Sorry for the delay. I explain everything in the author's note at the end. There's also a bonus story of my idiocy at the end.

Dedication to CecilLovesCarlos. This just hit 2.5K reads and I'm speechless.

They say life isn't waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

But it's hard to dance when you're dancing alone.

Again.

"Skye, please open the door," Pete said from the hallway. I was currently lying face down on my pillow that was damp with tears.

"Go away," I mumbled. Maybe if I pushed my face into the pillow more, I could suffocate myself, and-

My reflexes kicked in and I bolted upright and gasped, leading to me having a cough attack.

Pete's knocking grew louder. "Skye, are you okay?" He asked frantically. He sighed. "Skye, at least say something."

I didn't. I just walked up to the door and opened it. I immediately wrapped Pete in a hug that I didn't realize I needed. The only human contact I had in three days was going to the kitchen to get food, and then returning to my locked bedroom.

I didn't realize I was sobbing violently into his shirt until he had already closed the door behind him, picked me up, and carried me back to my bed. He tried to put me down, but I had balled his shirt up in my fists. He murmured something that sounded like a 'fine', but I couldn't comprehend what he was saying. He sat on the bed beside me and wrapped me in his arms, letting me soak his t-shirt with my tears. It felt like we sat like this for an eternity, but was probably only half an hour, at most.

"I trusted him," I whispered after what felt like forever.

He pulled away and looked me in the eyes. "I know Skye, but you have to realize, he's only human, he had to have his reasons. If you two talked about it, you would know. The world-"

"Expects too much of him." I finished for him. "I know. I just- I hate seeing him like this. I lo-lik-li-, I, really, I-"

"It's okay, you're confused." Was I, though? Three days ago, when I had seen the side of Patrick I wish I never had, I thought I was in love with him. But what was love? I had never been in love before. Heck, I've never even had a friend. Sure, I've had a couple stupid crushes, but this was more than your stupid middle school crush. But was it really love?

"How do you know when you're in love?" I looked Pete in the eye.

"All the songs make sense." I thought Pete had responded to me, but his voice was different and his lips didn't move. I looked over my shoulder to see Patrick standing in the doorway.

He looked awful. He wasn't wearing his usual fedora, and his hair hadn't been washed or combed in a couple of days, leaving it oily and sticking out everywhere. His glasses sat crooked on his nose, which was a bright pink. Bags lay under his bloodshot, puffy eyes, and he looked like he had been wearing the same outfit for a few days. But I wasn't one to judge him because I looked the exact same. We were a mess.

"I'll leave you two alone, then," Pete said, and patted my shoulder. I mumbled a 'thanks', and he smiled and left the room.

"Patrick-"

"No, Skye, stop right there. I'm so fucking sorry. I-" He couldn't continue because he broke out in sobs. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around the back of his head and neck, resting his forehead against the floor. I did this to him.

This was my entire fault. I had plenty of money now, I made enough to afford monthly rent. If I had moved out maybe a week sooner, we wouldn't be in this mess. I made him hurt himself badly, to the point where he was still hurting days later. I was a monster. I was no better than my mother.

I ran over to him and held him tightly in my arms. "I'm sorry," I said. "Don't blame yourself, Patrick. You're the best person that I have ever met." I sighed and was about to say that I had made my mind about moving out when he cut me off.

"No, I'm not." He looked at me like a lost puppy, and I could feel my heart split in two. "I'm a monster. After everything that you've been through, I went and put you through more of it. I'm a fucking idiot, Skye, I'm sorry, I should just- I, I didn't mean to hurt you in any way." I thought back to the events of a few nights ago.

"Why should I?" He yelled. "Maybe I should just go to the roof, and jump, right? Because nobody wants Patrick fucking Stump, everyone would be better off without him!"

"P-Patrick, t-that's not true." I sobbed, looking him in the eyes.

"Patrick, about what you said that night-"

He cut me off. "Everything I called you, I didn't mean. I was drunk, I would never hurt you."

"This isn't about me, Patrick. It's about you." He looked completely confused.

He fixed his glasses on his face and sat up, so he was sitting next to me on the floor. He was barely two inches taller than me, but he had longer legs. So when we sat down, we were the exact same height and could look into each other's eyes perfectly. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "They say that when you are drunk, some of the things that you do or say are some of the things you have always wanted to, but never had the chance to." He was still confused and was about to speak again, but I stopped him. "You said th-that, you-you w-wanted" My voice started quivering and my vision became blurred with tears. I took a deep breath and spoke again. "It was right before you threw the bottles at Pete and me."

His confused facial expressions changed into a look of guilt. "Oh." He mumbled. "That thing. Did I tell you everything that happened that night?"

"No." I shook my head.

"Well, you went to Aaron's and Connor's and Pete took your siblings out for the day, and so I was home alone. Well, until my ex broke into my apartment. We had been together for ten years, since about eighth grade. She cheated on me more than a couple of times. She wanted me back, and after I refused, she said a few things and then left, and I didn't know what to do, so I just decided to be an idiot and drank."

It was probably my fault that the bitch was in his apartment. She had probably seen a press report of us together and had gotten jealous. There was only one solution to this whole mess we were in.

"I'm moving out."

His head jerked up to look at me and he had a look of shock on his face. "What?"

"You knew that I wasn't going to live with you forever, I've been doing nothing but causing you pain. I don't want you to be hurt, Patrick. When you're hurt, I'm hurt too. I'm probably going to start looking for a place this week-"

"No." He grabbed my arm. "Stay."

Why would he want me to stay? I was obviously just another person to look after, as were my siblings. I either hurt someone or got hurt every other day. "Why?"

And before I knew what was going on, his lips were on mine.

I APOLOGIZE THIS IS A DAY LATE AND THAT IT TOOK THEM SIXTEEN CHAPTERS PLUS A TWO PART PROLOGUE TO KISS AND THAT THIS WAS SHORT

So as you all know, school is unfortunately starting school. I am going into High School, and have freshman orientation in one week. I start school the following Monday. I didn't update this because I have had band camp all week. I'm in marching band, and after playing the flute for five years, three days before camp my director wanted me to switch to piccolo, so it's been hectic.

I apologize once again for the delay. My updating schedule will most likely change once school starts. I love updating more than once a week, but I'm not sure if that's going to be possible.

Well I promised a story about my idiocy.

So this one time at band camp....

The low brass section and part of the drum line climbed the agri science building to eat lunch. It was all guys, and I just wanted to see if I could do it. (It was an ego thing.) So I get up there, no problem. I used this drainage pipe to climb up. Anyways, so after like a minute I get down. But my shirt got caught on the drainage pipe and scratched the whole under side of my upper arm, from my elbow through my arm pit.  I didn't need stitches because it was all fat. Anyways, I also split open the skin in this one part, so it's literally an open wound and you can see my flesh, it's about the size of a quarter and it looks like I got shot it's so freaking cool.

So yea I'm kind of stupid. I'll have an awesome scar though.

COMMENT IF YOU GOT THE REFERENCE TO CASTLE IN THIS CHAPTER. THAT IS MY FAVORITE SHOW EVER.