Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

Katy was clutching her panda, sniffling. She ignored the cartoons on the television while she listened intently to the yelling in the room next door. Why was her mamma mad? Why was she screaming at Patrick? Katy had heard her name mentioned a few times and wondered if they were mad at her.

She heard Patrick suddenly yell at Luci, something about being a horrible liar and awful mother. That started the water works. Mamma wasn’t bad! Patrick was a bad person, Katy decided. He was being mean to her mamma. She could hear Luci shriek back, something about Patrick pulling his head out of his ass.

Andy came out of the shower, frowning. He could hear them yelling as well, but the noise from his shower had blocked out most of it. He saw Katy and swore softly, hurrying over to her. “Hey, let’s go get breakfast, okay?” He suggested. Katy shook her head and kept crying, clutching her panda tighter. “C’mon, you don’t need to hear them fighting…” Katy just cried louder.

Giving up, Andy hurried to the other room, hoping Joe or Pete was awake. Luckily, just as he was about to knock, Pete opened the door. He looked hung over, but annoyed. He moved past Andy quickly and went to Patrick’s room, using his extra key to get in. Joe and Andy went back to their room, where Katy was still crying.

“Hey, c’mon, Katy Bear,” Joe said, holding his arms out. “Let’s go stuff ourselves with waffles until we burst, okay? And we won’t tell your mamma, but we’ll order you some soda, too.” Katy sniffled but finally nodded, letting Joe pick her up. He glanced at Andy and they left the room, going down to the hotel’s restaurant.

//

“Jesus, you guys!” Pete cried, staring at them. “You probably woke up the entire hotel with your screaming! Not to mention Katy probably heard you!”

Pete had come into the fight just as Patrick was calling Luci a whore, and she was ready to throw a lamp at him. He’d managed to stop anything catastrophic from happening; Pete had also managed to get both of them dressed and sitting on the beds.

“Oh fuck off, Pete!” Patrick snapped. “This is between the two of us! She’s saying I’m Katy’s father, which is impossible!”

“How?” Pete asked, looking at his friend. “How is that impossible?”

“We… only slept together once. And then she broke up with me.” Patrick replied, rubbing his face. Luci glared at Pete. Why was he doing this?

“Okay. Luci, why did you break up with him?” Pete asked, grabbing a chair and sitting down in front of them. Luci felt like she was in couples’ therapy.

“Because…” She started, turning her gaze to the ground. “IfoundoutIwaspregnant.” The last part came out rushed and both Pete and Patrick gave her funny looks.

“What?”

“I found out I was pregnant, okay?” She hissed. Finally, it was all coming out. “Patrick, I broke up with you because you got me pregnant, okay? That’s why. You guys just got signed on, and I didn’t want to be the reason if you left the band! This wasn’t something I wanted to do, but I knew it had to happen!”

Patrick stared at her, expressionless. Pete looked relieved. Luci just felt sick.

“What?” Patrick asked quietly, staring at her. Pete looked between the two of them, wondering what was going to happen next.

“I f-felt it was the best option.” She sniffed. “My grandparents took me in and helped me out a lot those first few months after she was born. It was hard after she was born, you know? She reminded me so much of her father. Grandma kept telling me I needed to contact you, but what would have been the point then? You would have probably figured I was just claiming that shit because you were famous, and that I just wanted money.” Luci wiped her eyes and Patrick handed her a tissue. “I made a silly mix CD of some of your guys’ songs for Katy to listen too. I figured it was gonna be the closest she’d get to her father without actually meeting him…”

“I wouldn’t have quit the band for you.” Patrick said quietly. He shook his head and swore. “That came out wrong. No… um. I wouldn’t have quit it, but like… I would of tried to been there, you know. I’m not a dick or anything, Luci. I wanted to marry you, have a family with you, and all that stupid stuff…”

“I wasn’t thinking straight, okay? I was young and scared…” Luci sniffed again, letting out a sigh.” But… uh, it feels good to get all that out.”

Patrick rubbed his face and stood up, heading for the door. Pete watched him, frowning. “Where are you going?”

Patrick shrugged. “Too go get breakfast or something. Maybe talk to my daughter.”