Hope It Gives You Hell

[Patti's Point Of View]

“Alright, so you're trying to tell me that we're going to go meet up with Gabe Saporta and one of his friends at the ice cream shop in the middle of November?” I asked Sarah as we walked down the street, through piles of leaves that the wind was shaking around.

“Basically, yeah.” She replied simply.

"Suree… I'll believe it when I see it." We walked across the bridge and then she nudged me in the shoulder.

"Believe it, Patti." I looked up from the ground toward the small shop, and there was Gabe, sitting on the bike rack.

"Oh. My. God." I stopped where I was standing when I saw who was with Gabe. The one and only, Michael Guy Chislett.

"Uh, Patti. Come on. If I'm going down, so are you." Sarah sighed as she pulled on my arm.

"It's not going down, that's for sure." I said to myself.

"You came!" Gabe shouted as we got in his view. Then he jumped off the bike rack and nearly mauled Sarah in a hug. She muttered something about 'under obligation' as she tried to push him away, but he didn't let go until he was ready to. But when he did let go of her, he turned to me and encased me in a very similar hug.

"You must be Patti!" he cheered, squeezing the life out of me. In the corner of my eye, I saw Michael… with a very amused look on his face. Oh how lovely.

"Yeah, I am." He let go quicker than with Sarah and smiled brightly.

"This happens to be my friend Michael Guy. You probably know him, but… you technically don't." I smiled and waved at Michael, and he waved back.

"So what's going on over here at a closed ice cream place?" Sarah asked Gabe with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing!" He smiled in return.

"Then why on earth are we over here?" Her glare was epically burning my face off, and I wasn't even on the receiving end. I really want to know how Gabe could keep smiling.

"Let's just walk away…" Michael suggested, grabbing my forearm and leading me toward the park that rested neatly next to the river. Electric sparks shot up my arm and his breath on the side of my face made my knees weak immediately. We ended up walking toward the swings, where he motioned for me to sit on one, then proceeded to push me.

"What exactly is your full name?" he asked, giving the seat of the swing a slight shove.

"Patti Paff. Yours?" I teased. He laughed.

"Michael Guy Chislett. Totally not as nifty as yours." Oh, how the accent was going to kill me.

"How long have you known Gabe?" I asked, not thinking of anything better to say.

"A couple years? I'm not really sure, actually. How old are you?"

"I'll be 18 in three months." The moment the words left my lips, an incredibly shocked looked crossed his face. My answer made his attention span the size of a goldfish's, and caused the swing to run into him, nearly plowing him over.

"Oh my god Michael!" I jumped off the swing and ran to his side. He was doubled over, holding his stomach. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's not your fault." He looked up at me and managed to smile. "Totally my bad."

"No. It's not." I led him to the bench and made him sit down.

"You just shocked me is all. I thought you were at least of age." He chuckled slightly and my chin fell a bit.

"Yeah. Sadly, I'm not." I sat down next to him, but didn't look at him.

"Oh well. Three months." He put his hand under my chin and turned my face toward him.

"Uh, yeah?" Was my stupid reply. All his touching me is really making me lose brain cells quickly.

"Time will fly by." We looked at each other for a while, neither of us moving.

Until he jumped up and grabbed my hands.

"Let's go on the slide!"

And I failed the first test: if you have the chance, would you kiss Michael?