FicWad

I sat in my car and listened through the next song. Just listened...

She says she's no good with words but I'm worse
Barely stuttered out
"A joke of a romantic" or stuck to my tongue
Weighed down with words too over-dramatic ...

I took a breath in...
and listened to a little more of the lyrics.

.../I'm two quaters and a heart down/...

I was getting angry.

...These words are all I have so I'll write them
So you need them just to get by...

I took a breath in and felt my face getting hot. I felt like I was in an altnernate reality. This was fucking weird.
The chorus, my chorus, just came out of some random guy's mouth!

You always fold just before you're found out
Drink up its last call, last resort...

I shut the radio off and slammed my hands on the steering wheel.
"BUT ONLY THE FIRST MISTAKE! AAAAHHH" I screamed at the top of my lungs the next lyrics. That I had written in a painful, important time of my life while I was with Pete.
How did this band get my fucking lyrics?! I was angry. I looked up and noticed in the mini mall that I had pulled into, was a record store. I turned the radio back on and listened through the rest of the song, hoping the DJ would come on and repeat the name of this band.

That was Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy... up next we have Grand Theft Autumn.
I turned the radio, and my car off and headed into the store.

Fall Out Boy... Fall Out Boy...
I repeated the stealing son of a bitches name into my head over and over again walking into the store.

I walked up to the counter. "I need to find the band Fall Out Boy."
The man behind the counter laughed. "Okay... music? Magazines? Posters? With a band like that, ya gotta be a little more specific."

I rolled my eyes. I needed answers. "Music... all their cds, everything..."

The man took me to the 'F' section and I rumaged through the cd collection picking up three cds, Infinity On High, Take This To Your Grave, and From Under the Cork Tree. I was going to listen to all of these cds.

"Okay I'm done... thank you." I put the cds on the counter and looked at the magazine rack that was placed next to the register.

"Are you fucking serious?!!" I guess I didn't mean to shout that as loud as I did, but how the hell else am I suppose to react? There was Rolling Stone magazine with Fall Out Boy written in big, pink letters and my ex-boyfriend standing there, shirtless.

"The fabulous life, the secret torment of America's hottest band?" I looked at the cashier. "Do you know who Pete Wentz is?"

The cashier laughed and rolled his eyes "Who doesn't know who Pete Wentz is? You can't go anywhere without hearing about that guy."

I paid for my cds and the digusting magazine. "Well.. I'm gonna kill him. Have a nice day!"

****

I was now on a quest. I preceded to head to my parents' house and figured I'd get settled in before doing anymore research and confronting Mr. America's Hottest Band.

"Hey momma..."

My mom and I were unpacking my things into my childhood home... my hopefully temporary living space.

"Do you remember Pete Wentz - my boyfriend a few months before the incident?
My mom laughed. "Yes... Peter. He was such a charmer. I loved him..."

I rolled my eyes. "Charmer, yeah okay. Well I need to get ahold of him. Have you heard anything about him by any chance?"

My mom sweetly smiled at me. "Darling, I live 2 and a half hours away from the city and I met him only a handful of times. I heard he came to see you in the hospital once or twice, but other than that... I have no idea."

"Well I think this weekend I'm gonna drive to Wilmette and see if his parents still live in that house."

My mom and I sat on the bed, relieved that the final item was unpacked.

"Rachel, it's been 5 years. That boy's probably married with a family by now... you can find someone new."

I laughed a short, evil laugh and put my head on my mom's shoulder. "No, I don't want to get back with him... we just have some unfinished business to take care of. Now, I'm gonna take a nap, I'm kinda tired."

My mom got up. "Okay sweetie- I'll wake you when dinner's ready. I love ya."
I picked up my cd player and put in the Fall Out Boy cds I got today and cringed as almost every single song had at least one section that was written by me.
I closed my eyes and almost cried. The nerve of some people...

How can Pete do this to me? It's not the fact that he took my lyrics and claimed they were is, it was the fact that I spent nearly 5 years in a hospital, left with no house, no job, and a huge amount of debts. And he's out being America's newest boy toy, making millions of dollars off my words.

*****

"Rachel?! Oh my goodness RACHEL!!!" Pete's mother opened the door and hugged me. I smiled when I saw her. It was nice to see a familiar face, other than my family and Eva, my one and only friend left. Mrs. Wentz was the sweetest lady in the world and I spent a lot of time at their house, considering Pete had lived there while we were dating.

Mrs. Wentz started crying and let me in. "I can't believe you're here!"

I smiled and took a seat on the barstool in the kitchen. "I know. I got out of a hospital Monday and I can't tell you how happy I am that you still are living here... I was afraid you had moved."

Mrs. Wentz smiled. "Us move? Oh honey, you can count on us always living here."
I loved Mrs. Wentz, but I cut to the chase... "So how's Pete doing? I hear he's in a band..."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. They formed right after your accident as a matter of fact, and now they're huge. Whatever, boys will be boys... at least he's making money."

I laughed. "Yeah. Well I'm sure they're very good." I rolled my eyes in my mind.
"Do you know how I can get ahold of him? I actually needed to ask him something..."
She smiled. "Oh of course sweetie! He'd be so happy to hear from you and know you're okay. He has a few different cell numbers, but I'll give you the secret one." She winked at me.

I smiled. She really is such an adorable woman. "The secret one huh?"

"Yes... the one that only a few close friends and family has. He almost always answers that one... but I'll give you the others just in case he doesn't. But you know, his band is playing a special show in the city next week. It's a big deal because they're taking a break from their tour schedule to come and give a show at this place where they first started out performing. I'll get you a backstage pass for it if you would like to go ... I won't tell him it's for you and we can surprise him."

I smiled. A face to face confrontation while he's playing my songs?! "That would be perfect Mrs. Wentz, thank you so much."

After a few cups of tea and more and more small talk, I left.

****

I arrived at the show ... a club that Pete and I would see shows at ... and felt sick to my stomach as I saw all these girls, about 10 years younger than me standing in line with homemade t shirts on that said 'I love Pete Wentz.' I couldn't believe it. They were screaming while Pete was on stage and jumping up and down and crying. This was all too disgusting...

After the show I walked up to a security guard. "Hey what can I do if I have this?" I waved my pass in front of him.

He stepped aside. "Well you can pretty much go anywhere little lady... go ahead, this leads you right backstage."

The chubby guy with sideburns and a hat was standing by the wall. He was in the band. With no Pete in sight, I walked up to him.

"Hey you're in the band that just played right?"

He looked at me with a kind of blank expression. "Yes."

I shook my head. "You're the singer, right?"

He shook his head.

I went on. "Well I just wanted to tell you how much I absolutely love your lyrics... they're incredible."

He laughed, blushed, and looked at the ground. "Oh well thanks... Pete writes them, he's the bass player."

He was shy and nervous, I figured I'd take it easy on him. "Well then Pete's a genius. And hey - you do a very good job expressing Mr. Wentz's lyrics."

The singer smiled. "Well thank you very much. I'm -"

"Hey Patrick.." I heard a voice so familiar call from behind me that it gave me chills. I turned and met Pete Wentz's eyes and smiled as his face turned white. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Hi Peter."