I got up from the couch and simply pointed at my phone when Mitch raised a questioning eyebrow at me. I walked into my room and shut the door, answering the phone.
“Hey mom, what’s up?”
“Oh, nothing really.” Her voice was sweet, and it reminded me of home. “Just called to catch up. How’s LA? How’s Mitch?”
“Mitch is great, LA is hot as always. Other than that, not much has been happening. We’ve been working in the studio, filming Superfruit, and…” I trailed off, what else have we been doing? “Oh! We’re looking into adopting a cat!”
“You’re kidding me.” She wasn’t questioning it, she was stating it. Almost as if she was saying ‘hey, my son’s an idiot!’ “You are so allergic you will kill yourself. I’m not allowing you to adopt a cat.”
“Mom, relax.” I knew she was going to freak out like that. “You see, it’s a hairless cat. So I won’t die, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Scott, just because he’s hairless doesn’t mean you’re immune to him.” She chastised. “But I guess you’re an adult now so I can’t really stop you. You do realize how much of a commitment this is, right?”
“Yeah, mom, I really do. I know that it’s still going to be bad, but I want to do this. Just imagine how happy it’ll make Mitch.”
I heard her sigh on the other end of the line. “You really would do anything for that boy, wouldn’t you?”
“I would. I promise I’ll be responsible and that I won’t die. Love you.”
“Love you too. Tell Mitch I say hi too.”
---
“I found a breeder!” Mitch called from his room. “And they have a litter that was just born! Come see!”
I waltzed into his room, flopping down next to him on the bed. “Ooh, they’re cute! Did you message them?”
“Yeah, she said we can go in a few weeks to meet them and pick one out and then they’ll be able to go home in December.” He was shaking from excitement. “We should think of a name.”
“We should. What about Wyatt if it’s a boy and Aphrodite if it’s a girl?”
Mitch smiled wide. “I love it. And a middle name too? Blue, obviously, after the next of kin to the queen.”
“And the last name? Wyatt Blue Grassi has a nice ring to it.”
The look he was giving me was like I had just dropped off the face of the earth. “Are you kidding me? It’s our cat so the name will be Grassi-Hoying. Got it? You’re not escaping the responsibilities of this cat. They’re gonna be like our own little child.”
“Then I would be honoured to be a part of our child’s name. Now let’s book a day to go see them.”
---
Mitch and I were sat in my car, the small grey cat bundled into a blanket on Mitch’s lap. I already was allergic to the damn thing, but Mitch was so excited that all the sneezing was worth it. I pulled out my phone camera and started filming him.
“Mitchie?” I kept my voice soft, not wanting to ruin the moment. “We just got our kitty.”
“We did.” I was giggling at how adorable he was. “He’s beautiful.” So are you.
I turned off my phone and turned on the engine. “You ready to take him home?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I kept flicking my eyes back to the bundle on Mitch’s lap at every stoplight. I can’t believe that we have a cat. And I’m allergic to it.
“Scott?” Mitch asked from next to me. “You okay? It’s not like you to not sing along to Beyoncé.”
“Nothing’s wrong, just thinking. Turn it up please.”
Let’s just say by the time we got home Wyatt should have been well acquainted with the queen.
---
I groaned as Wyatt ran into my room, jumping onto my bed and walking all over my back, only to run back into Mitch’s room.
“C’mere, you.” I heard him say from the hallway.
“He’s running back and forth because he doesn’t know who to sleep with.” He had appeared in my doorway, clutching the squirming cat in his arms. “Is it okay if I just sleep in here so maybe we can both rest?”
“Yeah, sure.” I scooched over to give him room to crawl in, letting Wyatt curl up next to me.
“Hey Scottie?” his voice was so quiet I barely heard him.
“Yeah Mitchie?”
“Thanks for putting up with him, just for me. I know you’re allergic.” He snuggled closer into my pillow.
“You know I would do anything for you. Goodnight.” He smiled a little before drifting off into a deep sleep. And with my best friend and a cat in my bed, it wasn’t long before I was out cold too.
