Everything's Magic, Chapter 2, 'Yesterday's Feelings'

Chapter 2 peeps!!! ^_^ Pete's not feeling so great and neither is Bert since he's got bad news for Pete...

‘Everything’s Magic’

Chapter 2

‘Yesterday’s Feeling’s’

Bert didn't usually have the best of mornings. Whether it was Jeph and his latest girlfriend (or boyfriend but Jeph insists that was a onetime thing) waking him up way too early, or just Jeph and his goddamn snoring. Today it was the snoring, but mixed with the hideous feeling of regret bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

He sat up aware of the darkness around him, and looked over to his alarm clock, that read an insanely early 3am. Since this regret of his was playing havoc with his sanity he thought, now at 3am, it was perfectly necessary to text Pete and ask him to meet him out in the gardens where they definitely wouldn’t be at danger of being discovered. So he texted Pete.

Hey LouP, meet me in the back gardens by the fountain in 10 minutes ok? I need to talk to you Pete.

Love ya.

x x x

He hesitated as he typed ‘Love ya. x x x’ fearing it would give Pete a false sense of security on what they needed to talk about.

-------------------------------------------

Bzz bzz

Bzz bzz

Pete phone buzzed at him in an annoying manner, much to his discontent as her discovered it was 3.05am, but when he saw who it was and what it said his little face lit up with glee.

He carefully slipped out of bed, making sure not to wake Patrick, so as to save himself any awkward questions that would surely follow him when Patrick eventually awoke.

Pete put on his slippers, and purple hoody, carefully locked the door behind him, and set down the corridor running as quickly and quietly as possible to reach Bert.

Finally he was outside and the pleasant early morning breeze hit his face cooling him, and relaxing any nerves he’d felt at seeing Bert after the previous nights events. He bounded over to the fountain where Bert sat with a deeply sombre expression on his pale tired face; even now Pete thought he looked as handsome as ever, even if few others thought so.

“Hi Pete, come, sit.” Bert beckoned, placing his palm where he wanted Pete to sit.

“Hi Bert, is everything ok?” Pete asked shyly, wondering if Bert noticed how close his hand was to the elder mans own.

“We need to talk...” Bert said sounding almost upset, the truth was what he’d done made him almost feel sick, but he tried to suppress the urge to get up and run, never looking back.

“Ok...” Pete replied, shaking slightly with nerves and also feeling slightly sick now, as he always did in particularly nerve racking situations.

“I know you like me.” Bert began “And I know this must be hard for you Pete, especially the fear of losing me as a friend, but you should know I’ll always be here for you, no matter what. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. But, I will apologise for last night, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry Pete, are you ok?” Bert finally ended, after what seemed like an eternity for Pete who now sat head bowed, eyes cast downward.

“I- I hoped, so much, that that kiss was for real...But I understand...you don’t want me...not like that.” Pete managed to stutter out slowly having to catch his breath more than once at this sad realisation. He had to stay realistic.

Bert could see all the pain in Pete’s hazel eyes as he watched and he knew this was breaking his little heart, shattering it into little star shaped pieces.

 

 

He carefully placed his arm over the younger man’s shoulder, and Pete didn’t object in the slightest, he simply slipped his head into the crook of Bert’s comforting arm. He knew in his heart, that as long as Bert was still there, and he’d not lost him as a friend, he might just be able to handle this, just.

-----------------------------------------------

“Pete...?” Patrick said quietly, as he woke from his deep sleep, barely remembering the night before, except for the little bomb shell Pete had dropped on him.

“Pete!?” He said louder as he realised Pete was shaking, sitting on his bed with his head down, little drops of water trickling from his eyes.

Pete let out a single sob, but that was enough for Patrick to have dived out of bed, and onto Patrick’s bed to see what the matter was. It was the saddest thing he’d ever seen, his best friend utterly broken.

“B- Bert texted me this morning, t- telling me to meet him...h- he doesn’t want me...” Pete trailed off sobbing harder and shaking violently.

“Ssssh, don’t cry Tink, please don’t cry.” Patrick said as he hugged his dear friend tightly.

“He said he’d always be there for me...but that he regretted the kiss...” This last part, was where Pete suddenly became silent and totally still, trying as hard as he could to gather up all his strength and shove down the terrible pain that was breaking his heart.

“I guess I’ll be ok.” Pete said in his cheeriest voice, totally fooling Patrick.

“Well I’m glad Tink; please don’t waste your tears on him. He’s not worth it.” Patrick replied smiling at the sudden change in Pete’s mood.

Pete returned the smile, but inside he wanted nothing more than to shout and make a scene, and say that Bert was worth it, he was more than worth it, and it was hurting him so much.

Pete and Patrick dressed and got ready for the day ahead in silence, then headed for breakfast.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, everyone too tired to make conversation, so Pete, Patrick, Brian, Phoenix, now accompanied by Nathan, Zack, Gerard and Frank sat silently eating the various foods on their plates.

Then Bert arrived, alone. Gerard kept his eyes to his plate, staring at it as if it were truly fascinating, Frank coughed and sniggered quietly. It was Phoenix who thankfully broke the silence.

“Hi Bert, how are you this morning?” She said cheerily, grinning at him as Nathan’s grip on her waist tightened slightly, he was a tad possessive, but he smiled at Bert all the same.

“I’m ok...Tired.” He said his eyes lingering on Pete as he glanced at them all one by one.

Pete sat silently picking at his food, barely touching it at all. He felt like he may be sick if he ate this morning, and Bert seemed to have this feeling too, mostly due to the guilt. Gerard’s eyes lifted, giving Pete a deeply concerned look, and frowning slightly.

“Pete...?” Gerard began.

But Patrick waved a hand at him, indicating he shouldn’t continue. Gerard wasn’t the only one who was worried, they all were, normally if Pete saw Bert his little face would light up and he jump out of his chair and hug Bert tightly, but today he merely sat in silence ignoring everyone, not a smile to be seen on his usually cheery face.

Bert slipped into a chair just in front of Pete, careful not to catch his eye, because he was so afraid of what he might see in those eyes. He had to make things up with Pete, he just had to, he didn’t care if Pete told him to go away, and he needed to make Pete happy again.

They all continued in silence as they had been before Bert’s arrival, then one by one each of them said goodbye and headed off to their first lesson; for Pete that would be IT, perfect excuse to laze around and talk to Patrick, Pete really couldn’t hack much hard work today, not after the little sleep he’d gotten. He was glad he had a free period right after break...

But Bert did too, he knew he couldn’t avoid him forever; maybe he’d just try his best to get back to normal, who knows maybe this would be ok after all.

Pete hurried to IT without touching a single spoon of cereal from his bowl, this made Patrick worry, he knew Pete didn’t deal with stress well, he knew Pete could go without food for days and it scared him, and he knew Pete had bad ways of dealing with stress...

“How are you feeling Pete?” Patrick asked looking at Pete carefully.

“I’m ok.” Pete replied revealing no feeling in his tone at all, he was trying to forget, trying to make everything seem normal again, maybe he could just pretend everything was like it was before.

“Are you really Pete, locking it up inside won’t make things better, it’ll make it worse, please Pete, talk to me...” Patrick practically begged.

“Patrick! I’M FINE NOW LEAVE ME ALONE SO I CAN GET SOME DAMN WORK DONE!” Pete exploded, surprised by the sudden burst of anger he felt inside himself.

Patrick didn’t bother him for the rest of the lesson, in fact for the rest of the day he was very quiet, watching Pete, worried in case the ticking time bomb would go off at any moment.

At last the last lesson came, it was English, again.

“Hi Pete.” Ashlee said smiling at Pete. “Do you mind if I sit here? The girl you sit with hasn’t come in today.”

“Yeah! Sure Ashlee!” Pete said grinning, he didn’t talk to her much, but Ashlee was a nice girl, maybe she’d brighten his day a little.

Mr Leto entered the room quickly, greeted the class and set them their assignments.

Partner work.

Normally Pete would have worked with Brian, but he felt like he needed to talk to someone who didn’t keep glancing at him, even if it was out of concern.

“So, how are things Pete?” Ashlee asked.

“They’re alright, just bit stressed out you know...” Pete said drifting off at the end of his sentence.

 

“Yeah, aren’t we all, hey are you coming to the party on Saturday? You know Brian’s party?” She asked smiling at him.

“Yeah, I’ll probably go with Patrick and...Err, maybe Bert.” He replied taking a deep breath.

“That’s cool, are you ok?” She said looking concerned at the dark look on his face.

“Yes, I-I’m fine...” He said, grinning at her with his bravest face.

They worked quietly for the rest of the lesson, not mentioning Pete’s moment of darkness. Pete enjoyed working with her, it was a nice change, he could talk about totally ordinary things like homework or plans for holidays with her, without it turning into some sort of talk about how hot some girl is, like it would have had he been working with Brian.

Finally the bell rang and Pete was free to leave the prison of a classroom.

“So I guess I’ll see you around Pete?” Ashlee said smiling a smile Pete had never realised was so irresistible, he was transfixed by it.

“Yeah, I’ll see you at the party.” He replied grinning mildly and feeling somewhat elated by the pleasant lesson he’d just had, and then something burst his bubble.

“Hey Pete! What’s going on with you and that Ashlee chick?” Brian asked nudging Pete suggestively.

“Nothing. She’s just a friend, we were only talking...” Pete replied glaring slightly at his friend. Sometimes Brian really irritated him, he didn’t really see it being possible to have girls as friends.

 

 

Pete escaped back to his dorm room before anyone else managed to harass him, and he was glad to find that Pete wasn’t back yet. He slipped into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face, suddenly feeling horribly tired out from all of today’s events. He wasn’t just tired, he was upset, angry, and totally exhausted beyond what he’d quite realised, and now it was hitting him harder than ever.

He kept telling himself he’d be ok, but now he just felt more unhappy than he’d ever felt and he was quite stunned by it. He sighed deeply as he slipped back into his room which was still empty, so he lay on his bed and shut his eyes hoping to find sleep as his solace.

 

----------------------------------------------

 “Pete! Pete!” Patrick shouted from a distance.

“Whaa...” Pete said in a muffled voice, as he suddenly realised Patrick was standing over him shaking him and calling his name.

“Pete! I’ve been trying to wake you for ages; I thought something was really wrong! It’s Saturday morning, come on, time for breakfast, you need to eat, you slept straight through dinner last night.”

“No, I’m not hungry, you go and eat I’ll come down later, ok?” Pete said between the sudden coughing fit he’d now been overcome by.

He sat coughing for some time; he was going to be sick.

He ran to the bathroom and stuck his head close by the toilet; Patrick looked terrified as Pete threw up nothing but water and some remnants of his pizza from the night before last.

“Really now Pete, try and tell me you’re not hungry, please eat something you didn’t eat all day yesterday. Please Pete.” Patrick pleaded

“NO!” Pete roared “Please, leave, me, alone.” He said a little quieter, slumping onto the floor and pressing his head to his knees. “GO!”

Once Patrick was gone he dissolved into heart wrenching sobs as tears fell from his eyes, he had no idea where it was coming from, but suddenly he was crying and he couldn’t stop, he felt worthless.

Then the sickly feeling returned and he sat up to heave his head over the toilet seat once again, this time however he wasn’t bringing anything up at all, he merely heaved and heaved. After sometime when his throat was sore and he could no longer bare it, he crawled into his room and managed to clamber into bed.

-----------------------------------------------

He eventually did wake up at around 2pm, feeling much better, infact he now felt he had a new found sense of purpose, and he was going to enjoy the party later, and enjoy it a lot.

He began going through his clothes until he pulled out his tightest electric blue jeans, and a red studded belt, after diving into his clothes again; he pulled out a purple hoody and a red t-shirt with ‘Single’ emblazed across the front in bold black lettering. He really was going to enjoy this party, he decided he’d go and have a refreshing shower, and take his time getting ready, then go and find Patrick and the other guys, once he’d carefully traced black eyeliner around his hazel eyes.

He stepped in front of the full length mirror to admire his work, and was highly pleased by what he saw, he noticed some bags around his eyes and a little hollowness in his cheeks, but he thought he looked quite good, infact very good.

Slipping his favourite black vans onto his feet, he left his room shutting the door behind him quietly. “They must be in the common room...” He thought to himself.

Just as he thought they were all gathered there when he arrived, almost all of them fell silent when he entered; he guessed Patrick had told them what had happened.

But he was wrong.

“Oh wow...” Bert said quietly absorbing the appearance of the shorter, younger man that stood before him. Pete looked good, really good, and Bert had to gulp slightly before speaking to him directly.

“You look really cool Pete.” Ashlee said grinning one of her bright cheery smiles at him.

He’d not even noticed she was there until she had spoken, she was sitting by Patrick and Bert, and they’d all been talking amongst themselves until Pete had arrived.

Even Patrick was a bit shocked when he saw Pete strutting over to him and sitting himself down heavily next to Ashlee.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Pete said cooly, giving Ashlee a wink and colliding fists with Patrick like the gangster’s that they are. “Soo are we heading over to Brian’s now then?? Don’t wana miss out on the fun do we?” He said grinning broadly at Ashlee and Patrick, hardly acknowledging Bert at all.

So they all headed out of the common room and eventually found Patrick’s car parked up outside.

“Sorry Bert...” Patrick said. “I promised Ash I’d take her with us, there’s not enough room for you, Pete and Ashlee, and we’re picking up Phoenix and Nathan too.”

“Oh...ok I’ll just go get a ride from one of the other guys then...” Bert replied glancing over at Pete, receiving a dirty look and then averting his eyes to his shoes. “I’ll just go...”

“Yeah whatever bye.” Pete said coldly.

Once Bert was out of ear shot and Ashlee was in the car, Patrick pulled Pete over to the edge of the car. “There’s no need to be like that dude.” Patrick said trying to be as delicate as possible.

“Ok whatever Patrick I just wana go party his face outta my head.” Pete replied.

“Fine, if you’re sure...” Patrick said with his voice laden with concern.

And so they drove off out of the campus with Phoenix and Nathan now in tow, Pete was ready to party, like he’d never done before, and he knew he’d regret every last second in the morning, but as he sat with his arm draped over Ashlee’s shoulder, it all seemed like he could forget Bert so so easily.

But could Bert forget him...

Author's Note

Hope you guys like this one! Chapter 3 may take a little longer to come in but I'll try and be quick ^_^

Reviews

[Spilled Her Guts in Cur..]

Yay! this fic is win! Good for you for continuing since this always had potential. Keep it up!