"Jesus Christ, you could at least act like you're happy to see me."

As if Patrick's happy to see you. Reaching over his Honda's middle console, he steals the cigarette you're sharing from your lips and brings it to his own with a scowl. "You're hogging the damn thing."

Normally, you would be happy seeing Patrick— the ATP tour has been consuming most, if not all of his free time since graduation— but last time the two of you spoke, things had turned ugly (but when did they not?) With his ego the size of a mountain on a good day, and you always being one inconvenience away from blowing your lid, it was always a matter of when you two would get into it.

"You still haven't said sorry, y'know," Patrick hums, and he makes a point to blow his smoke in your face because he knows it gets under your skin. Always pushing buttons, that one— it was honestly a miracle that your friendship had survived the walls of Mark Reballato Tennis Academy with the way you both fought. "I miss two calls because I'm in the middle of a match, and then you ice me out when I try and call back. How is that fair?"

There's the issue: he never reads between the lines (or he simply refuses to). After years of enduring MRTA together, you'd think that the two of you would be on the same level when it came to your friendship, or that Patrick would at least give you his schedule so you knew when you could call. But maybe that was something too complicated for the likes of Patrick Zweig— or that he just didn't care.

Exhaling sharply, Patrick offers the cigarette to you before slumping back into the driver's seat. "... You're impossible," he sighs, though he does manage a smile when you shove at him. His hand drops to your knee and squeezes like he's done many times before; his signature apology at this point. "You know I'm busy, and yet you still take things so personal. It's just a couple missed calls."

A couple missed calls, sure, but a few calls here and there tend to add up. And if this is how he handles those, then you're not so sure you can handle it when things really get real.