A/N: In this chapter we get to see things a little more from Patrick's point of view as well as Teresa's.
Thanks to everyone who left a review, I am really happy to know you are enjoying this story :-)
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist.
Chapter 3: Slings and arrows
Three hours after Patrick had finished work on the boiler he was in his bedroom changing his clothes. He had just taken a shower and was feeling a lot fresher now. He smiled to himself as he put on his clean clothes. It had been a while since he had done any practical work like that and he had left Teresa's house feeling really useful again. It's nice to be needed. He thought, realising that it had been quite some time since he last felt really appreciated like that. Just as he was about to put his shirt on there came a knock on the door. Patrick left his shirt on the bed and walked over to look through the peephole. He opened the door when he saw his friend on the other side. "Hey Marcus," he greeted as he let the other man inside.
"Hi Patrick," He paused then, noticing his friend's state of dress. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" He grinned.
Patrick shook his head. "No, I had shower and was just changing."
Marcus looked around suspiciously, "I hear you and Peyton had a good time at the party last night."
Patrick walked back to his bedroom to put on his shirt. "We just danced together that's all. Two dances Marcus. Nothing happened.
The other man's smiled faded a little. "Why don't you just give her a chance Patrick? She obviously likes you and…you know it's been a while since you last…"
Patrick finished buttoning up his shirt and gave Marcus a pointed look. "Your point being?"
Marcus held up both of his hands in a placating gesture. "Look I'm not trying to interfere in your love life Patrick, but as a friend I'm concerned for you."
Patrick sighed, "The last time you tried to set me up with a woman she drugged me, tied me to the bed and stole five hundred bucks from me."
Marcus had to fight to keep the grin off his face as he remembered the state he found Patrick in that morning. "Oh yeah, what was her name again? Lauren?"
"Lorelei!" Patrick growled in annoyance as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"That was a year ago, and I told you I'm sorry about that."
"That's the last time I let you play match-maker. Where did you find her anyway."
"She was a friend of Jim's. I thought she looked respectable enough."
Patrick shook his head. "Look, I really do appreciate you trying to help, but I'd much rather find someone on my own. I want to get to know the woman, maybe become friends before anything happens between us. I've had my fill of one nighters Marcus."
"Well you should get out and meet people. You're not going to find the woman of your dreams moping around this poor excuse of an apartment." He looked around the room, "I mean come on Patrick, it's like you're still in college. You can afford to live in a much better place. There's a nice house for sale a couple of blocks from me. Nice neighbourhood - you might even meet Miss right there? I know there are plenty of nice single women."
Patrick smirked, suspecting that his friend was mocking him a little. "Oh yeah, and how would you know?" He teased.
Marcus tilted his head at him, "I'm in a happy relationship Patrick. Teresa means the world to me and I would never cheat on her."
"I know, but the right woman for me won't care that I live here, she won't care about money or social status. She'll just like me for me."
"Plenty of women like you Patrick!" He patted his friend on the shoulder but Patrick let out a frustrated sigh and decided to let the conversation drop.
"Speaking of Teresa, I dropped off the earring to her today."
Marcus smiled, "Good! What do you think of her?"
Patrick shrugged, nonchalantly. "She seems friendly, she has a good sense of humour."
Marcus smiled even more, "So you like her then?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Good. I just know that Lilly will come round too. She's hard to impress but Teresa is a very special person."
"Look, I don't mean to be rude but I have to go over the new menu for the restaurant now so.."
"Off course, I just came over to give you this. It's an invite to a little mixer I'm hosting in three weeks."
"Thanks," he said, taking the invite from Marcus.
"Plenty of time to find a date." He teased and then let himself out.
After Marcus had gone, Patrick let himself fall backwards onto his bed. He closed his eyes and tried to let go of the tension the conversation had produced in him. Slowly his mind began to wonder back to that afternoon at Teresa's house and he found himself chuckling at something funny she had said and the stunned expression on her face when he had actually fixed her boiler. His face then dropped as he remembered that she had agreed to take him to his first archery lesson in two weeks. He groaned. "Archery? Off all the things I could have asked her to teach me, I had to go and suggest archery! Patrick you idiot, you're just going to make a damn fool of yourself!"
….
It was two weeks later and the day Patrick had been dreading had finally arrived. Teresa had been texting him the past week and arranging everything and going on about how excited she was to be doing this again. Apparently it had been a while since she last used a bow and she claimed to be a little rusty but Patrick wasn't buying any of it. He could tell at once she was just trying to make him feel better. It hadn't worked. She had told Marcus about the lessons and Marcus had been teasing him non-stop the last two weeks about it. He knew how bad Patrick was at any kind of sport. This was not going to go well, he thought as he pulled up at her apartment.
Straightening his denim jacket and running a hand through his hair he took a deep breath and then rang the bell. He didn't have to wait too long before he heard her footsteps as she walked up to the door. What he saw when the door was opened took him back a little. She was wearing slim fitting jeans with a little black and white striped t-shirt. Ordinarily this outfit wouldn't have made him look twice but on her it looked so cute. He couldn't help the little smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Hi Patrick, come on in, I'll just be a minute." She told him as she invited him in.
He sat down in the living room and waited while she quickly went back to her bedroom and grabbed her leather jacket. Teresa had been looking forward to doing archery again. She always enjoyed letting off steam this way. Usually she would just go down to the shooting rang and fire off a few rounds when she had had a particularly bad day but there was just something about shooting arrows that felt a little more satisfying. She walked back into the living room and smiled when she saw Patrick looking at her family photos on the mantle. "That was a good day." She said as she moved towards him. "Jimmy's eighteenth birthday. We went bowling."
"Looks like a nice kid. I can clearly see the family resemblance." He told her then turned around to face her."
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." He said and she laughed as the two of them headed out to her car.
The afternoon went really well and both Patrick and Teresa were having a really good time. After the safety speech was given by the instructor Patrick and Teresa formed a team and the two of them took turns to get as high a score as they could. Patrick was amused at how competitive she was and how determined she was that they beat the other three teams there. This took a slightly unfortunate turn when Patrick's lack of skill made them fall ten points behind the other team. "Sorry." He told her sheepishly as his third arrow ricocheted off a hole on the board and bounced off wildly to the side.
Teresa's frustration turned to humour as she saw the look on his face and burst out into a fit of laughter. "That has to be the first time I've seen anyone do that." She told him. "I mean once or twice sure but three times in a row?" She looked at the board. "There aren't even that many holes on here!"
Her laughter was contagious and soon he was laughing too. He couldn't remember when he had laughed so hard. "I was always the exception to the rule Teresa."
When the session was over they gathered up their equipment as Teresa tried to regain her composure. "This was fun, we should do this again sometime." She suggested.
Patrick smiled, "yeah, you're right. Besides I could definitely use the practice."
"I'm just going to put these away, I won't be long." She told him and then walked toward the storage room with their bows and arrows in her hands.
Patrick sat down on the floor and drank from a bottle of water. In all the fun he'd been having he hadn't realised how thirsty he had become and the cool liquid felt good. Just then, a man from one of the other teams sat beside him to tie his sneaker laces up. "You two make a really good team." He commented.
Patrick smiled. "She did most of the work."
"This your first time doing archery?" he asked and Patrick nodded.
"At first I thought it would be a bad idea but I actually enjoyed myself today."
The man patted him on the shoulder once and stood up to leave, "well I'm sure your girlfriend is a great instructor. You'll be doing good in no time." He then walked off.
Teresa walked over to him a few seconds later, carrying her own water bottle. "Let's go, I'm starving. Maybe we could grab a bite to eat on the way back?" Patrick was quiet for a beat too long, lost in thought."Patrick? You okay?"
He shook himself out of his reverie. "Uh yeah. I'm fine. Look would you mind if we take a rain check on lunch? I just realised I have some restaurant business I need to attend to this afternoon?"
Teresa tried to hide the disappointment she felt at that. She had enjoyed his company so much and was hoping they could talk some more over food. "Sure," she said and put on a cheery smile. "I'll drop you off at my place and you can take your car."
"Thanks Teresa." He told her and they walked out of the sports hall. As they drove back Teresa noted how quiet Patrick had grown and the silence made her uncomfortable.
"Did I say something wrong?" She asked, glancing at him.
"No, off course not. Why would you ask that?"
"Well you've been quiet the whole drive."
Patrick looked at her then, "You've done nothing wrong Teresa. I guess I'm just tired. The restaurant is struggling a little. We're trying out a new menu to attract more customers but it's taking a lot out of me."
"Oh," she said in understanding. "Well, anytime you need to blow off steam, just give me a call and we can head down to the range again."
He smiled. "I will."
The rest of the drive continued in comfortable silence. Patrick had been telling her the truth about his fears for the future of the restaurant, but what he hadn't told her was that the man's comment about her being his girlfriend had left him a little unsettled and he wasn't sure what to do about it.
A/N: Why is Patrick so troubled by that comment and how will this affect their new-found friendship? More to come!
