FicWad

Chapter 8 - Rousing the Troops

Teddy stood in her hotel room staring at Patrick and fighting to keep the surprise off her face.

"Your girlfriend?"

Patrick nodded, and was it her imagination or did he look a little guilty?

"Yeah. Ella. We've been together almost three months now...she's a great girl." He seemed to add the last part as an afterthought then stood there silently looking at her as if he half expected her to pick up the nearest lamp and hurl it at his head.

Teddy stood there, her mind whirling with a million different thoughts and all she could come up with was, "Oh."

Patrick nodded, "Yeah..." He trailed off looking as though he wanted to sprint from the room. This seemed to finally shake Teddy from her stupor and she mustered up what she hoped was the best fake smile she'd ever given in her life.

"While, you'll have to tell me all about her at supper. I can't believe you were holding out on me Mr. Stump. Honestly." She huffed that last bit dramatically and started to gather her things up from around the room.

Patrick stood there frozen watching her for a moment and she tried to ignore his gaze even though it was burning into the back of her neck. "Right. Sorry, you're right, I can't believe I didn't mention her already." Patrick moved towards the door but then Teddy heard him pause and she turned around to face him.

"Teddy, I...." He seemed to be searching for something to say but then he shook his head and smiled instead. "Don't be late for supper."

With that, he was gone and Teddy finally let the fake smile slide off her face as she dropped down once again on her bed. She was really an idiot. Of course Patrick had a girlfriend. Guys like Patrick didn't not have girlfriends. She was such a silly creature. Patrick was probably worried about her coming onto him or something and that's why he'd been so anxious to tell her. She dropped her head into her hands and allowed herself a moment of wallowing before raising her eyes with a sudden newly found determination.
She was not going to become one of those girls that pined after some boy she could never have or threw herself at them pathetically. Patrick was a great guy and she was lucky to have him as a friend. She promised herself right then that that was all she would ever expect from him, friendship. He had enough demands on him as it was, he didn't need another lovesick puppy following him around. She would try to be the best friend to him she could be and that would be enough.

It would have to be enough.

************

Teddy learned a lot about Patrick that night as they talked over plates over dinner. She learned all about Ella, a law student in Chicago. She was actually from California. Her parents were divorced and her mother lived with her stepfather in Chicago. Her family was rich and owned some company or the other but Patrick didn't really seem to care much about any of that. He'd met her at some fancy party Pete had insisted he go to. She was the same age as Teddy. He'd whipped out a picture to reveal a pretty girl with long, straight black hair and pale skin and eyes so dark they were almost black. She wasn't smiling in the picture and this, of all things, bothered Teddy the most about her.

He'd also talked a lot about his family and how he'd grown up and Teddy listened with fascination. He was really a good storyteller and he had her laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes. She'd answered all of his questions too, and even though her life was nothing if not endlessly boring he seemed interested in everything she had to say and she found herself telling him things she'd never really told anyone, not even Missy. How she'd always felt kind of out of place in her hometown. How she'd hoped to find herself in Chicago but it seemed she'd found him instead. He'd laughed at that last one and said how funny it was that he'd run away from Chicago hoping to find himself and she'd run towards it.

The oddest thing was that they'd seemed to come to some sort of unspoken agreement to be completely honest with each other. Teddy had always been rather blunt and a little too honest for her own good but with Patrick it was no holds barred, and it made her feel a little exhilarated and a little terrified all at the same time. It mostly surprised her that he would choose to be so open when he obviously had the most to lose being in the public eye. But it seemed that they'd found a trust in each other from the first day they'd met and for once Teddy decided to just go with what felt right.

After a few hours sleep that night, she was the first one up the next day. She'd never needed much sleep, having made her way through college on two or three hours a night, and she had a feeling this was going to come in very handy with this job. Mikey (and everyone else, she assumed) had stumbled in from a club around three in the morning.

The guys went on for their first show at eight that night. Before that they had three interviews and a meet and greet. She already had the lists for the meet and greet done, the merchandise for that night ready to go, and coffee on its way before anyone else had even got up. Everyone had stared at her with wide eyes when she'd explained all this to Dan and he'd smiled at her and said, "An overachiever, I like it. Okay Teddy, maybe I won't be pulling all my hair out by the end of this tour with you around."

She blushed a little and noticing all the other guys staring at her with suspicious looks like she was gonna try and steal their favorite baseball card, she knew she was a compliment away from becoming "the ass kisser" and quickly whipped out her secret weapon.

"Oh and I got donuts. Lots of donuts." She said waving them around enticingly and smiled as she was very nearly mauled. With men, forgiveness usually came in the shape of a donut.

Dan had quickly dispatched her with the job of waking the band a short while later, all except for Pete anyway for which she'd been grateful. His hatred for morning...while really daylight hours, was notorious and she didn't really want to get on his bad side the second day of the tour.

She went to Andy's room first and knocked on the door lightly and it was quickly answered by one of Andy's friends who was traveling with them for about a week. He was dressed and Andy was as well, sitting on a chair behind him watching TV.

Teddy smiled, "Hey guys, just your friendly morning wake up call." She handed Andy a schedule for the day as they exchanged greetings and quickly left for Joe's room.

She banged on the door a few times but there was no answer and she got a maid to let her in. Joe was passed out on the bed sound asleep and a strong odor seemed to still permeate the room from the night before. Teddy made a mental note to get back in there with a can of air freshener before the maid came in to clean. She made her way over to Joe's bed, grabbing the remote to turn off the TV, which apparently he had left on all night.

"Joe. JOE. JOE!" She finally shook his shoulder and he awoke with a start mumbling, "Not the ice skates mom!"

Teddy giggled and he stared up at her with blurry eyes. "Teddy. God, it's not time to get up yet is it."

Teddy smiled and went to open the curtain on his windows to which he responded by pulling a pillow over his head. " 'Fraid so, Joe my dear. Come on out of bed now you don't want me to get in trouble with my boss already do you."

"I'm your boss," he groaned from beneath his pillow.

"Fair point," Teddy made like she was going to leave but then paused, "By the way there was some plastic baggies in here with this moldy looking stuff in it. Don't worry though, I flushed it, honestly, hotels these days --- "

"What?!" Joe had jumped out of bed and was looking around with wild eyes.

"Just kidding." Teddy smirked and took out a cup of coffee from the paper tray she'd been carrying and handed it to him.

"That was a dirty trick," he said staring at her accusingly but taking the coffee.

She laughed, "Probably so but it worked didn't it? Now get dressed."

He looked down and seeming to suddenly realize he was only wearing boxers he pulled a sheet in front of himself looking scandalized and she laughed again.

"Oh, calm down, you haven't got anything I haven't seen before you know." His grumbling and her laughter carried her out into the hall towards her final destination.

She knocked on Patrick's door and was surprised when he didn't answer. She'd figured him for someone who woke easily for some reason. This time, she had to go look for a maid and drag her to the door to open it. She was going to have to develop a better system for this she thought wryly as she made her way into Patrick's room. He was asleep in a T-shirt and shorts, snoring lightly, and she couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. She realized it was the first time she'd ever seen him without a baseball cap and was half surprised he didn't sleep in the thing. She snuck over and resisted the urge to touch his face instead whispering, "Patrick. Patrick."

Okay a little louder than. "Patrick."

"Patrick Stump." She was nearly yelling now. Apparently she'd been totally wrong about this boy being a light sleeper. She finally grabbed his shoulder and gave it a good shake. When this didn't cause him to stir she almost got a mirror to check if he was still breathing.

"Honestly." She huffed out a breath of air and pushed a curl out of her face weighing her options. Finally she sat down on the side of the bed, gave him a good shake, and got close to his ear. "Patrick Stump, get your butt out of this bed."

Patrick rolled over finally showing some signs of life and nearly knocking her in the face in the process with his arm. He groaned and waved a hand over his eyes before reaching out and nearly knocking his water glass over. Teddy grabbed his glasses and set them on his face before he accidentally knocked a few of her teeth out. He blinked owlishly up at her.

"Teddy?" His voice was low and raspy and she ignored the tingle that went up her spine at the sound of it.

"Morning sleepyhead. Are you always this dead to the world? Cause next time I'll be sure to bring my jackhammer." She asked smiling.

He gave her a sleepy smile back. "When you travel cross the country in a van with Pete and Joe you learn how to sleep sound."

She giggled and reached over to hand him some coffee as he sat up.

"So you got stuck with the job of rousing the troops now huh?" He asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yep. Accept for Pete. Apparently I'm building my way up to that," she said while bending over to collect a T-shirt from the floor and fold it.

He nodded knowingly. "While I must say it's an improvement. Can't remember the last time Dan called me sleepyhead," he said teasingly.

Teddy threw the T-shirt at his head and moved to rise from the bed but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back down beside him. She gave him her best fake glare but he just smiled and held out his coffee to her, which she took a sip of and handed back still glaring at him all the while which caused him to laugh.

"So what's on the schedule for today?"
Teddy pulled it out and they sat on his bed and went over it together.

"It'd be nice if I'd ever heard of half these people before," he muttered as she went over the interviews for the day.

She looked up at him surprised. "You haven't?"

He gave her a sarcastic look, "I've fallen behind in my Japanese television watching."

"Fun-ny. Are you sure you like this singing gig, because I'm thinking you might be more cut out for comedy."

It was his turn to throw her a glare but she barely noticed as a few ideas were growing in her head.

"What are you thinking about?" She turned to find him looking at her curiously.

"I'll tell you later, if I can pull it off." She said smiling and winking at him. She suddenly jumped up from the bed. "For now I do have other work to do besides entertain you Mr. Stump."

He was still looking at her curiously but a smile formed on his face at her last words.

"Maybe, but it's your favorite job."

He said it with such a smug voice that was so out of character for him that she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Maybe." She said turning to go. "Just maybe."