FicWad

t h i r t e e n.

For the next two days, I stayed in my room, only letting Patrick, Pete, or Joe in to give me food. They were all concerned about me, I could tell, though they never said anything to me. I just sat there, eating little and sleeping. I kept the TV or music on a lot of the time so I wouldn't feel alone. I ignored all of my phone calls. I ended up watching stupid movies or TV shows. I listened to about three CDs in my entire CD collection, none of which were Fall Out Boy. I didn't log onto my computer for fear that one of the guys would try to make me talk to them. The only thing that I refused to do was cry. I would not cry over Andy and his stupidity. I knew full well that Nicole had gotten exactly what she wanted, and it made me sick to my stomach, but I refused to let myself get worked up about it.

After I had my two days, Patrick decided to camp out in my room. He must have snuck in while I was sleeping, because I woke up and he was sitting beside my bed with a cup of tea, some toast, and a smile. I blinked at him, attempted a small smile, and took the tea gratefully. As I gulped it down, Patrick broke the unspoken "Thou shalt not speak to Lane" commandment that they had obviously set.

"Okay, we've given you two days. Now I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but we're always here if you ever feel like it. We're all pretty mad at Andy for breaking your heart, but you need to get out of your bed and face this. And so to help you get over this whole ordeal, we are going out today for some best friend bonding," he said as gently as he could.

"Just you and me?" I asked, my voice a bit scratchy from not using it.

"I've got some stuff planned for us," he said evasively. I eyed him skeptically. "It doesn't involve Andy, but that's all you'll get out of me. Now get up and get dressed!" He took my hands and helped pull me out of bed. I found that it didn't hurt as much walking around as it did before. Maybe the doctor was right about that bed rest thing...

I got ready for the day, the warm water from my shower soothing to my skin after two days of just sitting in bed, not getting up for anything except going to the bathroom. I finally finished with my morning routine and cautiously stepped into the hallway. Once I was sure that Andy wasn't in sight, I walked towards the kitchen to put away the dishes that once held my toast and tea. As soon as I stepped into the kitchen and put my dishes onto one of the counters, I saw someone bent over and trying to reach something in one of the lower cabinets. I sucked in a breath and unknowingly held it in. The person straightened up and I hoped that it wasn't Andy. As soon as their head was out of the cupboard, I exhaled again. I smiled at the sight of the bushy afro-topped head emerging from the cabinet with a frown etched onto its face. As soon as Joe saw me, he almost beamed and engulfed me in a hug. I returned the hug, concious of the way that Joe held me as if I would break. As soon as we pulled apart, I picked up my dishes again, anxious for something to do.

"All better now?" he asked softly as I carefully rinsed the cup. I gave a noncommittal shrug, and I felt him move closer to the sink. He reached a hand out and patted my shoulder in a reassuring manner. "Don't worry. It'll all be better soon. I promise." I put the cup down, turned around, and hugged him.

"I should have listened to you. You were right all along. I'm sorry," I whispered into his shoulder. He returned the hug, rubbing the small of my back.

"It's okay, it's all over now. It'll go away soon, we can all forget about this," he whispered back reassuringly. I nodded and pulled away, knowing that Joe's reply was probably the best I could expect to get. After all, Joe was a guy, and guys don't always know the exact right thing that every girl wants to hear. And I really didn't know what I wanted to hear from him at the time, to be honest.

We stood in a bit of an awkward silence after that, in which I appeared to become very interested in the gauze covering some of my stitches. But I was very intently focused on how I was essentially trapped between Joe and the kitchen sink. "Hey, are you feeling any better?" Joe asked. I didn't know if he meant physically or emotionally, so I just shrugged.

"I will be before long," I replied softly, not looking up. He nodded, and I heard him open his mouth to say something else, and so I looked up into his baby blues, and I felt us unconciously move just a fraction of an inch closer. I swallowed hard and bit my bottom lip. "Yes?" I whispered to him. He took in a shallow breath and I suppressed a shiver.

"Hey Lane, you ready to go?" I heard Patrick call to me. Joe took a step away from me and smiled.

"Have a nice time out with Patrick," he muttered. I nodded and briefly squeezed one of his hands before going to meet Patrick in the foyer.

"What's wrong with you?" Patrick asked. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Your face is all pink and you look flustered. What happened?"

"Nothing," I replied, brushing past him and climbing into the passenger seat of his car. Patrick just shrugged in a sort of deafeated manner and followed me to his car.

"First, there are some people that I want you to meet," he said as we backed out of the driveway.
-----
A/N: Ahh so I thought I'd be able to get you a new chapter by like last week or so, but I couldn't. With the Cobra concert (which was wonderful), my best friend's birthday, and school, I was pretty much dying. So please forgive me.
Gabe's Valentine's Day love goes to pyrotechnicist, redballoon, and falloutgirl for being awesome and reviewing.

Love it? Hate it? Review.