A/N: extra long chapter to make up for the long wait! Can't say anything...was too busy to update *wallows in emo corner*

Anyways, I'll be updating this sooner than I used to before.

Chapter 4: Cat Issues

I came home so tired, that all I did was take off my clothes, (and threw them on the nearest chair) and climbed into bed in my sheer nightgown. No shower, no nothing. I decided that tomorrow was a great day to worry about Raven. All I wanted now was to sleep.

I plopped into the pillow and turned the lamp on my bedside table off. Within minutes, I was under.

-unusual pet-

Mhmhm…wow~!

Something felt so absolutely warm…so absolutely cosy…and smelled so good~

And absolutely heavy…

The first rays of bright sunlight hit my eyes even as they were closed through my open eastern window. So sad…I was feeling so cosy…

As I tried to sleepily maneuver my body, I felt the sheer weight of something hinder my movement…

But…what weighs so much…?

A pillow…probably…

Ah…nah! I don't have such heavy pillows…

Pillows don't feel like skin…

Ah, I could feel a toned arm…so cosy…against my own…

I was lying with my face buried in the pillow, and my back up to the ceiling. I could feel a hard weight against my back…something, no someone…lying on top of me…

…

What the hell?!

No sooner had that thought come into my mind, I jumped up in my bed.

"Meow!" a furious cat-screech filled the room as a black furball hissed at my sudden reaction from the bottom of my bed.

"Raven…you scared me…" I rubbed my forehead due to the sudden shock. And then…

"Raven!" I yelled in joy. "You're back!"

I threw myself onto the floor at the cat (quite akin to a feline, no?), which did not react quite fast enough to find an escape route, as I flung myself and grabbed it in a hug.

I rubbed my chin against its head, its paws tucked away at my chest as I cuddled up with the cat. I held it up in front of me with both hands and brought it up to my face until our noses nearly touched.

"You stupid cat!" I scolded, as the cat seemed nonplussed. "You gave me such a scare! Where on earth did you run off to?"

The cat purred and turned away its face as if it disregarded the question altogether. It's red eyes sparkled.

"Raven?" I called. The cat turned its crimson, piercing gaze onto me. "Where have you been?"

It turned its head away again, this time in the opposite direction, with its nose in the air.

Wow, I thought, as I felt an anime-tick form in my forehead. One stuck-up, arrogant cat, this one.

I set the cat down on the floor as I got up.

"Well, then…" I groaned, pulling the straps of my nightgown down and picking up a pair of jeans from a nearby chair (where it had been flung carelessly…I know, I'm messy). "Let's get ourselves some breakfast, hmm?"

Tiffany neared the garage to hear a loud sound coming from Ashlyn's house.

"Oh, damnit. Bad timing." She said under her breathe. "Ashlyn's probably using that monster boom box…"

She walked up the porch and knocked on the door. No reply.

All she heard was Ashlyn's voice singing the same lyrics blaring from the speakers:

Stay,
You don't really know where you stand
Till you know that you won't run away
There's something inside me that feels
Like breathing in sulfur!

"Ashlyn?!" she knocked again. Nope.

"ASHLYN!" she yelled and knocked yet again. Wow.

She banged her fists on the door. Same result.

Okay, Tiffany thought, let's combine everything I've got. Let's produce all the sound energy I can in one go.

She took a deep breath.

"ASHLYN!" Tiffany yelled, while hitting and pounding the door with both hands with all her strength.

"Tiffany?" she heard after the music had been turned down.

The door was thrown open.

"Oh man, how long have you been knocking?" I asked, genuinely surprised at her arrival.

"Oh, I just knocked three times." Tiffany said in an irritated voice. "If I had kept knocking, I think that instead of standing on your doorstep for about ten minutes, I would have to stand for ten years till the knock reached your ears through all that."

I sweat-dropped before rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "Sorry, girl."

"Yeah, yeah…" Tiffany smirked before heading into my living room and throwing herself onto the couch. "It's so messy in here…"

Tiffany never approved of my living room, especially the Xbox sitting on the center table with DVD cases strewn all over the place.

"Ah, sorry…" I walked over and wiped all of the DVD cases off the table and onto the floor with a single swipe. "Breakfast?"

"Sure." Tiffany picked up the remote, leaned back into the leather couch and switched the TV on.

I went into the kitchen, Raven trotting at my heels. I set out a bowl of chocolate milk on the counter and the feline instantly jumped up, licking away at the contents of its bowl.

"Ya know…" Tiffany said, "For a cat you picked off the streets, that one's got swell manners."

"Hmm?" I called out of the kitchen, setting two bowls of Cheerios on the tray. "What do you mean?"

I sat next to her on the couch, handing her a bowl.

"Yay, Cheerios!" she said. We're just like elementary kids. Well, we've been friends for longer than that.

"So?" I nodded in the direction of the cat.

"I mean…" Tiffany munched. "…remember Corky?"

"That spoilt cat of yours?" I sipped on my orange juice. "After it scratched me on my first visit to your house? Barely."

"Sarcastic bitch."

"So what about it?" I asked, shoving a spoonful of cereal into my mouth.

"She always made a lot more mess…" Tiffany looked at Raven. "Your cat doesn't spill a blot of milk. I just got past the point of thinking its preference for chocomilk is weird."

"Huh…" I set my glass on the table. The TV played some rap music video. "…I guess that is pretty weird…"

"Does it conduct its business indoors?" Tiffany nudged my arm, staring at the cat on the counter.

"No…it always shits outdoors, probably…" I said.

"Oh my god!"

"What?!" Tiffany's sudden outburst took me aback.

"Look, for fuck's sake!"

I turned to see a few drops of milk on the counter. Raven's sleek black furry face was drenched in milk.

"Raven!" I rushed to clean it up. "Really, Tif."

"Oh lord, Ash…" Tiffany yelled. "Your cat literally snorted into that bowl when you talked about it shitting!"

"Seriously."

"Oh, come on!" Tiffany hollered. "That cat is downright weird! And I'm not kidding. It snorted!"

"As if in disdain?" I gave her a mildly amused look.

"As if in disdain!" Tiffany yelled. "Wait…you're mocking me, aren't you?!" She pouted at my grin.

I wiped the milk off Raven and set it on the ground.

"There," I said. "See, Tif? Nothing wrong with it."

"B-but-"

"Tif…" I looked at her, aghast. "Remember seventh grade?"

She looked at me.

"You said that the guy living next door to Aria was a vampire?"

"…yeah, the blood he was supposedly drinking out of a bottle was just very dark wine…" Tiffany rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is," I patted Tiffany's back. "That, Tif, you're just really superstitious. I know you never approved of my cat since it is black…"

"All right. Fine." Tiffany said. "Perhaps it's just a coincidence…"

"Yeah." I said, as we returned to our positions on the couch. We sat in silence for a while, finishing our Cheerios.

"'Kay, guess we should get going…classes should start pretty soon, and we have to get to work too…" Tiffany said. Besides attending university, we had also joined part-time jobs at the same electronics company for graphics design (me) and software engineering (Tiffany).

So I quickly grabbed my stuff, kissed Raven's head, turned off the lights, locked the door, and we hopped into my car. I tossed the keys to Tiffany.

As Tiffany drove and I fiddled with the stereo, I couldn't help pondering over Tiffany's words.

"…just a coincidence…"

Raven had the silver bracelet on his arm.

The same bracelet I gave him.

The bracelet I saw digging into Sebastian Michaelis's wrist yesterday.

Perhaps it was a coincidence?

"Hey, Ash?"

I was shaken out of my thoughts by Tiffany's voice.

"Let's go to the mall at 5:00 pm this evening. I need to buy a new dress for this 13th." Tiffany said.

"This 13th?" I asked. "Why?"

"…" And suddenly I remembered.

"Oh my gosh…I'm so sorry…" I gasped. "It's your first month anniversary with Glade!"

Tiffany huffed. Glade was a guy she had a crush on since…well, three months. They started dating a month ago. He was about 5'9" tall, with a pale face, bronze eyes and shining blonde hair which hung low over his eyebrows. In short, he was the hottest guy any of us were dating.

Yeah. Aria, Eliza, Kate and Jan all had boyfriends. I was the only single, workaholic creeper. I don't know Eliza and Jan all that well. Aria and Kate are high school friends. Tif and I are diaper buddies. Our moms were BFFs.

My parents currently lived in France, where my dad had his export business. The business was a success, so they get to live in luxury, and even give me a house in California. I also earn now, so I'm not actually challenged for money.

"Okay, Tif, you remember that Sebastian guy from yesterday?"

"DJ Mystique? Hell yeah." Tiffany said, without taking her eyes off the road. "You know what? You're single. You should totally date him."

"…where did that come from?"

"Oh, c'mon now, Ash!" Tiffany exclaimed. "You guys would look so cute together!"

I smacked her arm. "You're making me forget my point."

"…okay…" Tiffany said, giggling.

"He invited all of us over on the 13th, and you guys get to go meet him too." I finished.

Tiffany literally took her eyes off the road to gape at me like a fish.

"SERIOUSLY?" she struggled as I forced her to face the road.

"No, I'm just joking to make you kill us."

"Wow…" Tiffany looked at the road, still awestruck. "You guys got that far in two hours?"

"What do you mean, 'that far'?" I yelled. "We were having a friendly conversation, and he just invited us all to the club."

Tiffany giggled. "Sure. And DJ Mystique just gives out his identity to anyone."

I frowned. "I found that slightly odd too…but he told all of you too…so why single me out?"

"Because," Tiffany took the tone a mom would use to convince a five-year-old, "he talked to us longer than he spoke to you before the movie, but there seemed to be a sparkle in his eyes when he talked to you."

"…huh?" I looked at her, aghast. "I don't quite get you."

"Gosh, Ash…" Tiffany said, as she parked my car in the driveway, and we reached for our messenger bags. "You're the thickest chick when it comes to guys, aren't you?"

"…fuck you."

"Thing is…" Tiffany continued, totally disregarding my disdain. "…he was interested in you, the plainest, quietest, least social and clearly the purest chick in our bunch."

"…okay, now you're just insulting me." I frowned, shoving my stuff into the locker and bringing out a large math course book.

"Really, Ashlyn?" Tiffany interjected. "When's the last time you wore flashy stuff like pink minis or sequined tops? I always see you in maroon or…" she pinched the sleeve of my black 'My Chemical Romance' t-shirt, "…black."

"And what exactly went wrong with black and maroon?" I glared.

"It's too laid back and blends too well."

"SO?"

"Indicating you're plain." Tiffany and I walked down the corridor. "Wear orange or pink or yellow or even bright green."

I looked at Tiffany in a light pink top, white short-shorts and white high heels. Then I looked down at myself in a black tee, navy blue skinnys and black Converses.

"…I think I'll pass…" I said simply, leaving Tiffany with the O.O; face. "C'mon, it's not gonna suit me in the slightest."

Tiffany sighed deeply. In a prolonged manner. "Gosh, arguing with you is worse than pointless."

"Couldn't I say the same for you even more often?"

"…well, fuck you." She grumbld. "Anyways, let's grab the girls and go to Black Stone this 13th, 'kay?"

"Ya." I nodded, as we entered the classroom, and took our seats at the back.

"And we buy ourselves two dresses tonight,'kay?"

"Sur-wait, what?" I yelled. "I've got enough dresses to wear!"

Tiffany flipped me off as she turned to texting on her phone.

"Tiffany-"

She flipped me off again. I could feel another anime tick forming on my head.

"…whatever." I groaned, burying myself behind a math textbook.