Chapter 2: Why are we friends again?

"Get out of bed, Patrick!"

"No!"

"I brought you coffee."

"I don't care! Let me sleep."

Suddenly the covers were thrown off of his body and a cold blast hit him. He saw a familiar red head hovering above him with her hands on her hips.

"Jesus, Zoe! What if I'd been naked?" Patrick asked his friend, finally sitting up in his bed.

"Oh please, that's not your style." she said casually, opening his blinds. Patrick winced at the sudden outpouring of light into his messy room. She smirked. "Nice boxers by the way. The pink cupcake print is very flattering."

Patrick got up and reached for his jeans and started to put them on. "Are you insulting my mother's taste, Knightley? She bought these for me last year."

Zoe did her best to hide her amusement. "No, no. I'm complimenting them. Speaking of your mother, remind me to ask for a babysitting wage next time I see her. I'm tired of looking after you for charity. I should at least get some community service hours or something."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Patrick said, slipping on the blue polo shirt Zoe handed him.

"Speaking of that, why are we friends again?" Zoe asked.

"Well, I change your flat tires and you bring me coffee..."

"...and wake you up for important appointments." she finished for him.

"What important appointment?" Patrick asked.

Zoe sighed in frustration. "A certain couple we know is getting married soon, Pat. Your brother...my sister. We have a fitting today, remember?"

"But that's at 2pm, isn't it? Why'd you wake me up so early?" he asked

Zoe rolled her eyes and held up her left wrist. Patrick grabbed her watch hand and looked at the time. He raised his eyebrows.

"Wow." he said, slightly embarrassed. "It's 1:30..."

"You're welcome." Zoe said smugly, handing him a cup of coffee.

"Who even let you in to the apartment? Did Taylor or Harry let you in?" Patrick asked.

She shook her head. "Used my key." she replied nonchalantly.

"Key?! When did you get a key?"

"The time you gave me one..."

"Oh, right."

"Ok, let's hurry." Zoe urged. "We have twenty-seven minutes to travel to a shop thirty minutes away. Now's not the time to pamper!"

After dragging a still groggy Patrick out the door and into her car, Zoe sped off to their fitting. Patrick had been dreading this all week. The last way he wanted to spend his Saturday afternoon was dressing up like a penguin for his brother. The only thing that comforted him was that there was a good chance Zoe's sister would force her into a comical bridesmaid's dress. That was sure to cheer him up. Still, he'd rather be sleeping or in the library pretending to study.

"How long will this take?" he asked.

"An hour or two, maybe." replied Zoe.

He moaned. "Seriously?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Patrick. What would you be doing otherwise? Pretending to study? Sleeping all afternoon?"

Wow, she was good.

"Yeah, yeah." he mumbled.

When they got to the boutique, Zoe's sister, Sarah was waiting impatiently for them. She practically pushed them both into dressing rooms the minute of their arrival.

"Sarah?" Zoe asked from behind her door thirty minutes later. "Is all of this tulle really necessary?"

"Just come on out, sweetie!" her sister called. "We're all waiting to see you."

Patrick and his brother had their tuxes fitted without any problems. Now all that was left was to see the maid of honor's gown which Sarah had picked for her little sister.

When Zoe stepped slowly out of her cave, Patrick snorted with laughter. His brother Kyle, the supportive groom, hit him in the back of the head. It didn't matter. Patrick was storing this image of Zoe in his head for safe-keeping. It was too good to be true.

Her skirt was so large and pink, Patrick had to practically bite his hand to refrain from making Glenda the Good Witch jokes. There was so much tulle in the dress that it made noise with each movement. By the look on Zoe's face, Patrick could tell she was experiencing a mixture of embarrassment and shock.

"Aw, Honey!" Sarah gushed. "You look so adorable-"

"Are you blind?" Zoe interrupted. "I look like one of the cupcakes on Patrick's boxers."

"Wait, what- " Kyle started.

"Too complicated to explain." she said desperately. "Sarah, you can't be serious! Are you really going to make a girl with flaming red hair wear the pinkest dress in history? Don't I have some pull as maid of honor?"

"Oh, sorry, Zoe." Patrick said. "We can't hear you. Your dress is too loud."

She shot him a death stare. "It's so unfair that all men look good in tuxes." she mumbled, retreating back into the dressing room.

"Well," Patrick said happily as Zoe drove them back to campus. "I think that went smashingly, don't you? I'm so glad you woke me up for this."

"Do you ever get tired of torturing me?" she asked.

"Do you never get tired of telling me what to do?" he countered.

"No."

"Same." Patrick smiled and sat back. All in all, it had been a fairly productive Saturday.