Where Is Your Boy Tonight

Maddie fell asleep not long after Pete. It had been a long, emotionally taxing 48 hours.

At six am she jolted awake, realizing she messed up. "Fuck, shit, piss..." She began mumbling quietly as she jammed her feet in her shoes and started tip toeing out of the room.

"Where are you going?" A groggy Pete asked.

"We fell asleep, it's six in the morning, my parents are going to murder me", Maddie hurried to explain, flinging open the door.

"Why is it every time you wake up here you're running off in a hurry", Pete joked stretching and seemingly being laid back about the whole situation.

"You know me, one foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door", Maddie joked. "I may never see you again, my parents may kill me."

Pete walked over and hugged her before kissing the top of her head, "just in case I never see you again, Princess."

"I'm glad you can laugh", Maddie said. She aimed to kiss his cheek but in her hurry missed and hit his neck. She blushed realizing the mistake but didn't say anything, just hurried down the stairs.

She opened the front door to her house quietly but it was no use. As soon as it clicked shut her mother called her into the kitchen. Maddie walked through the door and saw her mom sitting at the table drinking her coffee. Maddie wasn't sure how to asses the situation, she didn't seem angry but she obviously wasn't happy either. She sat down across from her mom and waited.

"Can you tell me about what's going on?" Her mom began.

"I'm sorry, I literally fell asleep in Pete's spare bed. Nothing happened, I swear", Maddie was prepapred to keep rambling but her mom cut her off.

"Sweetie, Dale called me last night when she saw you had fallen asleep there." Maddie face turned red, realizing Dale must have seen them in the same bed. "She and I talked for a very long time about what is going on between you and Pete. Honey, do you know what bi-polar disorder is?"

Maddie shook her head. She had heard of it before but wasn't really sure.

"It's when someone has trouble with their emotions. They have periods where they are manic or period of depression. They aren't normal happy or sad moments like we have, they are extreme. The person that has it may have sleep problems, they may have trouble with judgements... Does this sound like anyone you know?"

Maddie nodded, "does Pete have it?"

"Yes. Dale explained to me that Pete has been seeing a doctor recently to try and control this issue. They are having trouble getting his medications right. She said he's been having episodes a lot lately and hasn't been sleeping."

"That explains a lot actually", Maddie answered.

"Dale said that you have an uncanny ability to help him calm down, sometimes after days you guys have been hanging out he sleeps better than normal. That's one of the reasons she called, she asked that I let you stay there since it was the first time in nearly two days he had slept."

Maddie's jaw dropped at her mother's revaluation. "I didn't know any of this. Well, I knew he had trouble sleeping I mean, but Pete has never told me any of this."

"Dale said he is very embarrassed by the whole thing."

Maddie sat in silence with her mother a moment. She was trying to absorb all of this new information, making it difficult since she was groggy and it was so early in the morning.

"What I want to say is this", her mom began. "I can see that you guys care for each other a great deal and have a strong friendship. I don't want it to turn into a dependent relationship. You need to talk to Dale or I if you think something is going on with Pete, do you understand?"

Maddie nodded and agreed.

"I have my concerns but Dale has promised me she will watch over you when you're there."

Maddie rolled her eyes, "mom I'm not a baby."

"No, you are very mature and your father and I trust you. We also trust Pete, however, I don't know that I'm one hundred percent comfortable with you spending the night there or being alone with him. Well, being alone with him until his medicine is straightened out."

Maddie nodded. She promised her mom she would be careful and keep her and Dale informed. Then she went upstairs and got ready for school.

When school was over Maddie and they guys went to Pete's house for practice as usual. They were talking about finding a recording studio to record some songs to send to record labels when Joe's dad began honking.

"He's early" Maddie said.

"Yeah, my grandmother is in town visiting. He made me promise I'd come home early to visit with her", Joe responded, rolling his eyes. He and Patrick said their goodbyes and Andy decided to leave then too; apparently there was a new cashier at his job he wanted to get there early to flirt with her.

Pete and Maddie stayed silent while they shut off the space heaters and cleaned up the garage before heading upstairs to his room. Maddie waited until they were settled on his bed with a movie playing before she began easing into questions.

"So, why does it seem like you don't sleep very well sometimes?"

Pete shrugged, "I dunno, I just have trouble shutting my head down. Then I can't sleep."

"What do you do when you can't?"

"Mostly write songs."

"Oh. It's weird because I can tell when you haven't slept. Your moods are different and stuff."

Pete stopped watching the movie and looked at her, "who told you?"

"Your mom told my mom last night. She called her and I guess talked to her about me staying over and stuff..." Maddie trailed off. She could see anger growing in Pete's eyes and she didn't like it. She had hoped it wouldn't turn into a big deal but she could see it was.

"I can't believe it. I told her I didn't want anyone to know!"

"Pete, I..." Maddie began but wasn't sure where to go with it. Should she have told him she knew? Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut.

"No, Maddie. I don't want anyone, especially you, to know I'm totally fucked in the head!"

"But you're not.."

"Yes. I am."

"I didn't want to upset you, I just want to understand", Maddie tried. She could feel tears threatening to fall and she did not want to cry.

"Understand?!" Pete exclaimed with a synical laugh. "How can you understand something about me when I don't even understand it?"

Maddie didn't answer. She just stood and put her shoes on to leave. She didn't think she could hold back her tears anymore, especially if she said anything else. She was frustrated with Pete for getting mad at her when all she wanted to do was understand him. Pete didn't try to stop her so she knew he was upset.

Maddie laid on her bed when she got home, happy her parents weren't home from work yet, and let her tears fall.