Hey!"

"We're almost there, okay?" She informed me, "We'll meet you outside."

"Alright, see you soon!" I said before hanging up. I slipped my phone into my jeans pocket before making one more trip over to the dresser and grabbing the last of my things. I zipped up my bag and picked it up, along with the other bag that I had by the door that held about three-fourths of my closet. I walked out of my room and turned off the light.

Just as I started to go down the stairs, I heard the familar creak of a door opening. I slowly glanced over my shoulder and saw my dad standing in his bedroom doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and a disappointed look on his face. Behind him, his room was pitch black.

"Dad," I muttered under my breath, turning around so I was facing him and setting my bags down, "I can explain."

He didn't respond to me - just stared at me with a look that made me feel like I had just committed a crime.

"I want to go back home," I told him, tears already starting to form in my eyes, "I just don't belong here. I never did." I took a step towards him. "You don't belong here either, dad." He continued to be unresponsive. I sighed before adding, "Come back with me. Catherine and Pete are coming to pick me up and they'll be here any minute." Silence. "Dad, please, say something!" I begged.

He heaved a sigh before saying, "Will moving back to Chicago make you happier?"

"Please, dad, come with me."

"Answer my question, Alexis," He retorted sternly.

I swallowed hard before slowly nodding my head yes.

"You know I only wanted to make you and your sister happy."

"I was happy, dad," I murmured, trying to keep myself from turning into a sobbing mess. "That was the point. I didn't need to move out h-"

I cut myself short when he began to approach me. I closed my eyes and tensed up, afraid he was going to hurt me, but instead, I felt him leave a kiss on my forehead. I opened my eyes and looked up at him, my eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Say hi to Catherine for me, would you?"

"Uh...yeah, sure," I answered apprehensively.

He gave me a faint smile before turning around and walking back into his room. He was about to close his door when he looked over his shoulder at me and added, "Oh, and tell that Patrick boy that if he ever does something like Mikey did to you, I will personally come and beat the shit out of him."

I couldn't help but laugh, despite the tears streaming down my face. He did too. "Goodbye, Lexy."

"Bye, Dad."

He closed his bedroom door and left me out in the dark hallway.

Just then, a car horn blared from outside. It was Pete and Catherine.

I wiped my wet cheeks, before picking up my bags and rushing down the stairs, opening the front door and seeing Pete's pickup truck parked out in the road. The same pickup truck he picked Patrick and me up in when I was cleaning out my locker back in high school.

The passenger car door swung open and I saw Pete sitting in the driver's seat, my sister in the middle. She smiled when she saw me, "Long time no see, sis."

"Long time no see, sis," I repeated in response, smiling back.

"Have you been crying?" Pete inquired.

"What?" I chuckled, "No..." I looked back at the house I'd been staying in for the past two years of my life. As I looked at the house longer, I realized something.

"Hey," I blurted out, snapping back into reality, "I'll be right back, I think I left something in the house." I handed my sister my bags before rushing back towards the house.

I pushed open the front door and ran upstairs, going into my bedroom and snatching the pictures of Patrick and me and Mikey and me. I shoved those in the pocket of my sweatshirt and turned to leave when I felt something else in the pocket. I raised my eyebrow in bewilderment as I pulled out the note I had wanted to give my dad. My eyes widened.

The note. I began to look around. Where should I put it? That's when I glanced over at the bathroom.

Every morning, ever since I was little, my dad had this routine - where he would get up, rub his face as he made his way to the bathroom, yawn, open the medicine cabinet to grab his toothbrush and toothpaste, and begin to get ready - all while still half asleep.

I walked into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, placing the note in there. I closed the medicine cabinet just as Pete's pickup truck horn sounded again, followed by a faint  "Come on, Lex!" from Pete.

I bolted out of the bathroom and down the stairs, out of the house and into the truck where I closed the passenger side door and buckled my seat belt.

"You ready?" My sister asked me.

"Yeah," I replied, a grin on my face.

"About time..." Pete mumbled under his breath before putting the truck in reverse, looking back as he pulled away from the house I'd been living in for the past almost three years. I heaved a sigh.