Chapter Two: Why Does My Day Delay? Why Can't Time Just Flow Away?
When Electra dared to venture from her pipe late that night in search of a tasty mouse to munch on, the first thing she heard was… nothing. There was clearly no one around, and if there was, they were not moving and not making a sound. This was good. Now she didn't have to face a hundred thousand cats asking her what was wrong or why Jemima was so mad at her. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now.
She glanced around in search of a tasty morsel. Ah, there was one, over by the tire! She crouched down low and watched it for a few minutes, then with a great leap, pounced high in the air and landed a good ten feet away from it with an 'Oomph!'
"Darn it!" she cried as the mouse scurried away. She quickly followed it, spotting no other rodent in the immediate vicinity to chase after. The mouse scurried over the tire and up a junk pile. Electra crouched, waiting for the opportune moment, and pounced again. She missed. Again. I wish I could pounce as good as Pouncival or Tumblebrutus she thought desperately. They would be biting that little mouse's head off right now.
The mouse had stopped and was looking around frantically for the cat. Electra crouched down again, ready to pounce…
Squish.
A black paw had appeared out of no where and grabbed the tail while another black paw sunk its claws deep into the mouse's flesh. Squish. Electra cried out.
The smiling white face of Mistoffelees suddenly appeared out of the shadows. His grin got even larger as he pulled the lifeless rodent from his claws and handed it to Electra.
"I would have gotten it!" she said indignantly.
"Sure," said the magician sarcastically. "Why are you out hunting so late?"
"Don't you know?" asked Electra, surprised at her own ability to talk to her crush without stammering over her words.
"Electra, I'm a magician. I'm not physic," said Mistoffelees. Electra raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so just a little bit. But I'm no Tantomile. Answer the question."
"What I meant was, I thought you could figure it out from whatever Jemima told you," said Electra glumly, just now realizing that Jemima would have told Mistoffelees that she had a crush on him. What did he think of her now? Well, the fact that he hadn't run away screaming at the sight of her was a good sign… she hoped.
"I just came out now so I wouldn't have to face Jemima," whispered Electra.
Mistoffelees sighed and looked away.
"Why are you out here so late?" asked Electra curiously.
The tuxedo cat had now brought his gaze up towards the stars. "Just came out here to think about things, that's all."
"Think about what sort of things?" asked Electra curiously.
"I don't know," sighed Mistoffelees in the tone of voice that suggested to Electra that he knew perfectly well what.
"The stars are nice tonight," said Electra, trying to make conversation.
"The stars are always nice," murmured Mistoffelees.
"Except when it's cloudy," said Electra.
"No, the stars are still nice, even then," said Mistoffelees. "If you took a diamond and covered it with a sheet, does that make the diamond less beautiful? No, it only means that you are not meant to see its beauty at that moment. But the time will come when the sheet is taken away. It always does."
Electra was not quite so sure how to respond to this statement, so she said nothing. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, Mistoffelees looking at the stars and Electra looking at Mistoffelees. "Misto, what's wrong?" asked the brown queen gently.
"What do you mean?" asked Mistoffelees quietly, bringing his gaze down from the stars and looking Electra directly in the eye. She almost melted. "Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong."
"Cats just don't sit on piles of junk, late at night, looking at the stars, thinking about nothing," said Electra. "Something's on your mind. You're upset, it's obvious. What's wrong?"
Mistoffelees sighed. "Are you sure you're not the one who's physic?" he murmured, turning away from Electra.
"Rest assured that I know nothing more than that which is blatantly obvious," said Electra, proud of herself for using such adult-like words. The tuxedo cat smiled, and said nothing for a few minutes.
"Jemima said…" he began, and Electra gritted her teeth. It was coming now, Misto was going to tell her that Jemima said that she had a huge crush on him. Oh, she was going to be so embarrassed! Luckily it was dark, he wouldn't see her blush quite as much…
"Jemima said she couldn't go to the ball with me," whispered Mistoffelees painfully.
"She said she couldn't go to the ball with you?!?" exclaimed Electra.
"You don't need to rub it in," said Mistoffelees gloomily.
"I'm sorry," said Electra quickly. "I'm just… I can't… why would she do that?"
The magician shook his head dejectedly. "I don't know. She probably got a better offer. From Pouncival or Alonzo or someone. Maybe even Tugger. He said he was looking for a way to make Bombalurina jealous."
"That's not like Jemima," said Electra quietly.
"Yeah, you're right," said Mistoffelees glumly. "But I can't really blame her. I mean, how am I supposed to compare with Tugger or Alonzo?"
"Oh come, Misto, there are lots of queens that like you," pleaded Electra.
"Oh really?" said Mistoffelees sarcastically. "Like who?"
"Like… I don't know…" Electra trailed off.
"I told you," said Mistoffelees, shaking his head. "Tugger was right, queen like toms with muscles and good looks who slouch a lot. You buy into it too, Electra!"
"No, I don't!" protested Electra.
"Really? Then why do you like Tugger so much?" he asked.
"I… I don't," stammered Electra.
"Of course you do," murmured Mistoffelees. "You all do. How am I supposed to compete with him? It's not my fault I'm small. I can't help it if I'm shy. And if I want to stand up straight, is there really something wrong with that?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with that," said Electra quickly.
"Then why do queens like Jemima always ditch me?" he asked. "You know, I really liked her! I still do! I thought she liked me too. I thought she was mature and wouldn't care that I'd rather sit in the background than be the center of attention. But I guess, you know, no matter how mature you are, toms like Alonzo and Tugger are always going to come out ahead of me. I guess I better get used to it."
Electra tried desperately not to start crying on the spot.
"I'm sorry, Electra," murmured Mistoffelees suddenly. "You probably feel really uncomfortable… I'll just go…"
"No, wait," said Electra suddenly. She took a deep breath. "Jemima didn't leave you because she got another offer."
"Then why did she?" asked Mistoffelees.
Electra bit her lip. "She dumped you because… well, because… I told her too."
Mistoffelees rounded on Electra. "You what?"
"I told her to dump you," said Electra, her eyes filling up with tears. "I'm really sorry. I wasn't thinking, I didn't think she would actually do it…"
"Well she did do it!" cried Mistoffelees, his brown eyes flashing.
"Listen, Misto, I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen…"
"Just tell me why."
"What?"
"Tell me why you told her to break up with me."
Electra swallowed. "Well… um… I guess I owe it to you to be honest, so… uh… I was jealous. There! Now it's out."
Mistoffelees blinked. "You were… jealous? Why? Because she had a date to the dance and you didn't?"
"No!" cried Electra. "Well, yes, that was part of it, but the most of it was that her date to the dance was you!"
Mistoffelees blinked again.
"Do you need me to spell it out for you?" cried Electra, now rather angry at his stubbornness. "I L-I-K-E Y-O-U. There! I like you!"
Mistoffelees didn't say anything.
"Well, say something!" sputtered Electra.
"Um… alright," said Mistoffelees, lifting his eyes and gazing at Electra. "Will you go to the Jellicle Ball with me?"
*~*
"Jemi!"
Jemima turned around to see Electra running towards her. "Come to yell at me some more?" she asked gloomily.
"No, I came to apologize," said Electra frantically. "I was a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge idiot and I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry."
"No, I should be the one apologizing, Lec," sighed Jemima. "I should have known you liked Misto! I mean, it was rather obvious, considering you turned into a pile of Jell-O every time you saw him. I should have put two and two together, but I was so caught up in my own infatuation with him that I didn't see it. I'm sorry."
Electra did not want to seem stupid, so she did not ask what in the Heaviside 'infatuation' meant. She would have to ask Jennyanydots later. "No, Jemima, it's not your fault," she said. "How could I blame you? All you did was ask a tom to the ball. I'm sorry."
Jemima smiled weakly. "Apology accepted."
"But you were kind of an idiot, though," said Electra.
"What do you mean?" asked Jemima.
"You dumped him!" cried Electra. "What were you thinking?"
Jemima looked at the ground. "Well, I thought, you know, its kind of stupid to throw away a lifelong friendship for a relationship with a tom that might only last a couple days."
"Yeah, it is," sighed Electra. "I was a real idiot, huh? From now on, friends before toms, okay?"
"Okay," smiled Jemima. "Deal."
They sat in silence for a few moments, until Electra said, "So, are you going to ask him back out?"
Jemima turned to her in surprise. "Are you kidding me?"
Electra smiled. "Nope."
Jemima shook her head. "Friends before toms, remember, or did you forget already? I'm not going to ask him out if you like him. That's just cruel."
"No, it's okay, I swear," said Electra. "Friends before toms also means you'll support your friends when they find a tom – no matter who it is."
"Unless it's Tugger," laughed Jemima. Electra nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, he's kind of an exception to every rule, isn't he?"
"So you'll be okay with it if I ask him out?"
"Who, Tugger?"
"No, stupid!" said Jemima, rolling her eyes. "Mistoffelees!"
"Oh, him," said Electra. "Yeah, I'm okay with it. Besides, you two make a cuter couple than me and him anyway."
Jemima smiled. "Thanks, Electra. You're a real friend."
"Any time, Jemi, any time."
*~*
The Jellicle Ball was in full swing. Electra watched Mistoffelees and Jemima dance happily together from her perch on the tire. They were both extraordinary dancers, which was another reason why they made a good couple. Electra did not exactly consider herself graceful.
Everyone was smiling, singing, dancing, rejoicing. Old Deuteronomy would be appearing soon and then the Jellicle Ball would really begin. Electra smiled to look at them all… Mistoffelees and Jemima, Victoria and Plato, Munkustrap and Demeter, Tugger and Everyone, Alonzo and Cassandra, Admetus and Exotica, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer, and Jemima had even gotten Etcetera to dance with Pouncival for awhile. Everyone was so happy, and Electra was especially happy because Jemima was happy. The youngest kitten of the tribe was having the time of her life, and it was obvious.
"Hey, Electra, why aren't you dancing?" asked a voice behind her. The brown queen expected it to be Mistoffelees, but when she turned around, she was surprised to see the patched face of Tumblebrutus smiling back at her.
"Well, I'm not really much of a dancer," admitted Electra truthfully.
"It's okay, I know what you mean," said Tumblebrutus, moving forward to sit next to her. "I can do tumbles and flips and stuff, but I'm not that good at that graceful stuff."
Electra laughed. "Yeah, same here. So who are you here with?"
Tumblebrutus looked down at his paws. "To tell the truth – no one."
"Yeah, me too," said Electra, also looking down at her paws. They sat for a few moments in awkward silence.
"So, um, Electra," began Tumblebrutus. "Do you wanna go… uh… be ungraceful… together?"
Electra laughed, and took Tumblebrutus's paw in hers, causing him to blush heavily. "Sure."
So in the end, the sheet that had been covering up the beautiful diamond was lifted off. Just like Mistoffelees said it would. So things hadn't worked out the way Electra would once have liked them to. She could deal with that. And who knew? Maybe her time with Mistoffelees would come on another warm summer night. Maybe it wouldn't. Right now, she didn't really care either way. She would face whatever life and love threw at her with her friends always at her side.
If that wasn't comforting, she didn't know what was.
~fini~
Author's Note: Can it be? Can it really be? Did Jemi Gr not only just write a story that was not Mistoffelees/Electra but Mistoffelees/Jemima instead? Why yes, I do believe it's true! *faints*
I still say Misto and Leccy look cuter together though. Ah well. Now you can't say I didn't try Misto and Jem.
jemi gr, 1-august-2003
