Loving Him Was Red

~I confess, I messed up
Dropping "I'm sorry's like you're still around
And I know you dressed up
"Hey kid you'll never live this down"
And you're just the girl all the boys want to dance with
And I'm just the boy who's had too many chances~

Patrick felt like pulling all of his hair out. All of it. With excruciating force in an extremely slow pace.

“Not quite sure why you are so worked up about this still, bro,” Joe said, dropping a handful of peanuts down his throat. The guys were on the plane, heading back to the States, to New York in particular. Joe and Patrick were sitting together and across the aisle were Andy, Pete and AJ. “You heard her tell the guy off AND she even apologized to you afterward, like a million times. Seriously, a million, I could hear her through the phone, she talks to damn loud.”

Patrick had waited until the next day when they had some more time to talk to call Emma back about the conversation that he accidentally overheard in her apartment. She had given him a full explanation complete with reassurance that she was, in fact, not only in love with him and that this guy was just a friend who took their relationship the wrong way. Patrick didn’t blame Emma for what happened, but that didn’t mean that the whole thing didn’t upset him.

“I don’t think that’s why he’s mad, Joe,” Andy pointed out. “He’s mad because there is another guy in Emma’s life who wants to be with her.”

“Andy gets it,” Patrick said desperately.

Pete leaned over the aisle and sad, “Patrick, man, she wants to be with you. If she wanted to be with that guy, wouldn’t she fucking be with him already? I mean it’s not like he appeared overnight.”

“Maybe he did, maybe he’s a magician as well as a journalist,” Joe commented. Patrick gave him a stupefied look and Joe just shrugged, throwing more peanuts into his mouth.

“Maybe she should be with him,” Patrick said with resignation.

“Um, what the hell did you just say?” Pete asked, blinking in disbelief.

“You heard me, I’m apparently no good for her anyway, everyone thinks so…”

“Fuck all those people!” Pete shouted. A few other passengers looked his way, some annoyed by his outburst. He grimaced and mouthed a ‘sorry’. “Look, the only person who needs to think you are right for Emma is Emma and as far as any of us can tell, she does. So stop worrying about it.”

“Pete’s right, those people don’t really know you, or you and Emma. I mean, honestly, the only people who really could have an opinion about it are us because, let’s face it, we’ve seen you guys through it all,” Andy added.

“Yeah, plus, I’d be pissed if all that drama back on our tour was for nothing,” Joe finished.

Patrick hit the back of his head against his seat a few times and he heard the lady behind him exclaim, “Hey, careful!” He looked through the crevice of his and Joe’s seats and saw the lady dabbing her seatback tray with a napkin.

“Aagh, sorry,” he apologized between the seats.

“See, Patrick, your frustration is now affecting the rest of the plane,” Joe said. “Just calm down and don’t make any rash decisions. I mean what can you do while we’re 20,000 feet in the damn air?”

“Apparently talk us to death about it,” Pete wisecracked.

Patrick looked over at him. “I don’t know why you think this is so funny. You’re the one who put me in this position in the first place.”

“Whoa,” Pete said placing his hands up in a defensive position. “Are you saying that you’re mad that I had the foresight enough to manipulate a certain situation to get you and Emma back together?”

Patrick groaned. “No, yes, no, ugh, I don’t know! I’m just trying to find a scapegoat for my anger.”

“Well, Pete, you do make a good scapegoat,” Joe said, winking at him, “Baaa.”

Pete and Andy laughed at that. Patrick leaned his head against the plane and focused his eyes out the window, watching wispy white trails float by in a translucent blue sky. “I just don’t know what to do to make it better,” he said softly under his breath so that none of them could hear him.

They landed at JFK around nine at night. As the guys made their way down to the baggage claim area, they were bombarded by a few fans who had camped out to greet them as well as some paparazzi. Patrick was exhausted, but put on the biggest smile he could and went over to sign some autographs along with the other guys. Their tour manager, AJ, and some of their security had went to grab their bags from the carousel. The first stop was going to be their hotel, the W in Manhattan, and then Patrick was going to find his way over to Emma’s apartment. He knew that he would see her early in the morning for the Stone photo shoot, but his heart was urging him to see her sooner.

“Hey guys, this way,” AJ said to them, ushering them away from the fans and toward the doors. As they exited the airport and walked toward the black SUV waiting for them, Patrick’s eyes caught a welcome sight. He stopped in his tracks, nearly knocking Andy over. AJ looked over his shoulder at him and grinned. “Oh yeah, should have mentioned that too.”

Standing in front of the SUV was Emma. She was dressed comfortably in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top with his old high school hoodie over it. He hadn’t realized she took it with her from his mom’s house. She had her hands shoved deep into the center pocket and her face lit up when she saw him. All of his fears that he had on the plane seemed to disappear when he saw the look on her face. She took three paces and then jumped into his arms, almost knocking him, and by default, Andy, over. He wrapped her up in his arms, never wanting to let her go.

“Welcome back,” she whispered, squeezing her arms tighter around his neck.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he murmured into her hair, rubbing his hand up and down her back. She pulled way slightly to looked him full on.

“Surprised?” she asked him, a hopeful look on her face.

“Absolutely. I thought I wouldn’t see you until tomorrow,” he said. “This is much better.” He pulled her in for a kiss. “Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the SUV.

She looked behind them and said, “Hello boys,” to the other three. They all saluted her, grinned and followed behind.

“AJ, what surprises do you have in store for us?” Joe asked him as they all climbed in the SUV after Patrick and Emma.

“Um, minibars in the rooms?” AJ replied, giving them apologetic looks.

“Eh, we’ll take it,” Joe said, pounding Pete’s fist in agreement.

“So Emma, what’s this photo shoot going to be like tomorrow?” Andy asked her as they were being driven to the hotel.

“Well, lucky for you Andy, you’re shirt will be off,” she joked and the other guys laughed.

“Rad,” Andy said, grinning.

Patrick, took Emma’s hand in his and laced their fingers together. She looked over and smiled at him, kissing his cheek. He could feel his doubts also leaving him. “No, um, I’m not really sure. I told the photographer that I wanted a “mature” feel to the shoot. You guys are almost if not in your thirties, you’re not 19 anymore.”

“Speak for yourself. I will always be 19 at heart,” Pete retorted with a laugh.

“Uh-huh, okay. Anyway, Christian is really excited for you guys to come,” she said, leaning her head against Patrick’s shoulder. He leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes.

“So question, how much money did he win on his little office bet?” Pete asked her a twinkle of mischief in his eye.

Patrick could feel Emma’s body shake a bit as she laughed. “An insane amount of money. I told him that he had to buy my metro pass for the next month since he betted at my expense.”

Once they got to the hotel, their security team unloaded their luggage and took it up to their rooms, being escorted by some of the hotel staff. Patrick hung back deliberately, grabbing Emma’s hand. She turned and looked at him. “What’s up? Don’t you want to go throw your stuff in your room?” she asked him, eyeing him up and down.

He looked at her with a calculating stare. “Well, I was thinking we could head straight over to your place,” he suggested. She glanced back at the guys and then at him, her mouth twisted in a mischievous grin, approving of his idea. Patrick cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to his band mates, “Hey guys, I’m gonna head over to Emma’s place okay?”

They all turned and gave him assenting nods. Pete grinned devilishly. “Do you need help remembering where everything is?” he asked him, winking.

Patrick felt himself blushing and saw Emma stick her tongue out at him. “Trust me, Pete, he has it down pat.” Patrick felt himself getting redder.

“Oh!” Joe and Andy shouted and Pete just nodded and laughed. They gave them both a wave and headed into the hotel.

So, they both climbed back into the SUV and Charlie drove them to Emma’s apartment in the East Village. Once he parked outside of the building, he turned around and reminded Patrick that he would pick them up early to make it to the magazine’s office. Patrick was only half listening; his mind was on Emma and what would happen once they made it into her apartment. She took his hand and led him inside, walking him up to the second floor, where her loft was.

“It’s not much,” she said carefully, jamming her key into the deadbolt to unlock it. “I did spend like every day this week cleaning it.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, leaning forward and kissing the back of her head.

“Oh yes, I did. It kept my mind off missing you,” she replied, looking back at him and giving him a smirk. She opened the door and stepped inside. “Well, this is it,” she said rather lamely.

Patrick stepped into the apartment building and set his backpack down, and she shut the door behind him and locked it. He looked around the small room, taking it all in. To his right was a small kitchen with newer appliances than he expected. To his left were tall industrial sized windows and a flat screen TV and an older looking couch and armchair. Behind it were some curtains that were sheer enough that you could barely see through them.

“Is that where your bed is?” he asked her, stepping that way. He took off his jean jacket he was wearing and set it down on one of the bar stools that surrounded a small high-top bar table right outside of the kitchen on the way to the bed. He pulled open the curtains and there was Emma’s bed and two dressers and more tall windows. These ones had a tint over them probably to keep from people seeing in. He glanced at Emma who was behind him. “Um, where’s the bathroom?” he asked her, realizing that he needed to go. She pointed outside of the curtains to a small door. He nodded and made his way over to it.

When he was finished, he washed his hands and walked back out. He could see the outline of Emma in the curtains and he walked back into the bedroom area. When he opened the curtains, his breath caught in his throat. Emma turned around and blushed, but her eyes were staring at him with a seductive look. She had stripped down into nothing more than a black lace slip that left not much to Patrick’s imagination. “I wanted to properly welcome you to my apartment,” she said, crooking her finger and beckoning him close.

Patrick didn’t waste any time gathering her up in his arms, his hands running down the length of her back, feeling every contour of her body. “I’ve missed you so much,” he murmured, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her lips ravenously, suddenly feeling the affects of being away from her touch for so long. She pulled him back onto the bed, letting herself fall back first onto it, and he, after pushing his sneakers off with his feet, climbed on top of her. All of his misgivings were gone, at least for the moment. All he could think about was Emma’s body, her smooth skin, her moist, full lips and what it would be like to be consumed by it all.

The next day, Patrick was awoken by Emma’s alarm on her phone, which happened to be the chorus of their song, “Alone Together.”

“Oh God, turn me off, please,” Patrick groaned, reaching over her to grab her phone. She reached it first and hit the ‘Dismiss’ button. “You really do like that song, don’t you?” He mused.

“You bet your ass, I do,” she said, rolling over to kiss his lips. “But I love it mostly because I get to wake up to your voice.”

“You know Joe would have a comment about how mushy that sounds, right?” He teased, kissing her back.

“Lucky for us, he’s not here,” she replied, and then she kicked off the covers and stood up, stretching, her t-shirt coming up slightly so that he could see her bare stomach. She had went to sleep in just an oversized Black Keys shirt (left overs they gave the staff from a concert in New York, she had explained) and a pair of hot pink boy shorts underwear. It made Patrick aroused all over again.

He glanced down at himself under the sheets and groaned again. “Stop acting sexy,” he said, making her stop stretching.

She had a wildly amused look on her face. “Oh you want me to stop turning you on?” She climbed back onto the bed and crawled on top of him, grinding against his lower half. Patrick moaned. “You are so cute when you get excited,” she giggled, adjusting his glasses and running her hands through the thick tuff of hair on top of his head. She started nibbling at his neck and Patrick was ready to take her right there, but his phone started going off.

“Crap,” he muttered and looked to see who it was. It was Charlie. “Yep, what is it?”

“Um, I’m outside, do you guys realize that we have thirty minutes to get there and the traffic is shitty right now?” Charlie barked into the speaker.

“Shoot, okay, we’ll be down, ASAP.” He hung up and sighed. “Charlie’s out front. Apparently, we are later than we thought.”

Emma, still smiling, patted his chest gently. “Oh well, I guess you will just have to wait until later.” She climbed off of him and then started rummaging through her drawers for an outfit.

Joe, Pete and Andy were waiting, impatiently outside of the Stone’s office building with a couple of their Public Relations managers and security team members. They each had a coffee in their hands, Pete had two. When Patrick and Emma got out of the SUV, Pete handed him one of his cups. “Tea, for that throat of yours,” he said.

Patrick looked at his best friend gratefully and took a sip of the clear, warm liquid. “Sorry guys, traffic…”

“Yeah, I bet that was the reason you were late,” Joe said, arching his eyebrow.

Emma, grabbing Patrick’s free hand, said, “Okay, guys, let’s get you inside and get this photo shoot done.” As they walked into the building, Emma stopped to show her ID to an older security guard and she greeted him by name.

She led them to the elevators and then to the floor where the main offices of the magazine were. The group had been there before, but there was something different about being there with Emma. Patrick could just see her in that office, working on her articles, arguing with other writers over context and syntax. It made him glad to know that she was able to find a place that fit her, but at the same time, heavyhearted in knowing that he wasn’t in that place making her happy. They made their way through the cubicles, a few of the writers, stopping to greet them. Christian emerged from his office, the edges of his eyes crinkled in excitement.

“Gentlemen! Welcome back!” he said with great gravitas. He pulled each one of them into a hug. “It’s so good to see you guys.”

“Hey man, what’s up?” Pete said. “Heard you came into a bit of money recently.” He winked at Emma who just shook her head.

Christian laughed and clapped Patrick’s shoulder. He was much taller than the guys, particularly Patrick. “Well done, sir, well done.” Patrick looked at him awkwardly, not really sure how to respond to that.

“Oh give it a rest, Christian,” Emma grumbled. “Let’s get you guys to the photo shoot.”

“I’ll come with you!” Christian exclaimed, falling into step with Emma and Patrick. He started asking the guys about the tour and about their supposed music they were working on with Ryan Adams.

“Now, I just want to say that I’ve read Emma’s final draft of the article, and it’s really great. She did a good job at keeping it honest and flattering all at the same time,” Christian opened the door for them to the photo shoot area.

“I told you that Emma was the one we needed,” Pete said, giving her a wink. Patrick saw her face get flushed.

“Thanks guys, I appreciate it. But it wouldn’t have worked without your cooperation.”

“Which we wouldn’t have given if it wasn’t you,” Joe pointed out. She gave him an appreciative glance.
The photographer, Brett McKee, approached them and asked them to head over to the makeup area to dress and get ready for the shoot. Patrick looked at Emma who gave him a small push.

“Well, go get beautified,” she giggled.

“Not hard for this kid,” Pete said, wrapping his arm around Patrick’s shoulder and guiding him over to the makeup artists.

Two women were standing around, chatting when they entered the room. One was older, with frazzled red hair tied up in a bandana - a Bernadette Peters look-a-like really - and the other one had a number of piercings and fuchsia streaks in her black hair. They had the guys take turns between getting freshened up with powder and concealer and changing into their outfits for the shoot.

“So, how’d last night go?” Pete asked Patrick, as the Bernadette clone powdered his nose and forehead.

Patrick pulled up the pants that the women told him to try on. “Um, it went really well.”

“Did you actually talk about anything though?” Joe asked him, cringing as the girl with the piercings got her comb snagged on a knot in his unruly curls.

Patrick knew that was coming. “Um, well, not really no.”

“So it went well in the fact that you got some and you both refused to talk about your feelings,” Andy interpreted. He had found a vintage Metallica shirt and threw it over his head. “That’s healthy.”

Patrick shot him an indignant look. “Hey, we haven’t seen each other in a long time. Give me a break.”

Andy shrugged. “You were the one complaining about it on the plane, pissing off the other passengers.”

“I wasn’t pissing off any of the passengers!” Patrick exclaimed.

“That’s what you think. The old lady in row 16 was shooting you death stares through her bifocals,” Pete grunted.

“We will talk about it later,” Patrick said gamely. He really didn’t want to talk about it though. He wasn’t sure what to say to her.

“Well, you don’t have THAT much time, we have to be at Jimmy Fallon’s studio around 6PM for warm ups.” Pete got up from the chair and switched with Patrick.

“I know that,” Patrick said dejectedly. He closed his eyes and the older lady started to dab concealer under his eyes.

When they were finished with their makeup and wardrobe, the guys walked back out onto the set. Patrick looked for Emma, but only saw Christian chatting with a tall, well-built man in wire-framed glasses. When Christian saw that they had emerged he waved them over.

“Hey, where did Emma go?” Patrick asked him as they approached.

“Oh I asked her to go grab you guys some waters,” Christian said. “Hey guys, I want you to meet one of our best editors, this is Joel Ritchie.”

Patrick’s mind clicked instantly when he heard the name. It was the same name that Emma kept shouting at to go away two weeks ago in her apartment. He could tell by the look in the man’s eye that he knew exactly who Patrick was because he went right up to him and put his hand to shake. “You must be Patrick. Emma’s told me a lot about you.” He gave Patrick a challenging look.

He was quite taller than Patrick, which usually never bothered him until now. “Hey man, how’s it going?” Patrick managed, catching Joel’s hand and shaking it as firmly as he could.

“Yep, this is Emma’s beau,” Christian said, gesturing to Patrick. “And that’s Pete, Andy and Joe.”

He shook the other guys hands, but his eyes lingered on Patrick. “You’re a really lucky guy, you know that, Emma’s amazing,” Joel commented. Patrick didn’t say anything in response, but his face tensed up.

“Yeah, you and Emma are close?” Patrick said, his body tensing up.

Pete must have felt his sudden turn of mood because he leaned in and through the side of his mouth murmured, “You all right man?”

Joel just grinned as if he knew he had the upper hand in the situation. “Emma and I, we’re pretty close. She tells me everything. She knows that she can confide in me and trust me.”

“Joel and Emma have done a number of articles together,” Christian added, completely oblivious of the friction in the air. “They are my superstars. Joel here won a Pulitzer not too long ago for an article he did on Qaddafi. He’s quite the talent.”

“That’s great,” Patrick said numbly. How can I compete with that? He thought. Joel was everything that Patrick wasn’t. Tall, Cary Grant good looks, apparently super intelligent. And the biggest thing was that he was there for Emma when Patrick had rejected her.

"Yeah, Emma really is the super star around here though," Joel said. "I mean to be able to come in here and within three years move up the ranks to become a senior writer? She's the talented one. And pretty easy on the eyes too," he added, an envious twinkle in his eye.

Patrick then heard Pete mutter, "Oh, shit, is that..."

“Okay, I grabbed them some waters, but Christian can I just reiterate that…” They all turned to see Emma coming in. She had trailed off and stopped in her tracks. “Joel, what are you doing here?” She looked right at Patrick with a mixture of embarrassment and guilt.

“Christian pulled me in here, wanted to introduce me to the band. Plus, I really wanted to meet your boyfriend here,” Joel said, a wicked grin on his face.

“Well, that’s awesome, but don’t you have to do a follow up on that DOMA thing?” she said, quickly handing the bottle of waters to Joe. He fumbled with them and looked at her oddly.

Patrick could tell that she was distraught. He wanted to pull her to him, but he was paralyzed with jealousy.

“Oh, yeah, I do have to get back to that, don’t?” He smiled at the guys. “Nice meeting you all.” He started to walk out the door, but stopped himself. He then turned around and looked squarely at Patrick. “You know, what the best part about Emma is though? Those lips of hers, they are just the softest.” He winked and slammed the door behind him.

The silence that clouded the room started to suffocate him. He looked right at Emma, who was staring at him with wide eyes that were quickly filling up with tears. “Emma, what is he talking about?” He tried to keep his voice as level as possible.

“Patrick, ignore him, he’s just mad and he’s trying to make you mad at me,” she said quickly.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Christian cut in, looking between the two of them.

“Nothing, Christian, don’t worry about it,” Emma said. She grabbed Patrick’s hand and he just stared down at it. She started chewing on her lip. “Look, Patrick, there was a minor detail that I left out about that night you overheard me and Joel arguing. The reason I was so angry with him was…” she took a deep breath, “Well it was because he tried to kiss me.”

“Did you kiss him back?” Patrick asked, his stomach bunching up in pain. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him and Emma.

“No! Of course not! I ran away from him as fast as I could! That’s why he came to my apartment to apologize for kissing me,”

“And to tell you that I’m a terrible person and that you shouldn’t be with me,” Patrick added. He could hear the sarcasm and pain in his voice and he could tell it was injuring her.

“Patrick, I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore,” she said glancing around the room.

“Well, that was before I found out that you fucking made out with him!” Patrick nearly shouted, making Emma wince. He could feel himself losing control.

“Hey Patrick, calm down, man,” Pete said, grabbing him firmly by the shoulders. Patrick pushed his hands off of him.

“Patrick, I didn’t make out with him! I told you that he kissed me and nothing else happened!” she cried out. “And honestly, I don’t think you have any fucking right to sit here and get mad at me about that. I’m the one who had to sit in a stupid tour bus with you and your crazy girlfriend who was all over you!”

“That’s different….”

“How? How is that different Patrick? Why because you and I are “officially” dating again? You think I was okay watching her hang all over you, laying in my bunk knowing that you were with her in yours? You think I wasn’t mad at you!” By this point she had tears trickling down her face. Patrick tried to remain cold. He was too upset at that point to be anything else. She wiped her tears away. “What do you want from me Patrick? What did you think that three years apart, no other guy in the entire world would find me attractive or want to be with me? You didn’t think that someone here in New York might be a little pissed off that I decided to go back to you?”

“Apparently, it’s not just people in New York who are pissed off about that,” He retorted, shoving his hands in his pockets.

She looked at him confused. “What are you talking about?”

“What about your mom?” Patrick spit out.

She rolled her eyes. “Wow, I asked Charlie to keep that a secret, that was a mistake.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What good would it have done? So we could argue like this in front of my boss and your friends!? Patrick, you dumped me in the most shitty way possible. What did you expect everyone to think? I can’t make other people like you or like me or like us together. But I don’t really give a shit what other people think!”

“Well maybe they’re right!” Patrick exclaimed.

“What?” she said in a lower voice slightly surprised.

“Maybe they’re right,” Patrick said in a flat tone.

She shook her head. “Oh no you don’t. You don’t get the right to feel sorry for yourself, Patrick Martin Stump.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about what happened in 2011?” he suddenly asked. He didn’t know why he thought to bring it up, but it was too late to take it back now.

She paled. “What good would it have done? You want me to tell you all about how depressed I was when I left LA? How I cried myself to sleep for a year straight, wishing I could just forgive you and pick up the damn phone? You want me to relive that night when I stood outside the Bowery, knowing you were maybe 100 feet from me and I just wanted to throw up!?” She stifled a sob. “Patrick, do you want to know the truth?”

“Unfortunately, yeah I do.”

“I felt that you wasted five years of my life. I hated you for such a long time, even when I still loved you. And to be honest, a part of me is scared that we are just going to repeat the same vicious cycle all over again.”

Patrick could feel the blood draining from his head, he felt dizzy and sick. “Then why did you want to get back together?”

She gasped. “Because I love you,” she whispered. “And I thought that was enough.” She started wiping her face with her hands and then wiping them on her jeans. She just shook her head. “I need to go. I have stuff I have to do.” She wiped her face again. “I’ll um, see you guys later.” She rushed out of the photo shoot, but Patrick didn’t try to follow her. He just couldn’t move.

“Um, what the fuck, Patrick?” Pete suddenly exclaimed.

Patrick’s chest felt heavy and constricted, he wanted to throw up. “What just happened?” he said, not able to believe it himself.

“You just turned this photo shoot into a damn soap opera, that’s what happened,” Joe said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Christian who had watched Emma leave now turned to Patrick and said apologetically, “Patrick, I am so sorry. If I had known about Emma and Joel, I wouldn’t have brought him in here…”

Patrick shrugged. “It’s okay, you didn’t know.” Emma and Joel. The sound of their names together made a sea of nausea run through him and he ran over to the nearest trash can and threw up.

“Jesus Christ,” Pete muttered, jogging over to take care of him. Patrick could feel Pete’s hands rubbing his back. “Patrick, you need to go talk to her.”

Patrick wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his black cardigan. “Should I? Were you not listening to her? I basically ruined her life.”

Pete gawked at him. “So? You have the chance to make it up to her now. You should do that.”

“Um, excuse me, but we are on a very tight schedule!” The photographer shouted to them.

Pete sighed. “Okay, maybe not right now. But after.”

There was not after though for Patrick. As soon as the photo shoot was over, he tried to find Emma, but one of her co-workers, named Ahmed, said that she had already left for the day.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Patrick said, frustrated.

“Hey, we’ll just run over to her place quick,” Pete said grabbing his shoulders.

They all started walking out the door of the magazine offices, but as they were going out, Joel was coming in. He had an overly confident grin on his face that made Patrick want to punch him in the face.

“Geez, heard what happened in there earlier. Sorry, BRO, guess you and Emma weren’t meant to work out after all,” Joel said blocking their exit. Patrick made a move to punch him, but Andy held him back and Pete and Joe got in front of him, forming a barricade between the two feuding men. Although Pete wasn’t much taller than Patrick, Joe stood near eye level with Joel.

“Okay, Sack,” Pete interrupted, making an apt Wedding Crashers reference. “You want to just leave the man alone. You’ve done enough damage as it is.”

Joel chuckled. “It’s what you deserved. Now Emma can date a real man, not some whiny emo kid who thinks he’s an artist.”

“Okay, you know what,” Joe started and then he reeled back and punch Joel right in the face. The other guys all jumped back in surprise, shouting.

“What the fuck!?” Joel exclaimed, keeling over and holding his face in his hands.

“You’re a dick and Patrick’s more of a man than you’ll ever be… and a real artist,” Joe spat. He motioned for the other guys to follow him out.

“Wow, thanks Joe, that was really fucking awesome,” Patrick said as they boarded the elevator.

Joe shrugged. “You would have done the same for me, if I was fighting a midget,” he replied, smirking. Patrick made a face.

“Okay, let’s get you to Emma’s apartment, we have maybe an hour until we have to be at NBC,” Pete said, pressing the button for the bottom floor.

The guys rushed out to the SUV and had Charlie drive them over to the East Village. Traffic, however, was not on Patrick’s side either and they moved at a snail’s pace. Patrick dialed and re-dialed her cell phone a number of times and each time the phone rang twice and then went to voicemail.

“She’s avoiding you, dude,” Joe said knowingly.

“Oh, yeah? I didn’t figure that out,” Patrick snapped. Joe rolled his eyes and went on ignoring Patrick’s failed attempts at calling Emma.

When Charlie finally arrived at Emma’s building, he double parked outside of it, and Patrick jumped out and ran up the steps. He knew he only had a few minutes because of the traffic, but he was going to at least try.

He knocked loudly and with great haste on her door. “Emma!” he shouted. He could hear the volume on the TV decrease. “Emma, please, open the door,” he said in a pleading voice. There was silence on the other end. Patrick jiggled the door knob, but it wouldn’t budge. “Please, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I will apologize to you for the rest of your life if you would just open the door and talk to me.” He sunk to the floor, his back up against the door. “Emma, I’m not going to let you end this before we even got a chance to try again,” he called out to her. “Emma!” he called out again, then knocked his head against the door a few times. “Please,” he called out his voice coming out in strangled wails. He bowed his head between his knees, trying to stop the tears from coming.

“Patrick?” He looked up and saw Andy coming up the stairs. He quickly wiped his face with his cardigan. Andy stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at him sympathetically. “Um, we can’t wait any longer, we have to get over to the set for Fallon’s show.”

Patrick nodded. “Yeah, of course.” He stood up and dusted his jeans off. He looked back at her door one more time. Please open up Emma, he pleaded in his head. The door remained closed. He turned back around and gave Andy a defeated smile and Andy walked up to him and put a comforting arm around his shoulders.

“It’s going to be okay,” Andy said, rubbing his shoulder. They left the building and headed to the SUV, Patrick feeling more lost than he ever had before.