DISCLAIMER: I don't own House of Anubis.

You guys are amazing, really! Thank you so much! I tried to keep this IC, tell me how I did!

Patricia waited for him to start the conversation first, and he did. The smile he had previously worn was now exchanged for a frown. "Rebound," he murmured, so low that if someone else had been talking, Patricia probably wouldn't have heard. But no, the place was empty, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. "You told me that you thought you were the rebound." He raised an eyebrow, "Want to tell me what that means?"

He obviously wasn't beating around the bush here.

Patricia shrugged, "I don't know, you and Amber had just talked. I figured you were feeling lonely and that was the only reason you told me you liked me."

Eddie stayed quiet for a while and she eyed him nervously, waiting for a response.

"That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" Patricia scowled- wasn't her reason valid?

"I don't know, I was just expecting more," Eddie confessed, looking up hopefully. "So…does this mean you did like me back then and the only reason you said no was because you thought you were a rebound?"

Patricia wrapped her mind around his words quickly enough, "No. I mean, I don't remember if I liked you back then…maybe? I don't know," she shrugged helplessly, watching Eddie deflate a bit.

"And now?"

"What do you mean 'and now'?"

"What do you think about me now?" Eddie prodded, and Patricia clutched her head in her hands. She hated talking about feelings for exactly this reason- she wasn't good at communicating and she certainly wasn't eloquent. Oftentimes, she didn't even know what she was feeling- everything muddled together and she generally placed her feelings under either negative or positive. For her, it was never that she felt bittersweet or felt like crying or anything like that. She just knew she didn't feel her greatest, and that was the best explanation she could give herself. It was also the best explanation she could give others.

"I think," the words rolled off her tongue and she wracked her brain for the right thing to say before sighing dejectedly. "I don't know what I think. I mean, honestly, you should be scared of me." She nodded her head as if this was simple fact.

"And why would I be scared of you?" Eddie raised an eyebrow and Patricia bit her lip. Maybe scared wasn't the right word. She remembered guys from her old schools ignoring her most of the time, never really scared. But Patricia liked having power over people, so she just told herself that the reason they never talked to her was because they were scared. Not because they found her unattractive. Not because they thought she was some weird goth. Because they were scared.

She ended up shrugging again, "I don't know. I just don't get it. So much has happened in the last year, you know?"

"Tell me about it," Eddie agreed, thinking about how much he himself had changed.

Patricia paused, thinking of everything that had happened since her arrival in this town. "Come to think of it, you're the cause of all of this, you know that?"

"Guilty as charged," Eddie gave a small chuckle.

"And you know what the scariest part of this all is?" Patricia looked down, twiddling her thumbs. "After you told me you liked me…"

Eddie straightened up.

"I think I started to like you," she muttered, talking to herself more than him.

"That's great-"

"No!" She looked up with earnest eyes. "Not great! I'm not good at relationships!" she admitted. "I mess things up too easily." She began mumbling to herself and Eddie almost felt uncomfortable- Patricia was being vulnerable and he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't hug her from across the table. He scratched the back of his neck, trying to recollect everything, make it simpler.

"So you like me…and I like you…" Patricia nodded, almost looking ashamed of herself. "What now?"

"I don't know!" Patricia looked frustrated and Eddie panicked. What if she ran out again? "I don't know, okay?" Her hair looked somewhat messed up from all the times she had yanked on it while she talked, and her heels still sat by her.

"Well…" Eddie started. He was clearly going to be the one who had to sort everything out. "The way this usually goes is that after we tell each other we like each other…we kiss or something."

"We do?" She looked nervous and Eddie was quick to reassure her.

"Only if you want to, I mean," Eddie said, crossing over to Patricia's side of the booth. She was watching him with wide eyes and it was such a change. Even when she didn't talk much, she still seemed fierce, untouchable. Now she just looked scared. He had never seen her like this before, and it was new.

"Right," Patricia cleared her throat. "So we just kiss."

"We're not supposed to talk about it," Eddie rolled his eyes. "It's just supposed to happen." Patricia still looked fairly clueless about it all and Eddie took pity on her. "Whenever you feel like it…just do it."

Patricia sighed before beginning to rant again about the stupidity of this whole thing, and Eddie grinned. She needed to lighten up- he knew this was new for her, but she was honestly overthinking it. He looked over the table at his pancake, smirking before grabbing it and smashing it in her face.

Silence.

"Did you just…" Patricia started, looking shocked, wiping some butter from her face as the pancake slid down into her lap. She picked up her glass of water and chucked it at him so that he was sopping wet in a matter of seconds. Eddie laughed openly, feeling free, feeling happy. Nobody else ever did this with him- had food fights like this. He grabbed the ketchup bottle from the end of the table and Patricia quickly took the mustard, eyes glistening. It all happened so fast- each one a mess of red and yellow. Something inside her clicked and she leaned forward, wanting to be the one to initiate the kiss. Don't overthink it, she told herself, studying him as she inched closer.

So she didn't, and crashed her lips to his.

Eddie responded after getting over his shock and Patricia cautiously wrapped her arms around his neck. His went around her waist and-

Ring!

Eddie groaned before pulling apart and grabbing his phone from his pocket. He rolled his eyes and Patricia strained to see who was calling. "Hello? Fabian? …yeah, I decided to skip the dance…don't worry…I'm fine…" He sighed before ending the call and turning back to Patricia, who burst out laughing at the sight.

"Your lips are orange, you know that?" It felt good to be so happy, and she embraced it, pushing her worries to the side.

"Yours are too!" Eddie defended himself and Patricia grabbed a napkin, still laughing. She quickly wiped her lips and looked down at her dress, which was covered in ketchup.

"My mum's going to kill me," she said, still smiling, trying to wipe away from the red. But it left stains and she finally gave up, shrugging. "What time is it?"

"Uh, 10:00," Eddie muttered, checking his watch before doing a double take. "10:00?"

"I'm dead," Patricia muttered, closing her eyes. "I ruined the dress, I stayed out late, I didn't even go to the stupid dance…"

"How do you think my mom's going to react?" Eddie asked with wide eyes. "I have mustard all over me and she gets so worried, it's not even funny." As if on cue, his phone went off and he glanced down at the three letters: Mom. "We should be heading back."

Patricia nodded and they both got up, moody Ben's monotonous 'have a good day' the last thing they heard as they left.

"This was fun," Patricia admitted as Eddie stuck his hands in his pockets. There was something glorious about staying out late and being with someone she actually cared about that made her felt so free, and she laughed, saying it louder. "This was fun."

"The food fight or the kissing?" Eddie winked at her.

"The food fight, obviously," Patricia joked, nudging him. "You're a terrible kisser." Eddie laughed at this and hesitantly swung an arm around her shoulders.

And the two continued back home, the perfect definition of a teenage cliche, feeling the best they had in months.

They could get used to this.

Feel free to tell me if it's out of character. That's something I was debating while writing it, and I'm not sure. I think it's okay though, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.