FicWad

I texted Patrick at quarter to five. A simple message. A sweet message.

‘better have your ass ready at five boy :)’ the message read.

I spent the rest of the afternoon pretending to be working hard on my computer. Clicking away furiously. Typing erratically. Focusing deeply. In actual fact, I was playing solitaire. The computer had me beat for the ninth time and I was determined to win this round. Placing the final ace in place I cheered heartily as the cards dance around the screen and the single word ‘WINNER’ appeared in the center.

‘Working hard Wentz?’ Frank asked, peering around the doorframe.

‘As always’ I grin, checking my watch impatiently

‘Finally won one?’ He chuckled

‘It was about damn time!’ I shout, smacking the side of my computer screen.

‘See, this is where all the office finance goes…’ He pointed at my computer, ‘Buying you new equipment..’

I throw a pencil at his head and he quickly makes his exit.

‘Until Monday, Wentz’ He calls,

‘Looking forward to it, Iero’ I jeer, waving at him.

Thank god for the weekend. Three whole days of just me and Hemmy. Oh, and now we have Patrick too. I remembered what he said at Starbucks. He’s going to teach me music. He better. I’d love to get into music. As a kid, my parents let me learn to play bass but I gave that up after a few years and they started to push me towards being a career man. Suppose they succeeded. Sometimes, however, I wonder how my life would’ve turned out if I’d kept playing.

‘Oh My God!’ A startled voice calls out, making me go to investigate.

There at reception was Patrick. Smiling broadly as he usually does. Looking at Frank in complete awe. I swear his mouth was open so wide I could have climbed into it.

‘You’re… You’re Frank Iero’ Patrick gawped, his baby blue eyes shining bright.

‘Uh… Hi…?’ Frank said slowly, looking to me for support

‘Hey Patrick’ I wave, and Patrick points at me accusingly

‘You didn’t tell me you worked with Frank Iero!’ Trick shouted, eyes darting from me to Frank.

‘Okay… Am I missing something here?’ I ask, scratching the back of my head

‘Frank freaking Iero!’ Trick calls once more as if I wasn’t sure who he was talking about, ‘Lead singer of Pencey Prep!’

Frank’s confused face soon changed to his intense gloating face.

‘Holy shit!’ Frank laughed, high fiving Patrick before waving me over, ‘Man, you’ve heard of us?’

‘Heard of you?’ Patrick sniggered, ‘Just the hottest damn band out of Jersey! Hell yeah, I’ve heard of you. I even have your albums dude’

‘Wait…’ I tried to keep up with the conversation but was getting a little lost, ‘You’re in a band?’

‘Duh’ Frank answered simply

‘And…’ I continue, looking at Patrick, ‘You’re a fan?’

‘Duh’ Patrick answered, mimicking Frank
‘Right…’ I shrug, ‘Just so I know..’

I grab Patrick by the arm but at the same time so does Frank.

‘Now hold your horses Peter’ Frank beams, ‘I quite like having a groupie’

‘Oh Jesus…’ I say under my breath, ‘Well, Frank Anthony Iero it just so happens that me and Patrick… uh... What’s your second name?’

‘Stumph’ Patrick mutters in my ear

‘Me and Patrick Stu… Wow… Seriously?’ Patrick hits me in the arm, ‘Ouch.. Okay.. Me and Patrick Stumph… Have something more important to do than hang around you all day, smuggy’

Frank pouted, bottom lip out, but let go of Patrick’s arm. I nod in triumph and pull Trick out of the office. Patrick shouts a quick goodbye and Frank does the same. Just before we leave I hear Frank shout for one last time.

‘Jealous much?’ Frank shouts after us.

Stepping into the elevator with Patrick I start to think. Yeah, actually. Yeah, I was jealous. Patrick had reacted the same way to Frank as I had the first time I met Patrick. I wished that Patrick had had that type of reaction to me. I wished that Patrick had liked me as much as he had instantly liked Frank. I shake my head, ridding me of these thoughts, and smile at Trick who was playing with the elevator buttons. I didn’t notice, until it was too late, that he had pressed every single button from floor thirteen down. He giggled as we stopped at each floor.

‘Hey…’ Something had just occurred to me, ‘How did you know which floor I was on?’

‘I… uh…’ He blushed a deep crimson color, ‘didn’t’

‘So…’ I try to prize the answers from him, ‘How did you find me?’

He took a deep breath, preparing to give me a very very long explanation.

‘Well…’ He began, ‘First I went to floor one and said ‘Does anyone know someone called Pete who works here?’ and this skinny brunette came over and said ‘Yeah totally, he’s on floor six’. So I went to floor six and found this guy called Pete but he wasn’t you..’

‘Clearly..’ I say, ‘Carry on’
‘So…’ He took another deep breath, ‘So I said to old Pete, I call him old Pete cause his name was Pete and he was old, anyway, I said ‘Hey.. Do you know anyone else in this place called Pete?’. He said, ‘Sure, he’s on floor twenty three’. So, I went up to floor twenty three and found this other guy called Pete who kinda looked like Keanu Reeves.’

‘Uh huh…’ I scratch my head again, ‘And…?’

‘Well…’ He took yet another deep breath, ‘I said to Keanu Reeves, Well, not the actual Keanu Reeves, I said, ‘Hey.. Do you know anyone else who works here called Pete?’. He said ‘Sure do, try floor six’’

‘…’ I couldn’t even think of a reply at this point

‘So then I went to floor six and ran into old Pete again’ He sighed, then went quiet for a while.

‘So, how did you find me?’ I finally snap

He put his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, plastic card. It was my office i.d.

‘That story was a lie’ He laughed, ‘You dropped this earlier.’

My jaw dropped. Slowly, taking the i.d off of him I inhaled slowly before falling into a fit of completely real, uncontrollable, hysterical laughter. I clutch at my sides because it hurt so bad to be this happy. Taking shaky breaths as I feel myself calming down, the elevator finally hits ground floor and a large crowd of smartly dressed managers are staring at me. Patrick has to almost literally carry me out of the building because I was chuckling so hard that my legs refused to function. I couldn’t actually remember the last time I’d laughed so much.

‘Kid…’ I try to choke out, ‘You… are… so… weird…’

‘And you are so heavy...’ He huffs, letting go of me, ‘I’m serious, you look so tiny but, Jesus…’

‘Come on..’ I tip my head towards the direction of the parking lot, and on arrival point out my little, red sports car.

‘Holy Cow…’ He breathed, staring at the shiny, red finish.

‘It’s not that great..’ I grumble, unlocking it and waving Patrick into the passenger seat.

‘Are you kidding me?’ He stroked the dashboard, ‘This must have cost you a fortune’

‘It was gift actually…’ I closed my eyes, ‘More of a bribe really…’

‘Who gave it to you?’ He asked, putting on his seatbelt.

‘Ash did, for my birthday…’ I sigh, ‘Sort of a ‘Congratulations on choosing to be my arm candy’ present’

‘Sucks..’ He stared at his feet,

‘Yeah…’ I started the car.