You're Still My Favorite Melody

“Gabe’s not being himself and he won’t tell me what’s going on. Plus he’s been going out with Victoria everyday since you’ve been here,” Pete says, taking a seat on the edge of the hospital bed. It was currently eleven and Pete had been here for about a half hour. I was scheduled to leave tomorrow.

With nothing on t.v Pete and I had just talked about whatever came to mind, although Pete had made sure to stay away from the subject of Patrick. Now that we were on the topic of Gabe, Pete seemed estranged. He alternated between pacing the room and sitting on the bed. Pete was currently tapping his foot against the floor in agitation.

“Well fine. When I get out of here I’m gonna ignore him and hang out with slutty girls too,” I retort and Pete sighs.

“You don’t care?” he asks.

“Of course I do. But Pete, I’m in a hospital bed, what can I do?” he shrugs and looks down at his feet, “that girl is toxic. Even Patrick knew.”

“Since we’re on the subject, what happened to Patrick?” I ask and Pete sends me a glare. I had to find out sometime.

“I told you-”

“You’re a bad liar.” Pete stands up and begins pacing the room distress frequently crossing his face.

“I’ll just ask William,” I say and I can tell it’s the wrong thing to say.

Pete–who is already quite obviously upset– lets out a humorless laugh. “The same guy who doesn’t care enough about you to come see you? The guy who started this-”

“William is not a bad guy. He did what he had to do,” I protest and Pete rolls his eyes.

"How can you defend him? He-" he begins, but William walks through the door.

Pete immediately turns on William, “what are you doing here?” William takes a few nervous steps backwards but Pete only moves matches his movement.

“Pete, chill,” I order, but he doesn’t move or acknowledge that he’s heard me.

“I just wanted to talk to Sabrina,” William says calmly. Pete glances at me before lowering his voice. I can’t make out any of the conversation but judging by their expressions, the conversation isn’t too pleasant.

“Hurt her again, I dare you,” Pete hisses rather loudly, before stalking out of the room.

“Um did I um...should I come back later?” William asks, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“No, don’t worry about Pete. His bark is worse than his bite,” I answer.

“Um, I just I...I canceled the flight on Thursday...when I found out. I just um...how are you feeling?”

“Did you really cancel your flight to ask your ex-girlfriend how she was feeling?” I ask and William smiles.

“Yeah, I mean I wanted to make sure that you were okay and I wanted to apologize.” I raise both eyebrows, “apologize?”

“Yeah I mean, I shouldn’t have done it that way. And I’m sorry I tried to make you choose and I’m sorry if I hurt you and I’m so fucking sorry that I made you think that drinking was the only way to fix this and-”

“William you’re rambling,” I interrupt.

“I know, I’m just...really sorry.”

“That doesn’t change-”

“I know, we’re still um broken up. But I just wanted you to know that I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I just...how do we fix this?” he asks, eyes wide and patiently awaiting my answer.

“We don’t. William you can’t break up with me and expect things to be fine a week later. It doesn’t matter if you weren’t trying to hurt me because you did it anyway.”

“I’m trying to be the bigger man here and you’re-” he begins, his voice raising an octave.

“You’re the only man here, Bill,” I retort and he sighs in irritation.

“Can you not be so difficult?” he asks, sitting in the space Pete had vacated.

“Well I’m not going to be easy. I think that would make a slut,” I answer and William glares at me.

“Would kissing Gabe while we were together make you a slut too?” he asks. Oh shit. He knew. How could he know?

“You knew?” I ask, staring at William in shock.

“Everyone knew.”

“I’m sorry. Gabe is um well-” I mumble uncomfortably but William interrupts me.

“Do you love him too?” he asks and I can already feel the heat rising to my cheeks.

“Um, well no. I mean he’s not um boyfriend material and he’s all wrong for me.”

William raises an eyebrow, “then why are you blushing?”

“Um, well I...um...shut up,” I hiss and William laughs. Before either of us can speak , Pete walks back into the room. And that’s when I start thinking about who might’ve told William about the kiss.

“Can I uh talk to Pete alone?” I ask and William nods before leaving the room. Pete gives me a wary look and sits down on a chair near my bed.

“Am I in trouble?” he asks cautiously, although he doesn’t seem even slightly afraid. Not that he should be, I mean I was still sitting in a hospital bed.

“Did you tell William that Gabe kissed me?” I ask crossing my arms.

“You kissed him back,” Pete points out and I glare at him.

“Answer.”

Pete sighs, “yeah I did. But somebody had to tell him-”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. The only reason you told him was because you wanted us to break up,” I hiss and Pete gives me an incredulous look.

“Sabrina, I’ve been trying to do what’s best for you,” he protests and I roll my eyes.

“No, you’ve been trying to do what’s best for Gabe.”

“Sabrina-”

“Is this whole friendship just another way for Gabe to keep tabs on me?”

“This has nothing to do with Gabe. I told William because you cheated on him Sabrina. You don’t think he deserved to know?” Pete asks and I roll my eyes.

“First of all, Gabe kissed me okay? Don’t you dare spin this to make me look like a whore. Secondly-” I begin, growing angrier as each syllable left my tongue.

“Well what kind of girl cheats on her boyfriend and lies about it?” he retorts.

“Are you calling me a whore?” I ask and Pete jumps up from his chair, anger in his eyes.

“I’m not calling you the fucking virgin Mary!” he shouts, pacing the room in an attempt to calm his anger. It was a bad habit of his–because it never worked– and only succeeded in making him angrier.

”Get out,” I order.

“Gladly,” Pete hisses, before stalking out of the room.