Awkwardly

Saturday was decidedly weird for Michael. There was no work to distract him from the lack of Emi in his day, no responsibilities that kept him occupied and his newly invigorated libido contained. Friday had gone by in a flash, and other than the surprise of seeing his boss/girlfriend naked on the team meeting call, he'd been quite fine just catching up on two weeks' worth of entertainment.

So was Saturday, the second day of being alone with his thoughts, which saw him getting increasingly horny and frustrated. Which was a revelation. Sure, he usually masturbated every other day like most guys his age did. But it didn't usually get this bad within just a couple of days. Then again, he hadn't been used to getting a fantastic blowjob twice a day back then.

By noon, he was pretty fed up with it and his social media binge took a distinctly pet-related focus. He didn't even have to search up anything; the dastardly algorithm somehow had him all figured out. Funny cat memes were gradually replaced by funny cat girl memes, the latter of course wearing just as little clothing as their namesakes. Which usually wouldn't be anything special.

Pet girl nudity wasn't really considered sexual in itself, mostly because it was so normalized. Seeing a nude chick with animal ears and a tail in her ass was normal, even expected; seeing a normal woman naked... that was somehow more scandalous and interesting. He supposed it was a matter of expectations. It wasn't the nudity itself that made it sexual, but the cultural connotations.

All of which were very high-strung thoughts for a guy getting hard at seeing those allegedly very non-sexual cat girl memes.

Then again, he knew that he was just projecting Emi onto them. The thought of his pet perpetually naked for him. That really got him going.

Sighing at his own weakness, he shook his head and opened a new tap to watch some porn. He was not going to spend the rest of the day horny and frustrated, leering at innocent pet girl videos like a fucking pervert.

Half an hour later and much less pent up, he dialled up a number on his phone and listened to the beeping as the call tried to connect. Enough was enough. A single day shouldn't feel this long. He didn't know how he filled his days before this whole Emi thing had started, but wasting it with brain rot social media and porn was not healthy.

So, he was taking drastic measures.

Said drastic measure answered his call.

"Hello? Michael?", the voice asked, genuine confusion shining through. Michael immediately felt awkwardness well up inside. This was why he'd avoided doing this for so long.

"Yeah, hi Josh, long time no see.", he **** out despite the brief moment of panic. The man on the other side of the line chuckled.

"Ain't that the truth. Haven't heard from you since Uni. So... 2 years?"

Michael suppressed a groan. "Sounds about right. Sorry. Things were... awkwards after...", he didn't finish the sentence, but there probably wasn't any need to. Josh knew what he meant.

"I figured.", he confirmed. "And I really can't blame you. What happened back then wasn't... well. It wasn't pretty or nice. That said, I've tried to catch up with you.", a faint undercurrent of accusation crept into his voice.

Michael sighed. "I know. I've honestly just been a bitch about it. Haven't talked with anyone from back then, not just you."

There was a brief lull in the conversation filled with heavy silence. Then Josh cleared his throat.

"Anyway. Still nice to hear from you. Why did ya call?"

Michael hesitated for a brief moment before gritting his teeth and pushing through the embaressment.

"Well... I was wondering if you'd be up to catch up. I know I've-", before he could finish, the other man cut him of.

"Sure. Yes. I'd be happy to.", Josh interruped in an upbeat voice. "I'll even get the old gang together. Haven't seen Ian or Reeze in a good while either. Will be a great chance to catch up and have fun."

Michael felt gratitude well up in him. He'd been a shit friend after Uni and he knew it. After getting his degree, he'd taken off and never taken a look back. Well, that wasn't quite true. He'd just not been brave enough to actually reach out to his old friend group, even though they'd given him every opportunity to do so.

"Thank you.", he said in a heavy voice. "I mean it, Josh. Thanks."

A melancholic chuckle came from the other side. "I'm just glad we got to talk again. Wasn't sure, it was going to happen."

They talked for a couple more minutes before setting a date and a place. Michael hung up having a guy's night planned for Friday. Satisfied with himself, he discarded his phone for a bit and just leaned back into his sofa.

This was good. He'd made real progress.

He sat there for a while, just relaxing before picking his phone back up and texting Emi.

'So, tomorrow date at 1pm?'

It took a few minutes for her to answer.

'yesss. Can't wait. Anything specific I should wear?', came the answer from her. He chuckled and thought for a moment.

'your bell ;P', he finally answered. She replied with an eye-roll emoji.

'Maaaasterrrrr. you know what I mean!', he couldn't help but grin at the text.

'Something cute and decent.', he provided unhelpfully, imagining her frustrated expression at his replies.

'... -_-', she wrote back.

'Fine but I demand ice cream!'

'In september?', he asked incredulously.

'yes.'

'Alrighty'

Sorry, a pretty boring chapter, but I want to progress the actual storyline. We should get some good sex scenes next chapter ;P