"Sarah?"

As fun as it was helping Sarah get ready for homecoming, she had been taking an extremely long time in the bathroom, and if she wanted him to do her makeup at all she was going to have to hurry it up.

"Sarah, I can make you look absolutely stunning. But that's not going to happen if you never make it out of the bathroom." he said, resting his hands on his hips and raising an impatient eyebrow.

"I can't zip up my dress!"

Jimmy frowned, "What do you mean you can't zip it up?"

"It doesn't fit!" she replied, her voice sounding as if she was on the verge of tears.

This was not going to be good. They had tried it on in the store a couple weeks ago, and it had fit then. This was not going to end well if he didn't get himself in there quickly.

Jimmy's eyes widened, "Honey, let me in. We can take out the side hem if we need to." he said reaching for the door handle.

Sarah was frantic. She couldn't understand why her dress wouldn't zip up all the way. At this rate, she would never make it to homecoming.

Jimmy carefully opened the door, peeking in slowly, before deciding it was safe to come in.

"Oh Jimmy, I can't believe this!" she groaned turning to face him, "I'm a disaster."

A reassuring smile spread across Jimmy's face as he swept back Sarah's long red hair.

"That is not true."he replied, giving her a almost stern look, "Disasters usually never get this bad."

Sarah gave him a slap on the arm and spun around, "Can you see what's wrong?" she asked hopefully.

Jimmy bent down and examined the zipper. Seeing that nothing was wrong with it he gave Sarah's dress a quick once over, hoping there was something wrong with the stitching or maybe a snag that was keeping fabric. Nothing.

Biting his lip, he made a decision. A little white lie wouldn't hurt anything.

"Ah, I see the problem. Right here. The place where the pricetag was sewn on is pinching up about an inch of fabric. I should have caught it in the store, my fault." he said sighing, "Take it off, I can fix this in no time."

'I knew those goddamn gourmet chocolates would do her in.' he thought to himself.

Sarah looked relieved and began to slide off the dress. Jimmy respectfully adverted his eyes and ten minutes later he was next door at his house, taking out the side hems of Sarah's homecoming gown. Because what's the point of having a best-friend who wouldn't look out for you like that?

----xxx----

"Oh Jimmy! It's perfect, I owe you big time." Sarah said looking herself over in the mirror.

Jimmy smiled, "I never cease to amaze myself." he said with pride. Sarah looked gorgeous, as always.

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Oh! That's my date." Sarah said, smiling and barely able to conceal her enthusiasm.

"You look amazing. Though that eyeshadow is gonna smudge if you KEEP TOUCHING IT!" Jimmy replied, slapping her fingertips away from her face. Tilting his head and giving her another good look, he nodded. She was ready.

Sarah leaned in and gave him a big hug.

"I wish you would come. I really want you to be there." she said, eyes hinting that he should ditch his other plans and rent a tux on the way there.

"You know I'm saving myself!" Jimmy replied, shocked at the very idea of her offer.

Sarah rolled her eyes. Freshman year, Jimmy had gone to homecoming and ended up completely drunk at some girl's party. Whether it was the lack of underwear or the foggy recollection of one too many jello shots that made up his mind, Jimmy had vowed to save his second drunken escapade for senior prom. No exceptions.

"Besides, I'm renting movies and then giving myself a pedicure. I can't just cancel important dates like that at the last minute. It's rude." Jimmy explained, smiling apologetically.

Sarah smiled back softly. Patting Jimmy on the shoulder, she opened the door and was on her way to the ball with Prince Charming in mere seconds.

Jimmy gave a happy sigh and walked himself down to the curb. Taking a seat, he gazed at the sun abandoned horizon, stars peeking out of the dark. He was content with the way things were. At least at that very moment, for a few seconds. He was content.

"DON'T FORGET YOUR CUMBERBUNS!"

Okay, content feeling gone.

Ed and Eddy came bursting out of Eddy's house, making a mad dash for Eddy's car.

"Can't stop! We're already late!" Eddy yelled, fumbling to get his keys out of his coat pocket.

"Remember! Crumb catcher Eddy! Crumb catcher!" Edd shouted, shoving the cumberbun through the open car window.

"Catching crumbs from my cumberbun!" Ed laughed as he wrapped the cumberbun around his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't wait up for us Sockhead!" Eddy called as he reversed his car into the street and drove away.

Edd just stood there for a moment, hand in the air, waving a slow goodbye.

Jimmy sat watching silently as Edd saw the two others off, and for a moment he found himself wondering why Edd wasn't with them. The question was soon answered by a series of sneezes and a miserable groan.

"Bless you!" Jimmy called.

Edd spun around to see Jimmy casually staring at him.

"Oh. Thank you." he called back, wadded up kleenex in hand.

There was a moment of awkward silence where neither knew what to say.

"Well, have a good night Jimmy." Edd replied politely, if not loudly.

"I will." Jimmy said quietly.

Another sneeze caught Jimmy's attention.

"You want some soup! My mom makes a heavenly chicken noodle!" Jimmy called out.

Edd might have looked surprised, but from far away it was hard to tell. And in the dark it was near impossible.

"No, thank you. Maybe another time." Edd declined.

"What other time? You're sick now. What better time could there be?" Jimmy asked as he stood up.

"Logically speaking that's correct, but-"

Jimmy was already half way to where Edd stood.

"I am not taking no for an answer. It's either going to be a 'yes' or a 'yes, please'." Jimmy replied, walking up to Edd.

"Uh-"

"Soup it is then!" he said taking Edd by the elbow, "Onward we go!"

"Um..."

"That's the spirit!" Jimmy said enthusiastically, "You're going to be better in no time!"

Edd wasn't so sure.