death's seen a double bed » joetrick

[13] Just Like Kisses on the Necks of 'Best Friends'

***

I survived through the first four periods quite easily, only a bit surprised that nobody made rude remarks to me about Andy. All of the teachers I met that day were silent and hesitated when they called my name in class. The principal must've told them what happened, and I doubt that they didn't do the same with Patrick.

Now that I was going to lunch, I had to find Patrick. There was no way in hell that he would've skipped lunch, and I knew that that was my chance to talk to him. The only thing that I could think about all day after seeing him again was that I had to say something, even if he didn't want to talk to me about anything.

The only unoccupied table in the cafeteria was the one next to the queue, and one of the people that were waiting there to get their food was a short guy with his weird haircut. People probably noticed that I was staring right at him, because a few girls walked by my table whispering things. Patrick got his food and stepped away from the queue, looking for a table to sit at, but there were no other empty chairs except the ones at my table. Our eyes connected again and his shoulders dropped a little. He walked closer to the table and sighed.

"Can I sit here?" Patrick asked, rather shyly than with contempt, as he sat down on the opposite edge of the table. It was obvious that he didn't want to get closer to me than he already did, and this was his way of 'subtly' telling me that.

"How was your summ-" I started, immediately being cut off by Patrick getting his tray off the table, already running away from me. "We haven't seen each other in three months, do you really expect me to not care?"

He sighed again, a shard of guilt brushing over his face when he slowly put his tray down and let his head rest on his palms. "We talked about this before, Joe," he noted, taking a small bite of his poorly made burger. Patrick's body stiffened up even more when he looked up from his food and held my gaze. His eyes flinched a little when I finally opened my mouth.

"We never talked about anything. You just left," I said, a little more bitterly than I wanted it to get out. His eyebrows furrowed and he dropped his burger back on the tray. He pushed it away furiously, attracting a few curious looks from the neighbouring tables. Patrick shot them a cold glare and looked at me again.

"Oh, and why the hell would've I left, I wonder?" he retorted, bent over the table, his face only a few inches away from mine.

More people were now staring at us, and Patrick noticed that soon enough not to start yelling at me in the middle of the cafeteria. He sank into his seat and returned to his meal without looking at me again.

Three months after I fucked up, I still have to be yelled at to realise that I'm a fucking idiot.

***

I ran the whole way from Glenbrook to Chris' house in a few minutes, and when I finally knocked on his door, I couldn't even breathe anymore. But I still could choke out a few words before collapsing on his couch, trying to catch my breath and calm down.

"Chris, he's... he's back! Patrick's back!"

"What?" he asked quickly, throwing me a bottle of water. He didn't mind that I just splashed it all on my face and his floor, probably because he was going to do the same thing soon enough. "I thought you said he moved to Canada!"

"Well, that's what I thought too! And then he just shows up at school like it's fucking nothing."

"Did you talk to him?"