Kitty

14

TW: Alcohol & Drugs are mentioned

On Saturday, Jay and I are back to normal, ignoring what happened the day before.

We make waffles together, and I find out that Jay is not so bad at cooking. After eating, we decide to go to the mall to buy some clothes for Nate's party tonight and shop for other stuff.

I decided on a light green button up to match my eyes, and black jeans to tuck it into. Luckily, I came to Jay's house wearing my white converse, so they'll go fine with my outfit.

Jay won't let me see what he's wearing, so I keep my outfit a secret as well. After we leave the clothing store, we wander around the mall, occasionally peeking in stores and buying something. Around three o'clock we decide to start heading back to Jay's jeep to go home.

On the way out of the mall, a certain store catches my eye.

"Wait, Jay, c'mere," I say, pulling his arm in the store with me. We go in, the bell above the door ringing over us.

"Hello, welcome to Alexandia's Animal Store," an employee says behind the checkout counter.

I smile quickly at her, dragging Jay down an aisle.

"Woahhh this place is really nice," he says, glancing everywhere.

"Mhm, it's my favorite kind of pet store. It's always clean and all the animals come from rescues or shelters."

Jay and I go over to the dogs first, which are kept in big enclosures that have at least one bed, food and water bowls, a few toys, and a dog door attached to the backside of each one. I'm assuming there's an outside place for them to go to the bathroom due to no turds sitting in sight.

I stay some feet away from the dogs, not enjoying seeing possible cat killers through the glass.

Jay runs up each enclosure, talking to them through the glass and smiling at each one. Okay, coming here was totally worth it.

We move on to the fish next, peering at each tank and the colors that pop from them. I have to resist putting my hands all over the glass, my cat side wanting to paw at them.

We skip the rodents and arrive at the cat enclosure.

"Woah," I say, amazed at what's in front of me. "No wonder this is the biggest shop in the mall."

All the cats are together in one enclosure, which is huge. Enclosed in it is a cool looking jungle thing for the cats. There are boards lining the enclosure's walls so the cats can jump around on them or sleep on them, and the customers can watch them through the glass. There's a group of wooden handmade cat condos in one corner, fake leaves glued on them. Green cat beds line the floor around the cat condos, providing a place for the cats to sleep. There are also plenty of cat food and water bowls.

I look around, stunned, and notice to the right of the huge cat enclosure are smaller enclosures which contain some other cats that are sick or don't get along with others.

"This is awesome!" Jay exclaims. I laugh at him trying to play with the cats through the glass, his fingers dancing along the glass.

I squat down and look at the separated cats, finding a small calico with a bobbed tail adorable.

After visiting the cats Jay goes to the dog toy aisle and decides to buy a stuffed squirrel toy for Peanut. This would be endearing to me if I wasn't once treated as a stuffed squirrel toy by Peanut.

Finally, we leave the mall, heading home to change and go to Nate's party, which starts at six pm.

Cara takes pictures of us before we leave, acting as if we're a prom couple.

"Mommm we're gonna be late," Jay says, squeezing out from his mother's hug.

"Okay honey, do you need a ride?"

"Nah, I'll just drive us there."

"Alright now, be careful boys. And I don't want either of you coming home drunk."

We assure her we will and won't, then Jay drives us to a mansion bigger than his.

I fidget nervously behind Jay as he leads the way, greeting his friends that seem to be everywhere.

"Jay! You made it! What's up, dude?"

Jay grins at Nate, doing some handshake with him before he introduces me.

"Nice party, Nate! Remember the guy I told you about last time? This is him, Leo."

"Oh, cool, nice to meet you, Leo," he says, smiling at me. "Wait, aren't we in Math class together?" You're that shy kid that sits in the back, right?"

I nod shyly, surprised he remembers me.

"Ahah! I thought I knew you, well, Jay, nice to meet your new buddy. I hope you enjoy the party Leo."

Jay makes his way through the crowd of drunk high schoolers, stopping every now and then to say hi and introduce me. Every time he smiles down at me to see if I'm doing okay, I fall for him more.

We split ways at one point, Jay getting us some sodas and me going to the bathroom. We decided to meet in a guest bedroom on the second floor.

I squeeze through the clumps of people, flinching every now and then from all the loud noises. Due to my sensitive hearing I developed from my cat form, everything is overwhelming for me.

When I make it to the bathroom, I take deep breaths, finally somewhere where I can calm down.

Coming back out of the bathroom, it's like a tidal wave of sounds and smells hits me again. I keep my head down and force my way through towards the guest bedroom.

I'm almost there when someone yells something to me, laughing and giving me a drink. I just take it and make a mad dash to the bedroom. Once I'm there, I sit in a corner and wait for Jay to come to my rescue.

"Whew, sorry it took so long," he says, appearing at the doorway with two sodas and two slices of pizza.

He makes his way over to my corner, flopping down next to me.

"Here," he says, handing me a soda and a slice of pizza. I take it eagerly, starved from all the social interactions we had to go through.

Jay notices the cup next to me, picking it up.

"Where'd you get this from?"

"Hm?" I say, my mouth already full of pizza. Once I stop chewing, I drink some soda and say, "Someone gave it to me."

He stares at me, giving me his 'are you an idiot?' face.

"Uhhh I wasn't gonna drink it."

He scoffs, leaning his head back against the wall.

"You better not. You should never drink anything someone gives you, unless you've watched them make it. Even then, you should be wary of it."

"Oh. Uh, I knew that."

"Mhmmm," he says, raising his eyebrows at me, "Sure you did."

We eat and drink the sodas, finishing quickly. Jay asks if I'm up for going back into the crowd, and I nod, feeling a little more confident after eating.

The rest of the party goes great, except for when I run into a certain someone from my past.