Memory, all alone in the moonlight, I can smile at the old days

It took Gina a minute to remember where she was when she woke up. When she did, it all came back to her in a flash. The date with Nick, listening to music, shooting pool, laughing and joking around together like friends who hadn’t seen each other in years…

She smiled.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

She turned to see the man in question sitting on a chair beside the bed with an uncomfortable look on his face. She grinned.

“Yep, I’m awake. Slept well, too, this bed’s so comfortable!” She bounced on it slightly. “A girl could get used to this.”

Nick didn’t want to guess what that meant. She was probably just teasing him.

“So, uh… I don’t really know how to say this, but…”

“Throwing me out so you can get ready for your next date?” Gina smirked. “And here I thought you were a gentleman, ‘master’?”

“Please don’t call me that,” he winced. He didn’t know if she’d intentionally made that sound seductive or if it was his own mind working against him, but either way it made him shiver in a way he didn’t like. Thinking about himself in the context of a master over these girls…

What did it say again? One of her paths is “Submissive”? He remembered. As he watched her get out of bed he thought back about last night, how she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t do anything, and yet still goaded him at the end, asking if he really was okay with ending the night there. Was she trying to get me to take charge? Maybe even… **** her?

He stopped those thoughts right there. Whatever Gina might have been looking for last night, that was last night. Dwelling on it would just lead to problems. And he really hoped that he was barking up the wrong tree.

Not to mention that my date today is with Dawn…

Dawn Willowbrook. His first crush. The girl who broke his heart several times, and he’d been too **** to just give up on her and move on. He'd been so persistent she'd seen him as a stalker. Now he was going on that date with her he always wanted, and he couldn’t even look forward to it.

“So I just had a good idea.” Gina popped up in front of him with a wicked grin on her face.

“Huh?”

“You liked Dawn, right? Back then? But she turned you down, yeah?” Their reminiscing last night had brought a lot of new memories back for Gina, and among them was a memory of a sad Nick, down because a girl named Dawn in his class didn’t want to be his girlfriend.

“I don’t know why that-“

“I thought of something fun,” Gina smirked. She shook her head rapidly, sending hair all over the place. Then she pulled down one of the straps of her camisole and unbuttoned her pants.

“What are you doing?” Nick asked, confused why she was messing up her appearance like that. It almost looked like she’d hastily dressed herself after…

“She’s a competitive girl, right?” Gina giggled, mischief gleaming in her eyes. “I wonder what her reaction will be if she thinks that you and I did some naughty stuff together?”

“Gina…” Of all the bad ideas he could think of, this was probably one of the worst. But before he had time to discourage her, she’d already slipped away into the elevator.

Nick wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel. He didn’t still like Dawn, right? He’d gotten over her a long time ago. And even if he did still have feelings for her, having sex with her under circumstances like this, even if Gina was the one to initiate it…

Well, there’s nothing I can do now. I’ll just have to hope this whole thing doesn’t blow up in my face.

---

Dawn was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when Gina came flouncing back into the bedroom. She didn’t use it very often, but she wanted to conceal the tiredness on her face and regain some of that youthful vigor that she prided herself in.

“Hi, honey, I’m hooo-ooome,” Gina sang.

Dawn looked up from the mirror with a wry smile. “…You look like you had fun.”

“Oh, it was the best,” she swooned, lying down on the bed. “I had no idea that Nick grew up to be such a man! He was so vigorous and passionate… it was life-changing! Although I doubt you’d know one way or the other.”

Gina eyed her roommate, eager to see what Dawn’s reaction would be. Despite what the audience insisted on her, she was a bad girl, and enjoyed teasing her roommate just a little.

But Dawn was completely calm.

“So you’re saying you and Nick had sex?” She asked as casually as if she was asking if it was sunny outside. She didn’t even look up from the mirror as she carefully tied up her hair into a perfect ponytail.

“Uh, yeah, we did, it was amazing!” Gina said. “I had no idea that he-"

“That’s interesting,” Dawn cut her off, “because the number on your hand still says 4.”

Gina glanced down at the number emblazoned on her hand. Whoops.

“According to the rules, doing anything sexual with the master will earn you Victory Points, and yet, your total hasn’t changed by even one number.” Dawn turned around in her seat to stare at Gina directly, wearing an amused smile. “So I’m guessing last night wasn’t actually that… what did you call it? ‘Life-changing’?”

Gina flipped her off in response.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to hope that you got him worked up enough,” Dawn said, standing up from her seat and checking out her full appearance. She was dressed more casually than she had in years, with a short-sleeved white blouse and the one skirt in her wardrobe that gave her some room to breathe. Her new tail made wearing high-waist skirts a difficult proposition now.

“So wait, you’re actually going to have sex with him?” Gina said, astounded by her willingness. Admittedly, she might have been up for doing a little something with Nick herself if he’d been in the mood last night, but he was clearly still getting used to this. Maybe she was, too.

“If I think I need to,” Dawn said noncommittally. Gina had tried making her squirm? Well, that was a game that two could play. “Don’t wait up for me!” She called over her shoulder as she headed out the door.

A date with Nick… well, never would have seen that coming in a million years, she thought as she waited for the elevator to arrive. How many times had he bugged her to go out with her or told her that he liked her? And no matter how clearly she’d turned him down, he kept hanging around her.

She’d found it creepy and pathetic at the time, but now she didn’t have a choice.

I guess I’ll use today as a litmus test, she decided. I’m a part of his harem now, for better or worse. And while I’m not exactly experienced with sex stuff, it’s not like I have any choice in the matter, either. I gotta play to win.

Was Nick a good person stuck in this mess with the rest of them? Or an opportunistic scumbag who would use this as an opportunity to **** them into being his sex toys? Once she figured that out, she’d know what her next steps should be.

For now, I might as well try to make today fun, she decided, fixing a smile to her face as the elevator doors opened to greet her.

He looked uncomfortable. Not a good sign.

“Hey, uh… so, I’m here,” Dawn greeted him, stepping into the elevator. She carefully pulled her tail in so it wouldn’t get caught in the doors.

“Hey,” he mumbled back. “Sorry about this.”

“Hmm? Sorry about what?”

“Well, I mean… this whole mess is my fault,” Nick said. “If I hadn’t had feelings for you for all that time, then you wouldn’t have ended up in this mess. You’d be in your clinic or something, instead of being **** to go on a date with me.”

Dawn laughed, catching him off guard.

“Oh, that. You feel guilty about that?”

“W-Well, yeah. I mean, if not for me-“

“Nick, let’s be honest here,” she said, pressing the ‘elevator stop’ button. She turned to face him.

“Okay…” He still looked uncomfortable. Damn it. If she wanted to get close to him, then she had to make him more at ease with her!

And the only way to do that was to clear the air between the two of them.

“I don’t blame you,” she insisted. “It’s not your fault that you developed feelings for me, okay?”

“Okay, but-“

“Nope, no buts,” she shook her head. “You were a kid. I was a kid. And I know enough about hormones to know that feelings are NOT your fault. You liked me. That bitch **** me because of it.” She shrugged. “And now we’re here. On a date.”

“I know, but-“

“Again, no buts. Let me ask you something, Nick, is being miserable and guilty on this date going to make you feel better?”

“Huh?”

Dawn shrugged. “I’m here because I have to be, yeah. And I planned out a fun date for the two of us because I want to earn those Bonus Points. And I know what you’re thinking right now, ‘she doesn’t want to do this, she just wants to win the game’ and… well, I can’t say you’re wrong. There’s a motive behind my actions. But is that really so bad?”

She reached out and took his hand.

“I’m playing the game. I’m in it to win it. You can say that’s not genuine, but honestly, I don’t really care. Because I’m going to be honest with you, Nick. I’m not in love with you. And no, I wouldn’t have asked you out on a date under normal circumstances. But right now, we’re doing the best we can to make it through this. Me, Gina, all the girls, we’re all just trying to get by. And so are you, right?”

“I know, and that’s why I’m upset,” Nick said, unable to meet her intense stare. “After everything that happened between us before-“

“I already forgot about all that, though. It’s in the past.” She squeezed his hand tightly, trying to make him believe it. The truth was, she never forgot anything. It just didn't matter anymore. “But… you’re right. We never really had a conversation about it, did we? We just went our separate ways after college, and then we got coffee that one time, and pretended like none of that happened.”

“…Yeah, I remember,” Nick nodded.

“Then let’s… talk about it,” Dawn suggested. “I know the perfect place.”

They headed out to the shopping center, but Dawn wasn’t here to buy anything. No, she was looking for a café. A very specific kind of café, in fact.

She spotted the sign with the cat drawn on it and burst into a big smile.

“Here it is!” She cheered, leading him inside. Nick was stunned by what he saw. It was a café, like any other coffee shop, but with one obvious exception. Next to the tables was a playpen, filled to the brim with adorable cats.

“What kind of place is this?” Nick asked, surprised by all the well-behaved cats walking around. Some were even let out of the enclosure, walking around the café like they owned the place.

“Hello!” The faerie at the counter greeted them. “Welcome to the Cat Café! Here, you may recharge your spirit by playing with our cats for as long as you like!”

“Yes!” Dawn cheered, her tail springing up in excitement. Nick was stunned. The normally-mature girl he’d crushed on through most of his time in school was now behaving like an excited child.

Dawn rushed over to the enclosure and practically dove into the pool of adorable kittens. A few of them took to her immediately, rubbing up against her and giving her experimental licks. One even began grooming her tail, much to her surprise.

Nick walked over to the edge of the enclosure and just stared. Dawn looked up at him from the pile of a cats crawling over her.

“Are you just going to stand there? Come on, let’s play!”

Nick just shook his head incredulously and came in after her, sitting down next to the short girl as the cats slowly approached him curiously.

“I take it this isn’t the first time you’ve done something like this,” he guessed. “It’s called a Cat Café?”

“Yeah, I first found out about these on my semester abroad in Japan," Dawn explained. She picked up a tabby and nuzzling it against her cheek. “The idea is that people come and play with the cats to help them relax. It’s sort of like renting a pet. And these little fellas are just so adorable, yes they are! Yes they are! In fact, there's one in the city where my clinic is located, so if I've had a particularly rough day, I can go there and enjoy myself.”

She looked up at him, wearing a sheepish smile. "Of course, my own little kitties are my still my favorites."

Nick remembered Dawn mentioning she had five cats.

Yeah… she always did love animals…

Back in elementary school, when Nick was still capable of interacting with Dawn without her thinking he was a stalker, she used to talk about all the pets her family had. Dogs, cats, even a bunny rabbit. But she'd loved talking about cats the most. That love of animals had been one of the things that first made him like her, along with her looks and the cocky way she'd challenge him at things. Dawn had loved competition from way back, almost as much as she loved animals.

I guess that’s why she doesn’t mind her transformation that much…

“…Why are you looking at me like that?” Dawn asked suspiciously, holding the cat in her hands tighter to her chest. “This one’s mine, find your own!”

Nick burst out laughing. “Nothing, nothing, I was just thinking that maybe you didn’t change as much as I thought you did.”

Dawn pouted. “I adore animals, I can’t believe you forgot that!”

“No, I didn’t forget, it’s just… well… for a long time, I only thought about you like that, you know?” He sighed. “It was like… you were so pretty and so amazing, and you made my heart race every time I saw you, that I guess at some point I stopped thinking about you as a person."

"Yeah, that's exactly what every girl wants to hear," Dawn said sarcastically.

Nick winced. "Yeah, I deserve that," he agreed. Then the worst part just came spilling out. "I was so sure I wanted to marry you, I was already picking out names for our future kids and stuff like that.”

What the hell are you saying? Why would you tell her that?! You’re looking like even more of a creep to her!

“B-But, that… it wasn’t real, you know?" He sputtered, trying desperately to change course. "It didn’t even cross my mind that you were a real person with your own interests and stuff, so I guess I just… well…”

He hung his head in shame. “I’m sorry that I bothered you so much. And I’m really sorry that I was such a pest who couldn’t take no for an answer and accept you didn’t want to go out with me.”

Dawn frowned. “Why couldn’t you?” She asked gently. “I know you liked me, but... even you must have gotten the hint, right? But even when we met up again, you still didn’t have anything to say. Remember? The summer after graduation?”

“I remember,” Nick laughed bitterly. “How could I forget? I finally managed to get coffee with you, and I wasn’t even thinking about you like that anymore.”

About a year after graduating high school, Nick had returned to his hometown for summer break. He’d run into Dawn at the grocery store and apologized profusely, thinking she was still disgusted by him. Instead, the opposite had happened. She’d asked if he wanted to get some coffee and catch up.

“We went to get coffee, but we didn’t really catch up, did we?” Dawn laughed. “You seemed even more uncomfortable then.”

“Well, can you blame me? You used to say I was your stalker!”

“…Yeah, that… may have been a bit excessive,” Dawn admitted sheepishly. “But come on, you WERE my stalker!”

“I…”

“You would wait around outside my class for when I’d come out, and then follow me to my next classroom. Don’t try to deny it, you weren’t as stealthy as you thought you were.”

“…You’re right,” he admitted, hanging his head in shame. “I have no excuse for that.”

“So why did you do it?” She asked. She wasn’t angry, she sounded genuinely curious. “We both know it’s not exactly normal, even for a hormonal teenager.”

“It was because I liked you. Just seeing you made me feel better. And I guess that's why I couldn't get over you. I needed to hang onto that, to have something to soothe me. And if I accepted that we wouldn't happen, if I didn't have that to believe in, after… well, you know what happened now, I guess.”

“After your friend died,” Dawn murmured. “Yeah, that was when you started to change, wasn’t it…”

“I just wanted to see you, I swear,” Nick pleaded. “Soothe my soul a little. And once or twice, yeah, I got the courage to ask you out, even though you kept saying no. But I thought that if I was persistent enough, then maybe…”

“Maybe I’d like you back?” Dawn snorted. “Congratulations, Nick, you’re guilty of being every other teenage boy with a crush.”

“Other teenage boys don’t wait outside girls’ classrooms to get a glimpse of them,” Nick mumbled.

“Eh… you’d be surprised. Trust me, you were far from the only creep at that school. You just happened to be the most persistent.”

Dawn wanted to slap herself. What kind of compliment was that?

“Still… you were the first boy to tell me he liked me.”

Nick perked up at that. “I was?”

“Yeah. I mean, until you came along, all I did was study. And then you told me you liked me, and well, I didn’t really know what to make of it!” She laughed. “I was a sixth grader! You think we’re prepared for stuff like that?”

“Fair enough,” he admitted. “Is that why you turned me down?”

“Yes,” she said bluntly. “But honestly…”

What are you doing? Cut that out, this isn’t part of the plan!

“…I liked you, too.”

Fuck. Shit. Fuck and shit.

“What?!” Nick was so startled he dropped the cat he’d been playing with.

Dawn took a second to process what she was saying, and when she did, her face turned bright red and her tail started going wild.

“I-It’s not what you think!” She sputtered. “I mean, I did like you back in sixth grade, but not, like, in a romantic sense! I don’t think so, anyway… maybe...”

Stop it, you’re ruining this! All that hard work planning this date is gonna be for nothing if you don’t shut your mouth!

“I just couldn’t go out with you!” She blurted out. “We were kids! We had our whole futures ahead of us! Between gymnastics and studying, I didn’t have time for dating! That stuff’s for when you get older and reach a stable point in your life! But dating in elementary school? Forget middle school and high school, we would have broken up for sure by now if I’d said yes!”

“So you did like me?” Nick asked, still stuck in that part of the conversation. “Even back then?”

“…A little,” she admitted. “Maybe just a teensie, weensie bit of a crush…”

Dead. You are so dead. They don’t make headstones big enough for the hole you’re digging yourself into.

“Then why didn’t you just say that?” Nick asked.

She stared at him. “I did.”

“Uh, no…”

“Oh, you bet your ass I did! I have an eidetic memory, mister! I remember it perfectly! You told me you liked me on Friday. Then we went on that field trip for the whole week! Then on the Tuesday after we came back I told you specifically ‘I like you, but I’m not ready to have a boyfriend right now, so can we just be friends?’”

“Yeah, I remember that, you rejected me.”

“I said I liked you!”

“But I thought it was just as a friend!”

“That-"

The words froze in Dawn’s mouth as she considered things from that perspective.

“But… I mean…”

She hung her head and sighed.

“I’m an idiot. How can I be so smart and such an idiot?”

“Huh?”

Dawn looked up at him, her face red with embarrassment.

“I wasted my first crush,” she said, shaking her head. “Wasted it. Down the toilet. I can’t believe this.”

Nick was still totally lost.

“So… it was a misunderstanding, then? You didn’t reject me?”

“Oh, no, I rejected you. Big time.”

Oof. That dealt another blow to his self-esteem.

“But I still liked you,” she added. “Longer than I should have, anyway, given I already accepted we had no chance. You know, I was actually really glad when I found out we would be going to the same middle school? Just a little bit, I thought that maybe if we could stay as friends, then in the future... But by then, well…”

“…Yeah. Then I changed.” Nick remembered that dark part of his life all too well.

“You stopped talking to me. We weren’t really close before, but it felt like you didn’t even want to try during middle school. You were completely cut off from the rest of the students, alone in your little world, and meanwhile… I just kind of moved on. I got over my crush, refocused on my studies, and then you got weird.”

“I’m so, so sorry for that.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like you actually hurt me or anything,” she sighed. “But I was scared. I didn’t know what was up with you, why you were acting like a psycho, like I'd run into you around every corner. I guess, if maybe… maybe if I’d cared more about other people back then and tried to see what was wrong before it got to that level… who knows what could have happened?”

"Stop it. You're victim-blaming. My decisions were my own," he assured her. "You didn't owe me anything."

"I know that. But still... what coulda been, you know?" She shrugged awkwardly.

Nick didn’t know either. He shared a heated stare with Dawn as they both tried to unpack the issues of their past.

“Mroowwr!” A kitten meowed so loudly it snapped them both out of it. Dawn giggled and reached over to pet him.

“I’m glad we got a chance to clear the air,” she smiled. “This is way better than when we got coffee.”

“This was a good choice,” Nick agreed. “Hey, now that you mention it, why did you ask me to coffee anyway? I’ve spent years trying to figure that out.”

“…I don’t know,” Dawn admitted, shrugging. “You just seemed different. More mature, more put together. Like all that baggage wasn’t weighing you down anymore. I thought you’d finally grown out of that phase of your life, and so I was like ‘hey, why not catch up? Close the book on this chapter forever’. And I was right, you were positively delightful company, even if we didn’t end up saying much.”

She laughed ruefully. “So much for closing the book though, right?”

“Well, I’m glad to know I didn’t come across as a total loser,” Nick sighed in relief. “Still, I really feel like shit for how I acted back in those days. It was completely messed up.”

“We all make mistakes,” Dawn said matter-of-factly. “The point is that you’re not stalking girls anymore.”

She squinted at him suspiciously. “…Right?”

“Really?”

“I’m kidding. Maybe. Normal guys don’t end up in situations like this one,” she frowned. “…You really had nothing to do with it, right? All of us being here?”

“No, I don’t, I swear,” Nick promised. “Sylvia dragged me here, too.”

“Well, there has to be a reason for it,” Dawn mused. “Whoever it was that’s arranged this whole thing, these mysterious producers… they wouldn’t grab just anyone… no, there’s definitely a reason why you were chosen, and I’m going to figure it out!”

“I may have a guess,” Nick admitted, feeling guilt well up again.

“Oh? What is it?” Dawn asked, mentally preparing herself to take some notes.

“It might be because they think I’ll give into the temptation,” he sighed. “I mean, look at me. I’m just a virgin nobody with nothing going for him, and all of you… you’re so pretty and fun and full of life. The producers picked me because they think I’ll give in to girls like you. That I’ll try to make you mine.”

And they might be right.

“Hmm. That’s a good theory,” Dawn nodded thoughtfully, ambivalent to his explanation.

Nick was shocked. “You’re taking that pretty well. The whole ‘I might give into temptation and **** myself on you girls’ thing.”

Dawn frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think you will,” she admitted. “And honestly, even if you do… I’m not so sure it will be your fault.”

“How would it not be my fault!?” Nick exclaimed, startling the kittens into running away. He didn’t care anymore, though, this was more important.

“Well, look at what they’re doing to us,” Dawn explained. “They’re changing us. Sure, I’ve only got cat ears and a tail, but you saw what they did to Dani. They practically made her a different person. Same with Gina. They’re tailoring us to be more attractive to you. And that’s just the physical changes. Those girls, Holly and Mary? They had their minds messed with. Who knows what kind of mental transition I might get next round? They might turn me into a cat for real. And if that happens, is it really my fault that I start rubbing up again people and purring?”

“So, what you’re saying is that Sylvia and those producers might be altering me somehow?” Nick wondered. “Trying to turn me into someone I’m not?”

“It’s just a theory,” Dawn shrugged. “All I know is that I’ve looked over the rules. And there’s a section in there about transforming the master. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility is all.”

“Wait, you read the rulebook?!” Nick said, his jaw dropping in shock. How was this the first time he was hearing this?

“Sylvia gave us a copy the other night,” Dawn said. “In our welcome baskets.”

She smiled with pride. “And I finished reading it one night. Because I’m a genius.”

“And such a humble one, too,” Nick mumbled under his breath.

She smirked.

“Oh, and don’t think I’m going to share what I’ve learned, either,” Dawn warned him. “I’m in this game to win it. I hope you won’t hold that against me?”

“Well, I’d like it if you helped out the others, personally,” Nick frowned.

“They have rulebooks of their own. They can read them if they want. Besides, the thing wasn’t very helpful anyway. There’s not a lot that Sylvia didn’t already tell us.”

That was a lie. There were a few things Sylvia didn't mention. Rules that might be implemented, or might not be. Such as rewards being available for certain challenges. But Dawn was going to keep that to herself.

---

After finishing up lunch at the Cat Café, Dawn and Nick were on much better terms. They were finally relaxed now, the awkwardness of their prior relationship put past them.

“So what do you have scheduled for me next?” Nick asked. “That café had a pretty good atmosphere, just saying.”

Dawn smirked.

“I just so happened to pick out a nice movie for the two of us to watch,” she said. “This place has a movie theater, you know.”

“I have a pretty big TV back up in my suite,” Nick informed her. “We don’t have to go all the way to-“

Dawn let out a scandalized gasp. “Why, I never! Asking me up to your room so early!”

Nick rolled his eyes.

“I’m kidding. But no, from what I hear, this is a really good movie,” Dawn said, seized by a wave of nostalgia. “See, I was trying to come up with good date ideas, you know? And I looked all over… but honestly, I didn’t know what you like. Because even though I’ve known you since fourth grade, Nick… we were never close enough to really be friends. So I don’t know the kind of stuff you like. And then I remembered, well…”

She looked up at him and smiled shyly. “Remember when you asked me to go to a movie with you in tenth grade? And I said I wouldn’t be caught dead going out with a stalker like you?”

Nick winced. “Yeah, I remember. That’s what finally got me to give up on you.”

“…Well, I might have been a little too harsh,” she admitted. “…More like a lot harsh. And no, to be clear, I don’t ‘owe’ you a date or anything like that, it’s just…”

She shrugged. “Who knows? It could be fun. The movie date we never got a chance to go on, you know?”

Nick smiled. “Yeah, sure, that works for me.”

“I wanted to watch it in theaters when it first came out, but I was too busy with school so I couldn’t. But from what I heard from some of my classmates, it’s a really good romance movie.”

“A romance?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, you read romance books, right? I think, anyway… you mentioned something like that, when we had coffee.”

“Well, yeah, I like ‘em fine,” Nick said. “It’s just, well… some of them are a little… graphic.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “What’s wrong, Nick?” She laughed. “Can’t handle a little bit of sex? We’re just two adults. And who knows, if the movie gets things going, well…”

She tried something she wasn’t sure of yet. Flexing her hip muscles, she tried to make her tail curl around his hand to maybe lead him. No luck though, it just twitched. Not a prehensile tail.

“So you’re dragging me to a smut movie?” Nick sighed. “Well, at least you’re being upfront about trying to seduce me.”

“Hey, I mean, I told you already, I don’t like you like that,” Dawn shrugged. “But I had a crush on you once, and I could again. In the meantime, well, if you feel something… I can at least help out, maybe?”

Dawn played to win. She might not have been ready for sex with him yet, but she knew she needed to get in fast before another girl stole the lead on her. She didn’t have any VP at all. If the movie was as steamy and hot as everyone said it was, then maybe they could both get in the mood and have some fun together. Even if not penetration, she might be able to score a few points off him one way or the other.

“So what movie are we watching?” Nick asked curiously.

Dawn’s tail wiggled mischievously behind her. “Oh, you’ll find out!” She promised, leading him into the theater for “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

---

2 Hours and 5 Minutes Later…

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Dawn exclaimed, bursting out of the theater with her face buried in her hands. She was as red as a rose and her tail was whipping around in a frenzy.

“That has to be the WORST romance movie I’ve ever seen,” Nick said, following after her. “Why did you think that would be-"

“I DON’T KNOW!”

“Is that really what you find sexy-"

“NO! I am NOT into that, so don’t you DARE try to make this out to be like I am!” Dawn hissed like an actual cat, her tail standing on end. She glared at Nick like he was a predator.

Nick couldn’t help but laugh.

“This kind of blew up in your face, didn’t it?”

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW, HUH?!” She wailed. “Everyone said it was a steamy romance movie, it made 570 million dollars at the box office!”

“THAT movie made 570 MILLION dollars?!” Nick couldn’t believe his ears. “That piece of crap!?”

“Everyone said it was a cultural touchstone! But that was just… it was worse than smut! It was BAD smut, I’ve seen pornos that have better- errr, I mean…”

Dawn realized what she’d just admitted to, and scurried away like a kitten.

Nick couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know, we have a lot of time left for our date!” He called after her. “Anything else you want to do?”

Dawn paused, turned around, and stormed back over to him, her tail sticking out and her hands balled up.

“One more time!” She hissed. “I have one more movie! This one’s even better! Everyone said it was a masterpiece!”

Nick shrugged. “Well, hey, if you say so, I’m fine with it.” Even if it was a bad movie, he would still enjoy her reactions.

“I’m serious!” She insisted. “I refuse to let this be an awful date! I’ve got a second movie picked out that’ll really knock your socks off!”

Dawn was floundering due to a lack of experience with dating. Most of her “dates” had been with guys her parents had hooked her up with, and they had just been in fancy restaurants. She wasn’t trying to do that this time. She’d chosen a movie theater date because that’s what he’d wanted. It was the kind of date that two high schoolers went on.

Heck, this time she’d even picked a movie that had been popular when they were students.

“This one came out when we were in middle school!” She said, holding her head up high. “Who knows, maybe if things had been different… we even could have gone to see it together back then.”

“Okay, works for me,” Nick shrugged. “What’s it called?”

“Twilight!” Dawn declared confidently.

---

“Dawn…”

“NO! NO TALKING! NO WORDS! NO NOTHING! WE ARE GOING TO BED!”

When the second movie ended, Dawn didn’t say a word. She got up from her seat, walked out of the theater, and headed back to the elevator in silence. Her face was totally devoid of emotion.

When they got back to the Master’s Suite, Nick had tried to ask her a bunch of stuff, but she ignored him. She devoured her dinner immediately, leapt into bed, and curled the sheets around her into as tiny of a ball as she could make. All Nick could see was a big gold lump on his bed with a cat tail poking out of it.

Then came the screams of shame. It was the most adorable thing he’d ever seen.

“…Well, good night then,” he said, trying very hard not to laugh. It was still way too early for bed, but it was clear Dawn’s brain had been completely fried.

“You’ve got quite an eye for movies, by the way,” he added, patting the mound of blankets. He heard a muffled shriek from under the covers along with the sounds of shameful thrashing and woe.