Chapter 3- The First Date
Two weeks had gone by since the amazing concert and memories would never fade from their minds. Cara and Casie had thought something strange had happened to Leila because ever since their chance encounter with two of the boys from Fall Out Boy, Pete and Patrick, Leila hadn't been obsessing over Pete. She hadn't been mentioning his name ever five minutes with hot or sexy following it; or checking his blog nearly as often.
"Leila, have you gotten over your Pete Wentz obsession?" Casie asked.
"Well, I see it this way. He's my friend now, and he was so amazing to us. I would just feel weird being obsessed over someone who was my friend, you know?" Leila rationalized.
Casie nodded, "I know this, I'm glad you know it now too. Pete is man, not a piece of meat," she said, quoting Harry Potter four. Leila had to cover her mouth to keep her Dr. Pepper from spewing everywhere.
Since the concert, Pete had texted Leila a few times with shirt ideas; and right now happened to be one of those times. Some of the shirt ideas were hilarious and some where just stupid; and Leila was completely honest with him. Leila dug through her purse to get to her phone.
How about this one then, "Wait, this isn't the girls locker room?" that would be great, don't you think?
Leila busted out laughing, thinking back on that YouTube video she had saw Pete in where they kicked down a wall. As Leila was giving her response, Cara came in. She was a little sad that Patrick had not called her yet. She knew that Leila and Pete were texting each other, even though she hadn't really said anything about it.
"Why hasn't Patrick called? Did he change his mind?" were questions that ran through Cara's head, but not her mouth at the risk of sounding incessant. Casie and Leila had tried to tell Cara that Patrick was just shy and if it wasn't for Pete, he might not have got up the nerve to ask her in the first place.
Sitting around three of his best friends in the whole world was where Pete loved to be. The tour had finished, but the studio called them in to rerecord a song that had gotten damaged in storage. During the middle of the chorus, Pete felt his phone vibrate and smiled, knowing exactly who it was. That take soon ended, and Pete quickly looked at Leila's message.
That's a good one, but I still love "what did the egg say to the boiling water? It'll be a little while before I get hard, I just got laid by a chick" idea better!
Pete sniggered and put away his phone in his back pocket to finish recording the song. After it was over, the boys headed back to their hotel room they had gotten for the night.
Pete flopped down onto one of the beds and took out his phone and texted Leila. After he was done he looked over at Patrick.
"Patty boy, now that we are done with the rerecording, you can call Cara now, you know?"
"I know this Pete. It's just what if she changed her mind. It's been two weeks. A lot could've happened in two weeks," Patrick stalled.
"Patrick, dude, it's not like she could have gotten married or something," Andy said from the couch.
"Or drafted by the military," Joe added.
Just then Pete dove at Patrick. Patrick let out a semi-high squeal when he saw Pete flying through the air. Wrestling around, Pete got what he wanted. He picked up Patrick's phone and found Cara's name and pressed send.
"It's now or never dude," Pete said handing him the ringing phone.
"I hate you," Patrick said, taking the phone.
"I know, but you still love me at night," Pete smirked.
Leila got another message; she took out her Samsung Sync phone to check it.
I'm working on Patrick to call Cara.. it shouldn't be too long from now..
"Well, it's about time," Leila thought. The wait was about to drive all of them crazy, especially Cara. No one knew why it was talking Patrick so long to call, but it was setting well over the three.
"Cara, c'mon in here and watch this movie with us!" Casie yelled out.
Leila was about to open her mouth to tell her what Pete had said, when Cara's phone rang. It was Patrick's cell. Leila shut her mouth as quickly as it opened.
"Pete works fast," Leila thought to himself.
Cara's eyes bugged out, "Oh my gosh, it's him! What do I do?"
Casie and Leila looked at each other and then back at Cara and said at the same time, "Answer it!"
"Hello?" Cara answered tentatively.
"H-hi, Cara.. It's Patrick," he said through the phone.
"Oh, hi. How are you?" Cara asked.
"Oh well, I'm fine. We had to go back in the studio after the tour to rerecord a song. That's why I haven't called you sooner," Patrick told her. "How are you?"
"I'm good. It's cool. I've been really busy and the time as flown been since we met," Cara lied.
"Oh okay. Well, the reason I'm calling is to set up our date," Patrick's voice said. "Where would you like to go?"
"Well, it might be easier if you could come here; back to Alabama. Compared to the other places you have been, Alabama might not have much, but I'm sure we can find something for us to do," Cara laughed.
She heard Patrick laugh. "He has such a cute laugh" she told herself.
"I'm sure you'll be able to handle me, seeing as I never really got out to party in any of the places we stayed," Patrick admitted.
"Well, then Alabama's going to be a blast!" Cara exclaimed.
"We'll fly down there in the morning, Pete and I," Patrick started.
"Aren't Andy and Joe coming?" Cara asked.
"No, Joe is going to spend time with his girlfriend and Andy is flying home to see his family for a bit. But they both promised to meet up with us later on though. Pete and I plan on staying in Alabama for a while since the tours' over and we aren't recording anything for a while," Patrick told Cara.
"Oh, that's cool. Well, just call me when you get into Tuscaloosa and I'll give you directions to my house, okay?" Cara said.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then, Cara. Have a good rest of the day. Bye," Patrick said.
"You too, bye!" Cara hung up the phone, smiling.
Leila and Casie watched Cara as she put her phone down. "Well?" Leila asked.
"Patrick and Pete are flying down tomorrow!" Cara screamed. "And then I'm going to take Patrick out on the town and show him the sights and stuff."
The girls were so happy for Cara. And Leila was excited too; but for a totally different reason. Pete was coming. And of course that meant… Leila took out her phone and quickly texted Pete.
Patrick closed his phone. Joe, Andy and Pete were watching him like a hawk watches it's prey.
"Cara's taking me around to see the sights tomorrow," Patrick smiled. The three guys looked at each other and back to Patrick, and starting laughing.
"Told you she didn't get married," Andy laughed.
"Or drafted by the military," Joe added again.
"She asked why you guys weren't coming too, I thought that was cool," Patrick said.
"We'll get to hang out with her soon enough," Andy stated, tapping his drum sticks on the back of a chair. "It's your turn first though, dude. That would just be awkward if we all showed up for Patrick's date."
"Whatever, I'm going along to chaperone," Pete said. "Make sure no baby making goes on."
The guys all laughed at Patrick's expense and soon Patrick joined in on the fun. Just then, Pete got a text from Leila. It was just two words, but it took him by surprise. It was amazing how two little words can mean so much to someone.
Bring Hemmy!
He was touched. He sent her a reply (Never leave home with out it, he's like clean underwear) and tried to get some sleep. But just like every other night, he tossed and turned and finally just gave up and got on the internet. After a couple of hour's blogging, he tried sleeping again. Finally, he was able to get some sleep before the plane ride to Alabama.
The next morning the boys got ready to part ways. This was always a sad part in Pete's life, because he loved being around his friends and hated when tours and recording sessions are finished. But at least this time, he was going to be with Patrick. Pete and Patrick's flight was the last to leave, so they got to say good-bye to Joe and Andy when their own flights boarded. Soon the 10:15 AM from Las Vegas to Birmingham was boarding and the guys were on their way.
It was around three o'clock when Patrick finally called Cara. They talked for a while before they got around to setting down details.
"Well, why don't we just come to your hotel room and me and you can figure out something and let Pete and Leila make their shirts?"
And soon Leila and Cara were in Cara's Kia, driving to the boys' hotel room. Cara parked and they walked in. Once the got on the floor where Pete and Patrick's room was, they started looking at all the doors numbers; trying to find to right one. Once they were outside 327, Cara knocked. They heard a faint dog bark and Pete's voice. Patrick opened the door to let them in.
"Hey," Leila said sitting on one the beds. Cara stood right next to her. They had underestimated how awkward this situation could have been. If it wasn't for Hemingway, Pete's dog, it would have just unbearable. He walked up to Leila's legs and sniffed her for a minute, before jumping on the bed right next to her. Leila turned to Hemingway, and started scratching him behind the ears and rubbing his belly. He was just lying there, soaking it all in.
"So Pete, decided on a shirt idea yet?" Leila asked, breaking the tension.
"Yeah, the egg in the boiling water," Pete smiled, watching Leila pet Hemmy. "But the part about being laid by a chick I want on the back."
Patrick turned to Cara, now that the awkward silence had passed, and said "So, where are you taking me today?"
"Oh I'm just going to show you around and stuff. I'm sure you'll have fun," Cara laughed.
And soon it was just Pete, Leila and Hemingway in the hotel room.
"Well, I bought the letters, so we wouldn't have to go into Wal-Mart when you got here," Leila said, emptying out her Wal-Mart sack full of letters on the bed.
"So, you would be ashamed to be seen with me in Wal-Mart?" Pete asked in a mock hurt voice.
Leila smirked, "No, but I just figured you would like to have one day of silence where no one was trying to get your attention because you're in Fall Out Boy."
"Oh," was all Pete could say. He was seeing a side of Leila that he didn't get to see at the concert. She could become one of his good friends, if he'd let himself let her.
Cara showed Patrick everything appealing about Tuscaloosa. She took him around the campus of the University of Alabama, where Leila and Cara both went to. She showed him Denny Chimes, a big monument that rings out every 15 minutes; Cara took him by Bryant-Denny Stadium and told him about her Million Dollar Band career and how 92,168 screaming football fans can feel like family. They took a ride on the CrimsonRide (a transit system UA has to gets students to class) just for fun. They bought lunch at the Crimson Café and ate it out on the Quad. With the birds chirping in the background and the wonderful conversation that they were having, this day was turning out to be amazing. Once they were done eating and threw their trash away, they set out just walking around campus. A few minutes into the walk, Patrick's hand grazed Cara's lightly. Patrick jerked it away like it hand been struck be electricity. Upon seeing the look on Cara's face, he walked a little closer to her, and allowed his hand to touch hers again. This time, he grasped it, entwining their fingers. Cara blushed a little, but still smiled all the same. Before they knew it, it was getting dark; they decided to head back to the car and go get dinner. So, still holding hands, they went back.
They talked about everything. From what it's like to be in a rock band, to what it's like being a nursing student. It seemed like they could not have a bad conversation. After dinner, they headed back to the hotel room. As they were walking down the hall, Patrick's steps seemed to slow. Once they were outside Patrick's door, he turned to Cara.
"Thanks for such an amazing time today Cara. I really had a lot of fun," Patrick breathed.
"Me too. I'm glad you found our campus to be exciting. I'm sorry we didn't do anything else more entertaining," Cara laughed.
Patrick let go of Cara's hand, and went to give her a hug. Cara hugged him back, breathing in deeply of what he smelled of. She couldn't place it, however. When Patrick went to step back, his cheek grazed hers. He froze; Cara was staring into his eyes, and he couldn't stop himself. He kissed her. Lightly and sweetly. Cara was shocked at first, but then quickly relaxed. Being kissed by Patrick was unlike anything she had ever experienced. He moved his hand to her cheek and she placed her hand on his arm. They soon broke apart and he looked at her. She was smiling. Patrick laughed a bit and got his room key out.
They walked into the room where Pete and Leila were watching television, wearing their new shirts. Leila had made one that said, "Dirty Garden Hoe," and Pete's said, "What did the egg say to the boiling water?" on the front and "It'll be a minute before I get hard, I just got laid by a chick," on the back.
"You two were gone for a long time, did you have fun?" Leila asked smiling. Pete laughed.
"We did. We had a great time. But we should get home, Leila. We can come back tomorrow, or you guys can come to one of our places," Cara said, dying to tell Leila all about her date.
So they made plans to go swimming at the hotel pool for the next day. They said their good byes; Leila got licked in the face a thousand times by Hemingway, but really didn't seem to mind. Once Cara got Leila in the car, she started telling her all about her date. When she got the place were Patrick kissed her, Leila gasped.
"He kissed you?! How was it?" Leila asked.
"It was better than any kiss that I have had, to be honest," Cara giggled.
The door closed behind the girls and Pete turned to Patrick.
"So, tell me all about it," Pete demanded.
"Well, --" Patrick started but was interrupted by Pete's cell phone going off.
"It's Ashlee," Pete said. Patrick looked a bit upset at the thought of Ashlee ruining his story. Pete looked from Patrick to his cell phone. He silenced the call. There were more important things than listening to someone complain about you; picking out all of your faults.
"Continue on, Patty boy."
-note from the author-
Thanks for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be called "the break up".. ooh, I wonder what's going to happen there!! lol