An Unexpected Proposal

Madison’s POV

Pete had told us that Cobra Starship and the guys from The Academy Is… were already at the club and that Joe, Andy, and a couple of the guys from +44 were behind us ridding together. We pulled up to the club and I found myself a little nervous to meet everyone. Pete and Ashlee got out of the car first, as Patrick got out of the car I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”

“What is it?” He looked really confused and concerned.

“Um, I’m kind of nervous about meeting everyone tonight.”

“Why, I thought you were excited about it?”

“I am, I’m just nervous, I mean it’s kind of a lot all at once.”

“You’ll be fine, everyone is going to love you. We’ll take it slow.”

“Ok.” He smiled at me which was reassuring but I was still a little apprehensive, he grabbed my hand and led me out of the car and into the club. I was also nervous about what other people would say about me showing up with Patrick, especially fans even though there probably wouldn’t be many there. We haven’t really talked about what we were doing aside from getting to know each other. This was the first time we were actually out in public together, if somebody asked why I was with him what was I supposed to say? I just wasn’t exactly ready to have that whole conversation with him about that outside of the club right now so I couldn’t tell him exactly why I was so nervous.

We walked into the club and headed over to a group of roped off couches that already seemed to be full. As we got closer I began to recognize some of the faces, Sisky, Mike, and Ryland were sitting on one couch and sitting across from them were Vicky-T and Nate. I followed Patrick over and let him take the lead. “Hey guys.”

There was a collective hey followed by Sisky asking “So, whose your little friend?” earning a small laugh from a few.

“This is Madison. Madison this is Sisky, Mike, Ryland, Vicky-t, and Nate.”

I waved, “Hey guys.” I feel like such a dork, who waves?

Just as I said hey someone came bouncing up from behind us. I glanced over to find the Butcher leading William and Alex over, so much for taking it slow. “We saw you guys come in when we were at the bar, is this the girl that…”

“This is Madison,” Vicky-t interrupted the Butcher as he was not so quietly taking to Nate, I was really glad that she did because I didn’t really want to know exactly where the rest of that sentence was going. “Madison this is the Butcher, William, and Alex” The Butcher plopped down in between Vicky-t and Nate while the rest of us sat on the last couch. I felt a little uncomfortable but I just needed to relax and get over it they all seemed like nice people. Who am I kidding, I love theses bands and their music there is no way I can relax right now!

“Where are the others?” Patrick asked William as he sat down next to him.

“Pete and Ashlee headed over to the DJ booth when they got here and I think Michael went over to talk to Pete about something. You know Gabe, he’s probably out on the dance floor somewhere.”

“Hey Madison I going to the bar, do you want to come with me and get something?” Vicky-t is officially my lifesaver, it was just too many people all at once. I figured a drink would help me loosen up anyways.

“That would be great.” I followed her over to the bar. “Thank you! You have no idea.”

She laughed at me “Yeah, you looked a little overwhelmed. I figured a drink would help with that.”

“You read my mind!” We ordered our drinks and sat down to talk for a minute.

“So, are you having a good time with Patrick so far?”

“Yeah, so far. I haven’t really been here that long but I’m having fun.”

“What’s going on with you guys anyways? I asked him about what happened yesterday this morning but I never would have guessed that he would have asked you to come with him. No offense but that’s just not what he does.”

Great, the question I had been dreading, at least it was being asked on a one on one basis instead of by a lot of people all at once. “I never would have thought so either. It wasn’t like I planned it or anything. I don’t know what’s going on, we haven’t really talked about it.” I felt a little more comfortable talking about it with her than I had with Ashlee.

“Well, he must really like you or something.”

“Yeah, that’s what people keep telling me.” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself a little for being so worried about how a conversation like this would go. I started to relax and loosen up finally as we continued to talk. It was almost like I was talking to Hannah that way that conversation flowed, I was glad to find someone that I could talk to like a best friend.

We headed back over to where everyone else was deep in conversation about how many baseballs Dirty could take to the head at once before he passed out. I sat down beside Patrick and he put his arm around me “Where have you guys been?”

“We were just talking by the bar, are you having a good time?”

“Yeah,” he paused and chuckled as he spotted something “oh look here comes Gabe.” I looked up to see a guy walking over who looked like he’d had one too many drinks but was having a great time. “Hey man, what’s up?”

“I’ve been enjoying myself, have you seen all of the hot girls here?” We all laughed at him as he stumbled over to sit beside me. “Speaking of hot girls, who are you?”

He was definitely drunk if he didn’t realize who I was with Patrick sitting beside me with his arm around me. “Hi, I’m Madison.” I stuck my hand out to shake his, he grabbed it but didn’t let go.

“No fucking way! This is her? How did you score her?” He looked at Patrick as if he had three heads then started laughing. I couldn’t help but blush a little.

“I have no idea, ask her.” He joked with Gabe and we all started laughing. Gabe was still holding my hand and it was beginning to get a little uncomfortable.

“I will, when were out on the dance floor.” He stood up and started to pull me off of the couch catching me a little off guard. “Come on, let’s go senorita!”

I wasn’t really sure if should or not so I looked over to Patrick for approval “Do you mind?”
He smiled and shook his head, “No, go ahead. Have fun.”

As we headed to the dance floor we passed Joe and Andy who had finally arrived. “Where are you guys going?” Joe asked looking a little concerned.

“We’re going to dance, you wanna come?” Gabe asked him probably already knowing the answer would be no.

“No man, you go ahead.”

So we did, we went out to the middle of the floor and started dancing. Gabe was as good of a dancer as he was rumored to be even when he was extremely intoxicated. We made small talk before the conversation turned to Patrick. “I’ve herd a lot of different stories about what happened so why don’t you tell me.” So I did, I told him the whole story and he found it quite amusing. “Well, I don’t really do the whole fate thing but if I did this would be it. I know I’m a little drunk but here’s some advice. Go for it and do it big. He’s into you, you just have to make sure you push him so he doesn’t chicken out or anything. I’m not saying that he will but you just need to figure out what is going on before it gets too far along.” In all of his drunken slurs he had a point but I wasn’t ready to do that yet, we were still testing the waters. After that Gabe changed the subject to something lighter as we continued to dance.

Patrick’s POV

I watched Madison and Gabe disappear into the crowd of people and was glad that she was getting to know everyone, she looked like she had loosened up too. Andy and Joe finally showed up after Madison walked off, but Joe looked a little concerned as he sat down beside me.

“Hey, I just saw Madison and Gabe together.” Yep, he was concerned.

“Yeah, they went to dance.”

“Are you ok with that, you know how Gabe can be?”

“It’s no big deal, I’m sure he can handle himself and I don’t think I have to worry about her.”

“Dude, you barely know her. How do you know that you don’t have to worry?”

“I trust her ok, and I think I know her a little better than you think.”

“I’m just looking out for you man.” I knew he had good intentions, he just didn’t know Madison yet. He hadn’t even had a chance to really talk to her and get to know her.

“So, exactly how ‘well’ do you know her?” Sisky had a sly look on his face as he asked. About that time Pete, Ashlee, and Michael came over.

“What are you guys talking about?” Pete asked as he walked up.

“Patrick’s sex life apparently,” Vicky-t seemed like she wasn’t amused by the conversation. “Come on Ashlee let’s go check on Madison. She’s with Gabe, I’m sure she could use some help by now.”

As they walked off Sisky asked the question again. “We’re not sleeping together guys.”

“At least for right now.” Mike says as everyone laughs, “We weren’t going to tell you but we kind of have a pool going on how long it is before it happens.”

“Way to fucking blab dude!” Alex says punching him in the arm.

“Not cool guys. Seriously.” I was pissed off that they were betting on my sex life and that they thought the only reason Madison was here was so I could get in her pants. “Are you all fucking in on it?”

“No, I told them it was a bad idea.” Andy, as usual, was one of the only people in the group that had any sense.

“Oh, relax Patrick, we’re just having a little fun. It’s not like it’s hurting you or anything.” I should have known Pete was in on it, he doesn’t always think before he does things.

“Look, I just don’t appreciate it. Ok? Do you get why I’m pissed about it?”

“Yeah. But we’re not going to cancel the bet, I’ve got money riding on this and I think I can win. We just won’t talk about it around you anymore.”

You can always count on Pete for thinking about himself first. “How about not talking about it anymore period? It’s just not right and think about how Madison would feel if she found out about it.”

“Ok, sorry. We had no idea it was that big of a deal, really.” At least Ryland was somewhat getting it. Some of them looked like they were feeling a little guilty but there were still a few finding it funny.

“So, let’s talk about something else.” They dropped it and we talked about other stuff until Madison and Gabe came back followed closely by Ashlee and Vicky-t. Madison talked to the others for a little bit and seemed to be really comfortable with them finally. Then she came over and sat on my lap while we talked with everyone until it was time to leave. We all piled into cars and drove back to the venue around 3 am so we could leave to make it to the next city.

Madison and I were exhausted and found we were a little bit tipsier than we had thought as she tripped walking up the steps of the and took me down with her far too easily. We walked to the back and tripped again as we entered he back bedroom as the bus took off landing on the bed and laughing hysterically. At that point we were too tired to do anything else and before I knew it Madison had snuggled up to me and fallen asleep. I decided it would be wrong if I left and woke her up so I stayed, it felt good to fall asleep with someone anyways.