This Story's Going Somewhere

Chapter 3 - Patrick

She was gone when I woke up. The bed was still warm where she had been, so knew I hadn't dreamt it. All of her things were gone; She hadn't left anything, not even a note. I climbed out of bed with a pounding headache, and trudged to where my pants and boxers had landed on the floor. I pulled them on and found a clean t-shirt to put on as well, then made my way out to the living room. Pete was awake, and sitting on the couch watching TV. Joe was in the kitchen, pouring himself a bowl of cereal. The clock on the wall read 12:30, and I suddenly felt like I was awake far too early. How early had she woken up to get out of here?

                "There he is," Pete said, a little too loud for my pounding head. "Mr. Ladies Man is awake finally!"

                "Huh?" I asked, looking at him in pain and confusion.

                "You and that Nora girl," Pete clarified as Joe walked in and sat on the other side of the couch with his cereal. "I'm proud of you, man."

                I hadn't realized that anyone had seen us disappear together last night. "Oh, Nora. It was nothing, Pete, don't get all worked up about it."

                "Hey, I'm just saying," Pete continued to tease, "She's hot! Way to go, Patrick."

                "Leave him alone, Pete," Joe said, his mouth full of food. "You look like you have a nasty hangover, Patrick."

                "I do. I'm going to get something to eat, and then I'm going back to bed."

                "Dude, is she still here?" Pete asked excitedly, looking over the back of the couch to watch me as I made myself a bowl of cereal.

                "No, she left."

                "Aw, I missed the walk of shame?"

                "The what?" I looked up at Pete in annoyance. "Pete, shut up. She's a nice girl, you don't have to be a dick." Pete was absolutely silent then, and it unnerved me as I finished making my breakfast. As soon as I turned around to head for my bedroom with my cereal and saw Pete grinning at me like loon from over the back of the couch, I snapped. "What, Pete?!"

                "You like her," he said genuinely curious. I glared at him, but didn't move to leave just yet.

                "Pete, it was a one-night-stand," I insisted, as if that mattered in how I felt. It wasn't that I liked her the way Pete was insinuating, I was just a little hurt that she had left in such a hurry and didn't even leave me a note.

                "Yeah, and you caught feelings, didn't you?" He pestered me, trying and failing to put a serious look on his face.

                "Fuck off, Pete," I finally said, and stomped off to my room like a toddler. I slammed my bedroom door behind me and ate my cereal alone and in silence. I kept glancing out the balcony door as if I might expect her to just appear there at some point. I couldn't even deny it to myself that yes, I wanted to see her. If only to tell her one last time that last night was the best night of my life and that she was absolutely gorgeous. That's all I wanted to say, and then she could walk out of my life forever if she wanted, but she never gave me that chance. She slipped away while I was asleep, without even so much as a goodbye.

                Perhaps I was being a little melodramatic. I knew it was going to end like this, and besides, I barely knew her. We were drunk and she was pretty, and I let my dick do the thinking last night. It was stupid, and now I have to sit here and sulk with a hangover. I finished my cereal and set the bowl on my bedside table, then laid back down and pulled the covers over me. The sheets still smelled like sex, and I felt like such an idiot for dwelling on it that I couldn't even sleep off the headache. After half an hour of trying, I threw off the sheets and climbed out of bed. I grabbed my guitar from its stand in the corner of my room and carried it out to the balcony with me. There was a single chair in the corner of the small space out here, and I sat there for hours, mindlessly strumming on my guitar.