(Pete's POV)

It's not like I expected to just have sex with Patrick the first day I saw him again. I wasn't that much of a narcissistic asshole. If we were going to try and work things out, we needed to start off slowly. That was my plan and apparently Patrick had the same idea. So of course it wouldn't make sense for it to bother me that he stopped my advances. It shouldn't make sense, but it did.

I didn't think I was irresistible. But I did think we would at least get to second base. I was in the mood and Patrick seemed like he was in the mood. But as soon as I even attempted to go past kissing, he froze. As if we were new to this. As if he didn't know what to expect from me.

I didn't want to dwell on those thoughts for too long. I was happy to even be sitting on this couch with Patrick's head in my lap. Stroking my fingers through his hair as he hummed along to the theme song of a show I'd never seen before. I could be happy doing this forever.

The show wasn't interesting enough to catch my full attention. So I was eyeing the containers of take out food scattered across the coffee table in front of us. Two meals worth. Breakfast and lunch. I wonder if he'd want me to stay for dinner too. Or even after dinner. Tyler was probably losing his sanity being alone in that hotel room. But I knew he wouldn't mind me staying out. He knew how much Patrick meant to me.

Would me staying the night mean we'd sleep in the same bed? I couldn't imagine Patrick making me sleep on the couch. But I wasn't too sure. Things were different now. Our comfortability seemed refreshed.

"Pete?" He whispered my name.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

He must have been talking about stopping me in the kitchen. I smiled. He could always tell when something was bothering me. "Patrick, you don't have anything to be sorry for."

"Yes I do. I have a lot to be sorry for. I did so much shit to you before-"

Oh.

"Shh." I stopped moving my fingers through his hair. "We both did things we shouldn't have."

"But I was worse. I lied and lied and lied. And then I tried to justify it all with bullshit."

"Patrick, you went to jail because of me."

"Yeah, for two weeks." He scoffed as if it weren't a big deal.

"But you didn't do anything! It didn't even make sense. I was alive less than two minutes later. How would you go to jail for that?"

"The jail time was mostly for the assault of the police officers."

"You assaulted police officers?" I couldn't even image my little Patrick doing something like that.

"Only because they wouldn't let me see you." I felt him shrug. "After I made bail I found out you'd died and I had nothing to do with that. Your family was still suing me for assaulting you. And they were also suing the hospital for the misplacement of your body. No one could explain what the hell had happened to you. Everyone was trying to point the finger of blame at anyone but themselves. It was hectic."

"So you all just assumed I was dead?"

"They had a service for you the second week I was in jail. No one would talk to me about you. Or take me to your grave site."

"Holy shit."

I exhaled in horrified awe. I had a grave site. There was a tombstone with my name one it. That was like a page from a nightmare novel. The awe quickly evaporated though. The thought was more horrific than anything else. I was very much alive. And now everyone knew it. Having that tombstone was like having the grim reaper just following me around all day. Waiting. It was eerie. It needed to be taken down.

"I haven't seen it." He sounded like he wanted to apologize for it.

"Good. I don't want you to."

He sat up then. Turning on the couch so that we were face to face. The corners of my mouth quirked upward. I'd missed just being able to look at him. Patrick's mimicking smile made me full on laugh. He was a adorable.

"It's getting late."

That wasn't what I was expecting. But he was right. It was almost eight. Which wasn't really that late. But it wasn't early either. It was around the time when people started deciding what they were going to do for the night. I already knew what I wanted to  do. I wanted to spend the night with Patrick. Even if it didn't mean sleeping together.

"I know." I glanced down at my watchless wrist and he laughed.

He stood up so I did too. "I should probably get you back to the hotel then." He sighed.

The shock on my face couldn't be hidden. "Okay." I nodded once. More to myself than to him. So he wasn't comfortable enough to spend the night in the same house as me at all. We really were starting fresh. "That's fine."

"Look." His eyes slid away from my face and landed on the floor. "I just think we should take things slow. I know it's stupid considering our history. But I can't-"

"Hey." I interrupted him when he started babbling. His eyes glistened with the threat of tears I didn't want him to shed. Why was he getting so emotional about this? "Hey." I said again. This time I reached over to lift his chin up. "I don't mind going back to the hotel. I understand."

"Y-You do?"

"Yeah." I smiled because when I smiled he usually smiled back. It worked. "I'll be back as soon as the sun is up."

**** **** **** **** **** **** ***

I couldn't sleep. My eyes locked on the alarm clock sitting on the table between me and Tyler's beds. It's not that I wanted to keep looking at the time. It was just that the time was the only thing I could see in the room. Tyler couldn't sleep unless it was completely dark. The dull light shining from the small 2:37 am on the digital clock was the only visible thing.

My insomnia always reared its ugly head at the worst times. Now I was forced to lay alone in this bed and think about nothing but Patrick. I knew I'd missed him while I was away, But I had no idea how much I'd missed him until I was with him again. After spending the day with him and then having to leave again, I missed him even more. Pathetic considering the last time I spoke to him, I'd convinced myself that I didn't love him.

I wanted to talk to Tyler about it. He always had pretty decent advice. And it wasn't like he was asleep. I could hear him humming to the tune of a Frank Sinatra song I couldn't quite put my finger on. Still, I didn't want to bother him after two in the morning. I could just close my eyes and try to think of boring things. Like manatees.

A light tapping at the door cleared my boring thoughts. I didn't hear Tyler moving to get up and answer it, so I slid out of bed. Anticipation built in the pit of my stomach with each step in the dark. A part of me knew Patrick would be up thinking about me too. A part of me knew he would come back to me.

I opened the door. Letting the light from the hall take up a little of the darkness. Ryan stood in the doorway, looking as confused as I felt. His hair was a mess, his shirt was rising up slightly on the left side of his stomach and he was wearing boxers. When I glanced even lower I noticed he was wearing shoes with no socks. Ryan never looked like this.

"Pete." He said my name as if he were accusing me of something.

"Ryan, what are you doing here?"

"I don't know."

"Where's Br-um, where's your boyfriend?" His name escaped me for some ridiculous reason.

"Home." He stated the obvious. "He's sleeping"

"Ryan, are you okay?" I reached over to touch his arm.

"No." He ran his hand through his hair timidly. "God, no."

When he dropped his hand, the keys I didn't know he was holding fell to the ground. We both bent down to pick them up at the same time. I grabbed them first. Ryan's finger tips grazed the back of my hand. As we were both moving to stand back up, he grabbed my face in his hands.

I didn't move to stop him when he lowered his head towards mine. Quite the opposite actually. My hands grabbed a hold of his slender waist. Pulling him even closer to my body. Ryan began walking me into the room. One of his hands let go of me to close the door. But our lips never parted. We made our way through the darkness, falling onto my bed without incident.

It didn't take more than a second before we were tearing each other's clothes off. The only sounds heard through out the room was the fabric of clothes rubbing skin, harsh breathing, an occasional moan and Tyler's humming.