Give Our Rights Away, Arise And Seize The Day

At two the next morning, Pete lightly shook Maddie awake. She hardly opened her eyes to speak. "What's wrong," she whispered.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm heading out," he kissed her forehead. "I'll call you after my meeting is done, okay?"

"What time is your meeting?"

"Noon or something like that," he shrugged.

"Well let me drive you there," she slowly sat up.

"No, it's okay," he laid her back down. "Relax, stay until you wake up. I'll let Tori know where you are and have her call you when she can, sound okay?" She just nodded her head. "I love you."

"Love you too," she smiled before closing her eyes again as he left the room. When noon hit the west coast, her phone began to ring. She was already up and rushing from the bathroom to the phone half dressed. "Hello?"

"Hey," Tori spoke. "Pete said I needed to call you?"

"To wake me up or something, I don't know, I've been up for a little already." She looked at the clock and noticed it was a little past noon already. Tori was on her lunch break now, but more importantly, Pete was done his meeting and still had yet to call her.

"Yeah, I know. How do you plan on getting home?"

"I was going to call Gerard or someth-"

"No," Tori shouted.

"Huh," she raised an eyebrow.

"He's...sleeping," she thought for a second.

"Um, okay then." Maddie didn't want to question it, even though she knew something had to be going on.

"I'll text Ryan to come get you and-"

"Hell no, why does he have to get me?"

"Because you two need to learn how to get along. Stop your bitching and be ready to go."

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "I'll see you tonight." She hung up the phone and finished getting dressed. She ended up waiting by the driveway until Ryan's car pulled up. She could see from outside of the car that he was pissed beyond belief. She took in a deep breath before getting into the car, not greeting him at all. The car ride was silent the whole trip. As they approached the house, instead of pulling into the driveway, Ryan began to speed up and past the house. "Ryan," she raised her voice. "What the hell are you doing?!"

He didn't listen to her. He drove a a couple more blocks away before turning into another street and parking the car on the side. "Do you know what time Tori came home last night," he began to yell at her. "She came in past one in the morning! She had work today too and she came in that late?! Where the hell did she go last night?!"

"I don't know," she scoffed.

"You were the last one to talk to her on the phone, where did she say she went?!"

"She said she had a teacher meeting!"

He sank back into his seat. "I waited up all fucking night for her and she just ditched me like that?! Where the hell did she go?!"

"Ryan, can we go back to the house now please?"

"But where did she go?!"

"Ryan," she glared at him "You are asking the wrong person. When she gets home today, you talk to her then, okay?" She looked away from him.

"She isn't coming home tonight," he mumbled.

She whipped her head around. "I just talked to her, of course she's coming home tonight!"

"She called me before I left to get you," he sighed. "She said she had things to do or whatever."

Maddie stared at him. He seemed worn and distressed from just wondering where she was going. "Look Ryan, you have to say something if it's bothering you that badly."

He looked at her. "Like what? What the hell am I supposed to say to her?"

"I'm not her boyfriend, I don't go to that part of her mind. You need to figure it out on your own."

He sighed again. "Fine, fine." He began driving towards the house again. "Oh, thanks for, you know, listening I guess."

"Sure thing," she looked out the window.