Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

Patrick had broken Pete’s nose.

Apparently there had been a photographer sneaking around and had snapped photos of it. The kiss, the fight, the aftermath.
Patrick felt stupid now. Pete was kind of amused.

“So, let’s actually read the tabloids.” He said, dropping a stack of magazines on the floor of the bus. He sat down and began sifting through the pile. “Fuck, we got stalkers.” He tossed a magazine to Andy. “That one is a photo of you, Luci, and Katy in Seattle. Saying you guys are a couple.”

He tossed another magazine to Joe. “And that says there’s confusion as to who the dad is to the little girl. This one says it could be you.” Pete picked up another and tossed it to Patrick. “That one has photos of you outside the toy store. And this one,” Pete held up the most current one. “has me and Luci locking lips.”

Luci covered Katy’s ears and gave Pete a gentle kick in the ribs. “Does this really matter right now?” She asked, sighing. Pete shrugged, flipping through the magazine.

“Ohohoh, this magazine says Luci’s just the band’s slu-…” Pete was cut off by another kick in the ribs.

“Be quiet, Pete!” Luci hissed, gesturing to her daughter. Katy wasn’t really paying attention to them, she was more content with her coloring. “Just read quietly to yourself, and then we’ll figure out what to do.”

Joe glanced up from his article. “Just do some radio interview or something. Like, someone needs to clear the air.” He said, going back to the article. “Oh, dude, this says Katy’s my long lost love child or something. What the fuck?” He, too, received a kick.

Luci just groaned and covered her eyes, shaking her head. “This cannot be happening.” She mumbled, letting her head hit the wall. “No, no, no.” Katy gave her mamma a funny look.

“Mamma, whatcha doin’?” She asked, tugging on Luci’s sleeve. Luci sighed and looked down at her daughter, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

“Katy Rose, there’ something you need to know… before things get too crazy.”

//

The boys sat in the dressing room, waiting for their interview. Well, more like it was just Patrick’s interview. He was going to tell the person what was going on. The boys were there for support. Luci and Katy were going to wait outside, just in case Patrick needed anything.

A man walked in, holding pen, paper, and recorder. He had a grin on his face, excited to be interviewing the band. “Hey! So, I’m Mike. I’ll be doing this… emergency interview, I guess?” He said, taking a seat in front of the boys. He pushed record on his machine. “So, what’s going on? We were a little worried when we got the call. You boys aren’t breaking up, are you?” Pete shook his head, leaning back.

“No, no, that’s not why we called this. It just has to do with those shitty tabloids flying around.” Pete told him. Mike nodded, writing down some things.

“The ones about that woman and the little girl?” Mike asked. Pete nodded. “Awesome. A lot of people are wondering what’s going on with that. Who are they?”

“The woman, her name is Lucinda Johnson. She’s our manager for this tour. She’s actually an old friend of ours from school, so it’s kinda neat to have her here.” Pete explained. “The little girl is her daughter.”

“Any name for the daughter?”

Patrick shook his head. “At the request of the mother, we’re not going to tell you her name. Just…for safety reasons, you know?”

Mike nodded, writing down the things. “So, this is the question on everyone’s minds, though.” He began. He took a deep breath and looked at all the boys. “Is one of you the father of the little girl? There’s been speculation that she could be Andy’s daughter, but that the woman is Pete’s girlfriend. Some claim she’s Joe’s daughter as well…”

Pete rolled his eyes. “It’s fucking obvious.”

Mike gave him a funny look. “What do you mean by that?”

Patrick elbowed Pete and sighed. “She… well… I’m the father.” He said. “Though, I just found out recently… but I am the father. Not one of these guys. Luci and I used to go out…and I got her pregnant. But it’s a complicated story.” Patrick rubbed his face.

“Okay… so, can we hear from the mother at all? Maybe talk with the little girl? How does she feel about meeting her famous daddy?” Mike asked. Pete shrugged and started texting on his phone. A minute later, Katy came skipping into the room and climbed onto the couch, crawling over Andy to get to Patrick. Luci followed in, shaking her head.

“Sorry… she took my phone.” Luci said, taking a seat next to Pete. “She knew that when the phone went off, it was our cue to come in.” Katy just looked innocent, handing the phone back to Luci. “So… what’s up?”

Mike smiled and waved to them both. “I was just wondering if I could as you two some questions?” He asked. Luci shrugged, but nodded, turning her attention to Katy. She had stolen Patrick’s hat and was wearing it, covering her eyes. “Great! So, um, Patrick said he just recently found out he’s the father. What’s the story behind that?”

“I… broke up with him when I found out. Because I didn’t want to ruin his career, you know? It was sort of a bitch move, but at the same time, I was scared about what would happen.” Luci explained. “And when I met up with these guys on tour again, I… only told three of the guys. I didn’t tell Patrick. We didn’t exactly get along when we met up again, so I didn’t tell him.” Mike nodded, writing some things down. “But after one big, scary fight, I told him.”

“How’d you feel about it, Patrick?”

Patrick shrugged, pushing the brim of his hat up, uncovering Katy’s eyes. She giggled and pulled it back down, wriggling around. “I didn’t believe her, but I mean, it made sense, after we talked it out.”

Mike wrote a few more things down and nodded. “Can I ask the little girl some questions as well?” Luci nodded, poking Katy. Katy pulled the hat off her head and looked at Mike, only to hide back under the hat. He chuckled and wrote some things down. “It’s okay, sweetie. I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions?”

Katy looked up at Patrick, who nodded. She nodded and pushed the hat back a bit. Mike smiled and leaned forward a bit. “So, sweetie…” He took a moment, wondering how to word his question. “How did you feel when you found out who your daddy was? Were you happy? Scared? Mad?”

“Happy! Um… was mad at him for a while, but he bought my mamma a panda, so I wasn’t mad at him anymore.” She told him. “Mamma and I have pandas now, and they sleep in my bunk.” Mike smiled and wrote things down.

“Awesome. So, um, I have another question. And you don’t have to answer it.” Mike said. “But, Patrick, are you and Lucinda going to get back together at all?”

Patrick gave Luci a sideways glance, but shrugged.

“We’re…still working things out.”