FicWad

I remember the first time my heart broke...

Pete and I haven't been able to spend too much time together, since he was so crazed about writing music with Patrick. I had to admit, the songs that they had written and practiced in the garage sounded really good. They actually had a gig in a week and a half, which was a cause of stress for Pete.

"Can't you just take an afternoon away from the band?" I asked Pete over the phone. It was his birthday, and I wanted to spend some time with him.

"Izzy. Why do we always have this damn argument?" he asked sounding tired. I knew he hadn't been sleeping to well lately.

"Because I am feeling extremely neglected here, Pete. I know the band is important to you, but I'm sitting here all by myself most days and nights, and all I am asking for is four hours with you," I said trying to fight back tears. I heard him sigh on the other end.

"Alright. I'll be there around noon," he said and hung up the phone.

Pete came inside at about 1:30. I was sitting at the breakfast bar fuming.

"Hey, ready?" he asked looking at me.

"You said you were going to be here at noon," I said quietly.

"I know, but Patrick and I got caught up with something. Sorry," he said simply. It was the most insincere apology I had ever heard. I just put my head down.

"You know what? Why don't we just forget it? You are too busy," I said standing up and walking towards the stairs. I was too irritated to be around him. He grabbed my arm as I tried to pass him.

"Are you kidding?" he asked loudly.

"No. You obviously don't want to spend time with me. I'm not going to force you," I said quietly. I didn't want to fight, especially on his birthday.

"God damn it, Izzy! You call me and pull a whole guilt trip bull shit and get me away from the band to spend time with you. Now granted, I'm late, but Jesus, let's do something now that you got me here," he said squeezing my arm harder.

"Oh that's comforting to hear, Pete. I really want to spend time with you now. You really know how to make someone feel good about themselves. You know, sometimes you are so selfish," I said into his face.

I saw his eyes turn cold in an instant. He grabbed my throat and pushed me up against the wall. My hands instinctively went to his wrist trying to pull him away.

"You listen to me. I am not going to feel bad about being in this band. I left them to spend time with you, YOU! So go get ready, because we are going to do something," he said and let got of me.

I was too scared to speak. I just nodded and went upstairs. Once I got into my bathroom I broke down crying. I tried to fumble with my tissues, but my hands were shaking so bad. I attempted to fix my makeup, and I noticed that I already had marks showing up on my neck. I quickly put foundation on it in order to cover it up.

"Babe?" I heard from the door and jumped slightly.

"God, I am so sorry. I am under a lot of pressure with this gig coming up, and Patrick and I have been at a roadblock with some of the lyrics. It is just frustrating, and I feel that everyone is pulling at me and I can't make anyone happy. I do want to spend time with you. I love you," he said cupping my face with his hands.

I melted at his sight. His features were completely different than they were downstairs.

"I'm sorry I made you feel bad about the band. That wasn't my purpose. I just wanted to spend some time with you," I said as tears threatened to spill.

"I know. So what did you have planned?" he asked hugging me tightly.

"It's a surprise," I said and smiled lightly. He gave me a quizzical look, but took my hand as I led the way out of the bedroom.

------

"Are you serious?" he asked looking through the window in disbelief.

"Well, you are always talking about getting one. Well, you're 18 now. Why not?" I said smiling widely at him. He swallowed hard and looked over at me.

"You are unbelievable," he said hugging me quickly and pulling me into the tattoo shop.

"Can I help you?" the man behind the desk asked as we came in.

"Yeah. I came in last week with ideas for tattoos for my boyfriend," I said walking up to the counter. Pete looked over at me in shock.

"Oh yeah. I remember. Here, this is what I got. You can tell me what you like or don't like," the guy said pulling out sketches of characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

"Unbelievable," Pete said looking through them. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Pete, come on. You eat, breathe, and sleep this movie. How could I not," I said laughing.

Pete just nodded mesmerized by the drawings. I had this planned out as best as I could. I went into the shop a week earlier, told the guy what I wanted and when we would be back. Everyone was very helpful. It was rather easy.

"This one, definitely," Pete said pointing to one of the drawings.

"Ok. What size and where?" the guy asked.

"That size and on my arm," he said simply. I knew Pete had been thinking about getting a tattoo for a long time.

We went through all the paper work and I paid for the tattoo as a birthday present. We then sat in the back room waiting.

"Are you nervous?" I asked Pete as he sat on the bench swinging his legs.

"Not really," he said simply. I couldn't tell if he was or not.

"Ready?" the guy asked putting the buzzing tool up to Pete's arm. He just nodded and took a deep breath in.

----------

"Thank you so much," Pete said as we walked down the street hand in hand.

"You're welcome," I smiled over at him.

"This was probably the best present ever, and I made an ass out of myself today. I'm so sorry," he said again.

"Pete, stop apologizing. It's ok," I said back.

"So, now what?" he asked as we reached the car.

"We have to go show off your tattoo. Let's go to Andy's," I said laughing. Pete just grinned widely and got in the car. I made sure to make arrangements with Andy to have everything ready for when we got there.

"I hope they are there," Pete said simply as we drove down the streets.

"I'm sure they will be. Where else would they go?" I said laughing slightly. Even if I hadn't made the previous plans, our group was way to predictable

"True," he nodded. We pulled up to Andy's and Pete didn't take notice of the cars parked around. He was so accustomed to it that he didn't think twice.

"Hey, I love you," he said grabbing my hand before we walked into the garage. I looked up into his eyes and melted.

"I love you too," I smiled and he opened the door. The garage was filled with a group of our friends.

"Hey! Happy Birthday Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater!" Joe yelled from the other side of the room.

The crowd of people turned to look at Pete looking shocked. He looked down at me.

"Did you do this too?" he asked.

"Well, not all on my own," I said shrugging.

"You are absolutely amazing," he said leaning down and kissing me, which got a few "whoops" and "awes" from the group.

"So let's see it!" Andy said excitedly. Andy had already had his share of tattoos decorating his arms. He was the one to help me find a good place to go.

Pete lifted up the sleeve of his shirt showing the group.

"That is so sweet!" Joe said excited.

"Yeah. Awesome idea, Izzy," Andy said admiring the tattoo.

"Thanks, guys," I said smiling over at Pete.

Joe grabbed Pete and pulled him over by the keg. Pete just looked back and me and smiled. I winked at him and went to find Ady.

"Hey Iz," Patrick said from the couch. He was sitting by himself.

"Patrick, what are you doing by yourself?" I asked sitting down next to him. Andy had just got a dart board, so most of the people were either standing there or by the keg.

"I dunno. I was talking to Will, but he got up to get a beer and never came back," he said scrunching his face in thought. I just laughed slightly.

"So, sounds like things are getting pretty heated in the writing of music area," I said turning to face Patrick.

"Oh, yeah. It is just some artistic differences. We'll be good and ready for next week," he said sounding extremely calm about it all.

"That's good," I said sounding relieved.

If Pete was this stressed already, it was going to be a long week for me.

"Hey Izzy. Can you run inside and grab the case of beer in the downstairs fridge for me?" Andy asked from the group of boys drinking beer.

"Sure," I said shrugging and standing up. I didn't bother asking what was wrong with the keg beer. "Wanna come with me?" I asked Patrick who remained on the couch. He looked up slightly shocked.

"Sure," he said getting up and following me.

I turned and looked at Pete just before I walked out of the garage. He was looking at me, but I couldn't quite place the look on his face. It didn't seem like anger. It couldn't possibly be jealousy. I just shrugged it off.

We walked into Andy's which was pitch black due to his parents being gone for the evening. I turned lights on as we entered rooms.
"You know. I don't think I have ever been inside Andy's house," Patrick said laughing slightly as we walked down the stairs.

"I suppose you just pee outside when you go to the bathroom here," I said turning on yet another light as we reached the basement.

"Yeah," Patrick said back simply.

"Ah, to be a boy," I said shaking my head. I walked over to the fridge and opened it up. There were two cases of beer inside. I bent down and looked at the both. I then turned my head to look up at Patrick who was standing behind me.

"Which kind do you think he wants?" I asked.

"Whoa, Izzy. Where did you get that bruise," he said stepping closer to me. I stood up quickly covering my neck.

"Oh, this. Well," I tried to think quickly, but the fact was I didn't have time to think up an excuse for this one. Bruises on the arms were easy to explain. How do you explain one on the neck?

Patrick brushed my hair aside and looked more closely at it.

"What's going on Izzy?" he asked obviously noticing the bruise looked like a hand print.

I couldn't answer him. I just looked up at him sadly. I'm sure my eyes had said it all.

"Pete did this to you didn't he?" he asked just barely above a whisper. I just nodded slightly.

"Has he ever hit you?" Patrick asked with his teeth practically clenched.

"No, and you don't understand," I said now finding my voice.

"Understand what? He hurts you Izzy. That's not ok," he said loudly. It was the loudest and angriest I had ever heard him.

"I know it's not. And it doesn't happen often. I swear. It's just sometimes I push issues with him and he gets put under a lot of pressure. It just happens sometimes. He's not himself when it happens. It's as though he is someone else. He's always sorry afterwards. I just shouldn't push so hard," I said grabbing Patrick by the shoulders so he would look at me.

"Are you listening to yourself right now? You're blaming yourself for him hurting you. Pete's my friend, but you should never hurt a girl," he said sounding sad suddenly.

"Patrick. Pete has been through a lot in his life. More than you really know about. He just doesn't know how to understand and control his anger. Please. Patrick, I love him. Please don't say anything, it will just make it worse," I said pleading with him.

Patrick didn't say anything. He just put his head down and nodded that he would keep things quiet. I let out the breath I was holding.

"What's going on guys?" Pete asked coming down the stairs causing me to jump away from Patrick.

"There are two kinds of cases and we don't know which one to bring up," I said opening the fridge again.

"Oh, well. Bring them both," he said shrugging looking from me to Patrick.

"Right, duh," I said laughing and grabbed a case and handed it to Patrick, and then I handed the next to Pete.

"You ok? You seem, I dunno, jumpy," Pete said quietly to me.

"Nope. I'm fine. Probably that coffee we had earlier still kicking in my system," I said smiling at him.

The fact was I was scared. Who knows what Pete would do if he knew that I had told Patrick about him.