Lightweight

The days seemed to fly by and before I knew it, there was only a week until Thanksgiving. Patrick’s parents and sisters were coming to Chicago for the weekend to stay with us and when word had gotten out to my parents that the Kane’s were coming to visit, my mom called me up and lectured me on how as a family we should be spending Thanksgiving together, and I was pretty much obligated to invite them. Patrick and the guys were in Tampa playing against the Lightning so he couldn’t be here to help me calm down from a freak out and start a cleaning frenzy so both of our mothers don’t team up and organize everything the way they think is suitable.

Whitney was watching me from the kitchen and shaking her head, “Mia, you’ve cleaned that same spot for the past 5 minutes! You have another week before anyone gets here, besides the guys will probably mess it up when they come home anyway. Can we please get back to work now? You have a lot of details to go over for Alissa’s wedding”

I sighed and let the mop drop to the floor before I took off my gloves and made my way over to the table. I plopped down and began looking over my notes for the wedding, “Okay so we need to order the flower arrangements, pick a venue, go to her first dress fitting, and finalize the guest list” I groaned and put my head in my hands, “There is so much to do for this and so little time”

Whitney sat down next to me and began looking at what I had written down, “Well Alissa actually called me yesterday and wanted to know if we could do the dress fitting and the venue choosing on Monday”

I nodded and a huge weight of deadlines was lifted off my shoulders, “Thank God, I never thought we would find a venue in time, I thought they’d wind up having their reception in the restaurant” I hopped off the chair and grabbed 2 bottles of water, handing one to Whitney.

“Hey, what do you say we ditch the work and enjoy the weekend without the boys and just go to a nice quiet dinner. Me, you, Abby, and Alissa! We could talk wedding details if you really want to get some work done”

I sighed and closed my notebook, “Nope, let’s just go have a girl’s night out. No wedding talk, or work talk, or boy talk” I warned Whitney noticing the evil gleam in her eye. I knew her well enough to know she wanted to talk about Jonathan and if I know Whitney, she could stay up all night trying to come up with a theory to explain how perfect we are together and how much he likes me but won’t admit it. No thank you.

“What?” She smiled innocently, “I definitely was not going to bring up you and Jonathan. What kind of person do you think I am, Mia?”

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my cell phone to text the girls and ask them about our dinner plans. When both girls responded that they were free to go I threw a pair of comfortable clothes on and Whitney and I made our way to her car to pick up the girls. Abby decided to pick this little cafe where we could just have a quiet and peaceful night.

“Thank you guys so much for inviting me tonight” Abby let out a sigh of relief when she sat down, “I was so bored at home, I almost forgot what it’s like not having Patrick around”

“You’re telling me” I rolled my eyes, “I almost forgot I lived in a house with someone else when I heard nothing but silence. I’m used to screaming idiots in my house”

The girls laughed and after the waitress came to take our orders, Alissa spoke up, “So guys, I wanted to talk to all of you about something really important”

I groaned, “Please no wedding talk, Liss! I just want one night where work doesn’t revolve around anything” Whitney rolled her eyes and shook her head, “The amount you’re absorbed into your work is absolutely ridiculous, Mia! But you’re right, one night of relaxation can do a person good”

“This isn’t about the wedding! I mean it is, but it’s lighthearted I promise!” When I motioned for her to continue speaking she smiled, “I want you guys to be my bridesmaids!”

“Alissa! That’s amazing, that really means a lot!” Whitney gushed, “Can we talk about bridesmaid dresses? I was thinking-”

“There’s a catch though” She bit down on her lower lip and looked over at me causing Whitney and Abby to do the same.

“What the hell is wrong with all of you?” I asked stuffing a piece of bread into my mouth.

“You all need a date” I almost spit out my bread into Abby’s face who was sitting across from me but I kept my composure and swallowed it taking a long sip of my water to keep it down, “Where do you expect me to find a date on such short notice? I don’t have a boyfriend!”

“You don’t need to have a boyfriend!” Whitney said matter-of-factly, “You can just ask one of the guys! I’m sure any single one of them would be more than thrilled to go with you!”

When the girls looked over at me expectantly, I knew they were going to say ask Jonathan. But you see, it wasn’t as easy as that. Ever since the day he came to the office to apologize to me, we’ve been pretty good friends and hung out every so often when no one was able to hang out due to other commitments or date night plans, which is code for Whitney and Patrick wanting their alone time and leaving their best friends out in the dust and to fend for themselves. I didn’t want to make things awkward or ruin it by asking him to be my date to Alissa’s wedding. Plus if word got out to Marisa, she’d find out where the wedding was being held and kidnap me. I knew that idea was a little bit extreme since her and Jon haven’t spoken since that night, but this girl showed no mercy when it came to things she wanted.

“If you’re all talking about Jonathan, the answer is no, and it’s not going to change”

“Come on, Mia! You guys are civil, hell you’re even friends! I don’t understand why you wouldn’t ask him!”

“Because, I don’t want him or anyone else thinking that I have feelings for him! Plus we’re finally on good terms, I don’t want to make things awkward or make him feel obligated to go if he doesn’t want to go!” Abby rolled her eyes, “When you say things like that, it makes us think you actually do have feelings for him” When I didn’t speak up, Whitney snapped her fingers in my face.

I shoved her hand out of the way and shook my head, “No! I think he’s attractive, I’ll give you all that much but that’s all you guys are going to get out of me. I don’t want a relationship again and to fall into the sweet talking, good looking, good personality trap again. It’s happened to me way too many times, and after my last relationship I-”

Thank God my cell phone beeped so I didn’t have to continue that sentence and get into that whole big story after I didn’t want to talk about boys in the first place. So much for quiet girls night out. I opened the new text message I received and rolled my eyes handing it over to Whitney. “It’s from Patrick, I’m pretty sure he meant to send it to you since I don’t know what kind of surprise he could possibly have for me”

A big grin broke out onto her face and she handed me back my phone, “Don’t you just love him?” Good girl, Whitney. Talk about your relationship so I don’t have to talk about my non-existent and non-forming relationship.

“I’m really happy Kaner settled down to one girl, it’s about time” Abby smiled and patted Whitney’s hand, “Has he asked you to be his girlfriend yet?”

She shook her head and frowned a little, “Nope, but we’ve been on more dates than I’ve ever been on in my entire life and we spend every waking moment together” When I made a gagging motion she slapped my arm and I laughed.

“Listen, I’ve known Patrick since I was a little kid. He’s a boy, he doesn’t catch on very easily to these kinds of things. But look at it this way, you’re the first girl he’s ever been serious about before and that’s always a good sign coming from him, maybe he just wants to make sure he doesn’t mess anything up. Maybe that’s what the surprise is! Asking you to be his girlfriend”

She shrugged and put a $20 on the table, “Are you guys ready to go?”

We all nodded and while we were walking out, Alissa pulled me behind Abby and Whitney so they wouldn’t hear what we were talking about, “I know Jonathan isn’t your ideal guy, but he’s one of the groomsmen and it would really mean a lot to me if you could ask him to be your date. Just one night, Mia. That’s all I’m asking you for, after that I’ll never ask you for another favor including Jonathan again”

“Mean it?” I asked, clearly not convinced. I knew some day at some point she was going to ask me for another favor including him, whether it be babysitting her kids with him, or having to be his date to something else. I knew that statement was just temporary until she found something else she needed both of us for.

She shrugged and smirked, “Hey, no promises. But if it works for now, then sure”

I laughed and threw my arm around her shoulder, “I’ll think about it, okay? No promises, but I will consider it”

________________________________

Whitney and I dropped off Abby and Alissa and then decided Whitney would sleep over my house since we both didn’t want to be home alone until the guys came home tomorrow. “Mia, did you leave the light on?”

I got out of the car and noticed the living room light was on, but I didn’t remember leaving it on when we walked out. I don’t even remember that light being on in the first place, “No? Was that light even on? Did you turn it on?”

She shook her head and I cautiously made my way to the door pressing my ear against it trying to hear if I could hear voices or something. Patrick wasn’t scheduled to be back tomorrow, so it couldn’t have been him. I put the key into the lock with Whitney standing cautiously behind me and pushed the door open not stepping inside the house, “Hello?”

When there was no answer, I stepped in the house pulling Whitney behind me and turned the hall light on so I could see a little bit better. I noticed movement in the kitchen by the refrigerator and screamed, Whitney following my lead. The person behind the door closed the fridge and when I saw it was Jonathan I was furious and almost ran over to hug him in relief that he wasn’t a serial killer. I was really torn when it came to him.

“You asshole! What are you doing here? You almost gave us a heart attack! I thought you weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow”

“It’s nice to see you too, Mia. How was your night? Oh mine was great! Yeah, we won our game thanks for asking!” He laughed and when he saw the look on my face he quickly changed his attitude, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Kaner didn’t tell you we were coming home early?”

“No!” Whitney held a hand over her heart, I swore I could hear it beating from where I was standing, “He texted Mia saying he had a surprise but that was about it”

Jonathan shook his head, “He’s an idiot, I was going to text you myself but he said he was going to take care of it, sorry girls. It wasn’t in my intentions to scare you, where did you guys go anyway? We’ve been sitting here for 2 hours doing nothing wondering where you went. We thought you got kidnapped while we were gone and we’d have to play detective to go look for you”

“Ha ha” I rolled my eyes sarcastically, “Where is Pat anyways? If this was his surprise, shouldn’t he be here?”

“I’m right here!” He said cheerily walking down the stairs. As if on cue, Whitney ran and jumped into his arms and Jonathan and I just stood there awkwardly not really knowing what to do. “Mia! I missed you!” Patrick said dropping Whitney to her feet and coming over to hug me, “Miss me?”

“It was comforting without you here for a couple of days” He put a hand over his heart and I hugged him back, “I’m only kidding, of course I missed you Patty!”

He ruffled my hair and then turned to Whitney, “You want to go catch a movie or something?” Whitney nodded eagerly and Patrick winked at me and Jonathan, “Don’t wait up for me”

I rolled my eyes and watched them leave like two giddy high schoolers. I walked into the kitchen and sat down facing Jonathan, “So, how was the game?”

“You didn’t watch it?” He sat down next to me and frowned, “I’m kind of upset, Mia. I thought you were one of our biggest fans!”

“Hardly” I scoffed, “I was a die hard Sabres fan before I came to Chicago, I toned it down a lot since Blackhawks fan would probably skin me alive if I showed up to your games in a Sabres jersey”

Jonathan made a face, “The Sabres? You couldn’t pick a better team?”

“What’s so wrong with the Sabres? They’re my hometown team!” Jonathan laughed, “When was the last time they won a cup?”

I rolled my eyes, “So they didn’t win the Stanley Cup in 2010! That doesn’t make them any less of my favorite team or a bad team for that matter!”

“We play them next week you know, let’s make a bet” My eyes shined with competitiveness, there was nothing more I loved than a challenge especially a bet. “If we win, you have to wear my jersey to all the games, clubs we go to after games, and you have to wear it straight for a week everywhere you go”

“That’s disgusting! I can’t wear it to work, I don’t think Anna would appreciate me showing up to work in casual clothing”

“Fine, you have to wear it every other time besides to work. And if they win, I’ll wear a Sabres jersey for a week straight”

“Deal!” He smiled and stuck out his hand to solidify the bet which I happily took, “You’re going down Toews, you’re going to look great in a Sabres jersey, I can see how much shit you’re going to get for it now”

“Just think about how great you’re going to look with a number 19 on your back and my name across the top. Way better than that Kane jersey you have”

“Kane just so happens to be my favorite player on the team” I said seriously, crossing my arms over my chest. Jonathan raised his eyebrows, “Why?”

I smirked, “Because he’s the hottest Blackhawk, obviously” I tried not to laugh and blow my cover because watching Jon’s ego drop was thoroughly entertaining.

“Yeah?” He challenged, “Who’s number two then?” I knew he was expecting me to say him, and make his ego go back to the way it was, but there was no way I was going to let that happen. I was going to continue this until the end.

“Stalberg” Jonathan’s draw dropped to the floor and I couldn’t help but to laugh, “Hey, Jon, you think you could ask him to get me a jersey?”

He shook his head, “Okay, that’s enough. Hey, are you hungry? I was going to order some Chinese food, I haven’t eaten since lunch time, plane food really sucks”

I shook my head, “No, thanks. I just ate actually. Quiet dinner with the girls” He quickly placed his order and returned to our conversation, “How’d that go?”

“How do you expect it to go with Abby, Alissa, and Whitney?” He nodded in agreement, “I’m guessing Abby and Whitney were missing their respective Patrick’s, and Alissa was going on about wedding details” I nodded, “And poor Mia was sitting there listening to all the chaos around her”

“How’d you know?” I asked sarcastically. He shrugged and it was quiet for a few minutes before I spoke again, “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

“I don’t really know, I was supposed to go see my parents but we have a game the day before so I don’t know how that would work out, maybe go have dinner with Sharpy and Abby”

“Why don’t you come here?” I suggested, I don’t know if it was total word vomit or if I genuinely wanted him to come, “Patrick and I will be here along with our parents, and Whitney’s coming since her family is going on vacation. I was going to ask Abby and Patrick if they wanted to come too, you know have a team kind of Thanksgiving, I just thought it’d be fun”

Jonathan laughed at my rambling and nodded his head before I could go on any further, “Sure, I would love to come. Do you need me to bring anything?”

I shook my head, “Nope! Just yourself, the girls will probably be in the kitchen cooking and I’m sure you men will find something to do. So all you have to worry about is showing your pretty face”

Before he could comment on what I said, the doorbell rang signaling that his food was here. I went into the living room and sat down on the couch flipping through the channels for something to watch. I settled for a Will Ferrell movie and Jonathan came in shortly after with his food and sat down next to me, “I love Will Ferrell! I’ve seen every single movie he’s been in”

“Me too” I laughed, “Looks like we have a lot more in common than I thought” We didn’t say anything for a while besides the occasional laughing or comment about the movie. When the movie was over I started flipping through the channels again and gave up before I decided to take ALissa’s advice, “Hey Jon?” I chewed down on my lower lip hoping I said it quiet enough that he didn’t hear me or was so focused on the TV that he wasn’t paying attention.

“Yeah?” He was fully paying attention and I cursed myself that I even opened my mouth and said anything, “I was talking to Alissa at dinner and she asked Abby, Whitney, and I to be her bridesmaids”

Now he was really paying attention, “That’s great Mia! Are you sure you’re going to be able to take on the responsibility of being a bridesmaid and a planner?”

“Yeah, it makes it a little bit easier for me anyways. But that’s not all I wanted to tell you. See, she told us we all needed dates basically and I was wondering if you wanted to-”
 I was surprised those words even made their way out of my mouth

“I’d love to!” I wasn’t expecting an answer so soon but I was a little relieved when he said yes and seemed so eager about it, “That sounds like a lot of fun” He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder pulling me in for an awkward hug, never removing his arm from around the couch. This was definitely going to be an interesting situation.