FicWad

I held my breath. Counting the seconds like it was a game of hide and seek. One, Two, hurry up. Three, Four, hurry up. Five, Six, Patrick, what are you doing? Seven, Eight, deep inhale. Nine, Ten, I'm so unfit. That's what I get for smoking and hanging around with smokers for a couple of years, my poor lungs having not recovered properly yet. Getting all the way up to thirty six before getting sick of waiting. I've always been impatient I've been told. It's true though.

'Patrick!' I called, leaning against my door frame, hearing Hemmingway barking and scratching at the door.

'Hemmy' Patrick yelled, my dog whimpering, indicating that Patrick had picked him up. 'Ten seconds!'

'Awwwwww man' I pouted, bumping my forehead against the door lightly, 'I'll be counting'

'Fair enough' His voice was distant, from the other side of the room no doubt.

One, Two, Three, Four. He didn't sound angry. This helped my worry melt ever so slightly. At least he wasn't leaving me now, right? I listened intently for hints as to what was going on. No other voices from within so I instantly ruled a party out. The ding of a microwave. No other noise but the faint growl coming from my poor dog. Five, Six, Seven. I scuffled my shoes impatiently. A quiet clink of a plate being put down onto a surface. Eight, Nine. Feet bounding towards the entrance. Ten. The handle moved down and the door opened just a crack, Patrick's smiling face hiding anything inside.

'Yes…?' He asked, as if I was a travelling salesman.

'I believe you ordered the Pete Wentz' Rocking back and forth on my heels with hands buried in pockets, 'I'm here for the payment'

''m not sure' Patrick's lips screwed up, jokingly. It was pretty annoying considering he knew how anxious I was. 'I received some information earlier that it might come with a womb attached and I'm not sure that's what I'm looking for right now'

'If you don't let me in right now I swear to Jebus that I will display to you the true meaning of PMS' My eyes narrow, his eyes narrowed, it was like a Clint Eastwood movie. Closing the door slowly, undoing the sliding lock he pulled the door open all the way.

'Surprise' He grumbled, and stood back out of the way of my view, 'Asshole'

It was like a weird déjà vu. On the table was two plates of spaghetti bolognaise. In between was a candle and on the kitchen counter was my laptop, open with the media player ready. Some song by Prince was playing. I don't know why but my throat started feeling tight. I was overwhelmed. No, I didn’t quite cry but my whispered reply of 'Jesus…' sounded more like 'Jehh… cough sus'.

'What do you think?' He posed nervously, scrunching his fingers together in such a hopefully hopeless way. I almost hugged his stupid adorable self right there. Taking in the meal, how appetising it actually looked, realizing that it was a hell of a lot better looking than my attempt.

'Patrick…' I hushed, still not able to talk properly. My words caught and stuck. What could I say? No matter how many dictionaries I trolled through I would not be able to describe how gob smacked, happy and guilty I felt all at once. How could I tell him that I felt sick in the best possible way? 'I can't believe…'

'I felt like an asshole, Pete…' Patrick sat on the arm of the couch and stretched his legs out, not taking his eyes off of me. 'That day… You did this for me, didn't you?'

'Wha…' He cut me off. That day he came in late after I'd cooked for him. Did he know I was on the couch? Did he hear me cry? At least I know that he did feel remorseful about it. Why did he take this long to bring it up?

'It kinda clicked in the morning… Sorry I didn't mention it to you…' He reached his hands into his pants pockets and left them there with a shrug. I couldn't be mad at him, not after this. After all, he was making up for it and considering what I'd done I don't think I'm in any position to be pissed off at him ever again. 'I was planning to do this for you, to say sorry, you know. I was just waiting for the perfect time and then with all my late nights… But they're over now'

'No more late nights?' My ears almost literally pricked up like that of a puppy. He wasn't going to be working late anymore? I could have him from five onward? No more hanging out with Travis doing god-knows-what? My insides bubbled over.

'Nope' He shook his head, smiling at my joy, standing and grabbing a hold of one of the chairs. Pulling it back and motioning for me to sit I took my place and he shuffled the chair behind me. He took a seat himself opposite me, in front of a steaming pile of spaghetti that attacked at my sinuses. 'I've finished with that'

'With what?' I asked, stabbing at the meatballs with a unsteadily held knife. After some sneers from Patrick I replaced it with a fork and continued playing with my food. 'You quit you're job?'

'Are you nuts?' He laughed, filling his mouth with a whole forkload of spaghetti and trying to talk around it. Wriggling in his chair and sucking in a stray strand he chewed for a second, hand held up to indicate that he didn't finish his point. 'Thees ees preehy oood! Ahhn iee wooog negah quih mah yoob'

'Pardon?' I chomped into a meatball, eyebrow high up on my forehead, questioning my roommate's manners. He tried to laugh with his mouth full without spitting bits out.

'This is… pretty good' A loud gulp and a stupid grin. I considered chuckling out loud but wouldn't give him the satisfaction of realizing that I was as childish as he was. 'And I would never quit my job. It's awesome. I just won't need to spend the late nights with Travis no more'

'Why not?' Not that I really cared cause, well, now Patrick was all mine, not that I ever doubted that though. Almost the second I'd let the question slip he jumped to his feet as if electrocuted. He held his index finger up to me, telling me that he'd be one minute and disappeared into our room. Eating some more of my meal while waiting for him to come back I had to admit that dammit he was right. This was pretty good. Rushing back into the room with a small square wrapped gift in his hands, outstretch to me. 'What is it?'

With a smirk and a glow of excitement on his face he continued waving it at me.

'Open it' He placed it in my hands and watched eagle-eyed as my fingers worked around the packaging. Ripping at the green gift wrap I uncovered the front of his present. Looking over the surface I took in a sharp breath.

'Oh my god…' I whispered under my breath