Hello everybody. I'm back. I don't want to dwell much on my absence much right now. There will be time for that later :)
Thank you for all the reviews you sent. (Cassidy made me read them all, bless her.) But I don't think my words will ever be enough thank you. So I'll continue with this new story I thought of. It was a thought I had back when I was in middle school. I swear I thought my crush had changed bodies with my cat Socks so I wouldn't let him anywhere near me when I was changing clothes or showering. Paranoid haha.
It's set in the future. They're about 19 and Sam lives in her own apartment. Just a heads up.
Let's go :)
Sam's POV
Have I ever mentioned how much I love to sleep? Even if I have, I'm not sure I expressed it well enough so I'll do so again anyway. Sleeping is kind of like my LSD. You get the cool hallucinations without destroying your brain, plus you wake up feeling awesome instead of like you were hit like a bus full of fat people. My favorite position to sleep is on my back while lying on my couch. I especially like when my cat Slinkers is snoozing along with me. He likes to curl up in a ball and lay on my stomach. After Frothy died of rabies, Freddie suggested that I adopt a kitten to fill the void. At first I was really resistant to the idea. I was so convinced that adopting a kitten would be like spitting on Frothy's grave in my mom's backyard. But Freddie dragged me down to the animal shelter and forced me to look at the large cage of kittens. I took one look and my heart melted. As much I hate to admit it, cats are like my soft spot.
"Which one do you like?" Freddie asked, scratching a brown kitting through the bars.
"Can't we just take all of them?" I fretted, watching the kittens rub their skinny bodies against the bars of the kennel.
"No Sam. Just one." said Freddie. I exhaled and watched all the kittens play and pounce on each other, their energy never running low. Then I spotted him. He was curled up in a ball, sleeping peacefully in the back corner of the kennel. His sleek black body was tiny and underfed. A larger kitten went tumbling onto the black kitten who turned around and hissed at his offender. The large kitten immediately backed off and ran back to the play fight.
"Hey lady! We want a kitten!" I called to the nearest woman wearing a Seattle Animal Shelter uniform. Her hair was frizzy and she wore combat boots.
"Certainly, which one are you looking to adopt?" she asked, sifting through a large set of keys. She unlocked the barred cage and moved aside to let me choose. I reached over the plump, energetic kittens and gently stroked the sleeping black kitten's head. He mewed and rubbed his head on my palm. I lifted him over the other kittens and snuggled him against my shoulder.
"You sure you want that one?" Freddie asked, "It looks like all he does is sleep."
"Frothy wasn't the cuddle type." I said, "I've always wanted a cat that likes to snuggle and sleep just as much as I do." I held the kitten up and looked into his intensely green eyes.
"What're you gonna name him?"
"Slinkers." I said with a smile.
Slinkers turned out to be a lot more energetic than he let on at the shelter. All day he chased anything that moved, including me. But at night, he would curl up on my stomach and purr while we both slept. I would stroke his silky black fur absentmindedly while he rubbed his head against my hands. That was about four years ago. Since then I've moved into my own place and Slinkers is now fully grown. I was talking about sleep wasn't I? Right right.
I feel like I should take the time to really describe how comfortable Carly's couch is. I was taking a lovely snooze on it. Half-asleep, I heard the door open and heavy footsteps clunk across the wooden floor. A large hand cupped my shoulder and gently shook me.
"You're lucky I'm only half-asleep, Benson." I mumbled into the pillow, my eyes still shut.
"Good morning to you too." Freddie grinned. I sat up and stretched my arms behind my back, groaning unnecessarily loud and cracking my knuckles.
"I hope you enjoyed your life Freddo because if the reason for waking me isn't good enough, you die where you stand." I yawned, stabbing a finger to his chest.
"Well I think left my new sweater at your place when we went in your neighbor's Jacuzzi." Freddie said, discreetly shielding his body with his arms. I pulled out my backpack and rummaged around a bit.
"Ah, here it is." I pulled out the crumpled grey sweater and thrust it into Freddie's awaiting hands. He untangled it and gasped angrily.
"What is this?" He shoved the left side of the sweater in front of my nose.
"Looks like a stain, Einstein." I said, settling back into the pillow. He grabbed the pillow and tossed it across the room where it plopped to the floor.
"This wasn't there yesterday!"
"Y'know, that kind of looks like cat puke. I hope Slinkers is okay." I recognized the green tone of the stain.
"Uh, this sweater cost me over fifty dollars! And you don't even care that your cat threw up on it?" Freddie yelled.
"Oooh, you spend money on your clothes! Sorry to hear." I snapped, grabbing my bag off the floor, "I got to go check on Slinkers." Freddie's hand grabbed a strap and spun me back away from the door.
"Not until you apologize." He waved the sweater around some more.
"I didn't do anything wrong. The sweater is probably comfortable so Slinkers decided to sleep on it. What do you want me to freaking do?" I was quickly losing my patience, like trying to keep water from slipping in between cupped fingers.
"I'm sick of hearing about your dumb cat, Sam." Freddie said angrily, "All you do is use him as an excuse to ruin my stuff."
"Slinkers isn't dumb! You bought him for me!" The water was officially gone.
"Well that was a mistake now wasn't it?" Freddie said lividly, "You spoil the hell out of that creature so now he thinks he can do whatever he pleases!"
"He's not spoiled! He's just cushioned a little."
"I wish I could change lives with that stupid cat. Then I could sleep all day and puke on my master's friend's expensive sweaters!" Freddie stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him. I sunk back on the couch but was too worked up to even consider sleep.
"I heard a slam, are you guys okay?" Carly called as she came down the stairs.
"Peachy." I said dryly. I yanked my bag off the floor and said good-bye to Carly. It was cold outside so I took a bus instead of walking to my rundown apartment. The inside is tiny but cozy, perfect for a single person and some sort of animal. Slinkers trotted up to the door and rubbed around my ankles in greeting.
"Hey buddy." I said softly, rubbing under his chin with my fingers. He purred and stretched his sleek black body. Still feeling angry enough to avoid sleep, I relaxed on the couch and turned on the TV but only for company. Slinkers hopped up on my stomach and curled into a tight ball.
"Maybe Freddie's right," I mumbled with a grin, "You are spoiled." Slinkers gazed at me through his striking green eyes before we both drifted off to sleep.