They sat on opposite sides of the couch in silence, neither saying a word to each other. A magazine sat open on her lap, and as she flipped through the pages she could feel his frustration rising.
"I hate you so much," Ben said suddenly, staring straight ahead. Julia didn't even look up from her reading at her boyfriend's outburst. She had gotten used to this type of talk from him, and it came as no surprise to hear him say it.
"Just go away and leave me alone," he continued. Julia did her best to ignore his comments as she started reading a new article. She was halfway through learning about "This Summer's Ten Must-Have Accessories!" when Ben's raised his voice again.
"Why won't you just die?" he asked.
Julia glanced up. "If they're zombies, aren't they already dead?"
Ben kept his eyes glued to the TV screen, but a smile played at the corners of his mouth. As his fingers flew between the buttons on the game controller he said, "Why won't you just die again then?"
Julia smiled and went back to her reading. In the month since they had moved in together, the two of them had established a typical Sunday evening: cooking a big dinner together, cleaning up the inevitable mess in the kitchen, then spending an hour or so on the couch reading and playing video games. There was something strangely comforting about watching Ben blow things up on the screen, and Julia always looked forward to this cozy time.
Lately they seemed to be spending more and more time in their apartment, often trying to make little improvements to it. As a result Julia had discovered how much Ben enjoyed building things, and how handy he was for small projects. That weekend had been no exception, and Ben had spent a few hours happily constructing a new bookcase for their bedroom.
Over the course of the month they had rearranged the furniture in every room at least twice, and all the walls were now painted a different color than they were when Julia moved in. Overall they had settled in together nicely, and Julia couldn't think of a time when she had been happier.
The telltale music signaled that the zombies had won. As Ben turned off the TV Julia flung her magazine onto the table, then laid her head on his shoulder. "Had enough?" she asked.
"For tonight," he replied, pulling off his wire-rimmed glasses to rub his eyes. He put his arm around her, and she happily snuggled in closer to his body.
They sat in contented silence until Ben's phone started ringing. He got up from the couch to answer it, stretching his arms as he went. "Hello?" he asked, but barely had the word out before the voice on the other end began speaking.
Julia could tell by his long silence and the bemused look on his face that he must be talking to his sister. Alison was a force of nature; she was one of those people who never minced words and got straight to the point, especially over the phone. While with other people this quality could come across as pushy or rude, Alison managed to have the rare ability of being universally liked by everyone who met her.
"Congratulations, whe-" Ben began, but Alison cut him off before he finished his question. She also had the uncanny ability of knowing exactly what you were going to say and answering your questions before you even got the chance to ask them.
Julia watched as Ben scrambled for a pen and paper, frantically jotting down notes. He occasionally got a word in edgewise, but for the most part he seemed to be diligently taking instructions from his younger sister.
"She's right here if you'd-" he began, and glanced around at Julia still sitting on the couch. He scribbled down a few more notes, then passed the phone along.
She braced herself before putting the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she asked tentatively.
"Julia!" Alison's singsong voice rang over the line. "So nice to talk to you. Exciting news, I've just gotten engaged and I would just love it if you would be one of my bridesmaids! The wedding is going to be coming up soon so I'll need to go ahead and order everything for you. I've picked out the dresses and I've already ordered yours, I just wasn't sure what size shoe you would need so thought I should ask." Alison took a breath, her first of the conversation. "So, what size shoe do you wear?"
Julia's mind reeled. "Seven?" She couldn't prevent the statement from coming out as a question: she felt like she was taking a test she hadn't studied for and was starting to second-guess her own shoe size.
"Perfect! That's what I thought it was but I wanted to be sure. I'll put the order in right now, and I'll have some extras in different sizes in case they don't fit. You don't have to worry about a thing, I'll take care of everything and it'll all be here for you when you arrive. You'll be paired up with Ben since he's one of the groomsmen; you two are going to look so cute! Anyway I should get going, lots to do. This is going to be so much fun!" The line went dead.
It took a few seconds for Julia to realize the conversation was over, and as she put the phone down she tried to process all the information that had just been thrown at her. Images of deer in headlights came to mind. "So, Alison is getting married?"
Ben chuckled. "So it would seem."
"Did you already know?" She suddenly remembered Alison was dating Ben's former roommate and wondered if he had run the idea of marriage past Ben for his approval.
"I talked to Christian a few days ago and he said he was going to propose, but didn't say when." Ben answered. "I knew it had to be soon though, it's impossible to keep secrets from Alison for very long."
"How long has she been engaged?" Julia asked, trying to sort through all the other questions swirling around her head.
"Oh, about twenty minutes," Ben replied. He was looking over his page of notes and digging around in his work bag. Finally he pulled out his calendar and started flipping through the pages. "Did she happen to mention when the wedding is?"
"Just that it's soon." Julia considered this. "What's soon for her?"
Ben found the right page in his calendar and started counting up the days. "Eight weeks from yesterday," he replied.
Julia raised an eyebrow. "That seems awfully fast."
"Don't worry, it's not what you think. She's just very efficient," Ben said, circling the date before tossing his calendar back in his bag. "That and she's had the entire thing planned to the last detail since she was twelve years old."
"But still, two months to put together an entire wedding?"
