*Chapter 10*
~Blue Lotus~
At eight o'clock, the SpongeBob marathon finally ended. Kitty stretched out her stiff limbs before slowly rising off the couch that she had occupied most of the day. She looked around the seemingly empty apartment for her companions. She found a note from Logan on the fridge. It seemed that he'd gone off to work on something and wouldn't make it back for dinner; in fact, he probably wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Great, now we have to walk both ways. She mentally grumbled. Now where did Zero go? Kitty wondered. Kitty checked the living room, the kitchen/dinning room, the bathroom, Logan's room (just in case), and finally their room. She found him curled into a ball on his bed with his pillow pulled over his head.
"What are you doing?" Kitty asked as she balanced on the ladder. He remained silent. "Can you even hear me?" She demanded raising her voice slightly. Still he said nothing. She suppressed a sigh, reached forward, and phased the pillow out of his grip. "What are you doing?" Kitty asked again. He blinked owlishly in surprise. When he still didn't answer, she poked him in the side. "Well?"
"Uh, nothing." He mumbled as he twisted away from her.
"Right. Well it's time for dinner so come down and help me." She commanded. Kitty slid down the ladder and scampered into the kitchen to sort through their supply of frozen pizza. She selected a medium sized cheese pizza and prepared to put it in the oven, but before she could, Zero snatched it away from her and studied the instructions.
"Hey!" She exclaimed. "What the heck are you doing?"
"Reading the directions." He calmly replied. "You are supposed to preheat the oven first." He added after a moment, twisting the dial to the correct temperature.
"Without the pizza in it?" Kitty asked confusedly.
"Ja, without the pizza in it." Zero flatly confirmed.
"So that's why all my pizzas came out still cold." Kitty muttered to herself. Zero stared incredulously at her.
"Do you ever read the directions?" He asked.
"Only when I have to." Kitty replied. Zero slowly shook his head. "What?" Kitty demanded. Zero didn't answer; he simply turned and went to wait for the pizza to be ready by the TV. She glared at his retreating back but he failed to notice. Barely a minute after he vanished from her line of sight she heard the hushed buzz of the TV turning on. Kitty sighed as she leaned back against the counter. What's the matter with not reading the directions? I think I'm smart enough to figure out most stuff on my own. She thought stubbornly. I've done it plenty of times before and everything worked out just fine.
Why is he so stiff and cold all the time? Kitty wondered shifting her focus to the German Mutant sitting in the adjoining room. I try so hard to get along with him but he has to make some effort too and he isn't. I try to talk to him and he ignores me. I tried to make him a nice breakfast, which for some reason doesn't turn out quite right, and he gives me a nasty look like I did it on purpose. If I had any real choice in this I'd have given up and left last week, but I don't. Kitty thought, she washed her hands in the small stainless steel kitchen sink. Not that I'm a quitter or anything.
She dried her hands on a ragged dishtowel as she peered through the doorway to spy in on Zero. He was completely lost in the glow of the television screen, aware of little, if anything, else. Kitty turned back to the small kitchen and looked up at the wall clock. The oven had preheated long enough, she tossed the frozen disk into the oven and checked the directions this time (just to make sure) before setting the timer. Now that everything was set, she wandered over to where Zero sat spacing out on the flickering electronic screen.
***
Zero sat relaxing in front of the television at peace for the first time today. First, he'd woken up to a rude and painful yank on his tail, which resulted in an unplanned teleportation. Then, there'd been those pancakes; he shuddered at the memory of their foul taste. And finally, there was that SpongeBob cartoon marathon that lasted all day long and grated on his nerves like sandpaper. But that was all over now, and, for the moment, all was well. Or maybe not.
He felt the couch shift slightly beneath him and heard the faint creak of springs as Kitty sat down next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her sitting with her knees hugged to her chest impassively watching the news announce the dismal happenings of the world. Zero refocused on the TV but remained aware of her presence, he didn't want to experience a repeat of the 'Jaws' incident. Thankfully, she kept to herself this time.
About a half an hour later the oven timer shrieked signaling that dinner was ready. Kitty hurried off to turn the oven off and remove the pizza while Zero slowly turned off the TV and made his way to the kitchen. When he entered the cramped kitchen /dinning room, he found Kitty struggling to slice the cheese pizza. The steel pizza cutter skittered through the cheese while completely failing to cut through the crust. She looked frustrated and maybe a little bit desperate as she continued her losing battle with the uncuttable pizza.
Zero watched her silently for a minute or so more before he came to a decision. Kitty flinched in surprise as Zero took the cutter from her hand and completed the task of slicing up the stubborn pizza. They weren't the neatest slices in the world but he'd never cut a pizza before so they were good enough, not that he really cared if they were or not. He silently passed her a plate before filling his own and sitting down to eat.
"Thanks." She timidly said.
"You are welcome." He mumbled. They ate in silence, with Mr. Logan gone Kitty had no one to talk to. There were times when Kitty would open her mouth to say something but then she'd change her mind and shut it again. Zero could tell that she was relieved when they finished dinner. She quickly dumped her plate in the sink and scurried off to change. Zero sighed at her foolishness; he thought it was silly to change just because you were going somewhere when what you were wearing at the moment was just fine. It took almost an hour for her to finish her pointless primping and meet him by the door. Zero activated his holographic disguise and waited until the shimmering image of light stabilized before he followed Kitty out of the building.
He was confused when he found that Mr. Logan wasn't waiting for them in the black SUV. Come to think of it, where had the older Mutant been during dinner? Kitty, however, seemed quite confident as she kept on walking not once pausing to look or wait for the older man. Zero hesitantly followed her lead; it appeared that they would be walking both ways tonight. This would take longer giving him more time to think about what awaited him. He shivered at the very thought of the crazy club crowds and his tail reflexively tightened around his leg. But he'd survived last night so he could do it again, right?
***
Kitty walked along at a brisk pace trying to get to the club as quickly as possible. It was cold and windy outside and her partying outfit wasn't much protection against it. She rubbed her hands together in a futile attempt to gain some extra heat through friction, but in the end, she just felt colder. Hey, did I just see my breath? She idly wondered. The chill air made the long walk seem like hours when it was barely 15 minutes away. By the time, the Blue Lotus was in sight Kitty felt like a human ice cube.
She hurriedly wove through the clustered groups of people that congregated in front of the popular nightspot. She quickly paid the admission fee for two people and roughly pulled her reluctant partner inside. Kitty gratefully entered the club reveling in the sudden warmth and surge of energetic dance music. She half-shouted a promise to touch base every hour to Zero before walking away. Kitty ignored his lost and mildly confused look; she had things to do, people to meet, and not enough time to do it in.
The first person Kitty found was Amanda Sefton. Kitty met her last night as she got acquainted with the club. She seemed nice enough and Kitty quickly made friends with her. The African girl probably wasn't connected to her mission but there were times when it was nice just to have a friend. They danced, chatted about the latest episode of 'Friends', and spent an hour or two guy watching. They moved around the club meeting up with some of Amanda's crowd and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Kitty knew she should be on the lookout for anyone suspicious but right now, she didn't care, she was having too much fun. This is way better than spending the whole day cooped up in that tiny apartment with Zero! Kitty thought. But then something else occurred to her. What time is it? She peeked at her watch and was shocked to discover that four hours had somehow passed.
"Oh crap!" Kitty hissed; she hadn't checked in with Zero once.
"What?" Amanda half-shouted over the noise.
"I promised someone that I'd stop by and say hi and I completely forgot about it! Now I'm super late!" Kitty cried.
"Who?" Amanda yelled back curiously.
"I'll be right back!" Kitty shouted over her shoulder as she hurried off through the dense crowd. She made a quick stop at the bar and bought a 7up before pushing her way through the sea of people seeking her partner. Thankfully, he wasn't hard to find. He was sitting in the same spot as last time, the perfect picture of bored indifference. Maybe I didn't have to be so worried after all. Kitty mused as she observed the young German Mutant. But the instant she slid him the pop can his demeanor completely changed. He looked up sharply at her his eyes revealing his nervousness and maybe even a little bit of panic. Zero relaxed only slightly when he recognized her.
"Where were you?" He quietly demanded.
"Lost track of time." Kitty explained. "Sorry." Before he could respond, she slipped off again satisfied that Zero would last a few hours longer.
"Who did you have to meet?" Amanda called as the two girls met back up on the far side of the dance floor.
"Nobody special." Kitty replied dismissively. "Now what were we talking about?" Kitty asked changing the subject. Amanda looked as if she might ask more but let it drop. They gossiped for the rest of the night on everything from movies and television series to crushes and boyfriends. The night was near perfect except for when some random drunk guy decided to bother them. Luck for them another guy came to their rescue and dragged the drunk away. Their savior returned shortly after to make sure that they were all right. Before Kitty could strike up a conversation with the handsome teen her wristwatch alarm screamed for attention. It was time to go.
Kitty reluctantly said her good-byes and went to fetch Zero. She roughly dragged him out of the Blue Lotus without a word, not that he would care, he never cared about anything. The biting cold air hit her like a slap across the face as she shoved Zero out the door, but she pressed on. The faster she went the sooner she'd get home. Once they were past the crowd around the club, she let go of him and he eagerly put some distance between them. She hurried on ahead while he trailed a few steps behind. The streets were virtually devoid of people, but that was to be expected at such a late hour, not that this fact made Kitty feel any better about it.
She spotted Zero out of the corner of her eye as he silently trudged on. She watched as he passed in and out of the shafts of illumination provided by the street lamps. Seeing him this way reminded her of a shadow, a colorless, featureless reflection. Zero was just like one, an empty reflection of a person who followed the commands of others without question or thought. Kitty wondered if there was even a real person in there anymore, it certainly didn't look like it to her. She shivered.
Kitty hurriedly pressed on home to escape the cold October night and the unnerving silence of Zero's company. She sighed in relief when the cracked facade of the apartment building finally came into view. She scampered up the front steps and up several flights of stairs before arriving at door number 19, home. Kitty was so eager to get inside she didn't bother unlocking the door and simply phased through it instead leaving Zero to find his own way in. Now for a shower. Just what I need to help me relax before bed!