The Flier (Patrick Stump)

9 - Pep

/Chapter 9\
Friday Night

From: Patrick
Hey Zen, where do you live? Me and Joe and Quinn are going to pick you up to go to the basketball game.

When was this decided? I didn't mind going with them (in fact, I was hoping for him to ask), but what if I wanted to go with someone else? I didn't have anyone else to go with anyway, but what if I did? For the first time, I felt annoyance towards the boy as I stood up and walked towards my bedroom door.

"Daaaaad," I called as I opened my bedroom door and stepped onto the cold wood of the hallway. No reply. "Dad?" My eyebrows furrowed. He usually answered right away. Where was he? "Dad!" Huffing, I walked down the dark hallway and into the even darker kitchen, where Jess leaned against the counter texting someone. I internally sighed. I didn't like to deal with her, but in order to know where Dad was, I had to. "Where's Dad?"

"Went to the store," she mumbled, not even looking up from her phone. Nodding to myself, I started to walk out of the room, only to be stopped by her voice. "Why do you want to know?" She looked up now, and her cold eyes stared straight into me. It almost made me nervous. Almost.

"My friends wanted to know if I could go with them to the game tonight," I said, leaving out names. I certainly didn't feel like mentioning Patrick to her.

"You could ask me, you know," she pointed out as she put her phone in the pocket of her pajama pants and crossed her arms over her gray tank top.

"I don't trust you, and plus, you aren't my parent."

"I'm close enough to it!"

"No, not really. And you never will be." With that, I strolled out of the room, grinning to myself because of the angry look I managed to leave on Jess's face. Once I entered my room, I slammed the door shut and belly-flopped onto my bed, grabbing my phone in the process. Quickly, I shot my dad a quick text.

To: DAD 😎
Hey, Patrick asked if I could go to the basketball game with him... so... can I? And to a party afterward

From: DAD 😎
Sure. Just don't get high or drunk of something. If you do, I'm not cleaning up your mess (by that I mean vomit).

To: DAD 😎
Thank you!!! I won't. Some of the girls in guard will be there, so they'll make sure that I don't. Patrick wouldn't let it happen either

From: DAD 😎
I'm just joking, but seriously. Don't. You'll have a raging headache tomorrow morning. You and me both don't want to deal with that.

To: DAD 😎
Ok, I won't. Thank you again!!!

My smile reached my ears as I texted Patrick my address. This was going to be a fun night, I could already tell.

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Twenty minutes later, I heard a car pull up in front of my house. Taking one last glance in the mirror, I made sure my makeup looked as good as it could be. Check. My brown eyes were outlined with a thin line of eyeliner on top and bottom, and my hair looked just the right amount of its normal curly. Cute outfit? Check that off the list, too. Red plaid shirt over a white T-shirt, with black leggings and combat boots and all topped off with a black beanie. I looked like I came straight out of Tumblr, which in my opinion was a good thing. My phone and a few dollars were in the pocket of my shirt, and I had put on some of my favorite perfume earlier. I was ready to go. Turning off my bedroom light, I shut the door and walked down the hall.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jess's voice exclaimed as she came into sight at the end of the hall.

"I'm going to the game with my friend," I explained, moving past her to go into the living room.