The Man Next Door

Chapter 11: Stuck

Vera picks her head off of her hands and looks up. Her eyes were packed with tears, making it hard to distinguish the lady squatting down beside her, "Miss, are you okay?"

"Um," Vera responds in a shaky voice, drying off the racing tears with the sleeve of her hoodie, "No, I'm not."

"Morgan?" Patrick calls out, turning his head in each direction as he steps out of his house.

Even without being able to identify the lady crouching down beside her, she could tell that she's seen or at least heard her somewhere before. Was this the same girl from yesterday?

"Patrick," the lady says back, motioning her hand for him to come towards her, "come here really quick."

"What is it?" Patrick asks, rolling down his sleeves as he walks into the grass, following the path that Morgan took, "what are you-"

"Hey, Patrick..." Vera says, looking up to meet his surprised gaze.

"What are you doing?" Patrick questions, crouching down in front of her to get a better look, "Are you okay?"

Vera sniffles, submerging her hands into her sleeves before wiping down her wet face one last time, "Yeah."

"What happened?"

"It's-it's nothing," Vera nods, "it's none of your business, you don't have to worry."

"It's clearly not nothing," Patrick sighs, "what are you doing out here?"

Before she had the chance to answer, Vera began to cry again softly, her hazy eyes forcing her to look down at her lap, "Hey, listen," Patrick says softly, standing up and watching Morgan get up after him, "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

Vera watches close as Patrick walks off, Morgan trudging after him. She watches them as they have a talk by a small white car which she assumed was Morgans. After what looked like a heated argument, Morgan slightly shoves Patrick before crawling into her car and pulling out of the driveway, disappearing down the block in a flash.

Patrick looked as if that argument didn't affect him at all, he didn't even care to watch the angered lady drive off, "Listen," Patrick smiles, pulling Vera up from the stair and into his dear embrace, "I don't know what's going on but... get your phone from the grass and come over for a bit, I've got whiskey."

Vera nods and pulls away with a laugh, "You don't have to convince me with whiskey."

"But it works, doesn't it?" Patrick laughs, looking as if a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders as they enter his same old cozy home. Vera particularly liked this about Patrick, the way he's not full of himself but also doesn't strive to change, he's always been this sweet of a guy, she could tell.

"Coke or lemonade?" he asks, peeking out from behind his little built-in bar.

"Lemonade sounds great," Vera smiles, her arms still folded from the cold, windy weather. Vera looks down at her legs as Patrick strolls back with the drinks at hand, placing them down on the coffee table in front of them before taking a seat.

"So what's going on?" Patrick soothingly asks, handing her a glass as she picks her head up.

"Well.." Vera sighs, "Sebastian wasn't home all day, and came back a few minutes earlier, clearly from a bar."

Patrick nods, taking a sip of his drink as he silently encourages her to go on, "and..." Vera whispers in a raspy voice, "I don't remember... I remember getting up from the floor and leaving to go stay at my moms."

Vera takes her eyes off of her drink to look over at Patrick, his fists were clenched, "did you call your mom?" he asks, trying to hide his irritation.

"Yeah," Vera mumbles, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, "she didn't pick up."

"You know you can't drive anywhere," Patrick reminds, "If something... I can drive you."

"No, I-I couldn't make you do that," Vera shrugs, "not at this time. I might just go back."

"I'm not letting you go back into that house either," Patrick states, his eyes expressing worry, "not with that dangerous man."

"Dangerous?" Vera asks, "Seb isn't dangerous."

"Oh but he is," Patrick says unapologetically, looking into his glass and moving his hand in a slight circular motion, suddenly he darts his head up at the sound of Vera's glass clank against the coffee table, watching her go straight for the door, "Vera-"

"How could you?" she says in agitation, turning back around to see him get up from the couch, going after her, "I love Sebastian! He wouldn't hurt me!"

"Vera, Vera wait-"

"No!" Vera shouts, attempting to unlock the front door, failing to get out on time before Patrick got his hands on the door, holding it closed, "What are you doing?!"

"Listen," Patrick says in repetition as Vera kept trying to tug the door open, "VERA!"

Out of instinct, Patrick takes her arm and vigorously pulls her into his embrace, her sobs breaking his heart into a million pieces, "I'm sorry," he whispers in repeat as he holds her near, "I'm sorry."

Vera sobs into his shoulder, making him slowly tear-up himself, "I'm sorry," he says again, a little louder to make sure she heard him this time.

"I know," Vera sniffles, "I know you are."

"I didn't mean to,"

"You're okay," Vera sighs, pulling away, "You shouldn't be sorry, I just,"

"I should be sorry," Wilson nods, looking into her eyes regretfully, "but that doesn't stop me from keeping you here, Sebastian is drunk, please stay here."