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

~PART THREE~ [Chapter 41] Ugly Sweater Party - Part One (Patrick)

(Patrick's POV)

Lexy and I were driving back from the restaurant. We hadn't talked since we left the restaurant. I cleared my throat and broke the tension, asking her, "So did you hear about Pete's party this weekend?"

"Yeah," Lexy answered my question, keeping her gaze locked outside the window, "Pete and Catherine told me about it on the way back from New Jersey."

Pete was having a small ugly sweater party for Christmas (which was in two weeks and I hadn't done any shopping for anyone or any decorating, except for helping Elisa put up her decorations in her house before our huge fight, like literally, right before our fight) on Saturday. Don't know why he made it an ugly sweater party but I wasn't going to argue with him. No more arguments between him and me.

It was a small party because only the guys and I were invited, as well as Marie and Andy's girlfriend, Jackie. Elisa was invited too but I don't know if she was still coming or not. If she showed up, it was going to be really awkward. But, if she was there, she's there, and I'm just going to have to be mature about it. But knowing Pete, and how popular he's become, he probably invited fifty more people that none of us would know besides him and possibly Catherine.

"Are you going to come?" I glanced over at her briefly before returning my focus to the road.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know." She looked over at me and added, "Do you think I should come?"

No. Tell her no. You can't risk having her and Elisa there, A voice sounded in my head.

But Lexy told me in the McDonald's that she never stopped liking me too, I replied to the voice, And the only reason she was with Mikey was because she thought she would never see me again and, before she knew he was cheating on her, she thought he would distract her from the pain being away from me caused her.

Fine, so you tell Lexy to come. But what about how terribly uncomfortable things are going to be for the three of you? Huh? Plus, if the two of them are there, you'll have no choice but to make the rash decision of whether you're going to be with Lexy or stay with Elisa.

Who says I'll need to make that kind of decision?

"Patrick?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of the deep wordless conversation I had gotten involved in with myself.

"I said...do you think I should come or not?"

*****

Sure enough, I was right. Pete had invited at least fifty other people to this party. How did I know? Well, the first indication was that the only parking spot I could find was a good five blocks away from the apartment building, and the second was that there were people crowded in the third floor hallway, making it difficult for me to push my way through the hoards of ugly sweaters just to the get to his apartment.

It wasn't hard for me to find an ugly sweater to wear - my grandma made one for me and my brother every year since we were toddlers. And since I was staying with my mom, still not talking to Elisa since I dropped her off at her house that night, all I had to do was pull one of them out from under my bed, pick the dust bunnies out of it, and make sure it still fit, which wasn't difficult because I'd lost a lot of weight since high school when my grandma made them a little bigger for me.

I walked into the living room to find my friends dressed in equally ugly sweaters. Pete had Hemingway in his arms - the dog had also been dressed up for the party. I only assumed it was Catherine's idea because Pete had never done something like that before with his dog.

"Hey! Patrick's here!" Pete exclaimed upon seeing me. Standing with the guys was also Catherine and Lexy. She flashed me a faint smile when she saw me. I smiled back.

"Hey guys!" I greeted, joining the circle that had gotten bigger to accommodate for me being there.

"You came just in time," Joe told me, placing a hand on my shoulder, "We were just about to call you and tell you Elisa was here and asking where you were."

"What?" I asked worriedly, looking over at him.

He laughed, "Whoa, man, calm down. I was just joking." I sighed in relief.

Only Pete and Lexy knew about the problem Elisa and I were dealing with, no one else. Not even my mom.

She woke up the morning after I sneaked in, heard snoring coming from my old bedroom, walked in, and saw me. She sighed in relief - lucky I wasn't some burglar who decided to take a nap mid-robbery. She shook me gently awake, and asked me when I got there.

"Last night," I grumbled in response to her, still half asleep.

And you know what she said to that? She said, "Oh. Well...I better let you sleep then." And she gave me a kiss on the head and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, okay," I replied to Joe, starting to laugh with him, though my laugh was somewhat forced.

"Ooh!" Pete exclaimed, giving Hemingway to Catherine and walking away. We all kind of just stood there as he walked over to the Christmas tree lit up in the corner of the room and pulled out a present from beneath it. He walked back over to the group and handed me the thin box. "I don't want to forget to give you this. So...here."

I took it into my possession and grinned, "Thanks, Pete. But...I didn't get you a gift in return."

"Pfft," He waved his hand at me, "Don't worry about it."

"You sure?"

He winked, "Positive." I gave him an apprehensive look before setting the box to the side, promising I'd open it later.

"Have I ever said how much I love the Christmas season?" Catherine blurted out, leaning into Pete's side. He wrapped his arm around her back and gave her a kiss on the head.

Just then, a group - that if someone told my high school self showed up at this party, I would've probably laughed in their face - walked through the front door, looking around the small and crowded apartment. Catherine's eyes widened as she stepped out of Pete's embrace.

"Brendon!" Pete exclaimed, walking over to the lead singer of Panic! At The Disco.

"Pete!" He replied with just as much enthusiasm before the two of them pulled each other into a bro-hug. "Man, I haven't seen in you since the recording for 20 Dollar Nose Bleed. How have you been?"

"I've been good! What about you?"

He sighed, "I've been alright. Things haven't been the best for me this Christmas, and I wasn't even going to come here because I was afraid she was going to be here..." He went on his tiptoes and began scoping out the room. Looking for whoever she was. "...but it looks like she's not here, so, here I am!"

"Here you are!"

The two of them began to laugh.

I looked back and saw that Catherine had disappeared. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Lexy walked up beside me and whispered, "I think she locked herself in the bathroom."

I glanced down at her, "What?"

"Catherine," She remarked, "I think I saw her lock herself in the bathroom." She pointed into the bedroom hallway where only one of the doors was closed - the bathroom door.

"Oh."

"Mhmm..." She crossed her arms over her chest, "Kind of crazy to lock yourself in a bathroom just because your ex shows up..."

That's when someone else walked through the front door. My eyes widened and I pushed past Lexy. "Hey!" She yelled as I made my way into the bedroom hallway and locked myself in the next best place to the bathroom - the linen closet.