Breathe Me Back To Life •Patrick Stump+Fall Out Boy•

Chapter Five: She's My Best Friend

|| Patrick Stump || First Person's POV||

I feel Cole press her face into the back of my neck, her warm breath tickling it. I catch my hands under her knees and pull her up a bit so she wouldn't slide off of my back. Pete turns his head to look at us, and for a second, I see his facial expression kind of change to something like worry.

I want to ask him what's wrong but I don't necessarily need to. It's about Cole, no doubt about it. She has us all worried sick, but she's refusing to tell any of us what's wrong. I think that scares him more, to be honest. Knowing something is wrong but not knowing what. And after this morning? He's ready to hunt down any guy around her age that goes by the name of Derek in a thousand mile radius without even knowing what happened. He just wants her back.

The elevator doors slide open, revealing the large lobby before us. I scan the room quickly, looking past bellboys and people dressed in formal wear. My eyes travel to a group of rockstars, part of it being my own band, Panic!, and Paramore.They flew in last night when we already checked in because tonight is the first show they'll play on the tour.

Finally, my eyes land on the young, tan skinned girl with wavy black hair. My heart jumps a bit when she turns around and spies me. Elisa Yao. My girlfriend. (AN: I didn't want the two to be married in this because of the age change so they're just dating.)

"Patrick!" She exclaims, happy to see me I guess. I smile for a moment, but her eyes avert from my face to a little bit above me. Cole.
I watch as Elisa's facial expression goes from one of joy to confusion to finally annoyance.

Cole probably looks up from my shirt because she's tapping my shoulder quickly, wanting to be put back on her feet. I reluctantly bend over a bit and let her unwrap her arms from their comfortable position and feel her drop to her feet. I suddenly feel too empty without her on my back. She adjusts my hat over her head and smiles, flicking my own off my hair.

On any other occasion, I'd probably get upset that someone knocked my hat off, but it was Cole. I don't know, but I can't get upset about something like that with her. It's... weird.

"I'm gonna go." She says, turning and jogging towards the rest. I see her go up to Brendon and pull him into a tight hug, probably because of what happened earlier this morning. He grins and wraps his arms around her in return, accepting her apology. I watch as Joe lifts her skinny frame up and spins her around, causing her to bang on his shoulders in annoyance, holding onto my hat over her hair. I don't know why, but that makes me really happy.

I barely notice Elisa standing beside me, her eyes narrowed as she looks at the group before us, watching Cole laughing with them. I was glad that she was happy right now, but that feeling is short lived when Elisa begins to speak.

"Who is she?" She spits, her normally sweet voice filled with... I don't know, jealousy? "And why were you giving her a 'piggy back ride'?"

"She's Pete's younger sister. They're like five years apart." I answer, turning my head to look at Elisa. I lean in and press a quick kiss on her lips. "And it was for fun."

"Why is your hat on her head? You never let anyone wear your hats." Elisa says, and I know that that is one hundred percent true. Nobody ever wears my hats because I'll flip out on them. Not even Elisa, so I can understand why she would be upset.

"She's my best friend." I respond, not really knowing what to say.

"I'm your girlfriend." Elisa counters, her eyes narrowing in on me. This sudden change of personality in her is confusing and kind of childish.

"What? You want to wear my hats?" I sigh, tugging my fedora off and dropping it on top of her curls. "There. Happy?"

"No, I'm not happy." She says, ripping my hat off of her head and shoving it into my chest. "I want you to stop carrying that girl, I want you to stop being that close with her, and take the fucking hat off of head."

"Elisa, this is seriously childish." I say, pulling the fedora back over my hair. "Talk to me when you're being rational. Right now, let's just go to breakfast."

"Patrick, that hat that's on her head needs to be off. Now." Elisa demands, and when I make no move towards my hat and Cole, she is practically fuming.

I walk past her and to the group of friends before us, trying to get in on whatever conversation Ryan, Brendon, Pete, Andy, and Joe are having. I keep watching Elisa through the corner of my eye, and nearly five minutes later, we all turn and watch in horror.

Elisa stomps her way over to Cole, who at the time was speaking to Dallon and Spencer. Elisa reaches forward and takes Cole's hand, smiling her normal smile. I feel Pete tense up next to me because he knows how she is when she's mad. We watch Cole smile slightly at first, but a frown slowly creeps its way up onto her face as Elisa speaks. We don't hear what she's saying, but we know it isn't great. Elisa then plucks MY hat off of Cole's head and places it on her own, grinning. Finally, Elisa thumps Cole's forehead with her middle finger and walks away, moving to take her place next to Hayley Williams of Paramore.

Pete watches his sister intently, searching her expression for anything that hinted that she was upset. Cole takes a deep breath and walks back over to the group, forcing a fake smile. Pete glances over at Elisa, who seems normal now, before walking off to stand by Cole.

"Yeah, well, let's go." Ryan says, and no one objects. It was too horribly awkward.

-/:::\-

We all go to this little cafe not too far from the hotel, ordering our food and separating the bands into table groups. The rest of the guys split themselves up into groups of four or six, my group consisting of Elisa, Cole, Pete, Brendon, and Ryan. We have a booth, so Elisa sits down next to me(at the end of the booth) while Pete sits down on my other side. Pete has Cole sit down next to him, and then Brendon and Ryan sit by her. I look over at Elisa, who is smiling and trying to have a conversation with Brendon.

Don't get me wrong here. Elisa Yao is normally an amazing girl. It's just that when she gets upset or jealous, she turns into some kind of horrible person. It's terrible, but I put up with it because I value the moments when she is actually herself.

I chance a look at Cole, who is looking down and whispering something to Pete. Pete nods slowly and mumbles something back to her. She smiles slightly and leans back into Pete's side, whispering something else. That earns a laugh from Pete, getting Elisa to shoot a questioning look at him.

"What's so funny?" She asks the two. Pete looks over at Cole, unsure of what to say. Pete was always a terrible liar.

"We were talking about personal stuff." Cole answers firmly. Elisa narrows her eyes and lets out a laugh.

"This is a group discussion. If you want to be private, go elsewhere. But right now, you're with us. So, I'll ask again. What is so funny?" Elisa demands. The twitch of Cole's lip and right eye indicates one thing and one thing only. Heads were going to roll.

"You." Cole states, her lips pulling up into a smirk. I can't help but think of how pretty she looked right then.

"Excuse me?"

"What? Didn't you want to know?" Cole says, her eyes quickly moving to the hat that Elisa stole from her. We watch as Cole reaches over and snatches the hat from Elisa, putting it back over her head. "Thanks."

Elisa wants to probably scream, but all she does is lean back and press her face into my side. I sigh and wrap an arm around her frame, pulling her close to me. She's probably just having a bad day. That's why she's acting rude right now. Elisa is actually a great girl.

Needless to say, Cole and Elisa ignored each other for the rest of the day.