The New Face of Failure

Life is full of interruptions and complications. – Love Actually

The tour bus came to a stop in the parking lot and their driver, Lou, announced that they had arrived. It was just a little past noon and the sun was high, but they knew that outside, that sun wouldn’t do them any good.

“I thought the South was supposed to be warm all year round,” Joe muttered as they stepped off the bus and into the crisp winter air in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I think you’re thinking of like Texas and Florida,” Andy replied, stepping off behind him.

“I don’t know they are all alike to me,” Joe replied, wrapping his coat tighter around his body.

Pete stepped out as well and stretched. “Man, that girl last night…”

Andy and Joe smiled at him knowingly. “Yeah, man, we heard you. I’m pretty sure the only person who slept through your monkey sex was Patrick,” Andy said.

“All right boys, let’s get set up!” A bulky man with tan skin and a buzz cut said, coming out of the tour bus behind theirs. He looked at the three of them. “Where’s Patrick?”

They all exchanged glances. “Um, he’s still sleeping,” Pete replied. “He needs his beauty sleep or vocal sleep or whatever.”

“Christ, he sure likes to sleep,” the man muttered. “Well, just make sure he doesn’t miss sound check… again. The crew’s going to start unloading. You guys hang tight, Marcus can take you guys to get something to eat.”

He was gesturing toward the large dark-skinned man in all black behind him. He was their new head of security, which at the moment only consisted of him and one other guy.

The man with the buzz cut walked over to the crew that had started unloading their gear, leaving the three of them alone.

“Patrick can’t keep hiding out all day in his bunk,” Joe said once the man was out of earshot. “Charlie is starting to get pissed.”

“I don’t know why, we aren’t having any technical problems on Patrick’s end, and he’s singing all right,” Andy replied. “But yeah, I mean, I’d hate for Bob to find out.”

They both looked at Pete. “What?” he sighed. “I’ll go get him.”

Pete trudged back up the steps of the tour bus and toward the bunk area. He could hear music coming from the lower back bunk and made his way to it. “I thought you were asleep,” he said, poking his head between the curtains.

Patrick was laying there, his ear phones a book in his hand. It wasn’t just any book, that much Pete knew. He ducked down and sat on the bed. Patrick turned his head slightly to look at him. He looked annoyed.

“Dude, seriously, did you not sense that we stopped moving?” Pete asked him.

Patrick took his ear phones out and dog-eared the page he was on. “Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.” He pointed to the book. “They edited out some dialogue that I distinctly remember being in here.”

Pete smirked. “Well, then I guess they didn’t like it all that much.”

Patrick frowned. “I thought it was good.” He glanced at his phone and sighed.

“Patrick, it’s been two and half months. If she hasn’t texted you back by now, she’s not going to text you back.”

He knew that Pete was right, but he just couldn’t accept it. “I just thought she would be happy that I had bought the book.”

“Yeah, you and every 15 year old girl with a penchant for post apocalyptic romance novels,” Pete said, chuckling.

Patrick groaned and buried his face into his pillow. “I give up Pete. I don’t know what else to do.”

“Move on?” Pete offered.

Patrick shook his head. “No, I can’t. I don’t want anyone else but her.”

“I know. She’s not just some girl you sleep your way out of. Harper, she’s going to be that hole in your heart that will never get filled. There’s nothing you can do about it, man. You have to accept it and move on.” Pete sighed and rubbed Patrick’s back. “Look, come out with us tonight. I hear these Southern girls are something to behold, and I’d like to be holding a few of their breasts,” he winked.

“That was a terrible joke,” Patrick said flatly.

“Eh, you’re in a bad mood, so you’re not the right person to try it out on.” He stood up. “Charlie was asking about you, again. You can’t stay in here and miss sound check again.”

“I really want to finish the book.”

“I thought you hated fiction.”

“Not hers.”

Pete smiled. “Two more months buddy and we’ll be back in Philly. I’m sure you can try and see her when we get back okay? But for now, try and have some fun! We are on tour, our fan base has grown, the album is doing awesome! MTV loves us so that’s good,”

“You mean MTV loves you,” Patrick pointed out.

“No man, us!”

“Pete, it’s okay, we all knew that you’d be the face of this band. I’m not much of a lead singer…”

“What the fuck are you talking about! You are the best fucking lead singer out of all the current bands. All the press says so. They love your voice, you make Fall Out Boy.”

“But they all also say that I’m not charismatic and that I play second fiddle to you. WHICH I’m fine with. That’s your finesse, not mine. I am happy to sit here and read this book.” He started to pick the novel back up and Pete grabbed it from him.

“No, stop. Stop moping or I’m shoving some of my Ativan down your throat.”

Patrick sighed and pushed Pete aside, getting up. He hated having to leave the tour bus for anything else besides the shows. Every night since they left for tour, it was the same. He would hibernate in the tour bus until the very last few minutes of sound check, come out and do his thing, then hide out in the backstage area until show time. Then after the show was over, he’d crawl back into his bunk and scour Harper’s Facebook page for updates.

The guys told him he was depressed. He told them he was fine, but deep down, he knew that he really was. He kept replaying everything in his mind, thinking of what if scenarios of ways he could have prevented it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patrick stared at the floor with his head between his knees. All around him, Pete was slowly getting the rest of the party goers out of the house, including Annie and Caroline, who seemed eager to stay behind. But Patrick wanted her as far away from him as possible. When he looked at her, he could feel nothing but guilt and disgust.

Once all of the guests were gone, just Joe and Pete remained. Joe was guzzling water down and eating some Hot Pockets that he found in Pete’s fridge.

“Okay, now that everyone is gone, can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on? Why is my girlfriend and Andy escorting Harper out of the party, why were you with Annie upstairs and just generally what the fuck just happened?”

“I’m pretty sure I just fucked up my relationship with Harper,” Patrick mumbled, hot tears hitting the floor as he blinked.

“Were you and Annie making out up there or something?”

“No, we did make out though…. Two weeks ago.”

Joe’s eyes widened. “Dude, seriously? I thought you loved Harper?”

“Yeah, I thought he did too.”

They looked up and saw Cassidy standing in front of the door way. Patrick stood up, peering around her.

Andy walked in with Harper asleep in his arms. “Hey Pete can I…” Pete nodded and Andy carried her upstairs.

Patrick went to follow, but Cassidy stopped him. “It’s taking everything I have to not punch you in the face right now. So you better tell me exactly what happened between you and Miss Goldilocks.”

Patrick let out a frustrated groan. “It was a mistake all right!? My parents had gone out and left me alone and I was just watching TV and she showed up, out of the blue. I had no freaking clue she was going to be at my house. She said she wanted to catch up so I let her in. We caught up and I told her about Harper, and then she kissed me.”

“Are we talking like a peck or like a slobbery tongue tango?”

Patrick said nothing.

“So the latter, awesome. Anything else?”

“I stopped it before it could get any further. I was caught up in it, I didn’t… It’s Annie, and I never thought… I stopped it, Cassidy, you have to believe me.”

She cocked her head. “Okay, so I may believe you. Then what happened?”

“I don’t know she seemed kind of mad at me and I told her to leave. Then she wouldn’t stop texting me. She kept saying that she wanted to talk and that she was sorry and that she loved me and all this crap.” He handed Cassidy his phone. “Look, I never texted her back. I just ignored them.”

Cassidy flipped through the text messages that Annie had sent. “And if I asked her for her phone I’d see the same thing?”

“Yes,” Patrick said exasperatedly. “I thought if I ignored her, she’d go away.”

“You are truly naïve when it comes to girls,” Cassidy sighed. “So why didn’t you tell Harper right away?”

“That might be my fault,” Pete said, raising his hand slightly.

“What?!”

“I told him not to tell her. It was just a kiss, a little make out session and I know that Harper has anxiety problems, and this would kill her…”

“Well, it fucking did, congratulations dumbass,” Cassidy retorted. “She just spend the last two hours fucking crying her eyes out until she passed out. I’m pretty sure she scared Andy a couple of times and I’m surprised a cop didn’t pull him over for swerving.” She glared at Pete and then at Patrick. “You should have told her. I’m not going to lie, she would have been upset, but it would have been better to find out from you and not by seeing you and Annie fighting like lovers in Pete’s bedroom.”

Patrick hung his head. “Cassidy, how can I make it right?”

Cassidy looked at him critically and then said, “Patrick, honestly, I don’t know.” She sighed. “I’m so freaking exhausted, I’m going to bed.” She started up the stairs, but Joe grabbed her hand.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m going to sleep with Harper,” Cassidy said. “She’s going to need me, Joe.”

He frowned. “Okay.”

Patrick slept on the couch that night with Pete, but his sleep was fitful at best.

“Dude, you have to stop moving around so much, I would like to sleep a little,” Pete groaned, kicking his feet.

“Sorry, I’m just…”

Pete sat up. “I know. It sucks. But wait until morning. Hopefully, Harper cried it all out and in the morning her and Cassidy will talk and maybe she will forgive you.”

But that didn’t happen. Patrick woke up late in the morning with a written note by his head. His eyes were itchy from sleeping in his contacts and when he rubbed them, his vision blurred a bit as he tried to focus in on what was written.

~Patrick, I’m sorry, I can’t do this in person because it is too painful. Cassidy told me this morning what happened between you and Annie, and I know that you say it’s a mistake, but a part of me can’t help but wonder if it really was. Even if you never do it again, I don’t think I could look at you without seeing her. Why did you have to do it at all? Sorry. Maybe we both just need to focus on ourselves right now and what’s going on in our lives. I think it’s best if we just break up….~

Patrick couldn’t read the rest. He dropped the letter and ran into the kitchen where Pete and Andy were cleaning up from the night before.

They both looked up in surprise as he came rushing in, haggardly breathing. “Where is she?”

They exchanged sympathetic looks. “Joe took her and Cassidy to your mom’s house to pick up her stuff and then he’s taking her to the train station,” Andy answered.

Patrick’s eyes widened. “I have to stop them.”

“Patrick, wait!” Pete exclaimed. “You have to let her go. She doesn’t want to see you. That’s why she left the letter.”

“What the hell?! No, I need to see her, I need to apologize…”

“You already have. Dude, for right now, you have to give her space,” Pete said, placing two hands on his shoulders.

Patrick could feel tears welling up in his eyes. “Pete, no. I can’t. You know that. What am I going to do…” without her? He finished in his thoughts. He felt as if the floor had come out from underneath him and he was falling without the bottom in sight, his heart choking him as he fell.

Pete took him in his arms and hugged him roughly. “I’m sorry, man. I know it fucking sucks.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patrick didn’t know how many calls and texts he had sent her since that day, all going unanswered. He remembered specifically the text he sent the night before they left for LA to go to their release party and start the tour.

HARPER I WISH I COULD SEE U ONE LAST TIME B/4 WE LEAVE TOMORROW. I KNOW UR MAD AND I DON’T DESERVE UR FORGIVENESS, BUT I WANTED U 2 KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE U. I’M NOT GIVING UP ON US.

And that was how he ended up holing himself up in the tour bus like a hermit for the past two and a half months. In that time, their single that the record company put out had blown up on MTV and iTunes. Their small shows were being sold out, and the record company was already talking about a stadium tour that summer. Patrick was soon seeing his face everywhere, which made him self-conscious because he was not used to so much attention and really didn’t like to look at himself.

It didn’t help matters that his small Twitter account had grown massively, and his followers started piling in; girls who looked like they would never have given him their time before were tweeting him about how much they loved him and how cute he was. And they all loved how close he and Pete were.

Speaking of Pete, he was eating all of it up. The attention was his drug and he seemed drawn to it. They all knew that he would be and they all were okay with letting him guide them through the rise. Joe and Andy, on the other hand, preferred to maintain low profiles. They were fine with people thinking that Pete was a diva and Patrick was his on the low lover.

In the end though, none of that mattered to Patrick. All that mattered was Harper.

Her book had been released just a few days before they hit Nashville, and he made them stop at the first Barnes and Noble they came across on the GPS so that he could buy a copy. She did say March, and if he had learned anything about business-minded people, like his record company or her publishing company, they were strict with their deadlines.

Patrick dragged himself out of the tour bus over to a white van that the other guys were filing into.
“Dracula has risen from his coffin! Quick, garlic!” Joe laughed when he saw him.

Patrick shot him the middle finger. “What are we doing?”

“Food. You guys need to eat something before the show,” their body guard, Marcus, answered him gruffly.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Pete grabbed him by his jean jacket and pulled him into the van with him. “You’re not starving yourself. I know you are trying to maintain your girlish figure, but that’s not going to help. Right Andy? You’re the health guru.”

“He’s right Patrick. No such luck there.”

Patrick rolled his eyes and rested his head on the door of the van, his eyes watching the landscape roll past them as Marcus drove out of the venue’s parking lot. He spaced out while the guys talked around him, debating on what food to eat.

After their meal, they headed back to the venue for their sound check and then they hung out backstage, and soon, after their opening act was finished, Patrick found himself strapping his guitar onto his body and shaking his fingers out, getting ready to go on stage.

The lights dimmed and he and Pete pounded fists right before they walked onto the stage amid deafening cries. As the lights came up, Patrick looked out into the audience, and he saw her standing there. He knew she wasn’t actually there, it was something his mind would do every night. She was there smiling at him, as she used to do when she would be backstage watching them at their local shows. He smiled, glanced down at his strings and then as he and Joe started their first chords, he placed his lips flush against the microphone and started singing,

“I found the cure to growing older…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the concert and their signing, the guys headed back to the tour bus. Patrick had resolved to stay inside and read more, but Pete, Joe and Andy weren’t having it. They forced him into the van, and Marcus drove them to a local club that Pete had already scouted out earlier.

The bouncers knew that they were coming and they got in easily, even though Patrick and Joe were only nineteen.

“Drinks, gentlemen?” Pete said, leading the way to the bar.

Patrick looked around the club, his eyes grazing over the throng of bodies grinding together, flooded in blues, purples and pinks. The large room smelled like sweat and Axe body spray, which stung his nostrils.

Patrick was never a fan of these scenes, and it didn’t help that he was there without Harper. Pete ordered all of them some beers and then they headed to the VIP section, which was roped off with black velvet ropes. There were some tall, beautiful women lounging in that area as well as some young men dressed like a paler version of Justin Timberlake. The guys didn’t fit in at all, but none of those people seemed to mind.

As the guys started enjoying their drinks, Pete found the company of some former child star, who thought his eyeliner (yeah, Patrick wasn’t sure why he started wearing eyeliner, but everyone seemed to like it) was sexy. Joe found himself on the phone with Cassidy arguing drunkenly about going out, and Andy was having a philosophical talk about Buddha with some people in the corner. Patrick pretended to listen, but his mind was somewhere else.

“Patrick right?” He was startled by a thin girl with slinky black hair and a slinkier black dress. She had almond colored eyes and a nice smile.

“Um, yeah,” he said nervously, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. She grinned and sat down next to him, crossing her silky long legs over one another, exposing more of her leg than he thought possible.

“My name is Rachel. I really love your voice.”

He tried to smile in a normal way, but he knew that was impossible. “Thanks. Um, are you a singer too?”

She laughed lightly, her laughter twinkling amidst the clamor of other voices. “No, Jesus, not at all. Terrible singer. I actually used to be on a reality TV show.”

“Oh yeah? Which one?” he felt bad not knowing that, but he hated reality TV.

She blushed. “Oh, you don’t recognize me?”

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not much of a TV person.”

“Oh! That’s okay. Real World. You know on MTV?”

“Yeah, I’m familiar with that show,” he said with a laugh.

She started telling him all about her experience on Real World, and from what Patrick could discern, she told this story a lot. He assumed that it was her go to conversation starter: “Hey I was on Real World, let’s fuck!” kind of thing.

And about half way through the night, that was exactly where she was trying to lead it. She kept ordering drinks and getting sloppier, her hands taking on minds of their own and slapping every part of Patrick when she would laugh, thinking they were light taps, but really were pretty hard. He had to really work to keep from wincing. She also got into a habit of leaning in close to him, her lips barely touching his ear when she would say something she only wanted him to hear. Like,

“I’m not usually into emo guys, but you’re super cute. I have a hotel room nearby, we could go fuck if you want.”

Patrick gulped and glanced at Pete who had at this point stuck his tongue down the former child star’s throat. Andy had disappeared and Joe had found some other band dudes and they were having a heated conversation about Lifetime (the band, not the TV channel).

“Wow, that is a really tempting offer,” he stammered.

She started nibbling on his ear. “You don’t have to do anything, I can do all the work. Trust me, my gag reflexes are like nonexistent.”

“What?” Patrick did a double take, not believing what she was saying.

She grinned slyly at him and climbed into his lap. “I’ve never fucked anyone like you. It’d be fun.”

“Like me?” Patrick really didn’t know how to take that. She covered his mouth with hers, shoving her tongue between his lips. “Whoa!” he exclaimed.

“Don’t you like it rough?” she asked him, knocking his hat off of his head and running her hands through his hair. He felt like she was pulling tufts of his hair out of his head, and it made him wince in pain.

“Uh, I’m not really into that BDSM thing,” he replied slowly, twisting his head around to get her hands off of him.

“All right, then what about a threesome? My friend Cheri should be around here somewhere,”

“A what?!” Patrick shook his head. He couldn’t do it. This girl, this place, it wasn’t him. He grabbed her waist and pushed her off of him. She looked up at him shocked. “Um, sorry. I’m just… yeah, I think I’m feeling, uh, sick,” he stammered and he hurried off to find safety in the men’s bathroom.

He stood over the sink, looking at his face, which was dripping wet with the water he just splashed on it. “Holy smokes Patrick, that girl was crazy,” he said to his reflection.

“She’s definitely not Harper,” his reflection said back. Patrick nearly jumped out of his skin. Am I going crazy? He thought.

“Are you talking back to me?”

“It would appear so, yeah.”

“I’ve gone fucking crazy.”

“Guess that’s what love does to you… or us.”

“That’s not funny.”

His reflection grinned. “I thought it was. Man, Patrick, you sure lost your sense of humor since Harper broke up with you.”

“What am I going to do? Wait, why am I talking to you? You’re me and you can’t offer me any good advice.”

“Well, you don’t like the advice everyone else is giving to you,” his reflection pointed out.

“No, I don’t. Everyone wants me to give up. But they don’t see that I don’t want to be without her. Sure, maybe I’ll find someone else who I can love, but I don’t want to find someone else. I think she’s the person I’m supposed to,”

“Dude, are you fucking talking to yourself?”

Patrick jumped and spun around, as Pete approached him, looking at him as if he had five heads. Patrick looked back at the mirror and his reflection mirrored his own reaction.

“Um… I don’t really know if I want to answer that,” he said slowly.

Pete just shook his head. “Patrick, I’m not forcing you to get over Harper.”

Patrick looked down at his sneakers, feeling embarrassed.

“Sure, we want you to be happy, and so we figure the only way you can be happy again is to forget about her and focus on some other girl, but if that won’t make you happier, then don’t fucking do it man.”

“It doesn’t make me happy to think about her either.”

“Well, I didn’t say it wasn’t a fucking catch 22.” Pete walked over to the sink next to him and looked at himself in the mirror. Pete’s lips were covered in a dark shade of pink lipstick and flecks of glitter sparkled randomly on his face. “Wow, I look like shit.”

Patrick smirked. “You said it, not me.”

Pete turned the water on and started splashing himself. “Can I be honest with you Patrick?”

“Well, you usually are, so why are you asking now?”

Pete laughed, shaking his head, water spraying on Patrick. “I hate this, man.”

“what?”

“This,” he gestured around at nothing.

“The bathroom? I don’t know, it seems all right. A little too modern for my taste…”

“No, not the bathroom. This. Being out late, going home with yet another girl who I’ll never see again just to get off. I mean, sure it’s fucking pleasurable at the time, but it’s not like…”

“It would be if you loved them?”

“Or even liked them a little. Most of these girls are the most vapid chicks I’ve ever met. Like that girl? She was on some crap show on TLC like a long time ago and that’s all she wants to talk about. Her fleeting brush with fame. It’s just sick man.”

“So why do it?”

“It’s the only way I can cope without resorting to,” he mimed downing a bunch of pills into his throat.

“As your bestie, can I just say, that’s not healthy man,” Patrick replied, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. “So why do you want me to do it?”

Pete wiped his face off. “So I don’t look like the only douche in our band,” he replied.

Patrick nudged his shoulder. “Pete, even if you weren’t sleeping around with random chicks at every tour stop, you’d still look like the only douche in our band.” He grinned at him.

“See and only you could say that to me,” Pete replied. “Seriously though, I guess I just don’t know how else to help you. Obviously, you know I can’t cope with heartbreak, so I’m not really, you know the best person for the job.”

“I know, I’m sorry man. I guess I should try to be more fun and just focus on other things,” Patrick muttered.

“Nah, you don’t have to be. Wallow, as long as you like. It’s better than overdosing on pills or sleeping around with as many girls as you can. Trust me…. Just, you know, at least show up to sound check and stuff.” Pete rubbed his shoulders. “Come on, if you want to go, we can go. I’m not feeling this scene anymore anyway, and I kind of want to get you away from the mirrors because I think you think your reflection is talking back to you.”

Patrick looked at him chagrinned. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

They headed out of the bathroom, and Pete rounded up the other guys. On the way back to the tour bus, Patrick couldn’t help but go through the text messages that he had sent to Harper that had gone without answer. Slowly, one by one, he deleted every one of them. He had to come to terms with the fact that Harper wasn’t going to respond, that she was moving on and that maybe he needed to too.

The tour continued to move quickly and by the end of April, they had arrived in New York City, where they had two shows (one had sold out, so management had added a second, which also sold out), and an interview with MTV and a few magazines.

Patrick had tried to keep his mind focused on the tour, and it was working. He could feel the weight in his chest lift, his mood altering. The guys seemed to notice it too, and they started to resume the light-hearted banter that the four of them were so familiar with.

Since they were going to be in New York City for a few days, their manager had booked them hotel rooms, which the other guys could not stop gushing about.

“A real shower? Man, I never appreciated water pressure until being on a tour bus,” Joe sighed as they trudged through the spacious lobby of the Hilton hotel they were staying at. They all had backpacks on their backs and roller luggage dragged behind them.

Charlie had headed toward the front of their group to start the check in process.

“I just can’t wait for the bed, down comforter, a real mattress…. Fuck, I’m gonna sleep like a king,” Pete sighed.

They corralled around the front desk while Charlie got all of their rooms set up. The hotel staff seemed to regard them with slight suspicion, as if they thought the guys were going to trash the rooms.

“How late do we get to sleep in exactly?” Patrick piped up, anxious to sleep more than five hours.

“Interview with MTV is at two so I want everyone in the lobby by one,” Charlie said, handing them each their room keys.

“Well, that’s not bad, I can get a good solid 9 hours in,” Patrick said, mostly to himself.

“You really do like to sleep don’t you,” Andy commented. Patrick nodded.

As Charlie started giving them a run down of their day, Patrick’s ear caught the side conversation that an older lady was having at the front desk with one of the hotel staff.

“Yes, I am looking for a guest of yours,” the older lady said rather politely.

“Yes, of course, and the name?”

“Miss Harper Williams.”

Patrick’s heart skipped a beat. “Harper,” he said under his breath.

The guys all looked at him. “What did you say Patrick?” Pete asked him.

Patrick turned to get a good look at the woman. He didn’t recognize her. The other guys looked in her direction as well.

“Certainly, let me call up to her room and see if she is expecting you.” The male hotel staff member picked up his phone and called one of the guests. “Yes, Miss Williams? There is a Ms. Fairchild to see you,” That is Harper’s literary agent! Patrick exclaimed in his head. “Yes, of course, I will send her up.” He hung up the phone and smiled at Ms. Fairchild. “She is in room 568, take the elevator straight ahead and to your left.”

The woman thanked him clacked her way over to the elevators.

Patrick turend back to his bandmates. “Guys, I think Harper is here.”

They all exchanged worried glances. “Patrick, how can you…”

“He said her name, Harper Williams. And that lady’s last name is Fairchild. That was the name of her literary agent. I know, it could be coincidence, but I don’t think so.”

“Okay, but Patrick, don’t go like knocking on her door or anything,” Pete said worriedly. “It’s not like she’s here for you…”

Patrick frowned. “I know that Pete. But still…”

“Patrick, buddy, you’ve been doing so good this past month not obsessing over her. Don’t slip up now,” Joe stressed.

“I’m not, I just…” Patrick sighed. “Whatever, just forget it.”

Charlie looked at all of them confused. “Um, guys, did you listen to anything I just said?”

“Yeah, Charlie, we got it, long day, lots to do, need to sleep,” Pete replied flippantly.

“Uh huh. Well, I better not have to come knocking on any doors tomorrow,” he said, crossing his beefy arms over his chest. “And who’s Harper by the way?”

“No one,” Patrick said gloomily, repositioning his backpack and slowly making his way to the elevator. Fate had a funny way of playing tricks on me, he thought. Just when he thought he could finally get over her, Harper had somehow come barreling back into his life.