DISCLAIMER: I don't own House of Anubis.

This will be my last Thursday update, guys! I'm just going to be updating Mondays from now on!

Amber narrowed her eyes as she spotted Patricia walking away from Eddie's house. She had been taking a walk around the neighborhood so that she could get a break from her dad, and she had saw Patricia leaving her ex-boyfriend's house. Something had to be going on!

Patricia was almost to her house when Amber noticed it: that wasn't her shirt. It was much too big to be her shirt, and even if Patricia did often keep her clothes loose, never that loose. It had to be…Eddie's.

They didn't.

They couldn't have.

Amber quickly snapped a picture of her with her phone before striding over confidently. Inside, she was tearing herself up. No! Patricia Williamson was not better than her- Amber was queen of this place, and she needed to set the law down. Besides, what kind of girl goes after another girl's ex-boyfriend? It was rude!

"Hey, Patricia," Amber greeted coolly, and the other girl looked up in surprise at being called by her actual name. "So…you were in Eddie's house, huh?"

"It's not what you think," Patricia scowled, trying to push past. Amber shrugged, trying to remain cool.

"But you want it to be, don't you?" she asked, eyes gleaming, waiting for the confirmation. Patricia raised an eyebrow and Amber rolled her eyes, flipping her hair back. "The shirt. It's not yours."

"I wasn't aware you memorized my wardrobe," Patricia said, crossing her arms defensively and trying to stay calm. Amber was getting on her nerves, but she wasn't sure how to get out of this situation. If she didn't say anything, then she'd be confirming Amber's suspicions. But if she did, she'd probably mess everything up more.

"I don't," Amber said sharply, looking disgusted. "But that shirt's awfully big on you and it smells almost exactly like Eddie's cologne."

"It's not like that," Patricia assured desperately. Amber was the Queen Bee of the school and basically everybody listened to her. If she wanted to, she could ruin Patricia's life just by spreading rumors. It hadn't happened yet because there wasn't much to spread rumors about, but then again, they hadn't interacted much in the past few months. Maybe some minor teasing here or there, but for the most part, Amber left her alone.

"Look," Amber sighed tiredly. "I love him. We're just taking a little break now, but soon enough, he will be completing my checklist. And soon enough, he's going to be with me again."

"Eddie and I are not dating, okay? If you want to, go ask him out. I couldn't care less."

Amber rolled her eyes, "Amber Millington does not go to guys. Guys come to Amber Millington."

Patricia shook her head and finally pushed past Amber- she didn't have time to deal with this. Actually, no, she had the time. She just didn't feel like talking to her anymore. "Whatever," she muttered, stuffing her hands in her pockets and taking out her house key. She jabbed it in the lock and opened the door, looking forward to just curling up in bed with her headphones.

Instead, she was met with her mother and Piper. Her mother was quick to envelope her in a hug, "Where were you?"

Patricia sighed- right, she had forgotten to tell her mother where she was going. Since the night with Eddie at the party, Mrs. Williamson had definitely gotten a lot more over-protective.

"I was next door," Patricia scratched her neck and watched as her mother let out a relaxed breath.

"You should've at least called," Mrs. Williamson reprimanded before pausing. "You were next door? Patricia, I thought you didn't like that boy."

"I don't," Patricia assured, not needing her mother to play matchmaker for her. "Not in that way. We're friends, mum." Mrs. Williamson nodded, looking a little suspicious but letting it go. Patricia wasn't one to usually be social, so when she did make friends, her mother generally didn't have a problem.

"Patricia?" Piper asked quietly once their mother left the room. "That shirt…"

"It's not mine," Patricia finished, closing her eyes. She hadn't thought it would be that obvious. She bit her lip, "Eddie invited me over for a hoagie."

"A what?"

"Boy sandwich," Patricia quickly dismissed. "And then we might've gotten into a food fight…and then my shirt might've gotten really dirty so he might've offered to loan me his."

Piper immediately softened, ever the romantic, "Patricia! That's so cute!"

"No, it's not!" she snapped, crossing her arms. She didn't want to think of this as something romantic, but with Amber and now Piper, that was getting hard. "Piper, we're just friends." Patricia braced herself for some whining from her twin or some comments about how 'close' they were, but that didn't come. Piper looked almost sympathetic.

"I know," she said. "And besides, I've been thinking about it, and I don't know. Are you absolutely sure he's not being friends with you just because of another bet? I wouldn't get too close."

Patricia faltered slightly, considering it. Yes, Eddie could be going through with another bet, and even though she wanted to trust that he wasn't, it was possible. She severely doubted it, but that didn't mean he wasn't just using her all over again.

But who would he even make the bet with? Nobody in their little group at school seemed like the kind to do that, and the popular people didn't even look at him anymore, except Amber. Patricia desperately wanted to believe it: that she had found a friend that invited her over to their house and who she could be herself around. She wanted to believe it so badly that she pushed Piper's words out of her head and scoffed, "He wouldn't do that again."

Piper shrugged, and Patricia shook her head. Eddie wouldn't do that again. He was sorry.

Right?

Eddie ran a hand through his hair- he was so conflicted. There was obviously something drawing him to Patricia and he had accepted that a while ago, but he didn't exactly know what it was. And he didn't know where they stood- they tossed the word friend around but that wasn't really it. Friends didn't think about how close they were, or how pretty the other looked on certain occasions, or how much they would have to lean down so that they could kiss. Eddie had tried pushing the feelings away for a while now, but even he knew it was time for confrontation.

"Okay, so you think she's pretty," Eddie murmured to himself, talking out loud to sort everything out. "So what? You think a lot of people are pretty."

"So you thought about kissing her today," he said in the same tone. "That…" he sighed. "That's not friend behavior." He buried his face in his hands- he couldn't like Patricia. And he didn't really- he didn't know enough about her to actually like her like that. But there was that string that seemed to be pulling them back to each other- when the school year first started, Eddie had never imagined it would be like this.

And then there was the other fact, the fact that he wanted to lower her force field. Even Eddie knew that he was just a little too determined to do so. He had created a mental list in his head of how he could get it to go down. But was it bad that he wanted her to smile more often? Was it bad that he wanted her to open up more because he was genuinely interested?

Eddie exhaled before looking out his window to Patricia's room, where she was listening to music, still huddled up in his t-shirt.

Wait.

Why was she still in his t-shirt? Now that she was back home, she could've changed if she wanted to, which she probably did, to rid herself of the memory.

But no.

He didn't know if she had stayed in his t-shirt unknowingly, but seeing the fabric sag on her made him smile. Eddie didn't even know why- something about seeing her with his shirt on made him happy.

A frown fell on his face- friends didn't think that either.

Eddie needed help with this, it was all too hard. He wasn't good with feelings, but he did know a guy who was.

And just like he had ages ago, he scrolled through his contacts and clicked on Fabian Rutter.

He was taking relationship advice from the resident nerd again in a way.

His life was pathetic.