❨ MISTAKES LIKE THIS ❩

PATRICK HOCKSTETTER

‧ : *: ‧ °✧

his eyes reflect the flames almost perfectly, the grin on his face hinting at how proud he is.

after what seems like an eternity of staring at the burning building, the lanky, black haired boy wipes his hands on his jeans and begins to stalk away.

it's almost impossible for him to stop from smirking as sirens are heard getting closer.

his steps echo on the gravel street, his head hanging low. he lifts a pale hand to brush back a long strand of hair before shoving it back into his pocket.

the hockstetter boy walks along the road for thirty more minutes before taking a sharp turn into the woods.

his steps are smaller and much gentler than before, not wanting to make too much noise as it is almost past midnight.

“henry, let me go this instant or else i'll—”

patrick's ears perk up at the sound of a female's voice, his hands instinctively reaching for the zippoe in his back pocket.

the sound of two other pairs of feet rustling in the leaves causes the boy to look around wearily, not stopping until he's face to face with a girl.

“what brings a doll like you here at this time of night?” he chuckles, swinging the zippo between his thumb and pointer finger.

“my dickhead of a cousi—”

“i dare you to finish that sentence.” henry bowers’ voice cuts the shorter female off, and she turns to face him with tired eyes.

“gladly.” she smiles, “my dickhead of a cousin dragged me out of the house cause his dad came home drunk.”

“y/f/n y/m/n y/l/n, you have thirty seconds to run before i kick your ass.” the mullet wearing boy tries to seem harsh and menacing, but it's almost impossible as he cares too deeply for her.

the two of them were like peanut butter and jelly, never quite able to be the best when by themselves. they needed each other. it had been like that since y/n was twelve and moved in with him and his pops.

patrick clears his throat, suddenly regaining the twos attention.

“you tell anyone about this, hockstetter, and i'll kill you. got it?”

the dark haired boy only shrugs, not forgetting to wink at henry's cousin before he walks off.

he doesn't go too far, only leaning on one of the trees until he hears their footsteps to fade off before going back to what he was doing.

he finds his fridge without interruptions this time, and spends the rest of his night watching squirrels and chipmunks have the life sucked out of them.

☆

“hey, cockstetter!” y/n's familiar voice calls throughout the halls, causing everyone's eyes to change between her and the long haired boy across the hall.

he grumbles to himself, a million thoughts running through his head of how he's going to keep this girl away.

to him, she was a total babe. her y/s/c skin looked soft and silky, her y/h/c hair just barely brushed the top of her back, and her y/e/c eyes were absolutely mesmerising. she looked nothing at all like her dickhead of a cousin, and that surprised pat.

the female makes her way towards him, a smug smile on her face as she stops right in front of him. he glares down at her, trying to ignore the funny stares he's for sure getting.

“it’s hockstetter.” he mutters, gripping her arm tightly and tugging her out of the school.

he shoves her roughly into the brick wall in the courtyard, blue eyes growing a few shades darker at the sight of her pained expression.

“well, shit, you didn't have to nearly knock me out.” y/n huffs, flattening out the long sleeved jumper on her torso, “henry told me to come find you after school, said something about us all meeting at rio's.”

patrick curses under his breath, glancing the shorter girl up and down before beginning to walk off towards y/n assumed to be wherever belch's car is.

with her bottom lip stuck between her teeth, she watches him stalk off before quickly running to catch up.

they arrive in less than five minutes, all of them immediately squishing into the turquoise blue pontiac.

victor smiles at y/n apologetically, noticing how close the two of them are. she just shrugs and grins back, causing his stomach to do backflips.

y/n y/l/n's pearly whites just had that effect on people.

“so, is neo maxi zoom dweebie over here part of the gang now or somethin’?” patrick suddenly questions. both henry and y/n turn to him with annoyed expressions.

“listen here, dickhead, i was a member of the bowers gang before the 'bowers gang’ even existed!” the y/h/c haired female grumbles, reaching across victor to smack the hockstetter boy upside his head.

he practically growls at her, about to hit her back when henry's hand snaps out and grips his pale wrist tightly.

“that's my cousin you're talking about, stetter. you'd better watch it.” the mullet wearing male speaks through gritted teeth.

“well i don't think that's very fair, she's been here for what? a day? and suddenly she's more important than us?!”

y/n chuckles dryly, “look. i get it, you've got a little crush on hen-hen and think i'm gonna steal him. you don't have to worry about that, 'kay? i've been here for six years and obviously i did a good job of staying out of the way or else you guys would've already known about me.”

“six years?” victor stares down at the girl next to him, mouth slightly agape in shock.

she only smirks triumphantly and nods in agreement.

“she went to a different school, but they'd had enough of her bullshit and kicked her out. now are we done obsessing over y/l/n?” henry groans, waiting for the car to come to a halt before hopping out.

y/n doesn't waste any time in following, but before she can make it into the lounge, a bony hand is wrapping around her wrist and tugging her.

“ow, damn it!” she huffs, snatching her wrist away from patrick, “what do you want now?”

his top lip twitches into a half smile, his now delicate cerulean eyes locking with her y/e/c ones.

he steps forward, leaning down so his lips touch her ear.

“play tough all you want, lil’ bit, but just know...if i ever get you to myself again i'll have you screaming bloody murder faster than you can say 'flame’.”