don't panic!

"you're being so brave," travis said so sincerely before grimacing. maybe the nurse really was trying to kill him... travis stood by while they finished up, offering a sympathetic smile. "you want a blueberry sucker?"

travis was right, he was being so brave. it was nice to be seen while this nurse was trying to rob him of his blood. after the procedure was done, patrick frowned looking at his already bruising wound "do they have strawberry?"

so... the date was not good.

he tried to settle and not think about rita on her date, he really did. however his brain had decided to torture him and he found himself sitting on the couch, trying to watch a movie while he waited on his roommate to return home safe. he must've dozed off at some point thanks to the sound of what he could only describe as a one woman marching band waking him up with all her clattering around.

"your secret is safe with me. i can have you get the mom disapproval look. give me a day or two to give it a full run over and i'll give you a call. does that work for you?"

"that works for me, man. thanks, you're a lifesaver. the invoice can be dropped off to my dad at the bar, he said money is no object the repairs"

text: bodaway family chat

rita opened then promptly closed her mouth as he crouched down, taking care of her heel as well. she didn't even have to ask. when he stood back up, she felt something stir in her chest. it was nothing, really. she was just... lucky to have him. "as you should. i think you'd do numbers on any dating app, babe. you are far too good to me, you know that?" she smiled, shaking her head. whatever she might have said next was lost as her phone buzzed. "oh, shit! that's flash outside. thanks for the assist-," she said, leaning over to plant a very quick kiss on his cheek before turning to leave. "be good, don't do anything i wouldn't do!"

a smarter man would try and talk her out of going on a date with someone who was so beneath them, but instead patrick stood there with his mouth gaping like a fish after he was gifted with a kiss on his cheek from his roommate. "o-uh- yeah sure." he managed to stumble through while he tried to compose himself "be safe! if you need picked up drop me a text!" he called out to her leaving, the door clicking shut and all he was left with was a burning cheek, silence, and a soggy bowl of cereal.

rita's brow furrowed at the slight delay between her question and patrick actually standing up. brushing it quickly off, she moved her hair out of the way as he stood behind her. rita had spent almost every day of her life in this town with this man, you know? he had stood close to her before, it was no big deal, but... for a minute - just a minute - she found herself holding her breath as his fingertips brushed her skin. it almost felt like time had not stopped, but lingered. paused. gently nudged her in the direction of thinking about that light touch trailing her back and now her shoulders, and the almost non-existent space between them. and then he'd zipped her up, and she was back. okay! focus.

it took a great amount of restraint for him to step away from her after he had finished zipping up her dress. seeing her struggle with the strap of her shoe, patrick crouched down and silently fastened the tiny buckle on the strap. he stood back up and returned to his cereal bowl"no fish in profile pictures, they're bad. i'll make note of that" not that he would be going on dating apps any time soon thanks to his current predicament with nagging feelings that were creeping up on him. "fish or not, he's still a loser and you're better than him"

"hey, there you are!" rita practically barrelled into the room (and into him, a little bit - no damage done!), one strappy heel on and the other in her hand. this was clearly an emergency, okay? she normally wouldn't be so frazzled. her hair was done, taxi booked - well, flash was kinda moonlighting from the dva - and everything was almost perfect for this date. her hopes weren't up, they weren't. but he was hot and interesting, and wasn't holding a fish in his profile pics.

he was trying to enjoy a bowl of cereal but ended up dribbling milk down his face when his jaw dropped at rita rushing into the room all dressed up. goddamn. she was not being fair. patrick quickly wiped away the contents that fell out his mouth and abandoned his bowl without hesitation to go help. he got close, his fingertips on the zip of her dress. she was stunning, smelled like vanilla and it was pissing him off. she was worth a thousand of that fucking loser she agreed to go out with. he was too close in her personal space when he slowly dragged the zip up her back, his fingertips grazing her skin. the scent of her perfume would haunt him like a ghost when she was gone. patrick finished zipping up her dress and smoothed out the material at the top of her dress at her shoulders - thanks persephone for teaching him dress etiquette.

"And here I thought people valued honesty."

"honesty, yeah...not being an asshole. you should learn the difference, it would do you some good"

"welll... i guess, technically, it is being harvested. it's for the, ah, greater good though, huh?" which is exactly what the bad guys would say if this was, like, a movie or something. "c'mon, it's not a pint. it's more like a few shot glasses. hey, just think, maybe you'll be so distracted talkin' to some handsome fella- like me, for example- that you won't even notice it's already over."

"the greater good? i'm nothing more than a lab rat" a common lab rat! he'll phone his mom and whine about it later. "travis, you're a damn liar but i appreciate the commitment to the game and i'll no- FUCK!" he yelled when the nurse poked, no, stabbed him with the needle.

"i'll put it at the top of the queue for you. don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"thanks man, my dad would go mental if he found out that i forgot to put her car in, but that mom disappointment look hits different"

"I'm just saying," Deziree replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised no one else in this bar has said a thing."

"that's because people in this bar want served, unlike yourself apparently"

"You look like an Easter egg..."

patrick looked up from his spot behind the bar "the fuck did i do? you say that to someone who's the deciding factor on whether or not you're served at this bar?"

"yeah, yeah, so i'll take a look under the hood and change out the tyres for you. anything else you want looked at while you've got your car in the shop?" he asked when he caught the car keys tossed to him.

"that should be it. you're a lifesaver. persephone asked me to bring this in a week ago for her and i totally forgot. i don't want the look of disappointment from her"

patrick sensed hayden like a sixth sense at this point. it was like known the devil was in your house, except this devil took you in as a kid and taught you how to launder money. he nodded back to his father figure and turned to get the specific bottle of whisky that was reserved only for him, pouring him his usual on the rocks and handing it over. "you good?"

"Nothing wrong with the classics. Ah, I'm sure you're alright. There's loads of ways around that, these days. For example, you could look up the menu ahead of time, see if anything on there sounds good before showing up and wasting your time."

"that's what i usually do, but there's only so much beige food a restaurant is willing to serve you" he chuckled "i can't help it i'm not much of an adventurous eater"