FicWad

Mmm. Something smells really good, I thought to myself as I came out of my slumber and opened my eyes. I saw that beneath me head, I was snuggled closely to a pillow with countless numbers of hot wheels on them. I poked my head out from under the covers and found that the room was empty.
"What happened last night…?" I wondered aloud as I shifted over to the side of the bed and placed my feet on the floor. I rubbed my aching head and tried to smooth out my messy hair as I stood up looking for any sign of life. That's when I heard a familiar voice. It was Patrick...and he was singing! It sounded like show tunes though...

Stepping out into the hallway, I wandered towards the sound . Pausing outside of the bathroom, I screamed at the sight of Patrick, in a black tee and boxers, brushing his teeth. He started to choke on toothpaste and spit after being startled by my intrusion to his private morning process. No longer wanting to stand there, I ran back to his room and threw myself on the bed. That’s when the little memory of last night hit me like a brick wall. I bit my lip as Patrick walked into his bedroom and sat down on the bed. Greeting me with a nervous, "Hey."
There was a few moments of silence. I wish there wasn’t any silence at all. How could I pull something like that on the first day here?
"I'm so sorry about last night...I really don't know you and it was wrong of me to pull stunts like that. I don't want to make it weird for anyone,“ I apologized gravely, still mortified that I kissed a complete stranger.
"Don't worry yourself over it, it's nothing really. Besides, we were all too drunk to know what was going on," he said with a laugh. His laughter had a calming effect on my petty worries as a smile perked in the side of my cheek. And with that, I stepped off the bed and said, "Well, I'm going to go downstairs but before I do, I must say something important," then I looked at his slumped posture on the bed before slapping him on the arm and ordering at him, "Put some clothes on, mister!"
"Yes maam!" he exclaimed while saluting me. Then he stood up and hopped towards his closet before turning around and giving me a funny look. Then it occurred to me that he wanted me to get out so he can have his privacy. I giggled which made him smile as I walked out and ended up in the downstairs living room sitting between Andy and Joe, who were in the middle of a huge battle of Halo 2.
"Oh come on, that was so cheap!" cried Andy in loss after about 3 rounds of losing.

"Can I play?" I asked, suddenly excited by the gameplay.
Their eyes widened and the room grew quiet aside from the video game noises. I frowned and asked, "What?"


"A girl who likes video games?" Joe asked before surprising Andy with a very interesting comment, "Andy, I'm marrying your sister."
Andy then yelled, "Dude, that'd mean we'd be like related! Disgusting!" before punching Joe on the arm.
Now remember that I'm sitting in the middle of the two, meaning I have to duck so I don't get beat on the head.
"Hey! Don’t I have any say in this?” I retorted, briefly pausing their tussle. They both muttered a distinct, “No,” before Joe spat, “Hey, I said it first!”
"No way, I totally did!" Andy yelled in reply. The next thing I knew was the two had taken their shirts off and were on the floor wrestling.
Rolling my eyes, I commented, "So immature..."
Then I picked up the controller and yelled challengingly, "Who has the guts to try and beat me?"


"I do," said a voice from behind me. Spinning around, I found myself staring into the eyes of Patrick, which startled me a bit, I must say.
"Oh, okay then," I muttered nervously as I looked down at the controller while he jumped over the back of the couch to sit next to me and ended up on the floor.
"Wow, that was some great coordination there," I say with a laugh due to the look of his blushing face as he sat on the couch.
"Alright, lets get it on!" was his only taunt before he picked up the controller and we virtually dueled out for the title of Halo 2 champion.
Nearly a half hour later of competitive remarks and serious hand eye coordination, the battle finally came to an end.


"Oh my god! I won!" he screamed as he stood up and did a victory dance. Andy jumped up from where he sat on the floor, where he'd been watching the fight thoroughly.

He yelled "Little sister, shield your eyes!"
He then stumbled towards me as if he was going to tackle me, but right as I covered my eyes, I heard a squeal and a THUMP!

Peaking through my fingers, I saw Patrick smiling with his foot sticking out and Andy on the floor with his face in the carpet.


My mouth fell open as I said, "That's mean! Why'd you trip him?"
He looked down shyly and said, "He was making fun of my leprechaun dance..."
I started to laugh really hard as he smiled casually and pushed his glasses up the rim of his nose.


"I'm hungry..." I said suddenly as my stomach growled. Andy agreed, "Yeah, I am too. Do you think Rickster has any food?"
Then at the same time, we both gave a long stare at Patrick, who awkwardly asked, "Guys...? Oh my god, what are you doing?" as we lifted him up by his shoulders and led him to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator nothing but a few bits and pieces of leftovers.


"I demand that you go and buy some food!" said Andy. Patrick looked at him like he was crazy and said, "and what makes you think I have money?"


"The fact that you have a job...?" I replied almost a question. Sighing at the lack of food, I decided to change the subject.
"So when are you guys going to start having more shows in front of people?" I asked.
Andy shrugged and Patrick stared at the ceiling and said, "I really don't know. I'm not really sure if I'm over the performance anxiety thing yet.”


"Your voice is amazing, Patrick," I said out of honestly, “you don’t need to worry about what the crowd will think. They’ll love you!”


He winced, obviously not used to receiving compliments from girls, as he asked unsurely, "Do you really mean that? I mean, I‘ve heard it from my mom but, its still weird that suddenly people are acknowledging my hobby."

"Yeah I understand what you mean. Um...if you ever get famous, I'd get to be the official photographer right?" I joked around, not expecting him to take anything serious by the remark. Patrick obviously didn't see the joke side of it.
"Oh wow! Yeah, that'd be so cool! So you take pictures, huh? That's really cool. So where are you planning on going in life with photography? Do you use models or take pictures of landscapes and stuff?" He asked, suddenly enthused by the topic of the conversation.
"Well, I do a little of both. I'm really into conceptual photography because it really deepens the artistic anxiety for the message underneath the photograph. I mean, you take a simple object or movement and portray it so it has a whole other meaning. It's so..." I trailed off when I noticed Andy staring at me dumbly as if he had no idea what I was talking about. And then I looked at Patrick, who was shockingly still listening. I sighed and apologized, "Sorry, I'm such a nerd when it comes to my camera..."
His eyes widened as he said, "Oh no, I like to hear you talk…”

My eyes widened as to contemplate the meaning behind that but he hurried to correct himself by saying, “Wait, that came out wrong. I mean, if I talked about the things I loved, I'd be afraid I’d bore you to death. It's great that you can talk about stuff like that."
He smiled sweetly, and for a second, I felt a rush of something in the pit of my stomach…Butterflies? But this can’t be…


I stared at his eyes as he stared back into mine for a few seconds saying nothing at all. And for that moment, I was so sure that he was thinking the same thing I was. But unfortunately the silence was broken by Andy standing between us and sneering, "Well, I hope I'm not INTERUPTING anything!"

I rolled my eyes at Andy before asking, "So, what are we going to do now? I personally would like to go on a walk. Do you know any parks around here, Patrick?"

"Yes, I do know this awesome one by the river," answered Patrick. I smiled and replied, "Don't forget a scarf, Trick! It's a little chilly outside."
He grinned seeming to be pleased with my use of his nickname before running upstairs. When he came back down, he was wearing a black and gray striped scarf with a heavy black jacket. He wasn't wearing his glasses when he came down so I assumed that he put in contacts since it was still morning and the air would fog up his glasses.
I looked over at Andy as he stood blankly staring at the door.
"Andy, aren't you coming too?" I asked, hoping it'd bring him back to earth. It didn't. He was obviously deep in thought about something.

He shook his head and made an excuse instead, "Wow, I just got a really bad urge to play Halo 2. You two go ahead and have a nice time. Come back fully dressed is all I ask."
My jaw dropped at his statement and said, "That's not very nice...pervert."
Patrick just laughed, probably because he hadn't seen Andy wink at me. We started to walk without talking for a little bit when he asked, “Nathalie…I don’t want to make you talk about this if you don’t want to but…what exactly happened to your parents?”

I chuckled lightly before I assured him, “Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing I’m afraid to talk about. Anyways, I was really young when it happened but…my parents died in a car accident. A drunk driver sideswiped them on their way home from my grandparent’s place.”

Patrick didn’t say anything as he let the information sink in. Then he asked, “W-why weren’t you with them?”

A weird tingling came over me as I tried to remember why I wasn’t with them. Then the sad truth came back to me, “My dad wasn’t exactly on best terms with his parents so whenever they went to visit them, they left me at home in fear that there would be another argument.”

“Oh, I see,” Patrick nodded understandingly, “So how was it that you ended up with Andy and his mom?”

I smiled and said, “Andy’s mom is my mothers step-sister! Unlike my grandparents, Andy’s mom was willing to take me in.”


I started to rub my arms to try to keep myself warm as I tried to continue the conversation.

"Hey, aren't you cold? Take my jacket, I'm plenty warm enough," he offered before taking off his jacket and handing it to me before I could modestly turn him down. I snickered after realizing how baggy it was on me before snuggling into its warmth.

"Silly girl, how could you not bring something warmer? We live by a great lake! Come on!" he joked with a giddy smile.


When we reached the park, I gasped at how beautiful it was. It was covered with barely bloomed trees with pink blossoms filling every branch that left a remarkable reflection on the glorious river that flowed through. And there was a large lush green hill with not a single tree on or around it. On the top of the hill was a flat tire swing that swung in circles every time the wind picked up. All I knew was that I wanted to be up there at that moment.
So I grabbed Patrick's arm and started sprinting up the hill. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was though, because I'd only made it halfway up before I was gasping for air.


But after a few rest stops, I made it up there and practically dove at the swing that simply screamed for a photo.
Patrick had made it to the swing before I did as he jumped onto it with skill and squealed, “WEEEE!” as it spun wildly. To me, the smile on his face was like that of a child and I had to capture that about him. I grabbed my camera from around my neck and started to wind it when Patrick suddenly looked up.


"Wait, you're not going to take a picture of me, are you?" he asked, suddenly self-conscious. I made a face and advised, "I’m good at what I do so just be yourself! Okay?"
He awkwardly positioned himself on the swing and rocked it a little to make for a better image. I bent down below the swing as he smiled calmly and looked down at me. I took a snapshot of him, and turned my back to see how it looked, when I heard him scream.
"Nathalie, help! Help me!" he cried humorously, as I covered my eyes with my hands, since the sun made it so I couldn't see what happened. What I saw was his legs dangling up and over the tire while the rest of his body stuck inside of it.

"Patrick!" I laughed and grabbed his hand to help him out.
"This wasn't my fault! The wind did it to me! I swear it came out of nowhere!" he spazzed cutely. Smiling, I sat down on the swing with him.

“Patrick, I’m glad we came here…Funny how it’s only the second day and you’ve already made me feel like the luckiest girl in the universe. How’d you do it?” I asked while staring into the distance, waiting for his answer. I could see him swallow, his eyes wide as the sea, as he anxiously asked, “D-Do what?”

“How’d you make me feel so…free? It’s like all the tension I had bottled up on the way here has disappeared. How did you do that?” I answered honestly, my eyes stuck somewhere farther than I’d ever imagined.

“How do you know it was me who did that?” his voice broke as he shifted his weight towards the ground.

Laughing, I turned to look him in the face as I answered, “Well, it sure as hell wasn’t the idiots I already knew, that’s for sure!”

Patrick then looked up at me confidently as he answered, “Yeah, no kidding. And to answer your question?, I don’t have a clue how I did it but…I’m glad that I did.”

Scooting closer to me, he stared me in the eyes dazedly enough to make me dizzy. My lips twitched anxiously, awaiting his next move. Leaning forward, both of his hand graced my cheeks as he pulled me to him, kissing me softly. I felt a burst of butterflies explode in me. It felt amazing. I raised my hands and left them resting on his shoulders as I parted my lips to his satisfaction. His masculinity must’ve kicked in because his arms wrapped around my waist as we explored the depths of one another’s mouths.

As he pulled away, I tried to speak. I tried to spill my heart’s content to the stranger I’d fallen for in a matter of two days. But he spoke before I had the chance to.
“It doesn’t make any sense right now but…it’ll matter someday. This will be our little secret?”

He slid his hand onto mine and I could feel the heat rise in both mine and his cheeks. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. All I could do was nod. I was speechless. I couldn’t claim this was love but there was just something there I couldn’t begin to describe.

Staring down at my camera, I began to fiddle with the settings when Patrick lifted the camera from around my neck. I took that as my cue and leaned in close to him as he took a few snap shots of the two of us huddled close together through the cold.

We were so involved in our own world that we didn’t even notice the dark clouds rolling in front of the sun. That is, we didn’t notice until the wind picked up swiftly and it was too loud to hear each other. It started to sprinkle as I told Patrick, “We should start heading back now before it starts raining.”
So I grabbed his hand and started to run down the hill, when it started randomly pouring rain onto us. The river at the bottom of the hill was making huge waves due to the excess amount of wind that had risen.


We ran home quickly, soaked from the rain, and stood on Patrick's front porch shivering.
"Oh god, Patrick, you're going to get sick now!" I said concerned. He shook his head and said, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
But he still shivered nonetheless. So I embraced him and tried to keep him warm, seeing as the Joe and Andy thought it'd be funny to lock us out. Assholes.
"Thank you," he whispered in my ear.