Pets.

It was meowing that woke me up. Meowing and whispering.

“Cake, I have to wake him up.” That was… Isabelle’s voice. And yet despite saying that, she was speaking in hushed tones like she DIDN’T want to wake me up.

Cake answered with a soft meow. I could still feel her sitting on my stomach.

“Come on, lunch is ready. Let me wake him up.”

Cake didn’t answer this time, instead laying down her head and resting comfortably on top of me.

“What does a guy need to do to get some sleep in his own room, dammit?” I said with a low groan as I sat up.

“Finally. I’ve been here for like five minutes but Cake wouldn’t let me get close to shake you.” Isabelle crossed her arms and grinned. “What’s with the early nap? Didn’t sleep well?”

“Like 20 minutes, if you must know,” I told her before being attacked by a big yawn. “What time is it?”

“2:30 pm. Mom and I came back twenty minutes ago. How long were you asleep?”

My neck felt stiff since I didn’t use a pillow, and the rest of my body was ever so slightly sore from the awkward position. Or maybe I was more exhausted than I thought. “A couple of hours, I think.” I rubbed the back of my neck and let out another yawn. “Were you with mom? Where did you go?”

Isabelle brought out her phone from her pocket, tapped the screen and showed it to me. I had to rub my eyes under my glasses because my sight was a bit unfocused and the photo she was showing me was something of a blur. I blinked and looked at it closer.

It was a picture of two dogs. Puppies, actually. “Are those… huskies?”

“Yeah. They were born six weeks ago. Maria introduced mom to these people whose female husky was about to give birth. They’re willing to give us two.”

I blinked. “Two? Seriously? That’s…”

Isabelle grimaced. “Yeah, I’m nervous too. But we figured a dog would get lonely easily, so…”

That makes sense. “So you’re thinking of adopting dogs since…”

“Since you and Cake are moving out,” Isabelle said. She didn’t look too happy about it, but kept a straight face. “Because you ARE taking Cake, right? I mean, look at her. She’ll die of depression if you leave her alone.”

Cake was still on my lap, licking her paws like she didn’t notice we were talking about her. She knew, I was sure. This damn cat is too perceptive.

I nodded. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I just think it’s funny you were so against adopting her at first. I guess it’s true what they say about the cat delivery system?”

“Didn’t she get delivered to Noelle’s house?”

Isabelle shrugged. “She still ended up here.”

I looked at the picture of the two puppies again. “So you already chose them?”

“Yep. A male and a female. Mom liked them because, out of their other four siblings, these two stuck together. And actually, I have something for Cake.”

Isabelle reached into her other pocket and brought out a piece of fleece fabric, reaching out and getting it close to Cake’s nose. The cat’s ears perked up and she began to sniff the cloth all over.

“What’s that?” I asked her.

“A small piece of the blanket they were using for the puppies. The lady said it was a good idea to introduce animals by their scent first so they start getting familiar with it. Actually, she said it works for people, too. Especially babies.”

Please, let’s not bring up babies again. But that aside, it was a good tip. Introducing them by smell first… I’d have to take one of Cake’s blankets over to Diana’s house and give it to Red, then bring back something from Red to show to Cake.

“So… You said lunch was ready?”

“Ah! Yeah, mom told me to come get you. You didn’t answer your phone, so we got Chinese today.”

“Oh, that sounds good, actually.”

I grabbed Cake and set her aside. I got up from my bed and Isabelle laughed when she looked me up and down.

“You’re covered in cat hair,” she told me.

I let out a groan. “Tell mom I’ll be down there in a minute. I’ll get changed.”

I kicked Cake out of my room, too, after she tried to stay. I got changed into a plain black t-shirt and gray sweatpants, and god did it feel great. So comfy, so freeing, so… normal. It was almost nostalgic.

Ever since I started hanging out with the girls, I had to pay more attention to my appearance. I started to dress up in fancier clothes, but a t-shirt and sweatpants used to be my default.

I went down for lunch and said hello to mom. She had me tell her my side of how prom went, and thankfully she didn’t ask about what happened after.

“I mostly spent it talking to some friends before the girls **** me to dance. Isabelle’s lessons saved me, to be honest.”

“You’re welcome,” my sister said.

Mom smiled. “Did you have fun?”

“It’s… hard to say. I don’t know if I could call that fun, but I’m really glad I went to it. I’m just not good with parties and large crowds.”

“You need to get used to it,” Isabelle told me. “How are you gonna do live concerts if you can’t handle crowds?”

“By being on stage instead of in the middle of them, I think.”

Mom chuckled. “Oh, and remind me, at what time do I have to be at your school tomorrow for graduation?”

…

Right. That was tomorrow. Just one more day of high school, huh?

Patreon.