Chapter 6- It's My Party, And I'll Love If I Want To
The summer seemed to fly by after the confrontation with Ashlee. Before
they knew it, it was the end of May. They were all planning at big
party for Cara's twenty-third birthday. The media was quickly catching
wind of a new romance blooming around Patrick, but they had yet to spot
them together to peg Cara as his new girl. Patrick was being very hush
hush about his present to Cara. As far as Leila knew, he hadn't even
told Pete.
"Hey Cara," Pete said walking out of the kitchen in Cara's house, "how
would you like it if your birthday celebration with us was at my bar in
New York City?"
"That would totally rock! You guys would do that for me? How would we
all get up there?" Cara asked excitedly.
Pete smiled. "Just leave that up to me, it's my gift to you."
Cara couldn't stop talking about her birthday party at Angels and Kings
in NYC. That's all that seemed to be on her mind. She was constantly
on different websites, looking at different outfits, make-up and shoes
for her party. She would still try and get her present out of Patrick,
but she soon realized that he wasn't telling, so she gave up.
Leila and Pete had been spending all their extra time together. Because
they both felt like extra wheels around Cara and Patrick and Casie and
Parker, so they seemed to fit each others needs. They bonded very fast,
building up a growing friendship. They had a lot in common to talk
about. Pete was not quite as obsessed with Harry Potter as Leila was
but he knew enough to keep up with her in a conversation. Her knowledge
of the fictional wizarding world blew his mind. They loved a lot of the
same bands and had the same taste in movies; mainly their favorite
director, Tim Burton. He could confidently say that she was one of
his best friends.
It was the weekend of the birthday extravaganza, and they all met up at
Cara's place; Pete, Patrick, Parker, Leila and Casie. They piled all
their stuff in the back of a van Pete had rented to take them to the
airport. The whole trip to Birmingham Airport was a blast. They sang
songs (which Leila insisted on the windows being rolled down and singing
at the top of her lungs to every song that shuffled through Cara's iPod,
even the Fall Out Boy ones. Normally they thought it weird to listening
their own music, but with this group singing along, they felt very
blessed by it all).
The gang arrived at the airport and unloaded their luggage. Together,
they walked through the corridors till they found the one where they
needed to be. Sitting on the couches, killing time, they played cards of
all kinds and just lounged around until their flight to New York was to
leave.
Leila hadn't told anyone, but she was scared to death. She had never
flown in an airplane before, and she was silently freaking out. The
closer the time was to depart, the tighter her chest would get. Her
legs were shaky and her hands were sweaty. She didn't know if she could
go through with this. It didn't take Pete long to notice that something
was wrong with her. He had been watching her for quite a while now, and
he thought he knew what the problem was.
"Leila, could you come with me to get a drink please?" Pete asked, really
trying to get her away from everyone else. Leila, thinking nothing of
it, said yes and followed him. Once out of ear shot from the rest, he
turned to her.
"Have you never ridden in a plane before now, Leila?" Pete inquired.
"That's a big no. I'm scared to death," Leila admitted, feeling better
to have someone to talk about it with.
"I figured that much," Pete said, smiling at her. "Listen, just relax.
And don't forget to breathe. That's important," he laughed. Leila just
put her hands on her hips and smirked at him. "But seriously, I'll be
there the whole time if you need me, okay?"
Leila was still worried about this ride, but knew Pete would make it
bearable for her. Soon, it was time to board and Leila was silently
freaking out again; but at least this time Pete knew and was there to
help. Twenty minutes later, they were boarded and finding their seats.
Pete let Leila have the window seat, and placed her overhead bag in the
compartment. Leila looked like she was about to throw up.
Pete sat down next to her, and just started cracking jokes, and before too much longer, Leila couldn't breathe for laughing so hard. However, when the plane
started to take off, Leila freaked and went quiet. She kept her eyes
straight ahead and was barely breathing.
"Leila," Pete whispered to her, "Leila, look at me." Leila slowly
turned her head in his direction. "Don't take your eyes off mine," Pete
said, staring directly into Leila's green eyes. "You're going to be
just fine. I'm here with you. Sing a song if it'll help, it did me. I
always sing a song when a flight takes off. How 'bout a Fall Out Boy
song?" Pete asked, hoping that didn't sound like he was pushing his band
on her; but he knew that she loved their music more than anything else
about the band. He continued to stare in her eyes, making her watch
him.
Leila breathed deeply, swallowed and began to sing, in barely
above a whisper, the first song that popped in her head.
"W-wear me like a locket around your throat, I-I'll weigh you down and
watch you choke," Leila sang shakily. Pete smiled, and sang along with her.
"You look so good in blue; Keep quiet, nothing comes as easy as you,
can I lay in your bed all day?" the two sang. They just sang it over
and over until Leila realized that they were in the air. It was a very
smooth ride and she soon felt very silly for the way she had acted.
Apparently it showed on her face, because Pete spoke up.
"Don't feel stupid, Leila. I was scared to death my first plane ride.
We will do this on the way down too," Pete told her.
The flight went off without a hitch. Pete and Leila sang their song on
the way down; and before Leila knew it, they had landed in New York.
Cara's excitement just kept building inside until they thought she was
going to explode.
They got their luggage and followed Pete, but didn't exactly know where he was taking them, only Patrick seemed to be clued in. Whenever someone other than Patrick asked what was going on, he always answered in the same way, "I got this weekend covered, trust me. Don't worry about anything." Once outside, Pete spotted who he was looking for and walked over to two standing figures, blocked by the glare of the sun.
"Hey guys, thanks for picking us up. Let's pack all this luggage up and
head to my place," Pete said greeting the two figures.
"Alright, how about the girls with me and Andy can take you guys?" Joe
said.
"That's cool with me," Andy added.
So they all piled in the respectable cars and headed off to Pete's New York flat. When they got there, a doorman greeted him and bellhops came and took their baggage. Pete led the group to the elevator and they headed up twelve stories. Pete walked down the hall, of only two doors and stood in front of the door to his left, digging his keys out.
Pete's apartment wasn't really anything spectacular. The one thing Leila felt upon entering his house, was just that; a home. It wasn't gaudy or tacky, but not boring or dull either. It felt like Pete.
"It's not much because I hardly come here, but its home. But it feels right to me. Make yourself at home. There are three bedrooms… I don't exactly know how we'll go about doing that yet," Pete laughed, "I had the fridge restocked and everything. Lots of great hot pockets."
They talked about it and decided to give Leila and Cara one of the bedrooms, Casie and Parker a bedroom (since they had been dating the longest, and it hopefully wouldn't be awkward for them) and Pete and Patrick were going to take Pete's bedroom. They went to the bedrooms Pete had pointed out and began to unpack. Once they we're done, they met back up in the living room.
"We haven't been formally introduced, so I'll start. I'm Joe," he said, walking in the front door.
"And I'm Andy, and you?" Andy said, smiling.
"I'm Cara, and this is Leila, Casie and her boyfriend Parker," Cara explained, pointing out all her friends. It was a bit weird finally meeting the rest of Fall Out Boy. Pete and Patrick talked about them all the time, so they felt like the knew them; but they had spent so much time with Patrick and Pete, that it was weird that they haven't spent as much time with them.
"So, are you super excited for your party tonight, Cara?" Pete asked nonchalantly.
Cara freaked and looked down at her watch, "Oh man, I need to go ready!"
And all the girls decided to go start planning for the night ahead of them. The boys just there and laughed. When the girls had finally got finished getting ready, the boys had been ready for about an hour. But the girls looked phenomenal. They had really laid on the eye make-up in really wild colors with shirts to match. They looked like they belonged in New York City tonight. Pete didn't want to say Alabama was bad, but it certainly didn't compare to the nightlife of places like Chicago and New York City; and it was good to see how the girls would handle themselves in the city.
They had the cabs drop them off one block away from Angels and Kings, so that the boys could enter through the back discretely. The girls went to the front door, and it just so happened that on this night, your name had to be on a list. The girls started freaking out a bit, because Pete had said nothing to them about this list.
"Um, Wentz?" Leila said, unsure of what the man would say to her.
"Are you girls Cara, Casie and Leila?" the bouncer inquired.
"Yes! We are, and he's with us," Leila said, pointing at Parker. The bouncer nodded and let them through.
"Wow, Pete had thought of everything!" Leila thought to herself.
Together they walked into this amazing club. It was decked out in signs to Cara, wishing her a happy birthday. Cara was in awe. This was absolutely amazing. Pete had pulled out all the stops. Balloons were tied to everything that stood still, all in Cara's favorite colors (Patrick must have helped there).
"Do you like it?" Pete asked, sneaking up behind the girls and Parker.
"Oh my gosh, Pete! This is fantastic! Thank you so much!" Cara exclaimed and gave Pete big hug. He hugged her back, laughing.
"But Patrick's gift is going to rock more than this, I'm afraid," Pete said. Leila looked at him in surprise. "Of course I knew. It's Patrick; he can't keep anything from me."
The part got into full swing. Pete only invited friends and other bands, so that they could celebrate without someone trying to get right in their faces to get the "money shot." The girls were having a blast. Leila even did some karaoke to "Nobody Puts a Baby in a Corner"; Pete smiled at her the whole time, knowing exactly why she was singing that song. The DJ put on some dancing music and the girls went out on the dance floor. During the middle of "Low" by Flo Rida, the girls were so into dancing, they didn't notice the boys slipping out a back door. A few songs later, Cara noticed that Patrick had gone missing and was about to go looking for him when a voice came over the loud speaker.
"Will Cara please make her way to the stage and stand in front of it," a disembodied voice said.
Confused, Cara did as the voice asked her, with Leila and Casie following closely.
The house lights dimmed and spot light hit an empty stool on the stage. Just then, Patrick walked out on stage and sat down. He adjusted the mic to fit his height and looked down at Cara, smiling.
"Okay everybody, I have a favor to ask from you. I want you guys to sing "Happy Birthday" with me to this lovely girl right here, Cara," Patrick said into the mic.
Cara was looking up at Patrick, her mouth open.
"On three. One, two, three. 'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," he sang. The whole bar was singing along; singing to Cara. "'Happy birthday, dear Cara, happy birthday to you,'" he finished and the house lights went back up. He stood up off the stool and some guy ran out and took it back backstage. Leila looked at Cara. Her eyes were sparkling; she hadn't looked away from Patrick since the song ended. Leila now realized that the rest of Fall Out Boy was on stage. Leila couldn't help but smile, and wonder what song they were going to play for Cara.
"This is for you Cara. Happy birthday," Patrick said and then began to sing.
"Where is your boy tonight? I hope he is a gentleman, maybe he won't find out what I know; you we're the last good thing about this part of town…" and the other guys joined in. Cara couldn't believe it. This was the best birthday present she had ever received. They had all been in on it; Pete, Joe and Andy. The bar was going crazy by the unexpected Fall Out Boy performance and it just added to the ambiance.
When they got finished playing, Cara got up on stage and went to Patrick.
"Patrick… That was amazing. It was the best present ever, thank you!" Cara said, expressing her deep gratitude toward the man. And right in front of everybody, she kissed him. There was a collective gasp from the audience, except for Leila and Casie, who said "Aww" at the same time. Patrick was taken aback from being kissed in public, but then thought that he didn't care anymore, and kissed her back.
"Happy birthday, Cara," Patrick whispered in her ear in the middle of a hug.
"Thank you Patty Cakes," Cara laughed.
Pete walked up behind Leila, watching what she was. Cara was dancing with Patrick and Casie with Parker. Pete couldn't hardly stand it either.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Pete asked.
"But its Cara's birthday party, we can't just leave," Leila said after really considering it.
"We'll come back. They won't even miss us. We can take a ride through town, I'll drive," Pete offered.
"Well, only if you're sure we'll only be gone for a few minutes," Leila agreed.
And they went out the back door to Pete's car. It was like the apartment. It wasn't too showy, but still sweet as hell.
They rode down streets and Pete showed her Times Square, even though she had seen it once before, it was better the second time around.
Driving back to the bar, Pete heard the screeching of tires on pavement. They never even saw the headlights of a car heading straight for Pete's side until it was too late.
The sound of metal on metal filled the air, mingled with the scent of burning rubber. Screams from some of the pedestrians shot through the New York night.
-note from the author-
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Omg! A cliff hanger!! What's going to happen!?