(Pete's POV)

It was 1:00pm which meant Patrick should be finished with his therapy session. He promised he'd keep going if I promised him that I would always be there to pick him up. To remind him why he was forcing himself to do this in the first place.

He'd usually be waiting in front of the small office when I drove up. But today he wasn't. Maybe his session was running a little long. Good. That meant he was actually talking in there.

I parked the car and walked into the front entrance. Hoping he didn't walk out as I was walking in. Patrick didn't seem to want me to know what the inside of this place looked like. And now that I was seeing it, I didn't understand why. There was nothing special about the interior. Everything was either beige or brown. The chairs, the walls, the carpet, even the pillows.

The receptionist's desk was empty. So there was no one to stop me from looking around a little more. I walked past the waiting room. Peeking my head into one of the open doors. It was decorated similarly to the main room. Boring.

"Hello?"

I whirled around. Sticking my hands in my pockets as I did. There was a tall, gray haired man with kind eyes looking at me. He didn't appear bothered by my snooping around so I relaxed a little bit.

"Hi. I-I'm looking for Patrick Stump."

"He just finished his session." He nodded his head towards a room further down the hall. One I didn't get the chance to look at. "He's in the restroom."

"Okay. I'll just go wait in the waiting room." I mumbled. "Like I should have been doing before."

"Pardon my asking, but are you Pete?"

"Yes." My brows furrowed.

He knew my name? Patrick talked about me? Of course Patrick talked about me! He said I was the reason for his self harm. This man knew all of our secrets. It was freaky to think about.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He didn't hold out his hand so I didn't either.

"Pete?" Patrick's voice saved me from the discomfort of the man's conversation. "What are you doing in here?" He wrapped his arm around my waist when he stopped at my side.

"You ran a little later than usual." I smiled down at him. "So I came in."

"And spoke to my therapist?"

"He introduced himself."

"I apologize if that was out of line." He directed the apology towards Patrick.

"It's okay." He began walking me out of the hall. "Thank you, doctor. I'll see you next week."

When we were safely on the other side of the front door, I shuddered. "Well that guy is a fucking creep."

"No he isn't." He laughed. Sliding into my passenger's seat. "He's the nicest person I've ever met."

"I'm not going to argue with you." I backed out of the spot. Easing the car onto the street. "He just gave me a weird feeling."

He didn't say anything else about it. Patrick grabbed a hold of my free hand. Surrounding it in both of his. I spared a glance off the road in front of me to look at him. His light eyes were staring into the side of my face. A smile resting on his lips. Someone was in a good mood today.

He kept my hand in his during the entire drive to his job. Only letting go for the few seconds it took to get out of the car. When we walked in, the waiting room was full of people. The waiting patients smiled over at us. Clearly happy to see their original doctor was back from his lunch break.

"Hello, Dr. Stump." An older man greeted.

"Hello, Phillip."

"Good to see you, doctor." A ginger girl smiled

"You as well."

"Can I ask you about something?" An older woman stood.

"Of course." Patrick stopped. Turning to give her his full attention.

I didn't want to intrude on what could have been a confidential conversation. So I pulled my hand away and headed to where Tyler was sitting. At what was usually Briton's desk. He hadn't looked up when we walked in. Too engrossed with whatever was on the laptop.

Before I reached him, Briton appeared at his side. He whispered as his finger pointed at something on the screen. Tyler mimicked the action and they both laugh. He leaned in even closer. Their faces an inch apart. Way too close for this professional setting. Tyler's cheeks darkened at whatever the hell he said to him.

I couldn't help but frown in reaction to the scene. Tyler is supposed to be here working. Not whispering and laughing and flirting with his 'boss'. And why was he flirting with Tyler anyway? Shouldn't he be focused on fixing shit with Ryan? He needed to back the fuck off. He's no good for Tyler.

Instead of doing what I wanted, he curves in even closer. Their faces practically touching. And he winks. Poking Tyler's cheek. Tyler's blush deepens and he playfully pushes him away.

I've seen enough.

I walked the few feet to the front desk. Slapping my hand against it to get their attention. They both jump. Kids with their hands caught in the cookie jar. My cookie jar.

Tyler's surprise lasted only a second. His face lit up when he saw it was me who interrupted them. My stomach warmed at how happy he was to see me after only spending about an hour apart. Way happier than he looked talking to Brendon. I felt Patrick's arm around me again but Tyler's grin didn't waver. I hesitantly glanced over and saw the hard look Patrick was giving him. Fuck. I wanted them to be friends. My stupid actions were only deepening the arch between them.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Yeah." He typed a few more things into the computer. "Just let me finish this up and..." more typing. "Done!"

"Until next time, buddy." Buddy? Really? Briton was such a fucking loser.

"See you, Brendon." Brendon. Right! Tyler pats his shoulder, walking from behind the desk.

"Pick me up at 5:30." Patrick reminded me. Kissing the corner of my mouth.

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

"So you and Brendon seem close." I start conversationally. Driving back to the hotel with Tyler after our lunch.

"Yeah. He's awesome." He's looking out the window instead of at me.

"You guys made friendly pretty fast."

"It's easy to be friends with such a genuine guy."

"Genuine my ass."

"What was that?" He was looking at me now.

"Nothing." I shook my head. "What were you and Brendon talking about
before I came in?"

"Just work stuff."

"You were whispering and laughing about cancer?"

"No!"

"Then what?"

"I'm new to the software Brendon uses for organization. I'm also new to Brendon's bizarre way of organizing things. So I keep messing up and he keeps having to fix it. It became a sort of inside joke between us."

"Cute." My tone proved that I thought it was anything but.

"What's your problem?" I didn't have to see him to know he was frowning.

"I'm not the one with the problem."

"Are you-Are you jealous?"

"No."

"Yes you are." His voice lowered. From the corner of my eyes I could see him smiling. "You think I like Brendon."

"It's none of my business who you like." Was it that obvious? "We're not together."

"I know that." His smile was gone.

"Good." I snapped.

"Yeah, it's good." He was just as agitated. His arm crossed over his chest. "Drop me off right here."

"What?"

"Drop me off!" He pointed out the window to nothing in particular.

Was he insane? "What? Tyler, no. We're on the highway."

"I don't care-"

"Tyler-"

"I want to get out of this car. I don't want to be around you."

Those words hurt more than I'll ever admit out loud. "Don't say that. God, I knew sleeping with you would ruin our friendship."

"It didn't. You did. You ruin everything!"

I didn't have a retort. He was right. Fuck him for being right. "Fuck you."

"Stop. The. Car."

Fine! If that's how he felt about me, then I didn't want him in my car. I didn't want to be around him either. He wanted to be dropped off the side of the highway with no where to go? That was fine by me. I slammed on the breaks.

"Get out then."

A/N:
Ew