FicWad

Part Thirty-Six

We sat in the waiting room of the ER, waiting for Andy and Farrah to meet us inside. Max and Lily were staying occupied with some of the coloring books they had laying around. All the nurses thought they were absolutely adorable, so it was easy to get stuff for them. It was a hospital after all.
I soon seen Andy come through the doors where the rooms were. Kel and I both stood up to meet him. "How is he?" Kel said, wringing her hands together.
"He's fine. The doctor told me and his parents that he's got a lot of cuts and a lot of bruises from the impact, along with injuries from the seatbelt and the wheel hitting him. Other than the cuts and bruises, he'll be fine. Pete's parents were here before all of us, so they might know more."
"Is anybody allowed into his room yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, visiting hours just started at 11:00 and it's about 11:30 or something, so we should be allowed in by now. Farrah and Joe are already up there waiting for us." I nodded and then glanced back at the kids.
"I don't think they need to see Uncle Pete in bruises and bandages." Kel said, looking back at them as well. Kel proceeded to walk over to the nurses desk and ask if there was a nursery or any place that the twins could stay at while we were in the room. The nurses pointed down one of the halls, and Kel thanked her. We took both of them down there and left them in the care of a very nice woman who fell in love with them the minute she seen them. "It'll be no problem at all, take your time." she assured us. We thanked her and then followed Andy to Pete's room.
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I stood there at the window through his hospital room, watching as my best friend was getting treated for bruises, cuts and a few burns. He looked so...helpless. He didn't look as cocky as he normally would have. It was strange to see someone with such assurance in themselves looking so pathetic and weak. His hair was still straightened perfectly, in jagged edges along his forehead. Even in a hospital bed, he had his eyeliner on, dark black lines around his eyes. His makeup looked smudged, most likely from some of the stuff they'd put on his face to disinfect the cuts. It was hard to watch my best friend lie there completely still, no control over what he could do. I'm sure he hated it. If I knew Pete, and I know I do, he did NOT like being in that hospital bed.
Andy had left for a second to go meet someone else, leaving Farrah, Joe, Mr. And Mrs. Wentz, Kel and myself to sit by his room. We were allowed in, but none of us dared go in there for fear of being kicked out by another doctor. The doctors were coming and going through that room like nobody's business.
Andy came back with a fairly tall redhead, her eyes a bright blueish color, and a worried look on her face. Andy introduced all of us to her as she walked past. "Um...this is Ashlee. Pete's...."
She turned to the rest of us to complete his sentence. "Girlfriend. I'm his girlfriend. It's really nice to meet you all, I'm sorry it had to be under such circumstances."
I heard Joe whisper to Farrah. "Pete never told me he had a girlfriend."
Farrah shook her head. "Me neither. She is....HOT."
Kel softly giggled at Farrah's comment as we all looked at her. Pete's parents looked at her. "Nice to see you, Ashlee. Of course, not under these circumstances, as you said."
"Thank you. Does anyone know if he's gonna be ok?"
We all shrugged. Mrs. Wentz spoke first. "None of the doctors have told us anything since he got here. When he showed up they told us he should be ok, because there was only minor cuts and bruises, there was just A LOT of cuts and bruises. He looks better than what he did before they cleaned him up, of course, but...even so...."
Ashlee nodded. "He really looks hurt."
We all agreed. I still stood there frozen at the window, my hands tightly shoved in the pockets of my blue pants. I felt Kel's arm hook into mine, and her other hand hold onto my arm. "Come on. You need coffee, or something."
We all agreed and we headed into the hospital's so-called cafeteria to get something. We were all interested in Ashlee at the moment, so we sat down across from her as Pete's parents grabbed some coffee and went back to the room to check to see if the doctors had come back. 
Joe stared in awe at her. Ashlee gave him a glare.
"Take a picture and it'll last longer, I promise."
Joe shook his head, snapping back to reality, and stumbled over an excuse slurred together that didn't make sense. Farrah put her hand over his mouth to get him to shut up. "He's just trying to tell you that you're gorgeous."
Ashlee smiled and took a drink of her coffee. "Thank you, then. I think."
I looked at her with interest. I could see why Pete liked her. "How long have you and Pete been dating?"
"About a year."
Andy and Joe nearly spit their coffee onto the table. "A year?! Jesus, Pete knows how to keep a secret doesn't he?" Andy said in disbelief.
I looked at them both. "It's not like we all talk a lot anymore." I snapped, making them shut up. Ashlee smiled at me. "I've heard a lot about you, Patrick. You're Pete's beloved best friend. He hardly ever shuts up about you."
Kel nudged me on the shoulder. "Aw, look who's all famous." she joked.
Ashlee then turned to her. "And you must be Keliah. I've heard a lot about you too. How was it touring with four guys at once?"
Kel sighed. "Exhausting. Especially while you're pregnant. Never tour with four guys when you're pregnant."
"Ah, that's right, you had twins too. What're their names?"
"Lily Ann Stump and Maxwell Vaughn Stump."
"Very pretty names. Pete absolutely adores your children. He talks about them about as much as he does you two." Ashlee said, sipping her coffee again. 
"Thank you. And as Farrah said, you are gorgeous. I'm not sure if Pete deserves someone so pretty." Joe and Andy laughed again. Farrah, Kel, and Ashlee all gave them a glare and it was my turn to laugh as they shut up. 
"You two will learn not to say or do the wrong thing in a woman's presence someday." I said, shaking my head. Kel smiled at me.
"He's right." she agreed. "Either way, Ashlee, I think Pete's going to be fine. If the doctor is right, and nothing major happened, then he'll just look like a beat up mobster for awhile."
She laughed weakly, brushing her bright red hair behind her ear. "I hope you're right."
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Pete was finally awake when we got back to the room. The doctor was talking to Mr. and Mrs. Wentz when we all quietly shuffled into the room. We let Ashlee past us to talk to Pete first. And of course, when Pete opened his mouth, it was still the same Pete as it always has been.
"Hey, sugar, how are you?" he said, slurring a little because of the cut on his lip.
"I don't really think how I'm doing is very important right now-"
"To hell with what's important. How are YOU?"
She smiled and sighed. "Fine. Worried. Upset. That's about it."
Pete smiled and moved his hand up to her face to run the back of it along her cheek. "You look as beautiful as ever, Ashlee. I'm sad I couldn't say the same for myself."
She laughed again, putting her hand on his. Pete's face turned to look at all of us hanging nervously back at the doorway. "Guys, and ladies, what's up?"
I stepped forward. "We were worried if you were ok."
Pete squinted a little as he looked at me and cocked his head. "Damn, Trick, you look GOOD."
I brushed off the compliment and focused the conversation back on him. "Thanks. Are you feeling ok?"
"I'm perfectly fine. I see Keliah is here too. Where are the twins?"
"They're with the nurses downstairs in the nursery right now."
Pete's face fell a little, but he looked back up at me. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't talked to you in awhile. I keep meaning to call and I'll get distracted by something else. And then normally I'll forget after I try to remember it the second time and-"
"Dude. It's fine. We took a break for a reason. So we could miss each other. If we're talking all the time, it's kinda hard to miss someone." I joked.
He smiled, wincing in pain a little as he then addressed everyone else. "Joe, Andy. Nice to see you're looking well."
Joe shoved his hands in his pockets. "No offense, but you look like hell, man."
Pete grinned, his teeth even more white than normal in comparison to the dark scratches and gashes around his face. "None taken."
Andy sighed. "I'm just happy you're alive."
"Now, none of that talk, dude. It didn't happen, I didn't die, so there's no use obsessing over if I could've died."
Andy nodded. Pete then turned to Farrah. "And the lovely Farrah. How are you this fine afternoon?"
"I've been worried sick since I got here."
"You musn't do that to yourself. I don't think people want to clean up your vomit off the hospital halls. Even though...you know...it is kinda their job." he joked.
She smiled, wringing her hands together again. We all stood there nervously in silence. I don't think this is how any of us planned to be reunited. I think there was supposed to be...confetti....and you know...slow motion running towards each other through fields of flowers. Not in a hospital ER.  
The doctor turned to us and repeated what he said to his parents. "We can release him by this afternoon. A lot of his cuts were deeply infected, but after a lot of cleaning-"
"That stung like a bitch..." Pete interrupted.
"-we believe he should be perfectly alright."
I was nervous to ask my question, but I knew I had to or else I wouldn't sleep.
"Uh, Doc, can I ask you something?" I said.
"Sure. Anything."
"What happened to the drunk driver that hit him?"
"Well, of course, from the looks of the scene, Peter here was following the rules of the road, and went through the intersection at a green light, as he should. The driver came speeding down the road, going probably a good...say, 80 miles an hour, narrowly missed Peter, and crashed into the back end. Really, in short...the drunk driver that hit his car...he died on impact. The car basically threw him like a rag doll through the windshield as he crashed into Peter's car, and his head had so many injuries, the blood loss basically killed him."
I nodded slowly, trying to wrap my head around the situation. At least he got what he deserved, I thought. At least he didn't get out of it unscathed while Pete laid here in a hospital. I thanked him for his answer and he left us all alone in the room so we could talk with Pete. Pete's parents followed the doctor to go fill out paperwork for his release from the hospital.
"Dude, that guy was going so fucking fast down that road, you have no idea. He totally blindsided me. If I'd have seen him coming I would've hit the gas and dodged him."
I shrugged. "Not much we can do about it now."
Pete rolled up the sleeve of his partially torn shirt. It looked like he was wearing the same thing he did when he was in the crash, looking at the amount of rips, tears and burn marks there were on his shirt. He pointed to a specific spot on his arm, a pattern of cuts that were on his arm. "Check this out guys, it looks like the batman signal. I noticed this last night when they were trying to give me an IV or something for lost blood, and I was like, 'SWEET'. Andy laughed as he looked at it.
"It actually does. That totally beats any of your tattoos any day."
We all laughed for a second. Kel stood up, tapping me on the shoulder. "We should probably go check on Max and Lily. Make sure they haven't caused problems."
Pete's eyes lit up at the mention of their names. "Will you bring them here? Just this once? I promise I won't ever get hit by a car again!" he said, pressing his hands together in a prayer position. Kel nodded and agreed. "Alright. But only this once."
We walked out of the room and walked to the nursery. Lily and Max were busy messing with all sorts of blocks and other toys inside the room and the woman who was there approached us as we came in. "You have two of the most well-behaved children I've ever seen. They were so peaceful and cooperative."
I laughed out loud. "If only they'd be that way at home." I said, shaking my head. 
The woman laughed with us and Max and Lily looked up to see us. They both ran at us, clinging onto each of our legs. Kel ran a hand through Lily's strawberry blonde hair and looked down at her. "Would you both like to go see Uncle Pete?"
They both nodded and we picked them up, Lily in Kel's arms and Max in mine, and headed back down to Pete's room. Before we opened the door to let the twins in to see him I knelt down to look at them in the eyes.
"Now, Uncle Pete is very hurt right now. So don't pounce on him or play too rough with him. We don't wanna hurt Uncle Pete do we?"
Both of them shook their heads. "Good. Now go in there and say hi to everybody."
With that, Kel opened the door and they ran in, jumping up and down on the floor. "UNCLE PETE, UNCLE PETE, WE'RE HERE!" they yelled, almost simultaneously.
"Boy, you kids have grown. God...Trick, Lily looks just like you. And Max looks like you, Kel."
I nodded in agreement, and sat back down in our chairs, watching the twins carefully. Ashlee looked at them in interest as Max and Lily ran around the room, saying hi to Aunt Farrah, Uncle Joe, and Uncle Andy.
"They're twins? They don't look anything alike."
"Fraternal twins. Most boy/girl twins are. But, as backwards as it is, Max looks like me, and Lily looks like Patrick. It's very strange." Kel answered calmly.
"They're adorable nonetheless, though."
Kel smiled at her and then turned back to watch the kids.
Lily ran up to Ashlee and said, very bluntly, "Who are you?"
"I'm Ashlee. I'm a friend of Uncle Pete's."
"Oh. I'm Lily Ann." she said proudly and then skipped off to sit on Kel's lap.
Ashlee looked stunned for a second, and turned to me again, whispering intensely. "She's like a mini-you! Only female! That's insane. Her eyes are the most piercing green I've ever seen!"
I smiled and turned to look at Lily who was clinging to her mother's shoulders.
"That's my girl."
Max did almost the same thing to Ashlee. "Hello."
"Hello." Ashlee said kindly back.
"I'm Max." he said, and then retreated back to me, clinging to my leg. I ruffled his hair and sat him on my lap. Pete smiled and watched them as they clung to our shoulders, wiped out from the amount of energy they had just put into running around the room. Farrah leaned over and whispered something to Kel. She nodded, and turned to Ashlee. "Ashlee, we're going to take a walk with the kids and let the guys...talk. Would you like to join us?" Ashlee got up, looking quickly back at Pete.
"Yeah, I'd love to. Promise you won't get into any trouble."
Pete rolled his eyes. "Please. It hurts too much to move to get into any trouble."
"I know. Just checking." she said, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. I watched Kel, Farrah, Ashlee, Max and Lily all walk out the door, leaving an awkward silence in the room with the four of us. Feeling particularly confident today, I went ahead and started the conversation.
"So. How has everything been going with you guys?"   
Andy and Joe looked at each other. "Well, our band stopped touring...what...like, 5 months ago. So that's kinda finished with, I guess." Joe said, nervously running his hand through his hand.
Pete put his hands in his lap and spoke. "I guess that side band thing I had going didn't really do so well here in the States. We were a hit in the U.K. though."
I looked at all of them and Pete cocked his head, looking at me suspiciously. "What have YOU been doing?"
I got a bit annoyed at his tone and snapped back. "Oh, I don't know, trying to raise two kids." Pete shook his head. "I didn't mean it to come out like that."
I shrugged. "I know. No, really...I've been working on an album. It's almost finished, so I'll put it out sometime soon."
"That sounds like exciting news."
"Yep. It is."
There was silence in the room again. I messed with the buttons on my shirt, avoiding each of their eyes. Andy started to speak. "Sooo...um....has anyone thought about coming back to the ba-"
Pete held up a hand to stop him. "I'm already going to say that we all have. I know it. Things wouldn't be this awkward if we all didn't think the same thing, so don't any of you lie."
I nodded. "He's right. I was actually meaning to ask whether or not any of you wanted to get together and do some stuff."
Joe ran a hand over his face and leaned over on his knees. "But, you've still got an album to come out, don't you want to do any stuff for that?"
I shrugged. "Eh. Maybe. But even if I did stuff for the album, the press wouldn't know we were even back together. Hell, I don't really know if they realize we've broken up." Pete nervously wrung his hands together.
"Ah, yeah...about that....I MAY have put something on Twitter...and it MAY have gotten alot of attention..."
Andy threw his hands up in the air, crashing them back down on his lap. "Are you serious?"
"I said MAY, not that it did. It MAY have gotten attention."
I shook my head for a second, and started laughing. "You are such an idiot, Pete."
The rest of the guys joined in on the laughter.
For the first time in years, I felt like I was part of a band again.