Status: Complete.

Hurricane

Happily Ever After Below The Waist

July 2006

“I shouldn’t have come here.”

“But you did.”

I was sitting on the edge of Pete’s bed, pulling on my clothes slowly and thinking of all that my life was now. Was this really who I wanted be? Someone who cheated on their boyfriend who they love.

I glanced at Pete who was lying on the bed behind me. He was watching me, wondering just like me: what was next? Where did they go from here?

I had thought that this originally would only be a one time thing, but now I had become a repeat offender within a matter of days. Something had to be done so that this wouldn’t happen a third time.

I turned away from Pete, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. The tears were coming before I could even stop them.

“What’s wrong?” Pete’s voice was close to my ear. I hadn’t even noticed he had sat up and moved closer to me. I stood up quickly, wiping at my eyes and face. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. “Molly?”

I looked at Pete and everything just seemed so hopeless.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered. I felt my emotions spiraling downward. Everything in my life had seemed to be going so well, and in less than a week everything seemed like a mess. Everything had gotten worse.

“You can’t do what?” Pete questioned. I could tell he was worried.

“I don’t know,” I answered. I sat back down on the bed and broke down into tears all over again. “How am I going to face Brendon now?”

Pete didn’t say anything. I knew he didn’t know what to do either. Neither one of us were really thinking about the consequences of what we were doing. We obviously still loved each other; the only problem was that I had found someone else to love and it was getting in our way; in Pete’s way.

I didn’t want to lose Brendon and I didn’t want to lose Pete either. They were both very important parts of my life.

I got out of the bed again and headed out of the bedroom. I found my phone in my purse and saw that I had a few missed calls from Brendon. I decided to call him back.

“Molly?” he said when he answered. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I’m fine. I just didn’t hear my phone go off.”

“Okay,” Brendon said. “I was worried. Will you be home soon?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Good,” he said. “I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

I didn’t say anything and hung up.

“You leaving?” Pete had come out of the bedroom, his boxers and t-shirt on now.

“I can’t stay here,” I said.

“You’re always welcome to stay,” he said in return.

“What would I tell Brendon?”

Pete was silent. I could just tell that this whole situation was hurting both of us. We really just needed to end it. I walked over to Pete and hugged him.

“We really need to just end this,” I said. “Or we’ll both end up getting hurt.”

---

September 2006

I saw it in a magazine before I heard about it. Pete was dating Ashlee Simpson now. I was happy for him, I really was. I didn’t ask Pete about it whenever I saw him, but I think he knew that I knew about it already. We didn’t talk about our relationships.

I didn’t see him much anymore. Between dating Ashlee and working on Fall Out Boy’s next album, he wasn’t around much.

February 2007

I received a package from Pete at the beginning of the month. When I opened it, I was surprised to find Fall Out Boy’s newest CD: Infinity On High. A sticky note was attached to the front with a simple message on it: I wrote this for you.

I don’t know why, but I started to cry. I didn’t realize how much I missed Pete.

A few weeks later Brendon proposed. I loved Brendon so much and I just felt it wouldn’t be right to marry him without telling him about my moment of infidelity with Pete back in July.

“I slept with Pete twice in the summer,” I said as way of response to his proposal.

“I know,” Brendon said. I started to cry.

“I’m so sorry,” I said through my tears. “I love you so much, but I don’t think I can marry you.”

I was sitting on the couch in the living room, and Brendon was on his knees in front of me. He stood up and I heard him walk to our kitchen. I knew it was over.

Brendon left the apartment in March to go work on Panic! At the Disco’s next album.

April 2007

I moved out of the apartment I shared with Brendon into a smaller one. It was nice and affordable for me. I still had my job at Fueled By Ramen and had managed to work my way up in the company. It helped that I knew Pete, of course. I was thankful that he had gotten me the job.

May 2008
Pete married Ashlee. I was invited, but I didn’t go. I thought it would be awkward. It wasn’t long after that I learned they were expecting their first child. I started to resent Pete’s happiness.

February 2011

At the beginning of February, I received a phone call I wasn’t expecting.

“Ashlee’s leaving me,” Pete said. “Can I come see you? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

I agreed for some reason and told him where I was living now. He showed up a few days later.

“I heard about you and Brendon a while ago,” Pete said after we hugged each other. It felt different, but familiar all at the same time. “I would have called…”

“It’s fine,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” I said. We just stared at each other silently. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and the changes in Pete’s face were noticeable. He looked older and tired. I stepped forward and pulled him into another hug.

“Can we lay down?” he asked. “Like old times?”

Without an answer I led him to my room. I stared at my bed as Pete took his shoes and pants off. He climbed into my bed, watching me carefully. I got into the bed a minute later after removing my jeans.

We didn’t say anything, just laid there next to each other. It was anything but awkward. This felt right. This felt like it was always supposed to be. We rolled onto our sides at the same time and faced each other. Without missing a beat, Pete leaned closer to me and kissed me softly at first, but a fire grew between us quickly, engulfing us entirely.

As we pulled at each other’s clothes, I knew that this was how things were supposed to be.
♠ ♠ ♠
So, after over two years of writing this, it's over! Sorry to kind of just spring this up on you.. I wasn't exactly planning to end it all with this chapter; it just sort of happened. I'm so sad it's over though... I hope you enjoy the ending even though it had so many time jumps.

I just want to thank you all for reading and I especially want to thank those who've commented! I loved hearing from you all so much!!

If you're interested in something else of mine to read, I just started a Darren Criss story:
I'll Never Be The Same.
Check it out if you're a Darren Criss fan, or even if you're not!

Anyways, sorry this Author's Note is so long, but thank you all again so much! I'm really going to miss this story.

~Sally