XO (FOB FanFic ft. Brendon Urie)

[Chapter 17] Come With Me

In the heat of the moment, I thought the only possible way I could get to Claire would be to find Brendon and have him come with me to California. Even though his relationship with her wasn't that great (or so Claire claimed, but their last few encounters made me question Claire's credibility), he's got to care if she was kidnapped. Plus he could take me to where she would be staying with her friends, you known, since he lived there with her before moving to Chicago.

I hailed a taxi and told the driver I needed to be taken to St. Louis Ave.

"St. Louis Ave?" The taxi driver repeated as I strapped the seat belt over my chest. I nodded my head yes. "North or South?" He asked.

"Um...I don't know," I answered, shaking my leg nervously and glancing out the window.

"How do you not know?" The driver inquired, pivoting his torso and resting his arm on the back of the front seat so that he was looking back at me.

"Just take me there, please."

"Whatever you say, kid," He retorted, shaking his head before turning back around and pulling away from the curb.

He ended up dropping me off at the intersection of North St. Louis Ave and West Diversey Ave. I opened the door and was about to get out when the driver stopped me. "Hey! Where do you think you're going? Aren't you going to pay?" He extended his hand outward and bent his fingers back and forth twice.

My eyes widened. "Pay?" was all I could utter.

"Yes, pay. Don't be stupid. $22.75. $3.25 a mile. Pay up, pretty boy."

I bit my lip. "Oh, yeah...um...about that..." I quickly jumped out of the car and ran down the street, constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure the taxi driver wasn't coming after me. It's not that I didn't want to pay him, because that's totally not my thing, it's just that I couldn't pay him. When I got in the taxi, I completely forgot that you had to pay to get driven places. Not to mention I didn't have any money to pay with.

As I was running to no place in particular, I bumped into someone. I stumbled back. "I'm so sorry," I rambled before looking up and seeing who I had bumped into.

"Patrick!"

"Brendon! Hey," I retorted, slipping my hands into the pockets of my jacket. The corner of my lips curled up into a friendly smile. I took one more quick glance over my shoulder before looking back at the frontman for Panic! At The Disco.

"What are you doing running down my street?" He inquired, laughing a bit.

"I was just...you know, taking a run," I lied, my cheeks blushing in embarrassment. He nodded his head in understanding. "Yup!" An awkward silence fell over the two of us.

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your friends," He blurted out in an attempt to spark a conversation. I nodded my head. "Has there been any progress? You know, on finding them, that is?"

"Actually, yeah," I told him, looking up at him because of our height difference, though it's not that big of a difference, "Um...I've discovered that they're being held at this place - um, the Linda Vista Community Hospital."

"The Linda Vista Community Hospital? Isn't that in California?"

"Yeah, Los Angeles."

"Hey, I used to live there!" He exclaimed. I was really tempted to tell him I knew that already, from Claire, but I refrained. "Linda Vista Community Hospital, you said?" I shook my head yes. "I think I might know where that is. I think it was, like, twenty minutes down the road from where I used to live." I noticed how he didn't mention Claire once.

"Oh really?" I questioned.

"Yeah. I used to drive by it all the time."

"Do you think you could come with me?"

He gave me a confused look, "Come with you where?"

"To Los Angeles," I elucidated. He stared at me blankly. "I have to go find my friends, Brendon. I only have thirty days. Not even. I only have eighteen days. And since you seem to know where the hospital is, I was thinking maybe you could come with me. Plus, I need to make sure someone there is okay...is safe."

"Who?"

"Claire."

Brendon's eyes went wide. "Cl-Claire?" He stuttered.

"You know, your wife?" I inquired, clasping my hands behind my back.

I watched his Adam's apple go up and down and realized he had broken into a sweat, despite the chilling Chicago winter breeze that swept through the air. "I-I don't know who you're talking about." He muttered, averting his gaze to his feet and scratching behind his neck.

"Obviously you do if you're getting all worried like you are," I retorted, "Plus you were at her apartment all those times."

He shook his head, "No one knows about her."

"I know."

"Then how come you do?"

"Because...because..." I cut myself short and changed the subject, "Can we talk about this somewhere else?"

He sighed, "I guess. Come on. We can go to my house."

*****

I was sitting at the table Brendon had in the kitchen of his house. The house wasn't a large house but it wasn't small. It was perfect for two people, like Claire and Brendon. He closed the door to the fridge and walked over to me, handing me a bottle of beer. I kindly accepted the offer even though I didn't plan on drinking it. He slipped into the chair adjacent to the one I was sitting in and heaved a sigh, putting the bottle to his lips.

The two of us sat there in silence for a little while before he blurted out, "So how do you know Claire?"

"Didn't she tell you?" I retorted. He shook his head no. "Oh, well, she and I woke up in the same...room after the night the guys were kidnapped," I didn't think he needed to know his wife and I slept together. Because then I know he wouldn't help me. "And, uh...there was this note that was slipped under the door that told me she would be my only help in finding the guys."

"So she took you home to her apartment?" He set the half-empty beer bottle down on the table.

I gulped, "She said it would be best if we stayed together."

"If that's the case, why are you here and she's in Los Angeles?"

I sighed, "She said she was going to see some friends. And that she would be fine and that I shouldn't worry. But obviously she's not fine because XO is there and-"

"XO?"

"You know, the person who kidnapped Pete, Joe, and Andy."

"You know, Claire used to always sign things off with 'XO'," He reminisced, running his finger along the small rim of the beer bottle.

I crossed my arms over my chest, "What happened between the two of you anyways?" He looked over at me. "I mean, she still has pictures of you in her apartment, you're remembering little things about her...what happened that made you two...move apart?"

He shook his head and looked away from me, "It's a long story, Patrick. And I really don't like talking about it."

"A year ago? That was when you split?"

"Patrick."

"She said you were together for nearly seven-"

"Patrick!" He snapped, jerking his head in my direction, "I said it was a long story and I didn't want to talk about it."

I hung my head. There was a short moment of silence before he continued in a much calmer tone, "You said you wanted me to come to with you to Los Angeles, right?" I nodded my head yes. He picked up the beer bottle and downed the rest of the drink, slamming the bottle down on the table and saying, "Yes."

"Yes?" I repeated.

"I'll come with you. But first I want to make sure Claire is okay, alright? Then we'll find your friends."