Desperate

4

Arabella

After the game there's a raging party which Paige and Ethan try and convince me to go to, but I need to edit these photos and get homework done, so I decline and decide to walk back home.

When I'm a block away from my apartment it starts to rain and I hear something crying, I look around and can't see anything so I decide to get the torch out on my phone and look in the bushes next to me to see if it's coming from there. As I'm looking I hear a car pull up next to me.

"What the fuck are you doing"

Perfect. The rain starts to get heavier and the wind gets stronger.

"I heard something in the bushes, it sounds like it's in pain." I shout to be heard over the whistle of the wind as I slightly turn my head to look at coke sat in his car.

I ignore the door opening and closing and continue to look for whatever made that sound. To my surprise coke comes up beside me and helps me look.

"I found it" I tell him as I pick up a tiny little kitten. It's shaking and looks like it hasn't eaten in days, it's covered in dirt and flees, it's terrified. Who would just leave this poor kitten out here.

"Shhhhh it's ok I've got you" I say while rocking the kitten trying to calm it down.

"Is it ok?" Coke asks. He's standing impossibly close to me reaching out stroking the terrified kitten.

"No, can you take me home? I'm gonna try and clean it up and give it some food." I plead.

"Sure" he says, he sounds normal, not like he hates the world, like he's a normal nice person. "What's your address?"

Three minutes later we pull up outside my old broken apartment. Cole unexpectedly follows me to the door as I unlock it. We're both soaking wet and cold but all I care about is this little kitten.

"Thank you" I say "you don't have to help."

"I just want to make sure it's ok" he says genuinely.

After seeing his house I can't help feeling slightly embarrassed at the state of the apartment; however I remind myself of how hard I work and how proud of myself I should be.

"Where are your parents?" Won't they Mind me being here so late?" He asks, I know he's just trying to be polite but it makes me want to ignore him. I think he sensed my discomfort with the question as he says, "oh well, they'll just have to understand."

Relief washes over me because u don't have to talk about them. We go to the kitchen and fill the sink about a quarter of the way with warm water and gently wash the kitten, after a quick peek I see that it's a boy. I ask Cole to go into the bathroom and grab the small hand towel from the railing so I can keep him warm. Washing him revealed his fluffy ginger fur he's still trembling tho. I search through the almost empty cupboards and find a can of tuna. Getting a plastic plate I put a few spoonfuls of tuna onto it and fill a small bowl up with water, I place them on the floor for him to eat, however he's still scared of us and won't eat it, so I put him into my bedroom and shut the door with the food and hope he eats it. Whilst we're waiting I make Cole and I some tea as it was freezing and raining when we were looking for him.

I walk into the living room with the tea and see Cole sitting on my second hand light blue sofa.

"Do you want anything to eat, you must be tired after the game and-" as I'm talking the power cuts off, I know I paid the power bill because I got a huge tip that I used towards it. I look out of the window and see all the street lights and house lights have gone off. It was a black out. I check the local news from the app on my phone and it tells me that's there's a red warning on the weather telling everyone to get indoors and stay there.

"Shit, there's a weather warning" I say "you can stay here tonight you can sleep in my roommates room."

"It's fine I can drive home" he says obviously not wanting to be near me.

"It's dangerous you live on the other side of town, it's windy the roads are dark and slippery, your staying here" I say without room for argument. "I'll check in Paige's room she'll have some dry clothes from old boyfriends and you can use my shower if you want, you must be freezing and I don't want you getting ill."

Cole

Arabella is more frustrating than I could have imagined, but it's nice to have someone looking out for me even if it is just offering me a place to sleep so I'm not driving home on dangerous roads.

When get out of the shower an put on the clothes Arabella left out for me I go into the kitchen and find her holding the kitten she rescued, she's finally got him to sleep.

"Hey" she says in a tired voice, "do you want something to eat? we have left over pizza, we'll have to eat it cold tho."

"That'd be great Thank you" I try my best to be polite because she's being so nice to me. However curiosity gets the best of me.

"Why don't you live with your parents"I ask as she's getting the pizza out of the fridge, for a moment I see her freeze, but she reluctantly answers me.

"They died last year, live live here with one of my best friends Paige." She answers.

"I'm sorry"

"Thank you" she says with a sense of pain in her voice. "Who was that blond woman at your house." She asks.

I don't let my face change from its usual flat expression.

"Come on, you ask me a question I ask you one."

"She's my aunt, she moved in with me after my mom passed" we don't say anything else, but I know we're both thinking the same thing, life's fucked.