The Truth Hurts Worse

Katy raced to the front door when she heard her parents pull up. She waited ‘til the door was open before launching herself at her daddy, wrapping her arms around his legs.

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!” She yelled, grinning. Patrick smiled and picked her up out of the way of Luci.

“Katy, Katy, Katy!” He replied, more quietly. He carried the squirming four year old into the living room and sat back on the couch with her. “Were you good for your uncle?”

She nodded, pulling his hat off and claiming it as her own. “Uh huh! And Uncle Pete came over and had a present for me!” She sat up straighter in his lap, showing the new black hoodie she was wearing, which read ‘Little Bear’ on it in white letters. “See! I loves it. And, and!” She pulled the hood itself up, showing it had two little round ears perched on the top. “I’m a bear!”

Patrick smiled and kissed her forehead, nodding. “I can see that. It looks cute on you. Did you thank him?” She nodded and jumped off his lap suddenly, moving to the couch where Luci was laying back on it. Katy crawled onto the edge of the couch and squealed when Luci suddenly pulled her into her arms, tickling her.

“Hey, Patrick.” Pete called from the kitchen. “Can you come here? I think I broke your toaster.” Patrick sighed and shook his head, getting up from his chair. Andy walked by him, taking over his chair.

Patrick walked in and frowned, seeing his toaster. “Looks fine to me.” Pete closed the door to the kitchen and turned to look at him.

“Look, this isn’t an issue about a toaster…”

“Obviously, Pete.”

“No, see, there is an issue. Um, these weird images on my phone…”

“What sort… of images?”

Pete hesitated, but pressed a few buttons on his phone before handing it over to Patrick. Frowning, Patrick thumbed through the gallery. He was slightly aggravated, not seeing anything real promising. That is, until he saw a photo of him and another woman.

“That’s… that’s not Luci, man.” Pete whispered. “Isn’t that the crazy chick? Ellie or somethin’?” Patrick rubbed his face and handed the phone back. “And you’re naked, aren’t you? You two… uh, slept together, huh?” Patrick nodded slowly.

“Look, it was just… just a mistake. It was the last night of tour when you, me, and Joe went to the bar, right? And… well, my phone was dead so you let me use yours...” Patrick sighed and rubbed his face, making sure to keep his voice low. “And I guess… she drugged me. All I really remember is waking up next to her… and she must have taken those photos with your phone… why, I don’t know…”

“You fucked up.” Pete said, shaking his head. “Big time. What’s gonna happen now?”

Patrick shook his head. “Don’t say anything, please?”

Pete sighed, shrugging. “Look, Lu’s one of my best friends, you know? And I know how much she loves you… but this is gonna hurt her. You guys have had a strained relationship since you got back together… so I won’t be surprised if this causes it to be over.” Patrick frowned, looking at him.

“Gee, thanks for the support, Pete.”

Pete sighed and rubbed his face, shaking his head. “Just saying how it is, man. You know this isn’t going to end pretty.” He stood up a bit straighter and snapped his finger. “Also, that reminds me…”

“My suffering reminds you of something? That’s twisted.”

“No, I mean, um, we’re going to be having an in store performance soon. Acoustic, right. So uh, we need to think of a few songs you can play. It’s also a signing.” Pete explained, smiling sheepishly. Patrick groaned and rubbed his face, nodding. “It’s uh, in three weeks.”

“Right, okay. I’ll remember that.” He mumbled, handing Pete his phone. “Heh, so how fucked do you think I am?”

“Pretty fucked, I’d say.”

//

Patrick felt uneasy during dinner. It wasn’t the food, no, Luci was a decent cook. It was more the fact that fuckshitcrapdamitPeteknowsfuckshitcrapdammit about Ellie. That wasn’t sitting well with him and he thought he’d be sick. He knew he fucked up and he wished he didn’t have anyone to remind him.

Luci sipped her water, frowning as she watched her boyfriend. He was acting awfully weird right now, looking at his food and looking like he was ready to pass out. Sighing softly, she pushed her plate away and leaned back in her chair, frowning.

“Okay, what’s wrong, babe?” She asked. This seemed to startle Patrick, as he jumped and dropped his fork. Katy made a face and plugged her ears ‘cause of the noise. Daddy acted weird sometimes.

“Nothing. Just… trying to think of what I’m going to play at an upcoming performance. It needs to be something I can play acoustic, which shouldn’t be hard, you know? But Pete and I gotta find the right songs.” Okay, so that wasn’t a real lie. Patrick was trying to figure out some songs to play, to keep himself distracted from the bigger issue at hand.

“Mhm. Well, I’m sure you will figure out something.” She replied, getting up from the table. She placed a kiss on his forehead and started cleaning up the kitchen. “Hey, Katy, why don’t you go pick out a movie to watch tonight while daddy and I get this place cleaned?” Katy didn’t even reply and leapt off her chair, running to the living room, excited to choose a movie. Once Luci knew she was gone, she turned to her boyfriend. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!”

“Oh, bull. You’ve been acting weird since Pete left. What did he tell you?” She asked, frowning.

“Nothing, I swear. He’s just… being himself, you know?” Patrick replied, putting some of the dishes in the dishwasher. “He’s just grumpy he isn’t spending a whole lot of time with you and Katy. I told him I wasn’t keen on having… a weird custody battle with him over you two.” Luci just gave him a weird look. “Look, I swear. He wants Katy to hang out at his place for the weekend, and I said sure… if that’s okay.”

Luci nodded, leaning back against the counter. “Yea, that could work. She’d love to do that.” Patrick smiled, glad she seemed to buy this lie.

Of course, now he had to call Pete and see if he wanted Katy to come over this coming weekend. Fuck.