After The Dance (FOB FanFic ft. Panic! At The Disco)

~PART THREE~ [Chapter 42] Ugly Sweater Party - Part Two (Lexy)

Quick Author's Note: The picture of the girl either above is of Andy's girlfriend, Jackie. Just so you know. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you like this chapter! -Rachael

(Lexy's POV)

I watched as Patrick ran in the same direction Catherine escaped in. I wonder what his problem is, I thought to myself as I returned my attention to the group, only to see that there was a new addition - Elisa. She was giving everyone a hug, but when she got to me she hesitated. I thought she wasn't going to hug me, and it wasn't like I wanted her to either, but she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I slowly hugged her back. As she stepped out of the embrace, she said coldly, "I wasn't expecting to see you here, Lexy."

"Neither was I to see you," I retorted.

"Didn't move to like...Mexico?"

"Um...no, I moved to New Jersey."

"Oh..." She began to twirl her hair around her finger, "Isn't there a lot of crime there? Lots of gangs?"

I gave her a confused look, "No, not where I lived..."

She just stared at me for a little before saying peppily, "Well it's great to see you again!"

"Great to see you again too," I replied apprehensively. She flashed me a smile before turning around towards Pete and asking him where Patrick was.

"He was here just a minute ago..." Pete retorted as he, along with Joe and Andy, began to look around the room for their friend.

"I think I saw him go to the bathroom," The girl standing next to Andy spoke up - she was his girlfriend (I had met her only minutes ago but she seemed really nice). She had long, wavy, light brown hair and hazel eyes. Although she was nice, she was very shy, clinging onto Andy's arm and keeping her head hung low, barely looking up from the ground.

Elisa turned to face her, "You did?" The girl nodded her head. "Thank you...whoever you are." Elisa smiled once more before pushing past all of us and going to where the girl directed her.

"Jackie," The girl murmured under her breath, "My name is Jackie." Andy leaned down and kissed her on the head.

An awkward silence fell over the small group we had created before each person found some excuse to break away, eventually making it so that it was just me and Pete still standing.

"So, you and Patrick," Pete attempted to make things less awkward between the two of us, elbowing me playfully in the arm, "Together at last."

"Not really," I retorted softly, looking down at the red solo cup in my hands.

"What do you mean 'not really'?"

"He's still with Elisa."

Pete scoffed, "Yeah, but they had a huge fight about a week ago and they haven't talked to each other since. I highly doubt that whatever Elisa has to say to him tonight is going to resolve all the problems that they have." I looked over at him. "I mean, she slept with Spencer, her ex, for crying out loud. Do you think he's going to forgive her for betraying him like that?"

I remained silent, returning my gaze back down to my drink. Pete heaved a sigh and moved so that he was standing beside me and he could wrap his arm around my back. "Look, Lex, I know Patrick and so do you. He knows better than to stay with a girl like that."

"I'm not so sure about that, Pete," I glanced up at him. He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Things are different now, Pete. This isn't the same Chicago I grew up in. These people aren't the same people I grew up with. And the Patrick that's hiding in the linen closet right now because his girlfriend showed up isn't the Patrick I know and fell in love with. Nor the one you went to school with."

"What are you saying?" He retracted his arm back to his side.

"I'm saying that he's changed," I muttered, "He's changed, you've changed, I've changed. Everyone's changed!" I crushed my cup in my hands out of anger and dropped it to the floor, continuing in a much softer tone, "I'm saying that maybe me coming back was a big mistake."

He didn't say anything, rather than placed his hand on my back and began rubbing it comfortingly.

"I think I need some fresh air, Pete." I brushed past him and stormed out of the apartment.

*****

There wasn't anything more worse than the feeling of when you come back home but it's not home anymore.

I was away for only three years, not even, yet it seems like everything's changed. And everyone and everything was different. And I don't know anyone or anything anymore.

I was sitting out in the cold, my knees pulled into my chest and my back against the exterior wall of the apartment complex. Snow had started to fall from the dark blue sky and the temperature was dropping quickly, causing me to shiver, but there was no way in hell I was going back in there. Not until there wasn't anyone left but Pete and Catherine, since it was their apartment.

"Ahem."

I looked over in that direction and saw the last person I wanted to see standing in the doorway that led inside the apartment building. I looked away and listened as the snow crunched beneath their feet. They sat down beside me and heaved a sigh. "What are you doing out here, Lexy?"

"I couldn't handle it in there anymore," I muttered in response, my teeth chattering against each other.

"And why couldn't you handle it in there anymore?"

"Because of you," I was barely able to say.

"Ouch," They replied, "Kind of hurts hearing that from the girl I grew up."

"Well it kind of hurts that the guy I grew up with isn't the same guy sitting next to me right now." I glanced over at him and saw him staring out into the distance. I turned so I was facing him and said, "Patrick, I know I said back in New Jersey that you'll always be the same guy I grew up next door to, but..."

"You realized I'm not that guy anymore," He turned his head so that he was looking at me. I tilted my head down. "Pete told me what you said to him. About how that you think everyone's changed and that you coming here was a big mistake."

"It was," I murmured under my breath.

"No it wasn't," He disagreed with me. I glanced up at him. "Lexy, I'd wanted you to come back since the day you moved away. And now that you're here-"

"You think I should move back so that you don't have to choose between Elisa and me," I interrupted him, trying to finish his sentence, "Make it easy on yourself, why don't you, and tell me you want me gone so you can be with that cheating whore you call a girlfriend."

"Lexy..."

"She cheated on you with her ex, Patrick!"

"I know."

"Then why is it so hard to break up with her? Why stay with her when she obviously doesn't care about you or your feelings?"

He tilted his head down and said quietly, "I don't know."

The two of us sat there in silence before I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and dialed someone's number. "What are you doing?" Patrick asked me.

"I'm calling my dad," I answered, rising to my feet and taking a few steps away from him so things would be more quiet (because even from out there I could hear the music blasting from Pete's apartment - I wondered how his neighbors felt).

"What? Why?"

I spun around so I was facing him, replying, "I'm asking him to come and get me. To take me home."