FicWad

A/N Thank you so much for reviewing "The Escape", you should know that all your reviews helped keep me going when writing this story. I have a habit of starting many fics and losing motivation halfway through! I'm feeling inspired at the moment though so have no fear I'll finish this one. Thank you again and please feel free to review and comment on my work.

FOB are not mine, though I may sometimes delude myself into thinking they are.



"AMY!"

I looked up from my position sat down on the curb.

"AMY FOR GODS SAKE!"

A scruffy, familiar looking brown haired guy was yelling across the car park, a small punky looking girl in black rushed past me clearly ignoring the guy's pleas for her to stop.

I caught her eyes as she swept past me and was surprised to see that she was laughing. I felt my eyes narrow at her lack of concern for the guy's obvious distress; she glared at me in response, her grey eyes cold and blank.

"AMY"

With a final flip of her hair she flounced past and hailed a cab with an expert flick of her wrist. She was obviously a native yank, unlike me; a brit whose previous experience with LA cabs was unpleasant and not something I'd rave about.

I pulled my thin jacket closer around me as a chill breeze whipped past. Trust Chloe to be late. She's supposed to be looking after me not legging it off to the office half way through a concert.

"GOD DAMN IT"

I looked up again as the same guy from before cursed loudly and kicked a can across the car park.

He wasn't too far away from me now and as he looked around I met his eyes giving him what I hoped was a sympathetic smile. Whatever was going on with the poor bloke he was obviously having a rough time of it.

I've learnt that it's better to be friendly than avoid the problem, especially here in America where, in my opinion people seem much more confrontational. Not that this guy looked particularly dangerous, infact he looked about ready to cry.

A slight vibration at my hip had me routing around my jeans for my phone. A flashing light as I pulled it out signalled that I had a text message. Hopefully from Chloe telling me she's 2 minutes away; not bloody likely. Flipping it open I quickly scanned what she had sent.

"Really soz Ollie, work got crazy. Just about to leave, be there ASAP. Chloe xxx"

I groaned as I stared at the message. She hadn't even left yet! Chloe works all the way across town so even if she left this minute it would still take her at least half an hour to get here.

"Bad news?"

I jumped, nearly dropping my phone in surprise. It was the same guy, he'd moved even closer now so he stood barely 2ft away and was staring at me with an intense look in his dark brown eyes.

"I guess you could say that," I replied with a small smile meeting his gaze. "I just found out that I'm going to be here for longer than I thought I'd be."

"Drag" He drawled, his American accent prominent.

I felt a faint blush tinge my cheeks as I finally realised why this guy was so bloody familiar. Pete Wentz. Bassist in Fall out Boy; the band I had just been to see. Luckily it was so chilly outside I think the reddy blush could be mistaken for simply being cold. I hoped so anyway.

"Isn't it?" I replied lightly, acting as normal as possible. Why is it that when faced with someone even remotely famous everyone gets all tongue tied and stupid? Logan, my best friend back home got so nervous at the prospect of meeting Gerard Way that when the time came to actually meet the guy he blurted out the first thing that came into his head. Unfortunately that happened to be 'I've got My Chemical Romance socks on.' I've never let him live it down.

Looking back at Pete I was unnerved to find him still staring at me with that intense look on his face. It was making me vaguely uncomfortable and I dragged my hand through my hair self consciously. My gingery curls pinged out in all directions as I accidentally yanked the pins out that I'd put in earlier. Well aware that I now looked as if I'd suck my fingers in a plug socket, I sighed in defeat to both my hair and this strange meeting.

I gestured with my hand that he should sit down. His eyes widened in obvious surprise but he nodded and sat down on the curb next to me.

Our breath puffed out in little white clouds as we sat in silence. I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep warm and shivered slightly as another chill breeze whipped past. I was watching the cars as they drove past, hoping that Chloe would make a sudden and miraculous appearance. What was I thinking asking him to sit? I have nothing to say to him! I'm not the type of person to go all fan girl and gush about how his music has changed my life, mainly because it hasn't. Sure I like it a lot but I wouldn't keel over dead if suddenly there were no Fall out Boy.

A taxi drove past slowly and out of the corner of my eye I noticed Pete glancing up, a hopeful look in his eyes. The taxi continued on past and the flicker of hope turned to obvious pain.

I've always been pretty good at reading people, not that it really took much skill to see what Pete was feeling; he bared his soul in his eyes. I trained to be a psychiatrist at university, not that my job now reflects on that but still! Whether it was curiosity or empathy for him, I felt like I needed to talk to him, comfort him even.

"Are you OK?" I asked him gently.

He lifted his head up from where he had dropped it into his hands and fixed me with a wary look.

"Sorry," I said quickly realising it must seem like I was digging for information. He probably thought I was going to sell it as a story to the papers or something. "It's just....you look so sad..."

He sighed and shook his head slowly, his long fringe flopping from side to side.

"I'm not sad, I'm just admitting defeat."

"That sounds very final." I said watching him as he twined and entwined his long tanned fingers together.

"It is." He replied firmly, almost as if trying to convince himself.

Unsure of what to say in reply to that, I looked down at my feet again and we lulled into a surprisingly comfortable silence.

I would normally be prodding information out of people by now, but Pete had this familiar pain in his eyes that I was reluctant to venture closer to.

Problems with work, with friends or family then come to me; but anything relating to the big 'L' word and I just never feel as if I'm the best person to give advice.

"She's been cheating on me." Pete's deep voice broke the silence, and I looked back at him, meeting his gaze.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this." He added with a small toothy smile.

"It's fine," I said, returning the smile. "Did you find out, or did someone tell you?"

"O I found out alright. Turns out it's all over town that she's screwing around. Then to top it off I walk into a bar and see her all over this random guy." He spat the words out bitterly and I got a sudden urge to reach out to him, to give him comfort.

"I'm sorry. I've always thought that breaking up because of a betrayal is one of the worse pains."

I don't know why I was still talking. I was venturing into territory that I really didn't want to be in, but I felt this strange sort of connection to this guy.

"Yeah," he said nodding in understanding. He turned his body round to face mine and continued. "That's exactly how I feel. Breaking up's bad enough and I mean you saw how I handled it; not very well."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." I said sternly. I felt a sudden rush of anger for the woman who had cruelly laughed as she had walked away from him. "People who can walk away from a relationship and feel no pain, quite frankly don't deserve to be in a relationship in the first place. Relationships should be about trust, about baring a piece of your soul to another person. When that falls apart it should hurt. If it doesn't then you obviously weren't putting enough of yourself on show."

I stopped for breath surprised at what I'd just said. I meant every word; I'd just never said it out loud before.

Pete was looking at me intensely again. It wasn't uncomfortable this time though; it was almost as if he was cataloguing everything I was saying. It's hard to explain, but I got the feeling that he felt like he could relate to me too. Gay I know.

"How is it that someone I barely know can understand it exactly, yet no one else seems to get it?" He asked me in quiet disbelief. "I mean even my girlfriend didn't seem to grasp the concept. Is it so wrong to want an actual relationship these days? Amy seemed to find it funny when I told her I thought we were exclusive to each other. Isn't that one of the definitions of a relationship? Monogamy? Or am I just firing blanks here?"

"No you're not," I said firmly shaking my head. "Relationships should be faithful. At least that's what I believe. It doesn't always work that way though, sometimes what one person thinks is crystal clear, can be completely foggy to someone else."

"Why do I always pick the foggy ones?" Pete said suddenly, his voice laced with frustration.

I unfurled my hand from my pocket and reached over to him. Placing my hand on his arm I gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sure you'll find someone." I said quietly.

He looked down at my hand and I pulled it away quickly, shoving it back in my pocket. My hand had gone all tingly, whether it was from the cold or from touching the warm bare skin on Pete's arm I wasn't sure.

Looking up I gazed at the night sky, it was a crystal clear night. And although the glare from the city left the stars virtually invisible I still marvelled at the wide expanse of open space. I felt Pete's eyes on me and resisted the urge to look at him.

"Two years ago last week, my fiancé died in a car accident." I blurted out suddenly and without warning.

"O God I'm sorry." Pete said quickly.

"Don't be." I said turning to face him again, this time with a wry smile on my face. "You didn't know him, and even if you had of you still wouldn't be sorry he was dead."

Pete looked at me clearly confused.

"Riley wasn't very well liked." I explained, "None of my friends approved of him or indeed trusted him. Turns out they were right not to."

I took a deep breath and carried on.

"He had told me that he was going to the gym; he went regularly, 3 or 4 times a week. Turns out his definition of a work out was very different to mine."

I paused to collect my thoughts. I hadn't spoken about Riley since the accident; I made a point not to. I don't like burdening people with my problems; it's one of the hazards of studying the course that I did; I'm a good listener but an appalling public speaker. I can tell when I'm starting to get too deep, too close to home and usually I can stop myself. This is why it was so strange that I got the urge to unburden myself to this guy who I had only just met.

"Tell me." Pete said his eyes kind and gentle. He wouldn't judge me, I knew that much.

"It was pretty wet that night; it had been raining all week, the roads were slippy. Riley's car skidded going round a corner; he went off the road into an embankment, died on impact. His girlfriend was luckier; only a broken leg and concussion."

"O God," Pete said as he absorbed what I'd just told him. "He was cheating on you?"

His voice was laced with surprise and disbelief and I felt a flicker of warmth spread through me, he cared; and it felt nice.

"Yeah apparently he'd been at it for over 8 months, quite an achievement if you think about it as we'd only actually been going out for a year and a half."

I looked at Pete again and held his gaze.

"So you see, you're not the only blind one. I think we all are in our own way, especially when it comes to love. We ignore things we wouldn't normally, convince ourselves that everything's fine even when it obviously isn't. I don't know why we do it.

"Because everyone wants to be loved; and to be in love." He answered quietly. "You can't escape the fact that when you're in love everything just feels different."

His hands were moving as he spoke, as if to emphasize what he was saying. Brushing his fringe out of his eyes again he continued to speak.

"Amy had this way of fixing her attention on you so that you were the only person in the world that mattered. It made me feel like I could do anything be anything."

"I'm not a big fan of the whole, Love changes everything idea." I said firmly, "Love shouldn't have to make you feel better or make you want to be someone else. It should be an extension of your feelings for someone; an expression of the connection you share. Riley never understood that either." I finished sadly.

We sat in silence again, both of us deep in thought. I was surprised by the depth of my feelings, how raw I still felt about Riley. It was strange, I had thought that Riley was in the past but apparently he haunted me even now. It felt good to talk about him though, even if it was to a stranger.

"I don't think Riley deserved you." Pete said suddenly.

I looked at him in surprise where had that come from? Meeting his eyes I saw nothing but honesty. He meant what he said. I felt a spark of attraction shoot through me and cringed at my timing. He was getting over a bad break up for god's sake.

"I don't think Amy deserved you either." I said quietly lowering my eyes.

A few moments later I felt his hand on my chin I allowed him to gently pull me back round to face him. Now face to face I met his gaze bravely, although I felt anything but brave at that moment in time.

That familiar look in his dark eyes sent a shiver through me; it was full of awe and curiosity and a new emotion that I hesitated to name. Lust my mind registered suddenly just as he pulled me into him.

Our lips met gently and I sighed softly at the feeling; it felt nice to have this human contact again. I wrapped my arms around him and weaved my hands through the short brown hair at the nape of his neck.

He moaned and ran his tongue over my bottom lip; I opened my mouth gladly deepening the kiss, moaning myself as our tongues tangled together.

One hand still on my chin, the other on my back he pulled me to him fiercely our bodies melding together as our kiss became more passionate. Nipping his bottom lip I purred in appreciation as he returned the favour. Running my hands down his back I explored the contours of his strong toned body, feeling his hands move down to my chest I shivered as another spark of lust hit me.

Suddenly I was hit with a glaring light and we both sprang apart, our breathing heavy. A car had driven into the parking lot and its headlights were shining brightly on us lighting up the surrounding area with an eerie glow.

"Ollie?" A familiar voice said, "Is that you?"

I stood up quickly squinting at the car. A figure appeared in the window as it was wound down and I struggled to make it out.

"Ollie?" the voice repeated.

"Chloe?" I questioned haphazardly into the darkness. The figure got out of the car and became clear. Chloe's familiar petite frame and choppy blonde hair came into view as she stepped under one of the street lamps.

"Of course Moron!" she said with a snort, "Get over here its frigging freezing!"

I looked back at Pete who was observing from the curb. He looked like I felt; confused.

"1 minute." I said to Chloe, she shrugged and walked back to the car eyeing Pete suspiciously as she went.

"That's my ride." I said turning back to face him. He had stood up now and was looking down on me strangely.

"Ollie?" He questioned with a small smile, "I just realised I didn't even know your name."

"That's okay," I said trying to ignore the tingly feeling I had gotten as Pete said my name aloud.

I knew that if I didn't walk away now then I wouldn't, so I took charge of the situation.

Reaching up to him I kissed him softly on the cheek. He leaned into me and I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around him again.

"Thank you." I whispered in his ear. Turning away from him I walked quickly back to the car. I once again felt his eyes on me but didn't turn back. Getting in the car I sat down and motioned for Chloe to drive. She looked at me curiously but started up the engine anyway and moved off.

Finally allowing myself to turn around I looked back and saw Pete standing where I'd left him. His eyes were on me and as I met them he raised his hand in a wave and smiled.

"Who was he?" Chloe asked as we pulled out of the car park.

"Just a chance acquaintance" I said as Pete finally disappeared from view. It was for the best though, what did I really expect to happen?

"You look different." Chloe said as we got onto the freeway a few minutes later. Looking me up and down she fixed me with an enquiring gaze. "It's odd, you just seem.....less burdened."

Considering what she just said for a moment I realised that she was right. I did felt different; I felt as if I wasn't shouldering any more guilt or resentment for things that had happened in the past. I felt clearer that I had done in a long time, I felt free.

"You know what," I said with a grin, "I do feel different."

Sitting back in my seat I laughed out loud. Riley was a part of my past that I had now shut the door on, he couldn't hurt me anymore I knew that now. It was a liberating thought and as Chloe eyed me with a look of utter confusion I let out a whoop of laugher.

"Is this about being stranded in that car park?" Chloe asked her voice slightly apologetic.

"You know what Chlo?" I said brightly, "You'd be surprised how much good being stranded did me!"