Four: Out With the Lady

Tugger stared at the scribbling on the blackboard at the café. He had never bothered much with human writing, which was rather unfortunate right now. He had learned the numbers when Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had taught him about money, but that was basically all he recognized. Paige, who's cheeks were still red and eyes practically sparkling with happiness, was reading the menu intently.

"What are you having?" she asked.

"Whatever you're having, love," he replied smoothly. "Here you go." He dug into his pocket and produced several large coins, which he handed over to Paige. "It's on me."

She giggled. "Okay. You can go and find us a table in the meantime."

Tugger bowed his head. "As you wish."

He picked out a table by the window and sat down. The café was quite small and had little business compared to the others on that street, but it smelled fresh and the food looked good, so Tugger didn't complain. The ex-cat sat and looked out on the street as he waited for Paige. People passed him, clearly in a hurry to get to wherever it was that humans got to, no one stopped to notice or admire anything.

'What dull little lives they must be living,' thought Tugger and shook his head.

Suddenly he spotted something black-and-white disappearing into a trash can, hiding from view. Tugger squinted. Everlasting Cat, would he ever get used to these weak human eyes? Even so, his poor eyesight was quite enough to figure out that he was being watched. Probably by Mistoffelees.

'He got well-rested quickly enough,' thought Tugger bitterly. 'I shall have to talk this over with him. It's very impolite to spy on me.'

At that moment, Paige showed up. She was balancing a tray with two large cups of something sweet-smelling and foamy, and she carefully placed it on the table in front of Tugger. His first instinct was to refuse it, like he always refused everything, but then he figured that Paige probably would find that impolite. Her accepting it when her cat did it was a completely different thing than accepting that a potential date did it. So he smiled, said "thanks, love" and carefully watched how Paige proceeded to sip her drink. She grimaced momentarily and stirred some sort of white powder from a small paper bag into her cup. Then she sipped it again, now seemingly finding the taste more pleasant.

Tugger did the exact same thing. There were a lot of small paper bags in some sort of metal basket on the table, so he simply picked one, tore it open and stirred in the white powder. As he did so, some of the white foam that floated at the top of the liquid got stuck to his spoon, so he licked it off.

The taste of the foam was rather nonexistent. It was sweet and airy, like tasting a cloud or mist, and he detected that there was probably some kind of dairy involved as well. All in all, it was all right. The brown liquid that hid underneath on the other hand was a horrid, bitter explosion on his tongue, and he couldn't stop himself from grimacing at it. Thankfully his company did not seem to have noticed.

Tugger took a peek at Paige. She was stirring her drink with her spoon, watching the foam swirl as if hypnotized by it. It was clear that she was pretty nervous. Tugger had seen her on mornings when she had some major test in school, and he was reminded of that now.

"You alright, love?" he asked. "You look a little tense."

Paige jumped, surprised that he had spoken, and then her cheeks coloured. "Sorry, I was just... in my own world. Sorry. Um. How did you like your coffee?"

'Coffee,' Tugger repeated to himself. 'I have to remember that.'

"The best coffee I've ever tasted," he said, smiling.

It was not a lie, when you thought about it.

They ended up having quite a nice time. The digital clock in the café had turned five pm when Paige's eyes suddenly widened in horror and she fumbled for her mobile phone.

"Oh damn it, damn it, damn it..."

"What's the matter?" asked Tugger in surprise.

She had immediately gone from speaking rather enthusiastically about her cat (a subject that Tugger could discuss for hours) to freeze with a sudden realization.

"Oh, I'm in so much trouble! Mum's going to be furious! She's going to kill me!" wailed Paige and got up her phone. She groaned loudly. "I knew it! Five missed calls. Five. All from her. Why do I never remember to turn this thing back on after class is over?" She looked at Tugger, apologetically. "Would you excuse me for a second?"

He made some gesture that would mean: "of course, love, take all the time you need," and she quickly dialled a number.

Someone picked up after only one signal, and a worried woman's voice said something.

"Mum?"

This one syllable set off an inconsistent stream of words from the woman, clearly Mrs. Talbot. Tugger couldn't make them out from where he was sitting, but judging by the pained expression on Paige's face, she had managed to really upset her mother. Tugger had all the pity in the world for his youngest former owner. Mrs. Talbot had made such a fuss when he'd tipped over his food bowl in protest over her feeble attempts to satisfy his ever-changing demands. She had even threatened to "throw that damn spoiled cat out" when Paige had come home from school and gone into a tizzy about her darling Tiggery.

When Paige finally had apologized several times, explained where she'd been up until now and promised to come straight home, she hung up the phone and looked at Tugger. She seemed genuinely sad.

"I have to go now," she said. "Mum's really mad."

"Oh." Tugger sighed. "That's not good. I'd better walk you home, then."

Despite her situation, Paige smiled at him. "You'd do that? Walk me home?"

"Of course!" Tugger stood up and stretched out. He had grown awfully stiff over the hours, sitting in one position. "We'll go right now."

"Oh... okay."

Paige quickly gathered her things and stood up. The pair stepped out on to the streets again, which were quickly growing darker as the sun sunk lower and lower. Tugger was careful to make it seem like Paige was leading the way, even though he could have made it to her door with his eyes blindfolded. He knew every stone in the street. This was his territory. His grounds.

There was somebody there.

He knew it before he heard the smattering of the trash can by Paige's door, and when she jumped at the sound he remained calm and looked around. He saw the black tip of a tail disappearing, and before he even knew it he had stepped up to the trash can.

"Tom, don't," Paige called out nervously. "It's probably just a cat. There are a lot of them in this area."

"I know," murmured Tugger.

His hunting instinct had kicked in, and adrenaline mixed with testosterone coursed through his body. It made him want to fight and jump and... kill. If he'd kept his tail, it would have waved lazily from side to side by now. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he tilted his head. Slowly, slowly he leaned over the trashcan, looking into it...

"Got you!"

Triumphantly, Tugger fished up Mistoffelees from the trashcan. The magician hissed warningly but didn't dare use his magic. A real human was watching.

"Don't you dare spy on me, Misto," growled Tugger in a low but menacing voice.

Mistoffelees tried to look innocent. "Who, me? I was... just out for a walk."

Tugger had to bite his lip not to cry out his disbelief loudly. "You're a bad liar. You were spying. What, you're interested in how your little science project is doing?"

"I'm just looking out for you, Tug."

"Well, excuse me, but I don't like an audience while I'm trying to ask a queen out. Girl, I mean," he corrected himself. "Ask a girl out. So would you please bugger off!"

"Tom?" said Paige softly.

Tugger turned around, still holding Mistoffelees in a firm grip.

"Oh dear!" gasped Paige. "You should not be holding that!"

"It's okay, Paige. This is my cat. And he's been very naughty." He grinned widely and not unintimidatingly at Mistoffelees.

Paige looked at him oddly. "That's your cat? What's his name?"

Tugger paused to think, but not for very long. "Flee-bag."

"I beg your pardon?" Mistoffelees' voice sounded shocked, outraged and insulted. It was rather amusing.

"Yes. Flee-bag," repeated Tugger. "I've had some trouble with him. A real pest magnet, he is."

"Unhand me at once, you savage!" howled Mistoffelees and tried to claw at him. "You'll be sorry when you get back to the junkyard! I'll burn your mane off, you hear me? Let go of me!"

"He doesn't seem very happy," said Paige calmly.

"True, he doesn't," agreed Tugger. "He seems to have forgotten that I am so very big and he is so very small, and that I am fully capable of wringing his little neck."

"You..." Mistoffelees silenced and became completely still in Tugger's grip.

Tugger looked satisfied. "There. Now he remembers." He put down Mistoffelees on the ground. "Run home now, Flee-bag. And don't let me catch you sneaking out like that again."

Once back on all fours, Mistoffelees bolted immediately, shouting rude words at Tugger until his voice faded away into the evening.

"Sorry about that," said Tugger. "I just worry about him when he's out on his own. He's so tiny. Miniscule, in fact. And he only seems to understand it when I threat to do things like that. Not that I ever would," he added quickly. Then he groaned. "I made a mistake there, didn't I?"

"Yeah," admitted Paige. Her eyes looked a little sad.

"I'm really very sorry. Shouldn't have threatened to hurt my cat in front of the lady."

'You stupid idiot,' he thought, mentally kicking himself. 'Bad, bad idea to say that right in front of the cat-lover you're trying to impress. Idiot, idiot, idiot.'

Paige quirked a smile.

"Tell you what," said Tugger hurriedly. "Let me introduce you to Flee-bag one day. For real. Without, um, me being really stupid. And stuff. Would that be okay?"

Paige was wavering, which was a very good thing. She had blushed a bit once he'd suggested that she'd meet with "his" cat, and that was extremely promising. It showed that she would not be completely revolted by the prospect of seeing him, Tugger, again.

"Okay, then," she said, finally. "Um. When?"

"Tomorrow," replied Tugger quickly. "We can meet up some place, maybe have something to eat, and you can meet Flee-bag."

"That's really a horrid name for a cat."

Tugger smiled. "Then you can re-name him. Just say yes. Please?"

"Okay..." Paige's face was beginning to look like a beet by now. Her cheeks were practically glowing. "Um. I had a very nice time with you."

"I had a very nice time with you, too," said Tugger honestly. "I hope tomorrow will be the same."

"S-so do I. Wait a minute..." She dug around in her pocket and picket up a pen and a piece of paper, on which she scribbled some numbers. "This is to my cell phone. You can... You can call me if you want. Or, you know, if anything happens..."

Tugger took the paper and neatly folded it. He put it the pocket of his comfy trousers and grinned. "Thank you, Paige. I'll see you tomorrow."

He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to be doing now. He was quite familiar with the concept of kissing, fortunately enough, but he had a feeling that it might be taking things too far, too soon. But he wanted to make sure Paige remembered him, and that was the way to do it...

As it turned out, he didn't have to worry. Paige pulled herself together, balanced at the tip of her toes to reach, and pecked him softly at the corner of his mouth. It was over so fast he barely noticed it, and he was left blinking stupidly. Paige giggled, surprised at her own bravery.

"Bye," she whispered.

She ran up the stairs to her door, turned around to smile at him, and then she was inside, the door closed, and she was gone.