"Rin, I need to ask you a favor."

Behind our table, the barista served the next customer in line. The cafe was filled with the sounds of chattering college students, the scent of coffee beans, and the warm feeling of indoor heating. I was seated across from my closest friend, Len, at our table in the corner of the familiar shop. The full-wall window next to the table showed the snow piling up outside.

I rolled my eyes. "This should be good."

I shouldn't have been so harsh. Although I didn't point it out to him, I could tell he was nervous. The last time I had seen him nervous, we were freshmen, and he had been standing outside of the headmaster's house with a bag of mouse traps in one hand, and a roll of string in the other. The frat house he chose had a unique tradition, and he definitely had a reason to be nervous then.

"So… you know my sister is getting married," he began. His hands were folded on the table, and he was leaning forward, as if telling me a secret.

I brushed some stray strands of blonde hair out of my face. "Yeah, I know."

Lily was a sweetheart. I met her when Len and I first became close in high school. She called me the 'little sister she never had.'

"Well,"' he took a deep breath. "She's getting married here. In Aspen." Behind the counter, someone dropped a drink. An uproar of groans grew from the staff.

I chuckled. "She's getting married in Aspen… in the Winter?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what's wrong with her," he said dismissively. "I just know that they moved the wedding up to next week."

"Next WEEK?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Next week. Saturday."

Well shit, I thought to myself. How am I supposed to get my bridesmaid dress?

"They're having it at the ski resort. The dude she's marrying is some huge snowboarder, I guess."

I couldn't help but chuckle once more. "You guess? Have you met this guy?"

Hints of a smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. "Yeah…" he trailed off. "The dude is about as interesting as drying paint, though. I never bothered to get to know him."

I shrugged. "Pro snowboarding is pretty interesting."

Len shook his head. "That's not the point," he snapped, clearly growing impatient.

"Then what is?"

He took a deep breath. "So… my parents are flying into town tomorrow night."

Ah, here we go. Len's parents had always been a bit… obsessive? Is that the word?

"And they're staying at the hotel right across the street from my apartment."

I nodded, still a bit lost. "What does this have to do with me?"

He looked out the window at the falling snow, clearly avoiding eye contact with me. Outside, pedestrians waddled around in their puffy winter coats and snow boots. The occasional car drove by. Although the weather was about as crappy as it could get, the people of Aspen, Colorado were still their normal, peppy selves. Smiles and rosy cheeks shone on all faces.

I grinned. Seeing Len so flustered made me feel oddly satisfied. "My coffee is gonna get cold before you finish this thought, Len."

He rolled his eyes. "My parents are coming into town, and they think I have a date to Lily's wedding."

Oh, now my interest had peaked. My grin grew; he had dug himself into a huge hole. "And why," I began snidely, "would they ever think that?"

"Because I told them I had a girlfriend, okay?" He admitted, finally making eye contact with me. "Lily's getting married and the closest thing I have to a girlfriend is that weird girl who always stares at me in Chemistry."

I let out a laugh. I couldn't help myself. "Well, Len. You're in some deep shit. And Gumi is actually really nice," I added. "She's almost as single as you, ya know."

He was much less amused. "I need a date to Lily's wedding."

"Why don't you ask Miku? She'd love to."

He shook his head. "My parents would hate her."

"Why?"

"She's too… energetic. They'd see her bouncing into the room and immediately assume she's on drugs or something."

"Luka? She's chill."

He shook his head again. "She's too quiet. My Mom would talk her ear off. I'd be surprised if Luka could sit through a wedding at all, let alone one with an emotional mother leaning on her shoulder the whole time."

I thought for a second. "Well, jokes aside, I really do thing Gumi-"

"Rin," he interrupted. "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend for the week."

His bluntness caught me off guard. "What?"

His cheeks burned red. And not from the cold. "It won't be a big deal, I just need you to go to the wedding stuff with me. And hang out with me and my parents. And…" He trailed off again.

I was still trying to absorb this situation. "And…?"

"And, if it's not too weird, could you possibly… move in for the week?" The second the sentence left his mouth, he began talking a million miles a minute. "My parents would think it's weird if I wasn't living with my girlfriend. You could crash in my room, and I'll take the couch. It's no big deal. And I'll leave you alone and stuff, like you could use the bathroom in there and the tv in there and everything. And it's just for a week." He stopped to take a deep breath. "Please."

"I-I mean…" it's not like we weren't close enough friends to go through something like this. We had been in surprisingly weird situations together. "If it's only for a week, then yeah. I could probably do that."

His expression lit up like a child in front of a candy store. "Really?" He exclaimed, sounding like himself again.

I nodded. "Yeah, I could do that. Save some grocery money I guess." I felt a bit weird about the whole thing, but, honestly, what did I have to lose? I didn't have anything else going on during winter break anyway.

He leaned back in his chair, nearly knocking over his coffee as his threw his arms into the air in triumph. "Rin, you have no idea how much you're helping me out right now."

I smiled. The memory of Len's mother screaming at Lily for going prom dress shopping without her popped into my mind. "I think I do." I took a sip of my coffee. Still pretty warm. "So when did you say your parents were flying in?"

"I'm picking them up from DIA tomorrow at five. And… you should probably come with me."

I nodded. "Alright. When should I bring my stuff to your apartment?"

He grabbed his jacket of the chair behind him. "Do you want to go grab it now?"

"Sure."

"Awesome."

We gathered up our things and left our beloved table, coffee in hand. He held the door open for me as I stepped into the freezing wonderland that was Aspen.

"For real, though," Len spoke as we started down the snowy sidewalk. "This is a huge weight off my shoulders. Thank you."

"It's not a huge deal." I pulled my scarf up over my mouth. I turned to look at him. "You just owe me one."

He smiled at my teasing, and blinked a few snowflakes out of his eyelashes. I could see the relief in his bright blue eyes.

"How long is this gonna be 'till?" I asked.

"They leave the day after the wedding. Sunday."

I nodded. "Just one week."

He laughed. "Don't get too excited, now."

"Hey," I joked. "You're the one who took twenty minutes asking me to be your fake-girlfriend."

He took a sip of his coffee. "Because it's awkward! I'm not saying that I'm dreading this week."

"Oh," I grinned. "You're saying you're excited to spend every waking moment with me for the next week?"

He laughed. "Sure am, honey."

I cringed. "Okay, okay. Too weird, too soon."