Gordie let Chris inside, not paying any attention to his father's glare as he led his friend down the hall to his room. Chris, however, smiled politely even though the gesture wasn't returned.
"I have made a mess," Chris announced.
"Great. Me too," Gordie replied. "That's why I called you to come over." He paused in front of his closed bedroom door.
"We're not going in?" he asked.
"Yes," he said slowly. "But…it's where my mess is."
"In your bed?"
Gordie laughed. "No." He carefully opened the door, sticking his foot out when a brown blur tried to shoot past.
"Holy mother--" Chris jumped back. "What the hell was that?"
He bent down and picked the ragged animal up. "This is a cat."
"It IS?" He peered closely at it. "Well, I'll be damned. It is. Woah. You have a cat?"
"No."
"I'm confused."
"I'm going to have to tell you about my night in order to explain where this beast comes from."
Chris nodded thoughtfully, going into the room and flopping down on Gordie's bed. "Sounds good. Then I'm going to have to tell you about my day when you're done."
"I am so fucking bored," Vern muttered.
"You have your own home," Teddy reminded him.
"It's boring there."
The two of them had opened up an umbrella and set it upside down in the middle of Teddy's basement. They were now tossing rolled up socks into it lazily.
"I saw you walk home with that Lorelei girl you like again," Vern said monotonously.
"I already told you--I don't like her," Teddy said impatiently.
"You do so," he laughed.
"I do not!"
"I'll bet you any money you do!"
"FINE! Because I DON'T!"
"You love her."
"Shut up."
"You want to kiss her and hold her hand and buy her presents."
Teddy began to pelt him with socks. "Shut up!"
"Swear on Superman that you don't like her?"
"AUUUGGGGHHH!!!" Teddy roared, tackling him to the ground.
"I was right!" Vern cried, a shrill laughter in his voice. "I was right!"
"If you tell anyone, Verno, I will rip off your leg and hit you with it."
"Heeheeheehee, does she love you too?"
"NO. She's stupid. Apparently she's all cozy with that Aarons jerk."
"Reese? Isn't he going out with that blond girl?"
"Holy shit! You didn't hear? CHAMBERS stole her right from under Reese's nose!"
"WOAH!" Vern cried. "I always knew I liked Chris! And I also always knew you liked Lorelei."
"Shut up."
"You shut up. Retard."
Gordie was flopped over in his beanbag chair laughing hysterically, while Chris convulsed with giggles on the floor (He had fallen off the bed a long time ago).
Eventually they calmed down, but they couldn't look at each other or else they would most likely start laughing again. Chris chuckled, "This has been a weird week so far."
"And it's only Tuesday," Gordie added. "So, I'm going to rehash this to see if I understand completely. You've got a girl who wants to be with you but can't because her best friend also LOVES you. Yeah?"
"It's about damn time I get some lovin'."
Gordie began to giggle again, distractedly scratching Cat under her chin. "I'll say."
"Okay," Chris laughed, using his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face. "Okay, now to you. Yesterday, you hated everything about Brooke, which is the last time I saw you. Then, you get into a fight with her, which somehow makes you realize you can tolerate her after all. Then, you get into another fight with your father, which makes you phone her. So the next time I see you, you have a new friend and a cat?"
Gordie nodded, grinning. "Sounds about right."
They looked at each other from across the room and burst out laughing again.
"That is one sorry looking cat," Chris laughed. "Did you feed it?"
"Yeah, I gave her milk." He fell over sideways, his entire body shaking with giggles. "And a donut."
"You gave the hobo cat a donut?" Chris cried.
"Hey, if you were homeless, wouldn't you want a donut?"
"I suppose so…Um, did you give it a name?"
"Cat."
"Creative, Gordie." He grinned. "Does it smell bad?"
"Actually, not really. I tried giving her a bath, but she wouldn't go in the tub. And then I tried throwing a bucketful of soapy water at her but she moved too quick."
"So that's why it smells like Mr. Clean in here."
"No, Chris, that's my incense." Gordie smiled as Cat attacked a dirty gym sock. "I'm still trying to think of a sneaky way to clean her."
"Got any Windex?"
"You want me to spray my cat with window cleaner?"
Chris bobbed his head up and down.
"Will it kill her?"
"Oh no," Chris promised. "It'll make her shiny."
Gordie looked at Cat. "I did tell Brooke that I was going to take her to an animal shelter in the morning. It would be nice if I brought her in looking pretty. Then she might get adopted or something."
"You're not taking this cat anywhere!" Chris snapped. "She's our mascot."
