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Chapter 10 - Theodora and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Teddy learned over the next few days that the reason for Patrick's horrid mood had been a fight with Ella. She'd somewhat suspected that was the case, really, but hadn't wanted to press the issue. According to Patrick, Ella was not dealing with the amount of time that they had been separated lately well and although there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, she was still giving him a hard time almost nightly on the phone. Finally, the both of them decided that they would move up the time she was supposed to visit in two weeks to the current day. Much to Teddy's horror it had also been decided somehow that she would be the one to fetch Ella from the airport. Thus, she was currently standing in the Sydney airport tapping one sneaker and biting one short maroon colored nail and thinking about making a quick run towards the bathroom.

What would this girl be like? What had Patrick told her about Teddy? There were so many questions floating in her head that Teddy almost missed the sight of a slender raven-haired girl coming towards her pulling a large suitcase. She recognized her immediately from the picture, though; she was even wearing the same closed off expression on her face. Teddy took a deep breath and moved forward dreading the next few moments wholeheartedly.

"Ella? You're Ella right?"

Teddy couldn't bring herself to call her Patrick's girlfriend.

The girl raised her eyebrows but then her eyes immediately narrowed as Teddy felt herself being surveyed from head to toe and she shifted awkwardly.

"Yes. You're Teddy then, I presume?" Teddy offered her a small smile.

"Yep, that's me." She reached out to take one of her bags from her hands and they started walking towards the exit. "Nice to meet you, Patrick's told me all about you."

"Really?" One of Ella's perfectly manicured black eyebrows rose. "While I'm afraid you're at an advantage then as I know next to nothing about you."

Teddy felt a blush rise in her cheeks and felt like slapping Patrick in several painful body parts at the moment. "Oh, well...I'm still the newbie on tour I guess and Patrick can't stop talking about you to anyone, of course." Well, not really, but at least she'd said it convincingly.

"Really?" Ella asked again, only this time in a much different tone than before and a smile finally grew on her face for the first time. "Good."

They'd finally reached the car and Teddy glanced at her out of the corner of her eye as they got in, finding this an odd response but holding her tongue. Ella took her time getting situated in the car, finally pulling the seatbelt over the silk yellow top and jeans she was wearing and looking at Teddy expectantly as if to say 'Well? Get a move on'. Teddy was happy to oblige and set off for the hotel at a record pace.

Ella was silent for a long while and then out of nowhere she said, "Teddy, that's an odd name for a girl isn't it? Is that your real name?"

Teddy, surprised at the random question, answered quickly. "Yes. While sort of, my whole name is Theodora but no one's ever called me that but my grandmother, thankfully."

"So you'd rather be called by a boy's name than a girl's name?"

Teddy thought this girl was quite good because she said it in such an offhanded way that Teddy couldn't tell if Ella was trying to intentionally be rude or not, though she had her strong suspicions.

"I suppose that's what I just said," Teddy answered, overly cheerfully.

Ella was looking at her with narrowed eyes again but Teddy kept her gaze on the road. Her next question came out with the same nonchalance but it sounded much more forced this time. "How did you get this job anyway?"

Teddy bit the inside of her cheek and forced a smile to her face, which was becoming far too easy lately. "I'm not sure really, I guess I was just in the right place at the right time."

This did not seem to satisfy Ella but it seemed she couldn't think of a proper response so she chose to remain silent for the rest of the trip, something Teddy was extremely grateful for.

The boys were back at the hotel from the interview they'd been at by the time the two girls showed up there. Ella gave Patrick a small peck and managed to muster up another smile. It seemed she wasn't one for public displays of affection and Teddy couldn't help but feel she'd got off lucky there. Ella turned to greet Marie who had arrived earlier in the week to visit a very happy Joe and Teddy met Patrick's eyes for a moment behind her back. She quickly looked away.

"I'll take you bag up to Patrick's room for you Ella." Teddy said bending over to pick it up, but if Ella heard she showed no sign of it.

"Thanks Teddy," Patrick offered for her, giving Teddy a small smile as well that didn't quite meet his eyes and Teddy returned a similar smile and made a hasty retreat.

*********
The next few days were not exactly pleasant, to put it mildly. Oh, Ella was always very polite and pleasant on the surface but she liked to throw out the same kind of seemingly innocent questions and backhanded compliments at Teddy that she had exhibited her first day with them. Usually when the two of them were alone (which Teddy tried her hardest to avoid) or around Marie. She'd thought maybe she was imagining it till she'd finally cornered Marie in the bathroom of a restaurant in Germany alone one night and asked her.

"No," Marie sighed as she looked in the mirror fixing her short brown hair, "she definitely does not care for you Teddy, but really can you blame her?"

Teddy frowned, "What do you mean?"

"While you spend everyday with her boyfriend while she's half a world away from him. Not to mention the two of you are thick as thieves." Marie shot Teddy a glance in the mirror.

"Patrick has hardly spoken to me since she arrived and I know for a fact that he didn't mention me before she got here so don't start that Marie."

"And you think Ella didn't start questioning everyone on the tour besides Patrick about Patrick the moment she arrived?"

Teddy's head shot up quickly at that, "What do you mean? She didn't ask me anything."

Marie shook her head bemusedly and moved to retouching her makeup. "Teddy you're the girl that's around them all the time, you'd be her biggest threat, of course she wouldn't ask you."

Teddy frowned again. "Patrick would never cheat on any girl. She should know that."

"She should, but it's hard dating a guy in a band, believe me I know. Especially early on in the relationship." Marie smoothed on some lip-gloss.

Teddy hesitated, "What did you tell her...about me, I mean?"

Marie smiled, "Nothing Teddy. It's not my place. But, that doesn't mean everyone else forgot to mention that you two are the best of friends."

Teddy fought a blush from rising and averted her eyes to her own hair in the mirror. "I'm not his best friend, Marie. We get along and we have a few laughs, that's all."

Marie finally turned fully to look at her. "Like I said Teddy, it's not my business."

With that she left a rather conflicted Teddy standing in the bathroom alone gazing into the mirror.


*********

Ella flew back home the next night and the following morning Teddy found herself standing outside Patrick's bedroom door to wake him up for the first time since Ella's arrival. She usually woke him up with a lot of noise and laughs and they would sat and drink coffee for a few minutes and talk about the day. Now, she found herself more nervous than the first morning she'd come to wake him up. Really she'd felt nervous ever since the talk she'd had with Marie in the bathroom.

Maybe she was a horrible person to take up so much of Patrick's time when he had a girlfriend in another country waiting for him. Maybe he was even sick of it and had been glad when Ella came that he had an excuse to stop spending so much time with Teddy. All of these thoughts had been floating in her head for two days and had left her rather miserable. She stared at the gold 222 on the hotel door, one hand on the doorknob, and took a deep breath before pushing it open to reveal Patrick's typically messy room.

She walked inside quietly to find him knocked out as usual on his bed in his regular t-shirt and shorts that he liked to sleep in. His thick hair was messier than usual like he'd been tossing and turning though. Teddy bit her lip and sat the coffee on his night table as she took a seat next to his sleeping figure on the bed.

"Patrick! Wake up." She poked him in the side and after a few more minutes of poking and yelling he finally grunted and started to roll over. Teddy plucked up his glasses and quickly placed them on his face before he could start reaching around wildly. Then she jumped even more quickly off his bed and went to open the blinds.

"Teddy," the usual raspy morning voice called out her name and she resisted the urge to turn around and instead continued opening blinds and moving around furiously tidying up.

"Teddy, what are you doing?" Patrick was sitting up now and rubbing his eyes. He looked so like a little boy waking up from a nap that she almost halted in her movements to smile at him but quickly caught herself and went back to filling the trash can.

"Morning Patrick, she said brusquely, not bothering to turn around from where she was sorting papers on the desk. "There's coffee on the nightstand and I'm leaving your schedule on you computer -- "

Teddy cut herself off with a gasp. She had gone to turn around and found Patrick standing about an inch behind her. They both froze there for a moment as she looked up into his eyes but before he could open his mouth she had moved away to start making the bed.

"Teddy - " He came up behind her again but loudly this time and tried to jerk the blanket from her hands. "Teddy, stop! We're in a hotel I don't think the maids will take too kindly to you trying to steal their job!"

Teddy hung her head slightly and tossed the blanket on the bed. "Oh, I dunno, they'd probably appreciate not having to clean up after a bunch of slobs for once."

Patrick snorted but she still didn't lift her head to meet his eyes. He pulled her down to sit on the bed beside him. "Teddy, what's wrong?" When she didn't answer he went on, "Look, I understand if you're mad about us not having much of a chance to talk the last few days -- "

Teddy jerked her eyes up to meet his, surprised, and he halted in his sentence. "I'm not mad Patrick, not at all. Ella's your girlfriend; you should spend time with her. I just thought maybe you we're a little relieved to not have me hanging around so much."

Now it was Patrick's turn to look surprised. "Relieved? Why would I be relieved? You're my friend Teddy, I like spending time with you."

Teddy stared into his face biting her lip. "And Ella doesn't get mad that you spend so much time with another girl?"

Patrick seemed to shrug it off. "I've always had girls that are close friends, Ella knows that. And I wouldn't be with her if she was the type of girl that got jealous over every little thing, with as much as I'm on the road. She knows there's nothing between you and me but friendship."

He finished the last part with a genuine smile and a pat on her back and Teddy felt her heart break just a bit but managed to keep it carefully concealed as she smiled back.

"Good. I just didn't want to get you in trouble."

Patrick grinned at her, "How could anyone be mad at this face?"

Teddy couldn't help but smile back.

"No idea, Patrick, no idea."