Candy Gram ✓

epilogue

"It's so nice out today," David muses from the Subaru's passenger seat.

"I know!" comes Ben from the back. Next to him rests an empty cat crate.

I turn into the animal shelter's parking lot and pull into park. "You ready, my dude?" I ask Ben.

"Definitely," he says. Which I'm sure is an understatement - he's been waiting for this since March. He's leaning forward in his button-up shirt that he made Dad iron this morning for this very occasion. He's certain all of his friends are going to be jealous – his little girlfriend especially.

David unbuckles his seat belt and opens his door, heading back to help Ben with the large crate. I don't know who's grinning more - though, out of the three of us, I think it might be me.

The thing is, Ben and I have really close birthdays (though his is earlier than mine). I got him a scratching post. A cat scratching post. I talked to our parents about getting him a cat, and that I'd buy it and deal with all that starting pet stuff myself for them, because I'm awesome like that. (And I felt bad about the letdown

They said yes, and, so, here we are. At the animal shelter.

I only turned eighteen yesterday (Friday), so this was the perfect time, I figured. I'll spend time with Ben and whatever cat he chooses today, and then I'll go out with David tomorrow to celebrate our one-month anniversary.

Life couldn't be better. (Though it probably would with world peace and ice cream.) (Maybe just ice cream; who needs world peace?)

"Here," David says, taking the crate from Ben's small, kind-of-shaky hands. "I got it."

Ben is too busy bouncing to seem to care.

The inside of the shelter is warm (maybe almost too warm), and Josiah's mom is behind the counter. "Hey, there," she says, looking incredibly happy. I called the other day and talked to her about kitten adoption, so she knew that we were coming.

"Josiah's in the kitten room," she says, and I'm struck by how familiar that sounds.

Bob Barker smiles back at Ben as he races down the hallway, kicking up trails of animal fur that can be seen in sun beams behind him. David and I walk at our own pace behind him, carrying the crate between us.

It's little moments like this I've already come to live for.

It takes Ben about half an hour to judge all the kittens whilst David and I sit in the corner, silently observing him while we hold hands. The kittens are all really young, probably just away from their mothers or so. Ben turns to Josiah, who's been helping him hold them. Josiah's own little brother is off sulking in the corner (probably because Josiah told him to go do the litter-box, and I know from personal experience that that is a suck-y job).

"Do you still have any of the ones from Valentine's day?" Ben asks.

Josiah sets down the kitten he's holding and pushes his hair back (he should really get a haircut) with one hand. "Of course," he says amiably, "Follow me."

There are definitely less cats in this room. A few of them are sandy reminders of Nick the Cat, in fact. And I'm not at all surprised when I see on the clipboard with all the cat's names that Nick the Cat is in fact still here.

Now that he's older, he's easier to distinguish from the others. He's still got a giant white mark on the side of his face - which Ben says makes him look like Zuko from Avatar, his latest obsession. (That child and his martial arts shows, I swear.)

Am I surprised when Ben picks him? No. No I am not.

In the summers, I work at a local pizza restaurant, so I have more than enough money saved up for Ben's scarily-large half-kitten. He renames him - even less of a surprise (and one that I'm really grateful for, because I don't need to be replaced by a kitten who is also named Nick) - Zuko. (I don't know if it's better than "Butt-Clencher", though.)

David holds the mewling crate in his lap while I drive, and when he smiles at me, I can still feel a little twinge of happiness in my chest. It's like, "Hello, this person and you are together, and that is lovely and beautiful and he can cook really well and you both like each other a lot, so you should definitely keep him."

I plan to.