"What?" Andy asks, his eyes wide.
"You're married, Patrick!" Joe yells.
"Not only are you married, but you have a child!" Pete adds.
Patrick's friends are standing over him as he sits there, starting to regret being honest when they asked him why he had shown up late. "Guys, it was a one night stand. Tons of people have them. It's not like I'm going to run into her again. I didn't even get her name."
"Dude, none of that matters. The point of the matter is that you did something you shouldn't have," Pete remarks, sitting down beside him, "Does (Y/N) know?"
He scoffs, "Of course she doesn't know. And she's not going to," Patrick stands up and looks at the three of them, "No one has to find out about this. No one is to find out about this. Understood?" Pete, Joe, and Andy say nothing. "Understood?" He repeats more aggressively than the first time, his heart starting to beat a little faster as he begins to become nervous.
"Patrick, you cheated on her," Andy mutters under his breath.
"I didn't cheat on her. I just..." He puts his hands on his hips, "I just wasn't thinking."
"It doesn't matter if you were thinking or not," Joe mumbles, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest, "You slept with another woman, Patrick. You broke your commitment to (Y/N). And that ring on your finger means nothing now."
Patrick glances at his left hand and notices that he's not even wearing the ring. His eyes widen and he begins to search for his ring, looking in all of his pockets, but no avail. "Oh shit," He whispers to himself.
Pete shakes his head, tears brimming his eyes, "I don't even know who the fuck you are anymore, man." And with that, he leaves the room, Joe and Andy following after him. Patrick runs his fingers through his hair and heaves a shaky sigh.
*****
Patrick's sitting in his car, driving down the nearly empty streets towards the house he shares with you. The house where you, his wife, would be waiting for him with your two-year-old son.
The guilt of last night is eating away at his insides, turning his stomach to knots and making it feel like a hammer is hitting his head from the inside.
He doesn't know what he was thinking...doing what he did. He kind of just did it. He wasn't thinking about the repercussions, he wasn't thinking about you or your son when he did it, he wasn't thinking about anything.
And the worst part of it all was that he wasn't even inebriated. He was completely sober and he knew exactly what I was doing. The whole time. From the time she took him back to her apartment, to when she led him into her bedroom, to when she pulled him close to her and connected her lips with his, to when she pushed him down on the bed, even to when she ripped his shirt open and pulled his pants down. He knew exactly what he was doing the whole time.
"What?"
But even then that wasn't the worst part of it all.
The real worst part of it all was that he doesn't entirely regret his decision.
He pulls into your driveway and turns the car off. He gets out and straightens his jacket, walking up the walkway leading up to the front door and pulling his key out. He slips the key into the lock and opens the door.
"Patrick?" Your voice sounds from somewhere in the large house.
"You're married, Patrick!"
"(Y/N)! I'm home!" He calls back, closing the door behind him and forcing a smile on his face as you walk up to the banister on the second floor.
"Hey," You greet him, looking down at him with a genuine smile on your face, "I missed you."