A/N: Overall this is probably gonna be about three chapters long, so it won't get too boring. This chapter is quite short, my apologies. The title is a work in progress, I think… Oh yeah, disclaimers. I don't own 10tihay or the characters, etc, etc, etc. Just the idea for the story. And even that isn't too original. Oh, and a lot of free time. Hope you enjoy!

Damn Near Perfect
Chapter 1

"Robbie wants to meet U. CU7?"

It was a simple text message. Nothing particularly unusual about it. But it made me smile. I hadn't expected this.

"Ok. CU later." I don't even need to ask where to meet.

I grab my bag, rummaging to make sure my keys are still present. A quick shake followed by jangling confirms it. A quick call to dad and I'm out the door and in my car.

The Art café is a small late night café that's not too far away. Ten minutes drive tops. It has become our regular haunt. Serves the right about of vegetarian food and burgers and at prices even he doesn't mind staying to pay. Pretty much all other teenagers avoid it as it's completely devoid of modern 'music'. Makes it damn near perfect. I'm pretty certain the staff recognise us by now and are sure we have some sort of bizarre dysfunctional high school relationship as we spend most our time bickering.

This had not been my original plan for the night. I had envisioned myself sat with a book, records playing, preparing myself for a relaxed weekend. Alone. We hadn't arranged to see each other. Which I was cool with; we had hung out almost every day after school. Plus his old friend Robbie was visiting which vetoed any possibly of us 'hanging out' as we like to call it. While others would assume it was an old prison cellmate, I chose to believe he was an old childhood friend who had moved away and they only got to meet up once in a while.

His bike was already parked up outside when I pulled into the small parking lot. There was one other car, a beaten old VW bug in matt black. I wondered if that was Robbie's or someone else's. I felt a twinge of excitement as I cut my engine. Our friendship was warped at best and he has perfected the art of keeping me at an arms length and letting me in simultaneously. But tonight he is letting me in just that little bit more; I got to meet an old friend. Usually it's just the two of us, though never is it a date. He has made that abundantly clear countless of times.

All the way over here I tried to picture Robbie in my head. Shorter than Patrick. Still dark haired, rough around the edges and rebellious like Patrick. In my head they have similar personalities, they wouldn't be friends other wise.

I slide into the café and glance around. Patrick is sat to my left facing the door; Robbie is sat opposite in the booth, facing away from me. Style wise, they're similar. Both dressed in dark colours. Patrick has his usual leather jack draped over the seat while Robbie has a grey hoodie on, hood up.

"Hey." I try to sound cheerful without sounding excited. Just keep it casual, Kat.

Patrick looks up, "Hey." He looks happy. Not in his usual 'I'm mocking you and you love it' way but genuinely happy. This must be what seeing an old friend does to him. It suits him.

"Hi, I'm Robbie." A hand extended towards me as I turn my attention to his friend. Looking up at me with sparkling grey eyes and golden waved hair was Robbie. "Pat's told me so much about you."

I couldn't find my words for a moment. My mind did a complete blank. Eventually I felt a tugging on my arm and Patrick dragged me into the booth next to him. Then I realised I hadn't said a word.

"Kat. And he's not mentioned you at all until around 3o'clock today." I try to be as polite as I could, adding a quick smile.

Robbie just chuckled, "Sounds like Pat. Always been secretive haven't you? Fancy not mentioning your oldest friend though."

All Patrick did was shrug. Like this is how he expected this meeting to pan out.

Much of our evening went the same way. Robbie dropped little bits of information about Patrick, things I'm sure he never wanted me to find out about. Little childish things about two stints as the lead in their school plays when they were little. It ruins the bad boy image somewhat. And despite the somewhat awkward start Robbie and me got along. I found myself hoping that they would let me hang out with them tomorrow, although I'm certain they won't. They haven't seen each other in ages, they wouldn't want me around.

I glanced at my watch, 10.40pm. My father had inflicted me with an 11pm curfew and given recent incidents involving getting suspended I wasn't going to push my luck. I pulled myself up, "Robbie, it was nice meeting you."

"You too, Kat." Was my nodded reply.

"See you in school Monday?" I turned to Patrick, and got just a nod in reply. Ok, clearly not loving his oldest friend getting on with me.

The ride home seems to take me longer than it should but I still get home just before the clock chimes. Dad has already gone to bed but I know he'll be listening, or more likely set that duck up somewhere near by so he can check it in the morning.

I take a quick shower before throwing on an oversized wife beater on to sleep in. the night plays on repeat in my head. It was a strange evening. Comfortable and friendly. But at the same time unsettling. It made me jealous. Their friendship really got to me. There is a whole side to him that I don't know, and more importantly he won't let me know. I'm busy pondering when I hear my cell vibrating across the floor. I reach across and retrieve it from under the pile of clothes I'd just taken off.

"Hope tonight wasn't too weird for U."

He is the master of short, straight to the point text messages. I debate what to put. I could be nice. I could be my usual self. I could embellish the truth a little. I could be honest. Honesty probably is the best policy.

I finger sweep nimbly across my cell, "Not really, all things considered. Little warning about Robbie would have been nice thou."