- Oops, I Missed a Heat Cycle… or Three -
Deep in thought, Max hunched over the low bench at Jam Pony, absorbing the words before her at a speed impossible of any human. She didn't even notice Alec's arrival until he was leaning right over her shoulder.
"Hey Max," he chirped, "Whatcha doin'?"
She jumped, immediately slamming shut the heavy book resting on the narrow wooden panel, but not before Alec managed to stick in his hand to keep her place.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, though his injury didn't prevent him from snatching the object of interest up into his grasp, and away from Max.
"Hey," she leapt up from her seat, lunging toward him, "give that back!"
But he ducked out of the way while glancing at the cover, and read aloud, "Animal physiology." He looked at Max. "What do you need this for?" Then the proverbial light bulb went off behind his eyes, and he raised his eyebrows as understanding dawned. "Oh, does it have something to do with the cure for the virus?"
Max pondered this a moment, her face glazing over blankly. Finally, she answered, "Yes."
He nodded and flipped the book open to the page she'd been reading. "Why are you looking at the section on feline mating cycles?"
"Uh," she stuttered, trying to keep from panicking, "because… I have feline DNA… and it might help with, you know…" Suddenly, her gaze narrowed and she scowled at him. "Was there something you wanted, Alec?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nope. Just bored, is all." He glanced around the interior of Jam Pony. "Business sure has been slow around here lately," he observed. Even Normal wasn't yelling his usual bip, bip, bips, since a great many of them had nowhere to bip to.
"Well, find your entertainment elsewhere," she snapped, snatching her book back. "Oh look, there are a couple of girls you haven't slept with yet."
Alec immediately turned to follow her line of vision. "No," he replied, sounding slightly disappointed, "I'm pretty sure I've slept with the one on the left there… and I'm positive I slept with the one on the right. What was her name again? It rhymed with something she does very well…"
Max frowned, staring at the other woman. "Is she foreign?"
"Um, I don't think so. Why?"
"Well, I'm just wondering what kind of parents would give their kid a name that rhymed with 'fake an orgasm'."
"Ha, ha," Alec replied dryly. "Brooke!"
Max blinked. "What?"
"Rhymes with cook." He gave her a disapproving look. "You know, I do appreciate other things in life besides sex."
"Yeah, money and food. What broad horizons you have."
"That's more than I can say for you."
"Huh?"
Alec nodded toward her book, failing to notice the slight paling of Max's usually coppery skin. "The virus."
"Oh," she exhaled in relief. "Shut up."
A momentary look of hurt flashed across Alec's face, but then he grinned. "You know what, I think I'll go reacquaint myself with Brooke," he looked toward the blonde who was now alone, leisurely flipping through a magazine, and his grin widened. "Get myself a second helping."
Max attempted to suppress the disappointment that surged up as she watched him swagger away. Ah well, maybe it was for the better. After all, she couldn't have him dwelling any further on the question of why she was researching the details of her feline mating cycles. How was she to explain to him, or to anyone else, that she hadn't had a heat episode in almost a year – and that disappointed her? But how else was she supposed to follow through on her plan…
She grinned suddenly. Well, if worst came to worst, she could always fake it.