Disclaimer: I do not own CATS.
Rain. Was their anything worse than rain? Bombalurina couldn't think of anything off the top of her head. It was wet and cold and it took forever to dry yourself if you got caught in it. Not only was it horrible while it was happening, but even afterward you'd have to watch your step or you would step in a puddle. Or, even worse, a mud puddle.
Not to mention, it was incredibly noisy if you just so happened to be napping inside a pipe. And it just so happened that Bombalurina found herself in this exact position.
Cursing her bad luck, she poked her head slightly out of the pipe to catch her bearings. It was late, so she couldn't see much. The dang rain didn't help, either though. Rubbish of all sorts was flying everywhere: plastic bags, flyers, crumpled newspapers. No doubt Munkustrap would make everyone clean all that up later. Just another thing to love about rain.
The winds were howling and rumbles of thunder were heard in the distance. There was no way she could stick it out in the pipe, she'd have to find decent shelter. Her den was too far away, and Demeter and Munku's were farther than that. In fact, the only den close enough, being about fifteen yards away from the pipe, was Tuggers. It just kept getting better.
She and Tugger were not on the best of terms. They had broken up a few days previous, and she had caught him recently with Cassandra. Needless to say, Bombalurina was no longer speaking to her.
With a reluctant sigh, she prepared to run out into the storm. Oh, how she loathed getting wet.
She bolted as fast as she could towards Tugger's den, covering her face with her hand to shield it from the cold rain.
She slammed her fist against the side of the doorway, trying to stand under what little coverage she could find. The curtain which covered the doorway slid open, and the Main Coon himself leaned on the door frame, one thumb tucked into his belt.
"You rang?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She ignored him and hurried past him, into the den.
"What, not even a hello?" He scoffed, shutting the curtains. Bombalurina glared at him as she sat down on a broken hat box, and hugged herself as she shivered. She bet she looked like a mess. Her fur was mussed up and dripping, and her ears lay flat on her head in annoyance.
"You want a towel or something?" He asked. Bombalurina stayed silent and kept her eyes focused on the wall opposite herself.
Tugger rolled his eyes. "I suppose I'll take that as a yes." He said, then went over to a pile of cloth beside his nest and pulled out a nice blue beach towel with pictures of shells all over it. He threw it over to her.
"There you go."
She wrapped the towel around herself, grateful for the warmth, though she did her best not to show it. No matter how much it rained in London, she would never get used to it.
Tugger took a seat on a stained pillow in front if her. "Are you still mad at me?" He asked.
"What do you think, Brainiac?" She growled back, breaking her silence.
"Ah, so she speaks." Tugger grinned.
"Oh, shut up. I'm not in the mood, Tugger."
"Alright, fine. At least tell me why your so angry."
"Well it couldn't be the fact that I saw you making out with Cassandra behind the old stove, could it?" She hissed sarcastically.
"Oh, come on. It was a little peck and you know it. Besides, we're already broken up, so what's the difference?"
Bombalurina just gave him a death glare and turned away from him. He would never understand, and she knew it. He only cared about himself, so how could she expect him to? Besides, there was absolutely no way she was going to admit that she actually still kind of liked him. No, that would practical suicide.
They sat in silence for a little while, Bombalurina grooming her fur back to perfection, and Tugger trying to give her time to cool off. He had no idea why Queens were so emotional all the time. Every little thing seemed to set them off to one extreme or another. One second they'd be screaming in joy, the next they'd be screaming in frustration. And he could never really tell which reaction he was going to evoke until after he did what ever set them off. And the negative emotions always seemed to last longer than the positive ones.
He was startled out of his thoughts when the towel landed at his feet. He looked up at Bombalurina with a raised eyebrow. She was fully groomed and back to her beautiful self.
"Thank you." She grumbled, looking at her nails.
Tugger chuckled and threw the towel back in it's pile. "No problem, Babe."
Bombalurina frowned at the nickname but said nothing.
"How long do you think the storm is going to last?" He asked.
"Too long." She mumbled. Tugger made a face at her.
"Hey, you're the one who came to my den, not the other way around." Tugger retorted.
"Well I didn't have much of a choice. It was already raining when I woke up in my favorite pipe." Bombalurina crossed her arms over her chest.
"So your favorite pipe is the one closest to my den?" He asked with a smirk, earning a dirty look from the red Queen.
"C'mon, Babe, you know you love me." He said, winking.
"You're so self obsessed."
"And you love it." He taunted. She rolled her eyes.
"You know what, maybe I will brave the storm." She said, standing.
"Aw, C'mon Bombs. You know I'm just kidding. I know you really hate me."
"I don't hate you, Tugger." Bombalurina scoffed.
"Could've fooled me."
"Oh, you're such a-" She was cut off by a loud crashing sound outside, making both of them jump.
"What the heck was that?" She asked, her fur bristling.
"I think the wind blew down something. I'm going to check it out." Tugger said, making his way to the doorway. When he opened the curtain, he groaned. The entire doorway was covered with fallen Junk.
"The pile must have collapsed." He sighed. "Looks like neither of us are leaving any time soon."