Jeans or skirt? I hated choosing my outfit whenever I went out anywhere. Especially for this since it was the last time I was gonna go out with Patrick and the group before his and Sam's New Year's party. Next week we were going to carry out Sam's Christmas present tradition which I had been filled in about but we were going to wait until tonight to pick who we were getting the presents for.

I decided on the jeans with a nice pair of black heels as time to leave came close. This time it was Sam and Charlie picking me up to drive to the diner because Patrick had a few errands to run and had to sort out the hat and names for the presents.

I walked downstairs from my room to find my parents in the living room having some pie on the sofa.

"Guys! Pie?" I asked. My love for pie was unquenchable.

"I thought you were going to the diner with your friends, there's one last slice in the kitchen if you want though." My mom said. Despite my better judgement I did have the last piece of pie just before a car honk was heard outside the house and a quick goodbye was thrown behind me as I left the house.

Soon after I found myself in Charlie's new car with Sam riding shotgun and me in the backseat. Oh the joys of the third wheel.

"Patrick's got everything ready and he's on his way but he might be a bit late." Sam said turning to face me.

"That's alright, so who else was able to come? I know Bob said something about going away early."

"Oh no, he'll be there. His dad told him something about keeping up his attendance record at least satisfactory if he doesn't want to be moved to some kind of reforming boarding school." Sam replied. "Beside him, Mary Elizabeth and Peter if they are, surprisingly, still together. And Alice, us and Patrick."

"I heard you already ditched school, Jo." Charlie's voice stated.

I smiled or laughed slightly. "Yeah, Patrick's decision really."

"Any reason or just pure boredom?" He enquired again.

"A reason, just one I don't exactly want to talk about today if that's okay."

"No, of course, no pressure."

The drive was less than short after that and we arrived at the diner where we saw Mary Elizabeth and Alice going in just as we pulled into the car park.

The three of us left the car and followed shortly behind, claiming our seats at the table they chose to sit at. Small talk filled the table as we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Bob joined as no longer than 5 minutes later but Patrick took another 10 after him. Patrick was for some reason wearing a strange hat.

"Someone's late." I said as Patrick took his seat next to me.

"It takes time to look this good you know." He replied laughing.

"Right, first thing's first. Food." Bob said as he took a menu, scanned it quickly and called the waitress over. Apparently it took him less than 10 seconds to know his order. The rest of us somehow managed to make our minds up quickly so the waitress didn't have to come back too many times.

Our food arrived pretty quickly and everyone began to slowly eat when Patrick took of his hat and placed some folded cards with our names on them into the hat. He then passed the hat around and everyone took a folded piece of card. The hat came back to Patrick and he took the last card before placing the hat back on the top of his head.

Everyone held the little cards in their hands as Sam counted down ,"3,2,1…" and we all opened our cards to see whose name is written inside.

Sam

I looked up at the person whose name the little card had been written inside only to find her sneaking a secret glance at her boyfriend who I'm assuming was the lucky person she will be getting some presents for.

"Psst." I turned my head my right where Patrick was sitting.

"Yeah?"

"Who do you have?" He asked still half-whispering so that only I would hear him.

"If I tell you, will you tell me?" I whispered back.

"Sure."

"Well then in that case, I've got Alice." I said.

"Thanks for telling me."

"Who do you have?" I asked him back.

"I can't tell you, it's against the rules." He said smirking.

"I told you."

"Sorry, love. Sometimes you have to lie to get the information you need."

"Thanks for the advice but I already used it when I lied to you about who I have. Sorry, love." I said smirking back at him and the smile which was just wiped off his face. The rest of the table who apparently did hear us, was currently sniggering and laughing at poor Patrick's expression of beating beaten at his own game. And then Mary Elizabeth said something to Bob which made him laugh at Patrick even more.

"Hey Mary, where's your boyfriend tonight?" This was Patrick's only defence against her and unfortunately for him, it sucked ass.

"If you must know it didn't work out and both of us have moved on so be quiet." She said narrowing her eyes at him a little.

"Charlie, man, you owe me 5 bucks." Patrick said. Charlie then dug out his wallet from his pocket and gave Patrick the owed money.

"I can't believe you guys bet on how long my relationship lasts. Jerks." Nobody really said anything about the subject we just laughed it off which caused Mary Elizabeth to crack a small smile and join into the laughter too.

"Hey Patrick, isn't that Brad?" Bob suddenly said, causing Patrick to look where Bob was pointing. It was clear to everyone at the table that Brad wasn't alone. And it didn't look like a friend outing but more of a date. Sam turned her head back around to Patrick just as quickly as she turned around to look at Brad. I saw her eyes fill with concern. Patrick may not have filled me much in about whatever really happened with Brad but I was pretty sure it wasn't nice.

"Are you gonna be alright Patrick? We can go someplace else if you want." Sam said to him.

"No, no. I'll be fine. Let's just pretend nothing happened and continue with our lovely evening." He even forced an almost believable smile.

Conversation resumed and Patrick tried to join in as much as possible to distract himself from thinking about and looking at Brad. I stood up, "Excuse me; I'm going to the Ladies room." I look at Sam and shifted my head as if to say 'Come with me'. Luckily, Sam caught on. "I'll go as well."

Once in the toilets I was hoping to ask Sam about whatever happened between Patrick and Brad.

"Jo, I know what you want to know but I can't tell you everything."

"I know. I just want to know the basic outline of what happened between him and Brad. Anything details you can leave out I just need to know."

"You know that Patrick and Brad dated in secret last year. Well, Brad's dad caught them once and things didn't end well for Brad since his dad is quite violent. A few weeks after that the guy who Brad is with, tripped Patrick up in the cafeteria. I'm not sure what went on between Patrick and Brad but Brad's apes including Brad were punching and kicking him until Charlie stepped in."

"Charlie?"

"Believe it or not, he's got a couple tricks up his sleeve."

"Wow. So how come Brad is out with this guy now? What about his dad?"

"Rumour says that Brad's parents split up and his dad moved somewhere. Nobody knows why but even before Patrick knew some stuff about Brad's parents arguing about things and I guess their perfect son turning out to be gay was the final string." She said.

"Thank you for telling me, Sam."

"It's okay. Just look after him." She asked.

"I will. I promise."

We then left the toilets and returned to our seats. Patrick and I joked around. Charlie and Sam were romantic. Mary Elizabeth and Alice gossiped. Bob messed around. We then ordered dessert. Most of the orders consisted of ice cream despite it being the coldest season of the year.

Suddenly Patrick stood up. Out of nowhere he began to gather his things and started to leave. "I can't do this, I'm sorry." Just before he walked out the door I noticed a tiny drop of water leave his left eye when he turned away from a look in Brad's direction.

I looked to where Brad and his 'friend' were sitting only to see the two share a kiss at the table.

"I'm gonna go after him. You guys stay." I said putting my coat on and grabbing my bag before leaving. Mine and Patrick's distraught departure brought some attention from the other people at the diner and I was lucky enough to be able to catch Brad's eye to give him one of the worst glares I could manage.

I jogged to Patrick's car of which engine was being turned on and slid into the passenger's seat. Patrick sat with his head on the steering wheel and his hand holding the key to the engine with some tears flowing freely down his face.

"Patrick." I say softly to get his attention.

"This isn't how everything was meant to turn out." He says. He doesn't move. He doesn't shift his eyes towards me; he just stays still and speaks.

"Nobody was meant to find out and nothing was meant to get so screwed up. I don't understand why this had to happen."

"Patrick, you couldn't do anything to stop it. How could you have known that his dad was gonna come in and see you? There wasn't anything you could do."

"So many times I wished that we could just be accepted and so many times I've replayed the scene where he would come out to his parents and I would be there to support him, you know. And his parents would accept us and they'd be happy for us. And no-one else would have mattered because we'd have each other and family and friends. But the wish didn't come true. And now I'm here with this pain in my chest and I'm the one who's stuck in the past. I'm the one who still suffers…"

Patrick's words make me feel my heart slowly break. As if I'm being suffocated with this feeling of pain which was caused to one of the people I care most about. Yet Patrick still continues, and I let him.

"You don't know how many nights I spent not being able to sleep trying to tell myself that it wasn't my fault. But in the end maybe it was."

Abruptly, the car was in motion. For some reason the wheels were turning and only then I realised that Patrick was stepping on the gas. And not lightly. He pressed it with enough force to get us out of the car park and away from the diner in less than 5 seconds.

Patrick still had tears flowing down his tear-stained face and from what I could see, they were blurring his view. And he was driving.

"Patrick, stop. Pull over. We can talk about this. You're not acting rationally, just slow down."

"All this time it's been my fault Jo. My fault! Maybe if I wasn't gay, maybe if I could've just fallen in love with some girl at school I could have stopped it from happening. It's my fault!"

More tears. More speed. More danger.

"It wasn't your fault Patrick. You have to believe that. It was your choice to be with Brad. Just like it was Brad's choice to be with you. He is the one who should've come out to his parents instead of hiding you around. You deserve to be paraded in front of parents; you're better than him and better than this. Please, Patrick, just stop the car."

However Patrick had no time to do that because we reached one of the main roads near the city. And we were still going at a terribly fast speed. And there was nowhere to pull over. And we couldn't stop. Patrick didn't see the lights change. Just like he didn't see the lorry come out from around the corner. Both vehicles advanced towards each other at an immense speed. There was a scream. I suppose it was mine. Patrick tried to swerve. He tried to stop the inevitable occurrence. I don't think my mind fully registered what was going on until the large vehicle crashed into the side of the car. The side I was sitting on. The pain registered for about a nanosecond before it was gone. And my mind was blank. And the light was gone.

Sorry about that guys :) I hope to hear your opinions about this one in your reviews.

Catfacee, please get back to me. I've been so excited waiting for your reply :)