Kitty 🐺

Advice

I leaned into the hood of my Jeep Wrangler, checking the fluids. My music blasted from a speaker I had sitting in the corner. It wasn't overly loud, since I just heard door open and close.

Carefully, I sit up, making sure I didn't hit my head, before turning to look and see who came in. It was just Matt. He goes to the speaker and pauses the song before coming over to me.

"What's up?" I ask, turning back to what I was doing before.

"I need help." He says.

"With what?" I hum.

"Kinda relationship advice?" Matt mumbles.

"Ah, I see. Is it just in general, or anything specific-" I sit up swiftly, turning my head to glare at him, "if it involves taking Kitty's-"

Matt cuts me off quickly, "no! It's not that, calm down. I just... want to prove that I really do love her."

I slowly go back to working under the hood of the Wrangler, briefly regarding the oil stains on my white Moose💯 shirt that had appeared after a little mishap earlier. It might as well have been a black shirt instead.

"Well, for starters, tell her why she's perfect for you. Pick her up and pretend like you're going to throw her in the pool. She'll scream and fight you, but secretly, she'll love it. Protect her. Hold her hand when you talk to her. Look at her like she's the only girl you ever want to be with. When she least expects it, pull her in close and kiss her hard." I say.

I heard Matt just hum in response, so I keep going, " tell her she looks beautiful. Tickle her, even if she says stop. Get her mad, then kiss her. Let her fall asleep in your arms. Give her piggy-back rides. Kiss her forehead. Be slow. Don't push anything. Kiss her in the rain. Love her, even at her worst. Make her bad days better. Be the one she can always rely on. Make it a point that you'll always be there for her when no one else is."

Matt was silent, which was odd. I peek over my shoulder to see him typing quickly.

"I'm writing this down." He says, glancing up for a split second.

I nod once, making a confused face as I got back to work.

"Hey Fire?" Matt asks after a long, quiet minute.

I hum, biting the inside of my cheek.

"How did you know about that? What to do, I mean?" He questions.

"I know Kitty's past, her ex did the opposite of what I told you." I shrug, subconsciously reaching my hand up to my shirt, wiping fluid on it.

I curse myself once I realize what I just did, hoping everything would rinse out of the shirt after a couple washes.

"Also," Matt starts, "was that based off of what you want? Wishful thinking?"

I stop what I was doing entirely, and I know he noticed.

"Yes. Shut up." I huff, busying my hands once more.

"I'm telling Moose what you told me."

"We're not dating, what I told you won't matter."

"...Yeah okay. We'll see about that."

"Don't make me regret helping you, Reddin."