Wishing

Henry

"God, this really hits the spot." She says, covering her full mouth with her hand. "This is the best cheeseburger I've had in my life." She groans, swallowing the contents in her mouth.

"I know." I say, taking another big bite from the burger. I look at Henry, our new cat, and feed him another piece of beef patty since he gave me begging eyes. "Do you think they'll notice he's gone?"

"Maybe." She shrugs. "Your friends are always high, I doubt they'll remember they have a cat."

"You're not wrong... I just never would've guessed any of them had a cat. They never talk about having pets or ever wanting them."

"Whatever." She shrugs, taking another bite of her burger. She chews it slowly and swallows her food with the help of a sip of lemonade. "So... you're going home after this?" I nod. "Cool." She nods.

"You're going home too?"

"I guess so, yeah." She sighs. "So I take Henry?" She asks.

"I mean, it's the most logical thing to do. If I take him, they'll think I was the one who stole him. They don't know you so they wouldn't suspect a thing. They for sure won't be at your place every damn day."

"It's just that... my apartment has a no-pet rule and it'd be shit to have to give him back. I love him already." She frowns. "Good thing Henry's quiet and calm, I can easily hide him."

"That's because Henry is old, look at him, he's like an old man." We look at him and I scratch the top of his head. Henry closes his eyes, giving into me. I let him go and take another piece of his patty and feed it to him. He chews it fast and I can almost see him smile, which makes me laugh. "You like that, don't you? Of course you do, you're a fat cat." I smack his back lightly.

"That's not nice." I look at Mal and she's frowning. "Don't talk to Henry like that."

"He knows I don't mean any harm." I laugh and we continue eating in silence. When we finished, we took the bus to go home. Funny enough, we have to take the same bus to go home.

As we sit somewhere in the back, she hugs Henry close to her chest and sighs, looking out of the window.

"So... any plans for the rest of the night?" I ask her and she looks at me and shakes her head.

"Not really... why?"

"Just asking... I don't feel like heading home yet."

"What do you wanna do?"

"I'm really thirsty." She looks out the window. "Look, there's a gas station right there." The bus stops and we got out and ran across the avenue to get to the gas station.

Inside, there was a small group of teen boys. They look about seventeen to eighteen years old. I mean, they're not that young, I'm only nineteen but still, they look like kids still.

I walk to the back of the store to get a couple of bottles of water and I lost sight of Mal for a few seconds. I walk back to the front of the store and I find her getting cornered by those assholes.

"So... what are you doing tonight?" One of them asks her. She laughs nervously and tries to walk away but gets blocked by another guy.

"Hey, we just want to talk to you, babe."

"You're too young to call me that." She snorts. "You look like you're twelve." She says and she sees me. I walk over to her and they look at me with blank stares.

"Shouldn't you guys be home with your parents? Isn't it way past your bedtimes?" I ask, growing irritated by their presence and that they're hitting on her.

"Who are you?" Some douche asks.

"I'm hers."

"Whatever." They walk out of the store, bumping my shoulder on purpose. She side-hugs me and kisses my cheek.

"Thanks for that."

"No worries."

She pulls away from me and walks off to the chips isle and I follow behind her. She grabs a bag of Cheetos and we walk to the counter. I hand the man a ten dollar bill and he gives me the change before we got out of the store and walked across the street to wait for another bus to come get us.

"You know, John, I had fun with you tonight." She breaks the comfortable silence between us and I look at her. "The sex, the burgers, the thing at the gas station... it was pretty fun. I liked it."

"Me too." I smile. "Crazy how everything works. We met on a random day on a bus, we bumped into each other at that party, and now we're here... we kidnapped someone's cat and now we're waiting on another bus to take us home." I laugh.

"Yeah... it's pretty crazy. Life is so weird, you know... one second we're eating breakfast together, making plans to hang out and then we fight and argue and then end up fucking the week after."

"I know, it's insane." I laugh and suddenly, the bus arrives, almost miraculously. I pay the driver our fare and we jump to our seats.

"John, I want to talk to you about what happened there." She whispers, tapping on my shoulder, leaning towards me.

"What's up?"

"I just..." She sighs. "... what happened back there, at the party, that was amazing. I liked it a lot, I had fun, I don't regret it... but... just know, it was just the heat of the moment. We're not really compatible as a couple and I don't want to be rude but you're not exactly my type... I mean, don't get me wrong, you're a great guy and you're handsome but I don't really think this would go anywhere. We're always arguing and we don't even know each other. The sex was great, but I don't think this would go far."

I nod but stay quiet. I mean, what can I even say to that? I started liking her company, seeing her, and fucking her felt fucking amazing. I had never felt the same way with anyone before. It felt perfect, it felt right. I feel like an idiot.

She reaches out to grab my hand, giving me a small smile. I fake a smile.

"You know what I'm trying to get to with this?" I nod, she smiles wider. "Great. Do you have anything to say about what happened or...?"

"No, I feel the same way." I lie.

"Cool... this is my stop." She says, standing from her seat, taking Henry with her. She looks down at me and smiles. "Catch ya later." She says and holds onto a bar. The bus stops and the doors open. She yells a quick thank you to the driver and jumps off.