Where Is Your Boy Tonight

Maddie woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. She rolled over and fumbled for the receiver before grumbling a hello into it. "Hey, uh, did I wake you up?" Patrick asked. "No, no. I was getting up anyway" she said, holding in a yawn. She didn't want Patrick to feel bad, and she knew he would.

"Pete called and said he wanted to go to breakfast. He asked me to call you because he didn't want to wake your parents up", Patrick explained. "I have my own phone line, you won't wake my parents up", Maddie replied before rolling over to look at the alarm. "Holy crap, it's six a.m. on a Sunday!" "Yeah, Pete doesn't sleep well" Patrick explained, "so we can pick you up in thirty minutes?" "Yep, I'll meet you outside. My parents are most definitely still asleep."

Maddie hung up the phone and jumped out of the bed. Thirty minutes should be plenty of time to shower and dress but no time for make up or hair. Once out, she pulled a pair of jeans on she found on the floor and her favorite purple sweater. She peaked out of her window to see if the guys were there yet only to see Pete coming across the yard. She hoped he wouldn't ring the bell as she hurried down stairs and slipped her shoes on. She left a quick note for her parents and stepped outside into the cold air.

"Yikes, I didn't realize it got so cold here in September!" Maddie said as she locked the front door. Pete stood from the bench her mother had put there to sometimes drink her morning coffee on. He didn't say anything, but walked over and hugged her. Maddie hugged him back before asking, "everything ok?" Pete looked tired, he had bags under his eyes and his hair was a mess. He nodded and gave her a small smile but Maddie wasn't convinced. Before she could ask more Patrick and Joe pulled up.

"Andy is just getting off of work, if we swing by maybe we can catch him before he leaves", Patrick said to hurry them into the backseat. Once he was sure they buckled he drove off. Joe was talking non-stop about some songs he wanted them to cover. Maddie was amazed at how much energy he had this early in the morning. Patrick was being very diligent on paying attention to the road and gave Joe a "yep" or "uh huh" every so often. Pete sat quietly looking out the window. Maddie glanced at him every now and then. She eventually reached over and rubbed the back of his hand lightly, as if to reassure him. Pete gave her a small, but genuine smile before turning his hand over and lightly lacing his fingers into hers. It made Maddie feel a little better.

Once they caught Andy and he agreed to go with them they went to a small diner near where Andy worked. The five of them were seated and looking at the menu before Pete spoke for the first time, "they have great pancakes here." The guys all agreed. "They can even make them vegan" Andy added, only to get a look of disgust from the others. Maddie laughed. When it came time to order she ordered the vegan pancakes so Andy wouldn't feel left out.

Once their order was placed they began discussing band stuff. Maddie listened but didn't have much to say, since she wasn't actually a member. She figured Pete had probably been up all night thinking about what they were discussing because he seemed to cheer up. Soon, heaping plates of pancakes were placed in front of all of them and the conversation haulted while everyone dug in.

"How are they?" Andy asked her. Maddie laughed, "better than I expected actually!" Patrick poked her ribs, "you should taste the regular ones, even better!" Maddie agreed next time she would get them regular before turning back to her plate. Pete nudged her arm and she looked to see him holding out a bite of his, "try 'em." Maddie felt awkward biting the pancakes off of his fork but nobody else made a big deal out of it so she didn't either. "You're right", she said after she swallowed, "those are awesome!"

When they were done they said goodbye to Andy who was going home to go to bed. "What should we do now?" Maddie asked. It was only 8:30. Joe threw an arm around her shoulders before saying, "how about the playground?" Pete and Patrick nodded. "We can walk, we're not far", Patrick added. Maddie wondered what the playground was. It didn't take long though as after a couple of minutes they arrived at an actual playground. She caught herself laughing as it came into view. "What's funny?" Joe asked. "I didn't realize you meant an actual playground! I thought it was code for something", Maddie said giving him a huge grin. The guys all laughed. "We really honestly like this playground", Pete told her with a smile. Maddie was glad he seemed happier. "Race you to the tire swing!" he yelled taking off ahead of her.