FicWad

I gaped at Will, who had gone ghostly white and was shaking still. I blinked out the window. Pete was about fifteen feet away from the door. All he had to do was walk in to the perky secretary's desk, tell her he was there, and she'd be sending an e-mail to the man who already knew he was here.

"What do I do?" I hissed at him. Gerard seemed to be taunting me now. I wanted to be someone else in an alternative universe, away from this and perhaps in Italy. I've always loved Italy. So full of art and history and...wait what? Oh yeah. I've got to avoid a Wentz run-in.

William moved away from his desk. "Okay," he said, rubbing his hands together, and then through his hair. He took off his glasses and slammed them on the table.

"C'mere," he said and went over to the window. I followed.

It looked like he was trying to figure out if there were any openings on the window. Too bad the window was about twenty by twenty feet. It was confusing to me how Pete wouldn't have seen me, but then I remembered it was like one of those one-way mirrors. Like, you know, you could see outside, but the people outside only thought it was a mirror.

"There's a latch!" I hissed, tugging on it.

William winced. "Will the alarm go off?"

I paled. "Will it?"

"I don't care. I'll deal with it if it does. Hang on, let me help you..." He stood behind me and started pulling on the handle.

After what seemed like twenty minutes, we finally got it unstuck.

"I've got to go," I said. Duh.

"I'll call you when he leaves, I need to talk to you again," William murmured, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Now go."

I jumped out the window and heard William slam it as someone knocked on his door. I ran down the block to the bus stop as fast as I could. I stopped once I reached the stop, leaning on the bench, clutching the stitch in my side.

Oh, God, that had been close. Too close. I put my hand to my face and blinked back tears again.

I still hadn't really got anything resolved. The only thing that was tormenting me was that he'd hugged me. And he'd also given me a kiss on the cheek.

If he was that upset, wouldn't he have started yelling his head off at my ass? For doing that last night? It was a complete lie, him saying that it was our fault, it was my fault...

The bus pulled up to the stop. I got on in about five seconds. As I stumbled up the steps, I reached into my black messenger and took out my plain black hoodie, slipping it on. Why were buses always freezi--

"MICHELLE? IS THAT YOU?!"

I squinted at the voice near the back of the bus. Sho' nuff, it was Joe. Andy sat next to him, engrossed in his SK3.

I approached the back of the bus, raising my hand in greeting. "Hey Joe. Andy."

Joe grinned and jumped up, giving me a huge hug and planting a wet one on my cheek. (And I wasn't even wearing anything revealing.) Andy just looked up and smiled, then went back to tapping away on his SideKick.

"Sorry about Andy, he's in love with that thing," Joe said, pointing to an empty seat next to him and dodging Andy's fist. I took the seat and Joe slid his arm around me. I looked at him and he put it down, Andy smirking.

"So where's Patrick and Pete?" I asked, slipping Pete's name in on a last second realization. If I'd just said Patrick, they would have been up in my face about Pete.

"Patrick is at a record store and Pete got off the bus two stops ago," Andy murmured, not looking up from the screen.

"Ah, so little Pete is lost in Orlando?" I asked with a grin. Joe laughed. "Yeah, with all the prostitutes."

"D'you think that's where he is?" Andy asked, halfway serious. I could see the smile sneaking in. He and Joe looked at each other and bust out laughing.

I laughed too. "You guys are insane."

Joe snaked his arm over my shoulder. "Yeah, and you're dead sexy."

I rolled my eyes. "I saw you all up on that girl last night." I didn't try and move his arm this time.

Andy looked at me. "Did you end up staying there the whole night?"

Oh, shxt.

"Um, no. Will let me go early," I lied, crossing my fingers behind my back.

Joe blinked and moved his arm. He stared at me. "You were still there when I left."

Uh-oh.

"When did you leave?" I asked him carefully, wincing inside.

"Around midnight. Will was off somewhere and you were sleeping on the bar."

"Which is early. Last time he made me stay until one." Another lie. Chalk one up for Michelle, gals and girls.

"Oh, okay," Joe said, although he still looked doubtful. He put his arm around me again, though.

"Dude. Don't go hang around sluts at night and then make moves on the bargirl during the day," Andy commented from his SK3.

Joe smacked him on the shoulder and ducked another smack from Andy's fist.

"Boys will be boys, baby, boys will be boys..." I sang, making them laugh.

And then, my phone vibrated. I pulled it out.

ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE.

And that's when the shxt hit the fan.