Chances Taken

After the New Year’s party, I ended up waking up alone in the guest bedroom surprisingly with no headache, but I felt sick, fighting the tequila to stay down. Pat, he was a little worse than I, but when I made him a nice big greasy breakfast, he sobered up and felt a little better after.

Pat said that he was going to take me out for the day to celebrate my birthday; I laughed and told him that he didn’t need to, but he didn’t listen to me and took me out. We were dressed casual; I was in skinny jeans with a tight long sleeve V-neck shirt and then threw my black vest over. I threw on my black and white nike and then had my hair in a ponytail. Pat had on a pair of jeans, some sneakers, a grey t-shirt and a Cubs hat on backwards.

“Ready?” he asked and I smirked.

“And where are we going?” I asked as Pat grabbed his North Face jacket on and looked at me and winked.

“You’ll see,” he said and then held out his hand. I sighed and took it and then we headed out of the apartment, down the elevator and towards the parking garage. It wasn’t until we were almost at his Hummer did I realize that we were still holding each other’s hand. I smiled and then watched him unlock his vehicle.

I laughed when we pulled into the Lincoln Park Zoo, “We’re going to the zoo?” I asked and Pat nodded his head, “That’s awesome!”

Pat and I walked into the zoo, which I was surprised was opened, but then saw that they opened later than they normally did. I grabbed a map and then leaned against Pat, my elbow on his shoulders as I opened the map and looked at where we could go first.

“Well look, first is the Penguins,” Pat said and I smiled and nodded my head, “Let’s just follow the map.”

“All right,” I said and then grabbed his hand and headed for the Penguins

-Kane-
I chuckled at the girl in front of me, she was acting like a little kid, her face pressed up against the glass and smiling brightly at the sight of animals. I smirked and pulled out to take a picture and send it to Jon. I was happy that Abby suggested doing something that would take a few hours, because she and some of the guys were back at my place trying to plan a surprise party.

Maggie giggled and then looked back at me, “Last year we had a fundraiser at the Pittsburgh zoo for the Penguin exhibit and when Sidney bent down to take a picture next to the penguin, it bit him,” she giggled and I laughed and walked over towards her.

“That’s pretty funny,” I said and she laughed.

“We were up on the platform trying so hard not to laugh because it was live, but oh my god it was soooooo hard,” she said and I chuckled and then looked towards the Penguins.

Maggie got quiet and I looked over towards her, she was just staring at the exhibit, but she had a sad look on her face, “What’s wrong?”

“Just thinking about what’s gunna happen when I go back,” she said and I sighed and took her hand and pulled her into my chest and hugged her.

“Don’t think about that now, you here having fun, don’t think about that,” I said and she looked up at me and smiled and nodded her head.

“Pat, th-“

“Don’t you dare thank me,” I said and she giggled and I felt her fingers lace with mine.

“Come on, what’s next?” she said and I smirked and then pulled out the map and looked at it.

“The vultures, eagles and owls,” I read and then looked up and we walked out of the Penguins exhibit and chuckled when Maggie said bye to the birds.

We stood in front of the vultures and Maggie giggled and then looked back at me and leaned against my shoulder, “What do you want to do?” she asked and I looked at her confused.

“What?” I asked.

“What?! You don’t know what I’m talking about?!” she asked and I chuckled and shook my head, “Oh my god! Emma would be going nuts!” Maggie said and I smirked, “You know the Jungle Book?”

“The kids movie?” I asked and she smiled and nodded her head.

“The vultures would be like ‘What do you want to do?’ and the other would be like ‘I don’t know, what do you wanna do?’” she said and I just looked at her and she groaned, “It’s a lot more funnier with Emma,” she said and I chuckled and pulled her in for a side hug.

“I guess I have to see the movie to understand it,” I said and she looked at me wide eyed.

“What?! You never saw the Jungle Book- Oh no, that’s not happening, we’re watching it tonight!” she said and I chuckled and nodded my head.

“All right,” I said and she smiled and we moved onto the eagles. Standing there for a while before moving onto the owls, she stared at this white one and looked like she was thinking, “What?”

“It looks like Harry Potter’s bird- I can’t think of the bird’s name,” she said and I smirked and rolled my eyes.

“I only saw the first two,” I said and she groaned and shook her head.

“Don’t tell me that- You’ve been seriously movie deprived,” she said and then linked her arm though mine as we walked to the next owl. It was a barn owl, “Who!”

“What?” I looked towards her.

“Who!” she said and I chuckled, “Hey Pat.”

“What?” I asked and she smiled towards me.

“How many licks down it take to get to the center of a lollipop?” she said and I smiled and rolled my eyes.

“You’re a dork,” I laughed and she giggled and skipped to the next exhibit and I was happy that she was having fun.

We went through the tropical birds and then went into where the small birds were and watched as they flew around us and Maggie was laughing hard when one bird landed on top of my hat and wouldn’t get off. Maggie took a picture when a few more birds landed on me and I made a pouting face for the picture and she just laughed.

A mother of a little boy who was in there with us offered to take our picture when we were failing miserably. Maggie and I both had birds on us and we stood next to each other and smiled and then thanked the woman when she handed Maggie’s phone back. Her son recognized me and got really excited and wanted a picture with me. I looked towards Maggie and saw her smiling and then looking towards some birds on a close tree.

We left that exhibit after and washed our hands before moving on to the primate exhibit. We were in the zoo for almost five hours, looking at lions, tigers, wolves, gorillas, sea lions, otters, reptiles, giraffes and even a small farm petting zoo, plus many others. Lots of pictures were taken and lots of laughs from Maggie, I was happy for that. We were walking back to the front of the zoo to head out when my phone went off, Jon texted me saying that they were all ready for us.

“You ready?” I asked and Maggie smiled and nodded her head.

“I had lots of fun, Pat,” she said as we got to my vehicle and I smiled towards her. She was about to walk around towards the passage side, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back and into a hug.

I had my arms around her neck and smiled into her hair when she wrapped her arms around my chest, “I had fun today too,” I smiled down as she looked up towards me. I kissed her forehead and then we pulled apart so that she could go to her side.

On the way back to my apartment, Maggie decided to plug her ipod in and I groaned when she put Janet Jackson on and then One Direction. Maggie laughed and turned the song up, “And we danced all night to the best song ever, we know every line-“

“Ok, that’s enough of that,” I said and she whined as I turned the music off.

“It’s the best song ever, Pattie!” she said and I scoffed.

“More like the worst song ever!” I said and she playfully slapped my shoulder.

We got to my apartment, I texted Jon in the elevator that we were here. I took Maggie’s hand and felt her lace our fingers together and I smiled back at her and then pulled her into my side, “And we danced all night, to the best song ev-“

“Stop singing the damn song!” I said and she giggled and started to hum it and I groaned and reached for my keys.

I unlocked and opened the door and motioned for her to go in, “Don’t you leave any lights on, Pattie? It’s dark-“

The lights flicked on and everyone jumped out of nowhere, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”

I was laughing so hard when Maggie freaked out and literally pulled a Scooby Doo and Shaggy act and jumped into my arm. The guys came over and started to hug her and apologize for nearly giving her a heart attack. I looked around the apartment and saw a big banner, streamers, balloons, lots of booze, even a karaoke machine.

“I hate you guys!” Maggie laughed and Jon came over towards me and smirked.

“I think we got her,” he said and I snorted.

“Ya definitely got something.”

“So how was your date?” he asked and I looked towards him and smirked.

I looked over towards Maggie to see that the guys were passing her around for hug, “Pretty awesome actually.”