FicWad

The next few days just flew by. I’d admitted my drop-out papers to the head administration and we were quickly on our way out of Chicago and heading towards Cincinnati, Ohio.

At this moment, I was comfortably sitting cross-legged on the comfortable couch located on the left side of the bus. It wasn't quite luxurious or anything but it was still rather cozy. There weren't enough bunks for everyone so some of us had to squeeze in with someone, or sleep on the couch. Good for me that Jaden was super skinny so it was easy for me to fit in with her. It’d only been a couple of days so far.
"Good morning, sunshine," I greeted with a grin as Patrick and Pete walked to the front of the bus, both rubbing their eyes. Pete stared right through me as he walked to the 'kitchen' part of the bus and made himself some coffee. Patrick simply half-smiled before explaining, "He needs his coffee before he'll talk to anyone," and sat next to me, while I watched Andy play Legend of Zelda.
We watched until we reached a truck stop about an hour into the game. Everyone except Patrick and I decided to go get lunch. Personally, I wasn’t very hungry due to the excitement of being so far from home. It was pretty quiet between the two of us and I was still wanting to ask him about what happened the night of my birthday party.
"Patrick? What did you tell me that night on my birthday?" I asked curiously, hiding my anxiety for his answer. A horrified expression made its way across his face as he granulated his thoughts and decided how he was going to answer.
"Y-you don't remember?" he stuttered out. I shook my head and answered, "Not a thing."
"Oh," he mumbled before looking up at me directly through the eyes, startling me with his sudden seriousness.
"I told you that I," he trailed off when he noticed people walk in and yelled, "don't like it when you drink so much!"
I gave him a confused look and asked, "What?"
He slapped his head hard and said, "It's nothing," and stood up and stomped to the back of the bus.
Confused, I stared at the floor while deep in thought.
Joe cocked an eyebrow and asked, "What was that all about?"
"I asked him what happened the night of my birthday," I explained disappointedly. Joe bit his lip and gripped tightly onto his sandwich and said, "I'll be right back," and walked to find Patrick at the end of the bus. So, now I'm sitting alone in a room with Pete, Andy, and this girl that I’d seen a lot on the bus but was never properly introduced to. I watched as Andy and her got in a deep discussion about equipment when Andy noticed my questioning look. He then explained, "This is Caitlin Eberlee. She's one of our roadies."
The last name sounded so familiar but I couldn't recognize the face. She had fair skin and dark brown hair that made her light eyes stand out for miles. She had flat red lips that she constantly chewed when she was nervous or in thought.
"Hi, my name is Nathalie," I answered, exchanging a smile, “Andy’s sister.”
She grinned sweetly, possibly a little shy from the sudden introduction before giddily getting herself back into another huge discussion with the boys.

But I noticed that Joe and Patrick weren't back at front yet.
After several minutes, they came back up front where Patrick sat down and acted normal again. This confused me but I decided not to push for any more answers. I'll just ignore it.
I heard a muffled sound and saw Jaden roll out of her bunk. She groaned a little and stood up and sat down on the other couch with Andy and Caitlin. While I, on the other hand, was squished between Pete, Patrick, and Joe.
"About time you woke up. Jeez, it's almost 3 o' clock. You're such a night crawler," I scolded with a stifled laugh.
She smiled halfway and drank some of Pete's coffee. I turned to Caitlin and started up with some small talk by asking, "How long have you been a roadie?"
She shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "I think it's been a year now since I joined the roadie crew."

“I see,” I smiled.
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"Come on, say something cute for me!" she enthused gently. I just blankly stared at the recording device in her hand. She pouted her lip and said, "But don't you want to be famous someday?"
I shook my head furiously and, like the hot-tempered child I was, screamed, "Famous people are lazy!"
My mom then paused the camera and started laughing in a way that made me feel calm and not so much under pressure. She really had that motherly figure that most people lacked. But she was so attractive.
She had sparkling green eyes and dark brown hair that made her seem like she was twenty one instead of thirty.

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"Nathalie," Patrick muttered as he placed his hand on my shoulder to shake me awake. I yawned as I opened my eyes to find my head resting his lap! Immediately, I sat up and asked, "I fell asleep?"

Patrick chuckled and replied, "Yeah, you were talking one second and you just passed out the next. Are you feeling okay?"

Nervously, I let a giggle and answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bit tired...Umm, will you go with me to back?" I asked him as I got up and walked towards the end of the hall with him following.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, concerned all of a sudden. Looking over at Caitlin, I felt a sudden bolt of electricity rush through me as I recognized a similarity between my mother and her. That’s pretty strange...

"Yeah, fine. I just need to talk to you for a second," I muttered quietly as I dragged him to the back of the bus and shut the door.

Sighing, I looked down at the floor and clarified, "I just had a flashback dream of my childhood...that's really peculiar because I haven't had any recollection of my parents since I was ten years old. It has to do with Caitlin!”

Patrick raised an eyebrow and asked, "What does Caitlin have to do with this?"

Pouting, I explained, "Well...I remember my mom telling my dad something about some guy with the last name Eberlee. I can't begin to embrace that without knowing some more truth about my past...but I'm scared to ask Caitlin something out of the blue like that. I mean, do you think she could be related to me?"
He shook his head slightly but asked reluctantly, "Um, do you want me to ask her for you?"
"Yes... but not so suddenly! Wait a little while, at least. I want to know her better so it doesn't feel like I‘m jumping to conclusions," I mumbled.
He nodded and footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. Grabbing me by the shoulders quickly, he whispered, "Quick! Someone's coming! Act casual!"
He was really close to my face so I could only assume that he intended to kiss me. But apparently not, seeing as it threw him off guard a bit when I pressed my face to his as the electricity increasingly surged through my entire body. But once I stopped kissing him, I started giggling when I saw Joe standing in the doorway with a disgusted look on his face. Patrick didn't notice Joe as he turned to see what I was looking at and started to blush furiously. Then he turned to me and shouted, "That's not what I meant by acting casual!"
Sitting down on the chair, I began to snort with laughter. I found this situation hilarious seeing as it was JOE who found us.
"Wow, um Andy," he paused while snickering, "you're going to have to find that magazine of yours on your own because dude, you really don't want to come back here right now!"
He walked down the hall and I looked at Patrick's flustered face and smiled. Then I brushed his arm lightly and said, "You know you want to laugh. Come on, let it out for good times sake."
He smiled and let out a light chuckle and started to walk towards the front of the bus. I did so as well and walked back to find that Joe had told everyone in the bus about walking in on Patrick and me.
I sat down and said, "Don't make it seem like such a big deal. Be thankful it wasn't anything worse."
I smirked and looked over at Caitlin. She was being pretty quiet so I decided to talk to her.
"So, how do you like being a roadie?"
She nodded and said, "I love music and I'm extremely grateful for this job. It has its pros and cons though. I am in charge of setting up the microphones before the show and picking them up if they're knocked over during the show. It sounds easy but you have to be quick and good with amplifiers."
I smiled and asked, "What'd you do before this job?"
She made a face and said, "I worked with my dad at a hotel in Chicago. My real mom died when I was ten but she and my dad was divorced by the time I was two so I didn't really know her. I started working at sixteen years old as a maid in this hotel down the street. By the time I reached eighteen, I moved out and lived in the attic of a music store with my friend who worked at the store. I didn't work there though so I was dead broke. I lived there until my twenty-third birthday where I met Andy. Then he helped me out by dubbing me a roadie for his band. And here I am now!"

“Wow, don’t be so quick to give her your whole life story now!” Andy joked as she giggled and muttered, “Shut up…”
"So, why didn't you get a job if you lived alone for five years?" I asked. She looked at the floor shyly and mumbled, "good question," and then looked up and said with a guessing tone in her voice, "lack of motivation?"
I heard a funny sounding laugh come from Andy, which sort of threw me off guard. A smile crept across my face just then as I realized the amount of chemistry between the two sitting before me. OH MY GOD!

Andy had a thing with the roadie!
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Patrick's point of view
After the little 'accident' in the back of the bus a few days ago, I had finally made my personal decision to tell Nathalie I love her. But I had a plan on how it would happen, as corny as it was, and now I just needed to take her somewhere special where we could be alone. She means the world to me...
Gah, it's so soon I know, but what I feel is real and I need to get this out before it's too late and I lose my chance.
I looked up to find Andy and Caitlin giggling about some inside joke of theirs. They've grown awfully close within the past year or so...I’m pretty sure they’re getting it on secretly.

Oh right, I have to ask her that thing for Nathalie.
Nathalie was sleeping so now would be a perfect time to ask. It is about three in the morning right now and I have no idea why I'm still awake.
"Caitlin, there was something I needed to ask you," I said in the least suspicious voice I could manage. She smiled casually and said, "Okay, shoot."
I swallowed before asking, "Do you look more like your mom or dad?"
She made a face that questioned why you'd ask a random question like that but she answered nonetheless.
"I think I look like my dad, but everyone tells me I look like my mom. Why do you ask?" she tilted her head to the side in confusion.
Andy jumped in just then and commented, "That's awfully weird to ask out of the blue, Patrick. What do you have on your mind?"
In my mind, I had already pieced together the relationship between Nathalie and Caitlin, although I never said anything directly to any of them about it. Now would be the time to determine if it's true.
"Do you know if your mom got remarried after your dad and her got divorced?"
Her mouth dropped and she answered, "No, I have no idea. What's with these questions?"
My eyes fell to the corner of the floor and I answered, "I think there's a chance you might have a half-sister you never knew about."



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"What?" she nearly screamed. I was startled by the outburst but decided to explain my theory.
"You see, if your mom got married after she got divorced and had a child with someone else a few months later, then that means you'd have a half-sibling. Judging if my theory is correct, that would mean Nathalie is your half-sister."
Caitlin bit her lip and looked at Andy and said, "But I thought she was your sister."
"She came into our custody after her parents died…. She was eight," Andy explained.
"Oh my god," she trailed off before screaming, "I have a fucking half-sister and my bastard dad never told me!"
She stood up while holding her head and mumbled, "This is just too much to take in for one night..."
She was wobbly from standing up so fast and she fell onto the couch and onto Andy's lap.
"Dude, you killed her!" Andy whispered furiously.
I rolled my eyes and said, "It's just from shock is all. It's not everyday you find out that you have a sibling you never knew about. Isn‘t that a little bit ironic that she found her here?"
"Yeah," Andy murmured, "I'm kinda pissed that my mom never told me that Nathalie's mom was married before...”

We lifted her up and laid her on the couch before I headed to the bathroom and grabbed a wet rag and placed it on her forehead while Andy sat on the floor by her side to make sure she was alright.
I smiled and left them alone and walked to my bunk to go to sleep, trying not to wake anyone up.
But one person was awake.
"Thank you, Patrick," Nathalie's voice rang through my ears softly as she spoke confidently for the first time I‘d ever heard. Goosebumps appeared on the skin as a warm feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. Her fingers on my face made my blood rush as she confirmed, "I finally made my decision about us. I-I want there to be an us. You and me. I don‘t want to keep up this friends with benefits act. I want the real thing."
I felt her grab my hands and slide them around her hips. My whole body went numb as her lips suddenly made their presence on mine. I closed my eyes as her warmth entered my mouth.
I felt her mouth open as her tongue grazed my bottom lip. I let my lips fall apart and grant her access.
Slowly and very quietly, she led me, lips still locked, into the back bedroom where she shut the door and placed her hands on my cheeks. Pushing me down on to the bed, she pulled away and kissed my cheek before resting her head on my chest with her arms wrapped around me tight.

I cringed as her hand rested on my thigh as she whispered, "You know what I want, trick."
All I knew was that I wasn't going to let this opportunity go. This was the girl I was in love with and for the time being, she was all mine.

For real. This was the real thing.

"Are you sure?" I asked, making sure she was completely coherent in her decision as she positioned herself on top of me.

She paused momentarily before answering, "Never been more sure in my life, Patrick."




Bahahaa, I left a cliffhanger!