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Second Day

"A Trolley? Where did you find one of those?" I asked. Pete gave me a 'I know where everything is' look.

"They're all over the place!" he told me, excited out of nowhere. I rolled my eyes playfully as he dragged me to the nearest stop. "See what I told you?" he asked. I looked up at the sign. "Key West Trolly Service".

"Yes, yes. Now will you tell me where we're going?" I asked. I tried my puppy dog eyes, but he looked down the street.

"No, Paige. You'll figure it out when we get there!" he told me. His huge sun glasses looked ridiculous on his small face, but then again, so did mine. We both looked like bugs.

The trolley pulled up shortly, and we boarded, taking the very last seat all the way in the back. I pulled my bag onto my lap and Pete took my hand in his. I smiled slightly, hiding it by turning to the window. One thing I remember always hating about Florida was the heat. Other than that, Key West was beautiful.

"It means a lot to me that you're giving me this chance to make everything better," he said out of the blue. I turned and smiled at him. I quickly kissed his cheek.

"It means a lot to me that you're taking this chance to make things better," I replied. He smiled and squeezed my hand a little, just as the trolley stopped at the next stop.

"Two more stops, then we get off," he whispered to me. I nodded and looked at the scenery as we pulled away from that stop. Palm trees used to bore me. I guess, being away from here for so long, I loved them. Sure, there were plenty of them in L.A., but these were real Florida Palm Trees. They were my home at one point.

The next stop came and went, then finally, Pete and I got off and headed down the street.

"I see why your parents like living here. That reminds me, why haven't you mentioned your parents since.....well, ever?" he asked. I looked at the ground.

"It's a really long story. But the short version is that, since I moved in with Autumn, Matt, Sonny, and Dev, I haven't heard or spoken to them. I miss them, but they probably think I abandond them," I told him. He nodded and held my hand close to him.

"Oh. Well, let's just have a good time while we're here, okay?" he asked. I smiled and nodded. But, now that I think about that, it doesn't seem fair. I got to have the honor of meeting Pete's parents, but he can't meet mine because of a stupid mistake I made?

"We're here!" Pete called, drawing me from my running thoughts. I looked up at a small dinner.

"You couldn't tell me that we were having Jamaican food?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, I couldn't tell you that I made reservations as to the point where we'll be the only ones dinning there this morning," he answered. My eyes widened.

"You bought the restuarant?" I asked.

"Sort of. I don't own it, but we will, for as long as we stay today," he replied. Oh my, this was real. Nothing had really settled in until then. I was here, in Key West, with Pete, trying to fix our relationship. And he had rented out an entire Jamaican resurant for us.

We walked in, and Pete smiled at the host.

"Ah, Mr. Wentz. Please, take a seat any where you want," he said with his authentic Jamaican-man kind of Bob Marley accent. That was awesome! I'm so waiting for Ziggy to come out and start singing for us!

Pete guided me to a small two-seater table and handed me a menu. Everything looked and sounded good.

"Like what you see?" he asked. I frantically nodded my head. He laughed. "Good, because this is only the begining of the day!" he finished. I smiled widely and went back to trying to figure out what to eat. I finally decided and the host from before came to take our orders.

When he walked away, Pete took both of my hands in both of his.

"I missed spending time with you," he said. I smiled at him again.

"Me too. I miss having you hold my hands," I told him. This time, I think his smile was about to fall off his face.

"Besides the whole baby-buster thing, what happened to us that made us....awkward like that?" he asked. I froze. I really didn't know. I did live with him a few weeks before going on tour again, and we barley talked then. What was it about us that made us like that?

"I-I don't know, Pete. Everything just....it seemed to be crashing down on me. I didn't know what I wanted, I still don't. That's why I'm here; to figure out what I want," I told him. He nodded. "Pete, what do you want? I think knowing what you want might be a vital part of my decission," I told him again. He looked me straight in the eye.

"I want you. All of you. The singer Paige, the lover Paige, the amazing woman I made the mistake of pushing away, the friend Paige, the most wonderful, aggrivating, complicated, lovealbe person I've ever met. I've never met anyone like you, and I love that about you. What I want is you, and nothing but you, maybe forever," he answered. Mentally, my mouth had touched the table.

"I-I-I had no idea. Where did that come from?" I asked.

"My heart," he answered. Just then, We Are Broken (by Paramore) was playing in my head. "We are broken, what must we do to restore our innocence? And all the promise we adorned?"

"Pete, I-I don't even know what to say," I told him. He slightly smiled.

"You don't have to. I know you didn't know, because I never told you," he said. My heart felt like it was flying, and there was something flying in my stomach. Butterflies? Humming birds? "Paige, you're the most wonderful girlfriend I've ever had. And it feels really weird calling you that, because you were much more to me. There were times when I wanted to rip you in half, and times when I wanted to rip myself in half for thinking like that. There were times when all I wanted to do was sit alone in a corner and think about you smiling, and times when all I wanted to do was watch you smile at me. I'm still not even sure what I did to have you be with me that long," he said. I was about to cry, I could feel it.

"Pete, there isn't much I could say to that. I know you're looking for something like, 'I love you', but I don't even know if I'm ready for that again. I really apprecaite you doing this for me, all of it. And everytime you hold my hand I feel like I own the world. Everytime you smile at me, something inside me sparks again. I'm so confused, but my head feels so clear, and I have not a clue what to say to any of what you just said," I said.

He nodded and started rubbing my hands.

"I'm not asking you to say anything to me yet. We have a week and a half for all of that. I just want you to know what I want, so it will be easier for you to deicide what you want in the end," he told me. This was the Pete I had fallen in love with. The funny, kind hearted, loveable, beatiful (inside and out) man that's sitting right across the table from me.

The food came, but I suddenly wasn't hungry. The food did smell really good, and irrisitable. I had to try it. Damn! I got to go to Jamaca some day!

"I've only been in love once in my life. I'm not saying that I want to try other people, because I'd be lying to you and myself if I did say that. I am saying that, I've only been in love with you, whether I had boyfriends before or not, and I want you to know that," I said. He looked up from his plate.

"I do, and I'm sorry for what I said to you that day. I-I don't know if I meant any of it, but I hope I didn't. I can barley remember being able to think on the topic of the baby," he replied. "It was an action-reaction thing. You told me about the baby, and I flipped, and I didn't even want to."

So he wanted the baby?

"After you actually left, I had a dream about being a daddy. I wanted to be a daddy after that. I really did," he said, almost crying. I got out of my seat and went around the table to him, taking his body into my arms.

"Oh, Pete, I-I don't even know wat to say," I said. He pulled me to his chest and cried into my neck. This reminded me of old times. Just about everything here did.

"I-It's okay, Paige. I j-just wanted to l-let you know th-that," he sniffed. I held him tighter. This felt really right, for us to be in each other's arms. Why did this feel so fucking right?!

I pulled slightly back and looked at him. He looked so sad, so lost. And I kissed him. Man, did that feel right. He kissed me back, and that felt right. I finally pulled back and just stared at him.

"Why does it feel so right to be with you?"