FicWad

A/N I'm soooo sorry this took so long! I've been soooo busy!

Emily awoke the next morning to a chill in the living room. The loose knit afghan blanket wasn't enough to keep her warm. She stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, and then she heard slow footsteps across the livingroom. She glanced across the room; Pete was slowly making his way towards the kitchen. He caught her looking at him, but he said nothing. He held her gaze all the way until he was inside the kitchen, and he dissappeared from Emily's view. Not a word was spoken. Anger boiled up inside of her, and she threw back the covers and jumped up off the couch. She marched into the kitchen and stood behind Pete, fists clenched. He sensed her presence and spun around, and his cool stare from moments before was gone, replaced with bewilderment.
"What the hell was that, Peter Wentz?!" she cried.
"What the hell was what?!"
"You just stare at me like I'm some stranger!"
"After last night, I'm not so sure who you are!" he exclaimed. He backed away slightly, and Emily saw a new expression on his face; fear. He looked scared to the point of tears, and sure enough, his eyes glittered with tears. Emily didn't know what to say; he was looking at her so pathetically that it broke her heart.
"Pete..." she began, loosening her fists.
"Emily, lately, it's been like...like you're mad at us for moving, or something. We've been breaking out in arguments every couple of days, I mean, it's pathetic, really..."
"I...well, you...I..." Emily spluttered. She didn't know what to say; was she mad at them?
"And us, Emily! What about us?" Pete exclaimed. He stepped towards her and grabbed her shoulders, turning her so that they were staring into eachothers eyes. "You act like there's nothing between us, like we've never kissed..." His voice was lowered, and he looked
frantic. "Y'know, I never even told anyone about that. It was our special goodbye."
"You didn't tell anyone?" she breathed.
He shook his head.
"I didn't want it to be made into something big..."
Emily felt tears now stinging her eyes, too. They stared into eachothers eyes, and then Pete leaned into her...
"Happy birthday." He whispered just before she lost herself in the kiss.

Emily was dazed; she sat on the couch, surrounded by her friends. No one mentioned what had happened the night before; it seemed Pete had been the only one who wanted to bother saying anything to her on her birthday. Pete sat across the coffee table from her in his desk chair, not looking at her. He had barely uttered a word since their moment in the kitchen. Joe and Patrick sat on either side of her, and Andy was on the floor in front of the coffee table, leaning against Patrick's legs. The five of them were eating pieces of the cake that Joe had "baked" for Emily. Patrick, Joe and Andy were involved in a heated disscussion concerning Star Wars, but Emily and Pete couldn't care less. They were absorbed in their own little worlds. Pete stared determinedly down at his chocolate cake, concentrating on chewing and pretending to be interested in the icing. Emily watched him dreamily from the corner of her eye, replaying their moment in the kitchen over and over in her mind. His hands in her hair, a mixture of their tears making their cheeks damp, and their lips never parting, not for a second.
"Emily...hey, Em! Earth to Em-ih-leee!" Joe said, poking Emily's shoulder. She snapped back to reality and turned to look at her friends.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"You're off in dreamland! What are you thinking about?"
"Uh...n-nothing..."she stammered, glancing at Pete. He had his eyes on her, burning into hers, and it was clear his message; 'Don't say anything.'
"Sure doesn't look like nothing." Andy muttered darkly.
"Nevermind, you guys...ah, thanks for the cake."
"No problem," grinned Joe, "Aren't I a good cook?"
"Wonderful." Emily smiled back, glad for the change of subject.

And the day wore on, fading into night. Exept there was no wild party like they usually had on birthdays; it seemed like the last time that had happened was Patrick's 18th. The five friends simply sat around with beer, talking and laughing. They were disscussing their old, wild parties, and Emily remembered something and smiled. She set down her beer on the coffee table, and rolled up ther bottom of her jeans.
"Remember this, guys?" she asked with a grin, pointing to the tattoo on her ankle. 'These friends are golden' stared up at them.
"Sure do." Patrick agreed, rolling up the bottom of his khakis.
Everyone sat there for a while, with the bottoms of their left pant legs rolled up, admiring the homemade tattoos in silence.
"Life was so much easier back then." Pete finally said softly.
The other smiled sadly and rolled down their pant legs, not looking at each other.
"Much easier." Emily agreed.
Then, suddenly, Emily was lying curled up in Joe's lap, crying her heart out. She was dimly aware of Pete and Andy squishing themselves onto the couch next to her, and Patrick frantically asking what was wrong. But she couldn't speak; all she could do was cry.

Emily awoke the next morning with her head in Joe's lap, but the other boys were gone. Apparently Joe had decided to stay with her while she cried herself to sleep. She blearily sat up; Joe was smiling softly at her.
"'Morning." He whispered.
"Mmmm..." she replied, rubbing her eyes, "Did we fall asleep last night out here?"
Joe laughed.
"Well, you fell asleep, and the others abandoned me with you all curled up in my lap, so...I just slept out here."
"I'm sorry." She mumbled.
"Nah, it's no problem, Em."
She smiled weakly.
"What were you so upset about, anyways? We kinda figured it must have been something to do with us being gone all the time. You were really crying hard...Pete finally went off to bed mumbling to himself and looking kinda shaken up..."
"We kissed yesterday." Emily said bluntly, startling herself.
"You what?!" Joe cried, jumping up off the couch.
Emily covered her mouth with her left hand, wide eyed and surprised at what she had just let slip.
"Pete! Hey, Pete!" Joe yelled towards the bedrooms.
"Yeah?" came his muffled voice.
"Get out here!"
Two doors banged open, reavealing Pete, Patrick and Andy.
"You kissed Emily!" Joe cried, staring at Pete with bewilderment.
"What! I...well, yeah, but..." Pete stood, feet rooted in place, shock across his face.
"Emily says you two kissed!"
Pete's gaze turned to Emily.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
He just shook his head, and turned away, dissappearing into his bedroom.

Emily and the others just sort of hung around the rest of the day; Patrick sat on the couch with his acoutic guitar, trying to write music. Andy had to work for a couple of hours, and he came home and was so exhausted he went to take a nap, and Joe talked with Emily most of the day, though the conversation was embarrasingly polite and simple, the two of them trying not to stray to the topic of Pete, who had locked himself in his room and refused to come out all day. Patrick began to mutter angrily about his favorite pen, which was locked inside the room with Pete. Finally, Emily couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and marched across the tiny livingroom to the door to Pete and Patrick's bedroom. She banged her fist hard again the chipped wooden surface.
"Pete, please open the door!" she cried helplessly.
No answer.
"Peter Wentz! If you don't open the door right this second I'm going to break it down!" she yelled.
No answer. Emily kicked it as hard as she could, frustrated as hell.
"Ow! My foot!" she shrieked, jumping up and down.
And the door opened. Pete watched her, his eyes cool.
"What do you want?"
She glared at him.
"We have to talk about this."
Pete glanced over her shoulder at Patrick and Joe, who were staring at them in a dazed shock. He sighed, and ushered Emily into his room, shutting the door behind them. Emily immediately began a heated rant.
"Why are you mad that I let it slip?! Is it something to be ashamed of, kissing me? You started it! I know very well I could have stopped it, but that doesn't change anything. Do you like me, Peter? Do you love me? Do you want to be with me, or am I just a fling? Am I-"
"Emily! Whoa, just- chill!"
She stopped in mid-sentence, and crossed her arms, leaning back on her heels and mirroring his cool stare. Pete sighed, and softened his eyes.
"Listen...I'm 25, you're 18! I'm not ashamed. Maybe I should go up on the roof and scream to the world how much I love you! But I'm so much older than you, Emily!"
She felt anger boil up inside of her.
"That never stopped us from being friends." She snapped.
"Emily, think about it. You're young, you're 18, you don't know what you want in life, you still have a lot of growin up to do! I'm 25, I know what I want. I've grown up."
"Ha! You want to be famous! Yeah, you've really grown up!" she laughed cruelly.
"I don't want to be famous! I just want to play the music that I love. Is that so difficult for you to comprehend?!" he cried in exasperation.
"Right, Pete. Because I'm an immature little 18-year-old who need to grow up." And with that, she marched off towards the door.
"Emily, no, wait-"
Pete followed her into the livingroom, practically running to keep up with her swift steps. Patrick, Joe and Andy, who had just woken up, watched helplessly as she crossed the room and wrenched open the front door. She spun around and looked Pete straight in the eye.
"Happy birthday to me." She snapped, and she left.
---
Hours later, the four boys were in bed. Pete awoke to hear a faint tapping noise on his third story window, so he crawled out of bed and pulled back the curtain. It was pouring rain. /Thunk/. I small pebble hit the window. He opened it and leaned out, the rain drops wetting his hair. There, on the sidewalk, stood Emily.
"I'm sorry!" she cried breathlessly.
"What the...Emily, why are you out there?"
"The intercom isn't working...I'm sorry, Pete...I'm sorry I left...I'm sorry..." she babbled, and Pete began to worry about hypothermia.
"Hold on, I'll go get you!" he yelled, and he closed the window. He threw some slippers on and hurried down to the lobby of the building, and he ran out into the street. Emily stood there, shivering.
"Pete..." she ran to him, and he enveloped her in his arms.
"I'm sorry, Pete. I went for a walk...a long walk. I thought about it...I don't care if you're 25. I think I love you, Pete."
Pete looked down at her for a moment, and broke out in a smile.
"I love you, too, Emily."
He leaned over and kissed her gently.
"Oh my God, this is so corny...kissing in the rain..." he whispered.
"Shut up." Emily smiled, pressing her lips against his.

Pete carried Emily upstairs, and really began to worry about her shivering.
"I'm f-fine, P-peter, I just n-need some d-dry c-c-clothes." She repeated over and over again.
He set her down on the couch and threw her some pajamas out of her suitcase. She was still shivering when she was in dry clothes.
"Come to bed with me." Pete said suddenly.
"W-what?"
"Body heat. Come to bed with me."
Emily smiled, and Pete led her into his bedroom. They fell asleep, cuddled together and happy, blissfully unaware that this was their last night to enjoy together.