Hey guys, what´s going on?
Here is chapter 9, there is a lot going on. RedLiteAlexi wrote a little part as well, it´s got almost 14k words and I hope you enjoy it.
Have fun reading.
Beastars - Into the Spotlight 2.0
Chapter 9 – Orange, white and brown
POV Julian
Even though my last two days and nights have been nothing but amazing, I couldn´t sleep well. It was the third time I was shaken awake from that same nightmare tonight, but at least some early daylight came in through the blinds in the meanwhile. The end of the night neared, finally.
There were always those wolves in my dreams, I had the feeling they were getting larger and more powerful every time. They always outnumbered me and they always beat me to the ground, surrounding me and leaving me no room to escape.
Every time I woke up, Bailey was still lying beside me under the blanket, peacefully slumbering, apparently feeling very safe and sound around me.
Since we couldn't use the infirmary to share a bed anymore, and she felt a little uncomfortable introducing me to her dorm just yet, we spent this second night of our weekend in my dorm. The boys were all fine with it, thankfully, and they actually behaved quite decently around her too.
We had a lot of stuff planned for our Sunday as well, and I´ve been waiting all night long for the sun to show up again.
In order to gently wake her up as well, I cuddled myself against her nude body and hugged her carefully. I loved everything about her. The heat from her body, her cute droopy ears, her smell. She was just the cutest person I´ve ever met in my life.
And the sex was great too. She liked it, she trusted me and we basically did it whenever we had the opportunity.
My body still wasn´t getting tired of it either, the morning wood was imminent and not to be stopped.
I began grinding it up and down her lower belly carefully, making sure I wasn't making too much noise in the process though. The curtains were closed, but every little sound would make it very obvious what was going on underneath our blanket.
I was very sure she wouldn't mind me dry-humping her a little bit, I thought this was a very sexy and loving way to wake somebody up.
And sure enough, she soon opened her eyes and smiled at me sleepily. I hugged her even a little bit tighter and gave her a kiss, she immediately mimicked my gesture. This just made me so happy on so many levels. I´ve been waiting for this moment ever since we fell asleep.
She was just such a treasure.
"Did you have a bad dream?" she asked lowly, apparently having noticed my struggles tonight.
"Yeah…" I whispered back, "Very weird stuff. Did I keep you awake? I´m sorry."
She just shook her head with a friendly little smile, then she cuddled herself against me a little tighter as well.
"Wanna go for a little morning run before breakfast?"
She seemed to be ignoring that question for now, apparently wanting to spend more time under the blanket with me first.
"That a yes?" I asked her teasingly. I knew she wasn´t that keen on going for a run in the morning, it was not that easy to convince her of that plan yesterday already.
"Can I get like…ten more minutes?" she begged with an ironic little smile.
I just raised an eyebrow in an ironic fashion. "Five, maybe."
Her smile just widened a little bit, then she suddenly grabbed my dick with both hands and started massaging it, probably trying to bribe or at least distract me.
"Ha, nice try baby" I smirked at her, not being able to hide my deep contentment though, "I appreciate the thought, but…ohhh yes!"
She tightly squeezed my knot now, and just like that she totally had me under her control.
"Oookay…" I sighed, "Maybe we can…oh god yes…maybe we can postpone it for a few minutes…"
She smiled contentedly, my hands began wandering down her body slowly but surely as well.
There was no better way to start into a new day, and I was so glad she agreed with me there.
POV Leon
"Come on, really?" I asked while raising an eyebrow, "In the kitchen?"
She just wordlessly rested her upper body on the worktop of the cooking island and waved her tail at me.
"Didn't you want to make breakfast just a minute ago?" I reminded her, "Didn´t you just complain about being so hungry?"
I stepped behind her and pushed my sheath under her tail between her butt cheeks. It was just such a convenient height right now, and since she was the one acting so horny, I was nothing but eager to comply.
"Hmmm" she hummed contentedly, grinding her ass against my groin teasingly, "Maybe breakfast can wait a little longer?"
"Hmm okay" I chuckled, "But you really need to stop with this when we´re on stage, you know? My brain will turn off and I can´t think of anything else anymore. Our premiere is next Friday! I´ll forget all my lines if you get me horny."
She now turned her head back towards me with a big dirty grin, my growing erection still between her sexy butt-cheeks.
"Oh Romeo…" she said, "…why oh why do you have to be a Montague? It would be so much easier to bone if you were Capulet as well!"
"Come on" I grinned, "Really?"
"I might do that if you don't give me what I want right now" she grinned teasingly.
My dick still emerged even further from my sheath, it touched the base of her tail in the meanwhile.
"Do you have condoms with you right now?" I asked her casually.
I was so pent up already it would be hard to stop myself from entering her very soon.
"Uhh" she sighed, "…no."
"Dammit…" I sighed, rolling my eyes in an ironic fashion, "Do I really have to run back up into my room now? Couldn´t you have thought of that before you got me horny?"
"You could also…" she said lowly, "…you know…"
I believed I knew what she meant, but I still wasn´t entirely sure about that yet.
"…what I suggested yesterday already?" she continued, teasingly grinding the tip of her tail against my chin.
I knew what she meant, but I still wasn't sure if that would work out so well. I wanted to get us some lube before we tried that. Lucy suggested that we might find some in my mom´s bedroom, but I was just too disgusted by that thought. I wasn't sure what else I would find there, and I didn´t want to know about it anyway.
I really wanted to try what she suggested as well, but this still wasn´t the right place and time.
"…in the kitchen?" I asked again.
She now teasingly lifted the bottle of olive oil I had prepared for the omelet we wanted to cook. "I even found us some lube, see?"
"Jeez you´re horny" I said while shaking my head.
She still grinded her butt against my dick teasingly, I just couldn´t withstand it any longer either.
"Stay right here" I growled into her ears from behind, "Imma get some condoms and then I´m gonna fuck you through the entire kitchen."
POV Legoshi
"So…" she asked, "…how´s ya boy doing in highschool? Is he doing better now?"
"You know…" I said, tilting my head a little bit for her, "I think he´s getting into it slowly but surely."
"Yeah? Has he -keep your head straight sugar- has he made some more friends yet?"
"He invited one of his drama-club friends to our house already" I told her, almost feeling excited enough to brag about that, "And she wasn´t immediately scared of who it belonged to."
"They in da same drama-club you been in?" she asked, concentratedly fiddling around with something above my eyes.
"Yeah" I chuckled, "They even have the same teacher I´ve had back then. Teacher/Director."
Someone knocked on the door to my trailer, a second later the head of an assistant popped in.
"20 Minutes" he informed us in two words, then she disappeared again.
"…bet ya they don't have to work on Sundays though" Stella commented with a chuckle.
"Well, Leon surely doesn't. But his friend from his club probably does. Before she was at our party, I´ve met her in the restaurant we like to eat at. She´s a waitress there, and she´s still just 16 I believe."
"You think I was sitting idle back then?" she asked, "Na uh! A girl´s gotta hustle. Not everybody is as blessed as your baby-boy."
"Yeah…" I sighed, "Apparently not."
This entire topic somehow downed the mood a little bit, now I wished I hadn´t started with it in the first place.
"Why do we have to work on a Sunday morning anyway?" she now asked, apparently wanting to change the topic as well.
"Because they can close down the roads and I don't know how to ride a motorcycle" I summed it up in one sentence, adding a little chuckle.
"John Wick doesn´t know how to ride a motorcycle?" she asked teasingly.
"They should keep the ambulance on standby already" I said jokingly, "You know I´ve crashed two set-cars already."
"Come on, honey" she said, "It´s not that difficult once you got used to it. But when you do the payoff is huge, I promise!"
"Yeah?" I asked with great interest, "Do you have a motorcycle?"
"Used to ride every summer. Mountain roads, passes, you name it. Sometimes my trips took a couple of days. To me it´s just freedom on wheels."
"What do you mean ´used to´? I wanted to know.
"I got my kid" she said with a shrug, "Been a single mom ever since. Devoted all my spare time to my little girl, had to put money aside for her as well."
I just nodded slowly. I could see how difficult it was to keep up a hobby like that, especially if you don't have a whole lot of money.
"But my ride is still in the garage, I sometimes go to work on it so it´s not sitting idle. And once Layla is a little older, I´m gonna ride again."
I nodded understandingly, surely being a little touched by her story.
"Maybe I´ll like it too" I said with a little smile, "Maybe I´ll get myself a license someday, who knows?"
"Won´t regret it" she said with a smirk, "Good. We´re all done now. Try not to touch your face too much, kay?"
"Thanks Stella" I told her as she began already packing up her stuff from the table and I was on my way to leave my trailer again.
"See ya later, sweetheart" she told me, "Try not to kill yourself, okay?"
"I´ll try" I told her with an ironic smile, "You made it sound really easy, I´ll just blame you in case I´ll fall off."
"Oh you don't wanna be dealing whit me if ya mess up ya make-up, alright?" she said in a sassy tone, "Stay on da machine and save us the trouble, okay honey?"
"Okay, okay" I affirmed with a warm smile, waving her goodbye, "I´ll try my best."
POV Bailey
"What are you smiling for?" he asked in amusement, taking another sip of his vanilla-cream coffee.
"You´re looking so happy" I answered that question, "I think it suits you."
"Well…I am happy" he told me, "You make me very happy."
Not really knowing how he wanted me to react to that complement, I just gave him a contented smile. Then I tried the stirred egg on my plate.
This was my favorite place to get a breakfast, I felt really lucky that I finally had somebody I could come here with on Sundays.
I took a look at him again, something seemed awkward. But I just noticed what it was when it was too late already, sadly.
"Should I have said something back? Shit, I thought it was pretty obvious that he makes me very happy as well!"
But it was too late already, I couldn´t get out of this one anymore.
"W-what are you not happy?" he asked me lowly, sounding slightly worried in his tone, "Did I do something wrong?"
"W-what?!" I asked in great shock, "No! Not at all! I mean! …I´m very happy! You´ve been so sweet all weekend long!"
He just tilted his head a little bit now, it seemed like he wasn´t entirely convinced by me saying that. I should have reacted way sooner, now anything I said wouldn´t sound believable anymore.
"Do you not like the sex maybe?" he kept on asking, still feeling very insecure apparently, "You can always tell me if you don't want to-"
"No!" I stopped him hastily, almost a little louder than I felt comfortable with in public, "The sex is great! Really!"
He tilted his head even more now, one of his foxy ears leaned over to the other side now.
It seemed like I unintentionally got myself entangled in a tricky maze of falsely received emotions.
I wasn't even lying about the sex, I honestly really enjoyed it ever since I was introduced to it for the first time. He was so sweet and caring.
"You were smiling just a moment ago" he explained lowly, "But then you stopped. You´re not really happy right now, are you?"
He looked dead serious about this for some reason, I could tell that he still felt very insecure about something. He was such a sweetheart whenever he was around me, but there was much more other stuff going on in his head.
"I…" I sighed, trying hard to find the right words, "I was just…"
"What…what is it?" he asked, carefully laying one of his hands onto mine now, apparently feeling really scared about what was about to come, "Please, talk to me!"
"It just felt like…my roommates probably all thought you went out with me because of pity. You know, because I´m not as popular as other girls and-"
His eyes now widened quite drastically when I said that, this seemed to be quite a surprise for him after all.
"W-what?" he just asked in disbelief, but I really wanted to finish with what I was saying.
"…but I think they were looking at me like that just to get into my head Friday evening. Or maybe because of jealousy…but-"
"What really?" he asked again, "And I thought you were doing this because you pity me!"
"W-what?" I now gasped in equal surprise. He seemed to be serious about this though. Him, the hotshot red fox boy all the canine girls were drooling over. Him, the well-shaped, well dressed and also well-mannered pretty boy.
"Does he not notice how desired he is? Did Lucy rejecting him really cut down his ego like that?"
"But…" I stuttered, feeling a little overrun by that statement of his, "…I was the one coming to the gym just to ask you out! That´s why I went there in the first place. And I thought you just said yes because you couldn't go with Lucy."
My pulse immediately began racing after those words left my lips. I just now noticed what I had told him. I had sworn myself that I would never ever tell him about that, and now I just blurted it out for some reason. I had just told him about my biggest fear. My fear that he still wasn´t over her.
"I…I…" he now stuttered, "I always thought you just saw me as a friend! I…I liked you the first time I met you in class, I…just never thought you were interested in me."
Trying to read him, I just deeply looked into his eyes for a moment.
"I…I always thought you didn't care about my…you know…my fuckboy image. I always thought I was way out of your league anyway and you just enjoyed talking to me in class."
"W-what?" I chuckled, "Why would you think that? I thought I was out of your league, I thought you were really into Lucy because she´s so much more interesting than me…"
Saying that out loud really hurt in my chest for some reason. I couldn't say why I was still thinking like that after this wonderful weekend he had spent with me already, but I did and I still couldn't shake it off.
It seemed like he needed a moment to sort all that information as well, but then he suddenly took one of my hands again and looked me right in the eyes.
My heart was starting to beat faster, I felt like under a lot of pressure. This was stressing me out to the core.
"I think I only wanted to go with Lucy earlier because she was spending time with Leon. It really annoyed me that she apparently just likes him because his daddy is a famous movie star. I´m really sorry if I made you feel that way."
"You…you think…"
"I don't think she´s more interesting than you, Bailey. Not at all. You´re kind, you´re sweet, you´re pretty and I´m very happy you invited me to the ball. I was just an idiot earlier."
I couldn't help but smile at him for that very thoughtful statement. He looked so genuine when he said that, I actually wanted to believe him.
"Are…are you really sure I´m not slowing you down?" I asked, looking down at our hands in the middle of the table.
"Y-yeah!" he stuttered, "I´m very sure!"
He looked me right in the eyes, apparently trying to think of anything else to say. And then he did.
"I…I´d probably still be hitting that punching bag if it weren't for you. I was doubting myself, trying to hurt myself…and…and you were there for me."
He had both his hands lying in between our breakfast on the table before him, looking really honest, vulnerable and defenseless right now. He wasn´t making any of that up, he really poured his heart out on me right now. He looked serious.
I took his hands a little tighter and just embraced his honesty for a moment.
"I´m glad I can be there for you" I told him, "I think you don't have it easy and…and I think you´re very sweet underneath the surface."
I was aware that saying something like that might cause another big debate or discussion, but his reaction was by far more relaxed than I thought. He just smiled at me, apparently not feeling offended by that comment.
He knew he had issues as well, but he trusted me. That was a declaration of love if I had ever seen or experienced one. I felt kinda proud of this right now.
We just smiled at each other for a long moment, then we slowly but surely went back to eating our breakfast.
"Wanna go to the beach later?" he started a new topic soon later, "Going for a swim and…you know… maybe cuddling…in the warm sand a little bit?"
I immediately started smiling at that cheeky suggestion. But I really appreciated it after that deep, uncomfortable and nerve stirring conversation, all aside from the fact that I absolutely loved that idea. I hadn't been to the beach in forever, and now I finally had a really good reason and opportunity to go.
"Sure" I affirmed, "Sounds lovely."
"Sweet" he said with a contented smile, "Can´t wait to see you just in your swimwear…"
I couldn't help but chuckle at that comment. "Horny fox" I told him with a giggle, hoping he wouldn't be offended by that.
"What was that before our run this morning?" he asked back with an ironic little smirk.
I just wordlessly and with a little smile grabbed my coffee mug once again, I thought I didn´t really have to say anything there. He was just right about that, I was horny too, and there was no point in denying it. It was fun and exciting and therefore nothing wrong about that in my mind. I believed I now finally understood what Lucy meant, life was too short to not enjoy the little things.
POV Lucy
"So what do you want to do today?" he asked with a smirk, "…other than being horny I mean."
"Who´s being horny?" I asked back in amusement.
He just raised an eyebrow at that question while contentedly stuffing more of our slightly burned omelet into his mouth.
I moved one of my feet up and down his legs teasingly, there was no need for words really.
We were both just as horny as the other, and it was nothing but awesome. There was nothing we needed to change about that in my opinion.
"Wanna go to the beach maybe?" he suggested out of the blue, "I´m sure Haru would take us if we ask nicely."
"Hmm" I thought loudly, taking a look at the fancy wall-clock in the living room, "Not sure that´ll be worth the effort today. I need to get back to my dorm later, I got to work this evening."
"What, really?" he asked, looking a little disappointed, "Every Sunday?"
"Well, there is no school on Sundays" I said with a shrug of my shoulders, "But sometimes I help out on regular weekdays as well in the evenings."
"Wow" he said lowly, apparently really being surprised about hearing it. "But…why? Don't your parents give you money for school?"
I took a deep breath now, knowing full well that I couldn't postpone this topic any longer.
I had been aware it would come up one day or another, but now that the subject was brought up already, and the opportunity was convenient, I decided to open up about myself a little more.
"I´ve never gotten to know my parents" I began slowly, "The only thing I was told since I was a kid was that my mother gave me to an orphanage and never showed up again since. There was just a letter saying she was sorry."
"Oh wow. Okay…" he stuttered.
"Yeah."
"Do you really know nothing about her at all?"
"No. I only know that her name was Laureen and the date of the day I was born. And one of the nurses who´s met her had told me she was kinda crazy."
"Damn. I´m so sorry to hear that. I didn´t know."
"Well…" I sighed, "…not a story I like to tell to everyone."
"Yeah, I can imagine" he said, nodding understandingly.
I nodded too, then he suddenly looked rather regretful.
"Sorry" he said lowly, "I didn´t want to sound insulting or anything! I…"
I quickly shook my head with a short shrug of my shoulders, I didn´t take it as an insult in the first place.
"And your dad?" he asked then, "Every heard anything from him?"
I shook my head once again. "I´ve never met another maned wolf in this town, I´ve rarely ever seen another one."
"…so…you´ve always been on your own?" he asked in slight disbelief. It really seemed like he previously didn´t have a single clue about any of the circumstances I had growing up.
"Yeah" I said lowly, "I had to take care of myself ever since."
His eyes were open wide now, it seemed like he finally began to understand how good he had it after all.
"Wow. That sounds tough."
It almost looked like he was about to start crying soon.
"Well" I grinned at him teasingly, trying to save the mood, "At least I don't have to endure an awkward dad at his birthday party, right?"
"Haha" he chuckled lowly, "But you did have to endure that. And you ended up in the pool!"
"You parents are so awesome" I told him in all honesty, "I wish I had parents this cool around me."
"They´re way too horny sometimes" he got back to our earlier topic with a big smile, "Kinda obvious why you like them."
This just had me grinning widely.
"Kinda makes sense now why she ordered the Shrimp when I met them in my restaurant for the first time, doesn´t it?"
"Huh?"
I just grinned at him again, it appeared there was yet another food related pun he´s never heard about before.
"…is this another of those pina colada things?" he asked in slight annoyance at my teasing smirk.
I just nodded with a grin, not explaining it to him though.
"Was my dad unsure of what to order again?" he asked then, apparently having experienced that a couple of times before already.
"Yeah" I affirmed, "He let Haru pick a number between one and three and ended up ordering the lasagna."
He just slightly shook his head in an ironic fashion now. "…but I´m surprised they kept their mouths shut about me. Juno told me you were talking about the drama-club and how Sanu still is there today and so on…"
I was only able to shrug my shoulders about that a little bit.
"Maybe they´re not as bad as you think they are" I told him with a little wink, "Maybe they got your back even when you don't think they do…"
He nodded slowly, it seemed like that gave him quite something to think about.
But I now was glad we talked about this topic, finally. It was about time in this stage of our relationship I believed. It felt like I could trust him with this, and it felt good to finally be able to open up a little bit.
"You think you´ll ever get to meet your parents someday?" he asked, taking another sip of his orange juice.
"I hope so" I said with a shrug of my shoulders, "The odds are low, but I like to think they´re never zero."
POV Ookami (Maned Wolf; Aggretsuko – Minus times Minus)
The whole train ride here I was plagued with a whole bunch of mixed feelings. While Fenneko just stared out of the windows and enjoyed the scenery that flew by, I was going through multiple different scenarios in my head.
"What if she didn't have to work on any of those days we visited the town? What if she would just declare me crazy and tries to ignore me right from the start? And what if it actually turned out to be true? What if I was a father and hadn't even known about it for over 16 years?"
I somehow couldn´t even think past those "whats" for more than a moment, one of those possibilities was scarier than the other.
My stomach felt twisted, I couldn´t relax for even just a minute. I had no doubt Fenneko noticed my nervousness, it was almost impossible to fool the fennec vixen about something like that. She usually loved to tease me whenever she could, but she also seemed to understand how important this could be for me. She made an exception for this case, thankfully.
"Kai said he was at Legoshi´s birthday party, right?" she suddenly started the conversation again.
I nodded, focusing my gaze on her slowly.
"And his son is dating her?"
I could only shrug my shoulders.
"Didn't he say something about them being in the same drama-club?" I asked back, trying to remember all the details Kai has talked about.
She nodded slowly, apparently having a lot of different thoughts on her mind as well.
"What do we do if you´re really her father?" she then asked out of the blue. "Do you want to try and find Laureen?"
That question left me surprisingly cold right now. "If she didn´t even tell me that she was pregnant, I don't think she really wants me to find her."
"You can never know that" she said while shaking her head, "Maybe she was just too scared. Or she tried to make contact but couldn't find you."
I just shrugged my shoulders with an indifferent expression.
"Maybe she sees it totally different now" she didn´t let go of that topic, "She might have changed."
"Yeah, maybe" I sighed, "But I don't think so."
I now pulled out my phone and opened the map for the city we were about to visit. I was pretty sure I still knew all the important places all by heart, but I rather wanted to know where our Hotel was and how far it was to the restaurant.
After finding out it all was quite manageable indeed, I clicked on the link of the restaurant in order to find out if we had to reserve a table or not. I also was kinda hoping I would find a bit of information about the place and about its employees maybe, some companies even had pictures of their workers on their websites. But that didn´t apply for this restaurant, sadly. It still seemed to be a game of gambles we were playing. We still only trusted in Kai´s words, but I couldn´t see why the mongoose would lie to us about that. I never had any grief with him.
"Maybe you could ask Haida for advice about being a good daddy" Fenneko now changed the topic with a little grin.
"Come on. He´s only been a father for 3 years. Lucy is a teenager already."
"Still three more years than you" she commented with an unforgiving smirk, "It doesn't count when you didn´t even know she existed."
"Let´s see if its actually true first, shall we?" I slowed her down, "Maybe it all was just a big coincidence after all."
POV Leon (by RedLiteAlexi)
I dug my hands into my pockets as I wandered down the sidewalk. There were a few pedestrians that were shopping on Sunday afternoon. I paid no mind to them and kept moving. It was weird, I had been a loner for most of my life and yet I felt an intense desire to not be alone right now. Lucy had to head back to the school to get ready for work but I could feel the yearning for someone's company. My parents were still gone on their business trips and our big house felt so empty with just myself.
At the same time, I didn't want to deal with my roommates and all the invasive questions they had in store for me. These past two days had moved so fast and I was still processing them. I was no longer a virgin and I was now very much in a very real relationship.
I thought of the animal that I wanted to see the most and I arrived at my answer almost instantly. I figured Haru could help put my mind at ease with a simple conversation.
The flower shop was only a 10-minute bus ride or so from our house and it was Sunday so the store would be closed. I walked and realized I never brought my headphones with me when we initially left the school on Friday so my walk was one of silence.
I wondered what mom and dad were doing and what they would think if they knew about me and Lucy. Part of me thought mom would be just as giddy as she was when I had brought Lucy to the party. Another part of me wondered if they would be super pissed off about us sleeping together. Would they think that I was just as irresponsible as they were when I came along? I was mostly curious about what dad would think. I'd say I inherited his tendencies to be awkward and difficult to read. Haru was also like that sometimes but I could always count on her to be understanding and wise.
I was soon approaching the store. Although I couldn't see any lights inside I still figured that she was either in the shop or her little loft built above it. I knocked on the front door loudly and listened. From the other side, I heard a voice shout.
"We're closed!" Haru yelled from somewhere in the shop.
"It's me Leon!" I shouted back. I stood another moment before I heard a soft patter of footsteps approaching. The door was unlocked before opening up.
"Hey baby boy!" the small draft rabbit said with a smile. I smiled as I looked down at her with my tail wagging.
"I thought I'd come visit you on your day off."
"Not much of a day off between the dances and all the summer weddings, I need this whole day just to restock and do the inventory."
I chucked a little at the flustered rabbit. "I can help you if you want." I felt her hand grab my own and pull me past the door frame. I stumbled as the little rabbit led me through the aisles.
"I'm gonna need your height." She said as she pointed to a few clay pots placed up on a shelf. I nodded as I reached up and began to pull them down.
"So were you so bored that you decided to come do some work?" Haru asked as she noted something on a notepad.
"Well mom and dad are out of town so the house was kinda empty. But I'm not quite ready to go back to school yet. So I don't mind working for a bit. Plus I miss you and it's not everyday that we get to just hang out."
"Well okay, keep pulling those pots down." She said, smiling at me. I started working before she spoke again. "So why aren't you hanging out with your little girlfriend."
I was caught off guard and nearly dropped a clay pot to the ground.
"Oh well she had to get ready for work." My tail was wagging more and I felt warm in my cheeks. I tried to play it off but I was no match for her.
"Were you guys hanging out before you came over?" She asked.
"Well…" I stuttered.
"And your parents are both gone on business trips." She was smirking but I tried to avoid direct eye contact.
The little rabbit playfully punched my knee.
"I really hope you're making smart decisions." She said. My ears fell down slightly. Joking or not, I didn't want to upset her.
"I'm not gonna be like my parents,'' I said. "Besides it's not like you all weren't having sex at my age." I said back rather defensively. The smaller rabbit looked a little peeved before she responded to me.
"You know if I could change things, I wouldn't have done everything the same way. I just want you to have every possible opportunity available to you. Your schooling won't be forever. I just don't want you to get bogged down right now."
I frowned a little as she spoke. "But your girlfriend is very sweet and maybe she is the one for you. I just hope you guys take it slow and enjoy these years before things get too serious."
She held my hand. I smiled at the rabbit.
"I'm not as dumb as my mom and dad." I said with a smirk.
"You're practically a little clone of your dad so that remains to be seen." She said, "Let's change the topic. Speaking of which, how was your dance?"
"It was better once we left the school, it was a lot of drama and one of my roommates got in a fight." I pulled the last of the pots. Haru sighed.
"Oh jeez, I'm sorry that that was your experience. I can't say mine was any better. I just spent it reading in my shed. Eventually some boys came to my door and tried to get me to do all the things their dates wouldn't do." She rolled her eyes.
"At least you weren't pregnant during your high school dance like mom was." I said with a chuckle.
"Fair enough, but look at your mom now." The dwarf rabbit giggled.
"Yeah, a pretty successful model." I said, "You know that's what she's doing in Osaka right now. Showing off her butt for some magazine." I joked.
Haru blushed. "Believe me, I'm well aware. She's been pretty liberal with sneak peak photos she's been texting to me." The redness of her cheeks getting greater with each word.
"Sheesh get a room." I said sticking my tongue out in a gagging motion.
"Maybe when she gets back." The white rabbit said with a smirk. In all honesty, I couldn't tell whether or not she was joking.
"You should see this one guy from my dorm. I think if he overheard this conversation, I'm pretty sure he'd never leave the bathroom again."
Now it was the rabbit's turn to gag. "Ewww, don't tell me that!" She said with a chuckle. We both laughed and I felt a calming relaxation come over my body.
"I'm glad you came over, baby boy. I really think l was missing the company." Haru said as she hugged my leg. I smiled and gave her a little squeeze with my hand.
"I'm glad I can talk to you about…stuff like this." I said blushing.
"I'll always listen to what you have to say. But maybe you should talk to your parents about this as well and definitely to Lucy. You should establish some boundaries and make your intentions clear. It'll save you time and anguish." Haru said.
I sighed loudly at the thought of having those conversations. "Okay, I will."
Haru wiggled out of the grasp of my hand and picked up the clipboard. "Okay, now let's get some work done, before you have to get back to school. You can´t just sit around while your girlfriend is at work, can you?" she asked with a smile. Her visible joy made my tail wag slightly.
"Good point" I said with a chuckle, "Let´s do it!"
POV Lucy
It had taken quite a bit of time, but we got all the tables ready for the evening by 5PM, and we were prepared to serve a lot of guests as well.
Some early diners have arrived already, the cooks were getting started on the first orders.
I wasn´t looking with grim at the shift I had ahead of me, I´ve never been this relaxed before actually. This whole weekend had just been such a blast, literally nothing could stress me out anymore.
My co-workers seemed to be noticing that too, especially Monika, the saluki dog who usually took care of the bar.
"You had a good weekend, Lucy?" she asked me when I accompanied her behind the counter for a moment, "I´ve never seen you this happy before."
"You could say that" I affirmed light-heartedly.
"Rehearsals going well?"
"What?" I chuckled, having been prepared for somewhat spicier questions to come, "Oh…yeah, it´s going well. Romeo finally got out of his shell and stepped up to his task."
"You don't look disappointed" she grinned with a little wink.
"Oh, and I found out he´s actually Legoshi´s son" I told her lowly, "I didn´t even know Legoshi had kids."
"Oh I could have told you that" she chuckled, "But I didn´t think he´d actually be that wolf from your drama club."
"I spent the entire weekend at his house" I bragged, "It was just so awesome."
"No way" she laughed, "You´ve been to John Wick´s house?"
"Yeah" I affirmed with a nod, "We´ve had it all to ourselves, Legoshi is out at the filmset shooting for the sequel."
"So you´re only hanging out with A-list celebrities now" she asked teasingly, "Is that what you´re saying."
"Yeah, yeah" I went with the joke, adding ironically, "Who do you even think you are talking to me?"
She just chuckled about that comment a little bit, then she looked towards the entrance door that just opened.
"Oh" I said in slight surprise of what we saw ahead of us.
The colleague who greeted newly arriving guests and brought them to their tables just opened the door for a quite uncommon canine couple.
At least I guessed they were a couple, they came in together and not just at the same time just by chance.
But the reason I stopped in my tracks was not the size difference between them.
I´ve seen a couple of fennec foxes, but I haven't ever met another maned wolf before.
He was older than me, I guessed in his mid-thirties, but otherwise he looked just like me. He could very well be my brother if it wasn´t for the age difference, and apparently, I wasn´t the only one who noticed that.
"That gentleman over there looks quite a lot like you, doesn't he?" Monika asked with a little chuckle. She noticed that I was a little fascinated by that.
"I´ve never met another maned wolf before" I said lowly, "Never in my life."
"Maybe he´s just travelling through" she said with a shrug of her shoulders.
I shrugged my shoulders as well, reaching out for the tablet that was connected to the ordering system.
They had arrived at their table in the meanwhile, and since I was supposed to serve them anyway, I slowly but surely went on my way already.
I couldn't help but examine the newly arrived couple when I was on my way towards them. The for her species rather tall fennec vixen looked attractive and quite stylish in her wardrobe, from the way she smiled and moved I had a feeling she had quite a striking and tough personality. He didn't look like he was lacking confidence either, he seemed to be wearing his pretty boy image like a badge of honor. He looked well-defined and sharply dressed, it almost reminded me of Julian a little bit. But he was taller than a fox and he had a wild and well-styled brown mane. There was no doubt he was a maned wolf.
"Good evening!" I greeted them with a sympathetic smile, "Welcome to ´La trattoria Roma´, I´m Lucy, I will be serving you tonight?"
The fennec vixen smiled at me in a friendly way, her boyfriend or husband seemed a little perplexed for some reason. It almost seemed like he was a little surprised to meet another maned wolf here too.
"Uh…hi" he said, "N-nice to meet you! I…I mean…"
He now seemed to be trailing off not knowing what else to add, I took the liberty of ending the awkward silence by nodding with a friendly smile and handing them a menu each.
"Can start you off with anything to drink?"
"Ah…yes, I´ll take a cider, please" the fennec vixen quickly made up her mind. He seemed a little undecided.
"Do you…" he asked, opening the menu quickly, "Do you serve any of the local beer brands here?"
"All of them" I affirmed with a chuckle, pointing it out in the drinks-menu for him.
He seemed rather content about the selection.
"You remember any of them?" his date asked him in amusement.
He nodded slowly. "Yeah…all of them."
It brought a little smile to my face when he used my words, I liked that the first other maned wolf I ever met was rather sympathetic and sweet than being distant about it.
And only then I finally understood it. He had been here before, maybe he even used to live here once. I kinda already wanted to ask him about it, but I decided to keep it professional for now and just do my job as a waiter.
"I´ll take a dragon´s breath light, please" he then told me with a little smile, "Thanks for your patience."
"That´s no problem" I assured, typing his order into my tablet as well, "I´ll be right back with your drinks!"
POV Ookami
"Well…didn´t take long to find her, did it?" Fenneko asked with an excited chuckle, looking after the maned wolf girl who walked off towards the bar.
My knees were so weak I almost couldn't stop them from shaking.
"Kai wasn´t lying" was all I could bring out of my mouth. My breath was heavy, my knees where jiggling nervously.
"She does look a lot like you, doesn't she?"
I nodded slowly, trying hard to keep my stomach in check and a cool head about it.
I wasn´t even hungry right now, I probably couldn't even finish a meal if I ordered one.
"I don't think she looked too surprised about seeing another maned wolf though" Fenneko continued with her detective work.
"She probably doesn´t have the same info we do…" I reminded her, "She´s neither expecting me to be her dad, nor that we´re here to find out if that´s actually true."
"Yeah" she agreed, "Fair point."
I took a look around the place, there weren´t a whole lot of other guests in the restaurant yet. It was a little early to go for a dinner anyway, but since we hadn't had anything else but this planned for today, we weren't in a rush and could sit with a few drinks for now as well.
Lucy already had a little tray in her hands, her colleague at the bar handed her the drinks we had ordered just a moment ago. When she went on her way back towards us, my heart already began pounding faster once again.
"Here you go" she told us in a sympathetic manner, putting our drinks on the table in an elegant way.
She seemed well spirited and full of energy. I could see her being an actress in a school drama club, I could see what Kai meant when he said she looked mature and tough. I could see her having to have grown up without her parents.
"Oh…" I quickly reacted with a smile, "Thank you!"
"You´re welcome" she chuckled, "Have you found anything you want to eat yet?"
"Oh…uh…" I said, looking towards Fenneko for a moment.
She just shook her head a little bit.
"Not yet" she said, "Sorry!"
"I haven't really looked yet either" I told her lowly, "Excuse me."
"Oh that´s no problem…" she waved it off, "I can come back later and ask again. Take your time!"
"People out here are just so much more patient and friendly" Fenneko commented with a contented chuckle, "Aren´t they?"
Lucy smiled about that comment a little bit, I nodded with a little smirk.
"Are you guys here on vacation?" our waitress asked with great interest, "Or are you just passing by?"
"I…" I began, not even thinking about it at first, "I used to live here before I moved to Tokyo. It´s been quite a while since I´ve last visited this place."
"Oh wow" Lucy said with an interested chuckle, "So I only had to wait for 16 years until I finally got to meet another maned wolf here."
The moment she said that, my stomach immediately turned upside down again. I could feel the fur in my neck starting to itch, my breathing was getting a little heavier too.
That one sentence from her had basically answered all the questions I was so desperately trying to get answered by her.
I somehow managed to just show her a little smile for that comment. Even though it had included quite a bit of personal information about her, I was glad she was so open about herself naturally.
"Really?" Fenneko asked, acting as if she hadn't been expecting to hear that piece of information in quite a believable way, "You´ve never met another one before?"
"No" she said with a shake of her head, "Not that I can remember. But it´s nice I can finally cross that off the list!"
She really seemed to be a happy nature, I was really fighting with myself if I could really risk messing everything up in what seemed to be quite a good life she had right now.
"But…" I said lowly, "But your parents still live here in town, right?"
I just realized that this could potentially be quite a personal question as well, even more because I knew she probably has never met her parents or at least not both of them.
"I uhm…" she said slowly, her smile was fading a little bit now, "…well, no. They don't."
This turned into quite an awkward situation all over sudden.
"Oh…" I said, really feeling like a stupid idiot, "…I´m sorry for asking. I didn´t-"
"No, it´s fine" she waved it off, "Of course you´d ask, it´s possible that you knew them if you lived here earlier…"
I nodded with a thankful smile about her compassion, it really looked like I dodged a bullet there for now. I was really glad about her being so understanding.
But she seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry to get going again now, the opportunity was convenient anyway. Two more guests had just arrived and she was supposed to serve them as well of course.
"Just let me know if you need anything, okay?" she told us with a professional smile. We both nodded thankfully.
Lucy went on her way to do her job again, I was just left sitting there with a really upset stomach. Fenneko was so excited I couldn't believe she hadn't started giggling already.
This was moving way faster than I had anticipated it to, and the direction it went to was pretty clear. Kai could be right about what he proclaimed after all.
POV Bailey
My weekend had been really great and so much fun, but now I also was glad to be alone with my thoughts for a night. A lot has happened in the last two days, and I hadn't been alone ever since he picked me up for the spring ball on Friday evening.
Now I only had to face my dorm, naturally, and they were just as excited as anticipated.
"Bailey!" Kana greeted me, "How are you doing, girl? Had fun at the beach?"
"Oh…" I chuckled, putting my backpack onto the floor before my bed for a moment, "How do you know?"
"We´ve been at the beach too" she giggled, "Too nice a day to spend it all in the dorm. We saw you two lovebirds hanging out."
That comment didn´t even annoyed me as much as I thought it would. I still felt like I had the high ground here, I could always tell them they were just jealous in case they would try to mock me about it.
"You both disappeared in that changing stall for quite a little while" Lupe commented with a big dirty grin, looking up from her phone for a moment.
"Ha…" I said, "Yeah…"
"You were totally making out in there, weren't you?" she asked shamelessly.
I just smiled a little, hoping she would let go of that topic soon.
"…well, can´t say I blame you. Guy has the hottest ass on the entire beach."
"Lupe!" I complained about her language.
"Just sayin" she grinned, "You´ve fished yourself quite some tasty foxy toy, girl."
"There is so much more to him than just his body!" I told her, sounding really harsh indeed, "Don't be so simple minded."
"Sure there is, hon" she chuckled, sounding like she didn´t believe me at all. "Come on, Bails! Drop some detes already! Does he fuck as good as he looks?"
"Excuse me?"
"Does he have a baby dick?" she asked with an amused giggle. "Ooh, that´d be so funny!"
"No!" I said in pure disbelief, shaking my head at what I heard, "He doesn't. And he´s very sweet and caring."
"Come on, there is nothing to be embarrassed about" she laughed, "I would totally have fucked him too! You didn´t think I wouldn't ask questions, did you?"
The others looked quite interested in my weekend as well, it seemed like they actually thought the same way as Lupe about this.
I really hated this. They didn't believe a word I was saying, they just thought I was in love with him because of his looks and reputation. I now believed I was beginning to understand what he meant this morning. His image had quite an impact on his life and everybody who has to do with him.
This felt really hopeless right now. No matter what I would say, they wouldn't believe me, only time could solve that issue in the end.
I decided to ignore them from now on and just laid my tired body down onto the matrass of my bed. It felt like a good idea to rest and calm my nerves, but a moment later I regretted that choice as well. I still had sand in my fur and between my toes, and I just shed and spread it all over my bedsheets with that. I should have waited for the bathroom to get vacant again and take a shower, but now it was too late anyway.
I pulled out my phone and checked if Julian was online. I still would rather be talking to him than about him, we were apart for just barely half an hour and I missed him already.
POV Lucy
Things kinda went quiet between me and that couple on table 4. After that very unlucky question he asked about my parents and the weird silence that followed, I for some reason just remained treating them like regular customers, even if I really had enjoyed talking to another maned wolf.
They were friendly and sympathetic after all, I really hoped I could kickstart another little conversation again before they left. They didn´t seem in too much of a rush anyway, they´ve ordered a second round of drinks before they even ordered a main course.
There was quite a lot going on tonight, so I hadn't much time to chat with them anyway, but I did find myself looking at him from time to time.
It was just so fascinating how similar he looked to me. I´ve always felt kinda unique about myself since I´ve never actually met anyone else from the same species, but now that that had changed, I was really curious about it all over sudden.
"He might really know something about my parents" It then suddenly came to me, "Maybe there used to be more maned wolves here, maybe he even knew my parents."
It was not like I had high hopes of ever meeting them, but it would at least be cool to know what they were like. I knew this meant that I had to tell him that I never really got to know my parents myself, but I figured that was worth it for a little bit of information. And we´ve had this topic earlier already and he was the one who asked me about my parents anyway.
I was glad he was amongst the nicer customers I´ve had to serve tonight, he and his date were really sweet and quite patient as well, I was pretty sure they wouldn't be too mad if I asked them a few more personal questions as well later.
Something seemed a little bit odd about him though. He was eating very slowly, sometimes staring at this plate for quite a little while before he snapped back into reality.
My first suspicion was that there was something wrong with his food maybe, but other people had ordered the same dish as well and seemed totally happy about it.
They were still here way after 9PM, having ordered an espresso, a dessert and then another round of drinks after their main course. Most of the other guests had left in the meanwhile, it seemed like they wanted to spend as much time here as possible. There were only a very few other tables left at which guests where sitting, and it looked like most of them were about to call it a night soon too.
I finally had a bit of time therefore, and I figured it was now or never to try and start a conversation with them once again.
POV Ookami
We had stayed in this restaurant for much longer than most of the other guests in the meanwhile. I still was fighting with myself if I should ask her about it or not. I knew Fenneko really wanted to get that stone rolling, but she still respected my decision about this.
But also I was secretly hoping for her to take the lead on that investigation in the meanwhile. This was what she was good at after all, and she never was shy about speaking her mind.
She had been browsing the internet for quite a little while now, and at some point we were pretty sure she had found Lucy´s Instagram account. She hadn´t uploaded a whole lot of pictures of herself, but the ones we did find looked pretty similar to our maned wolf waitress. Having found that account didn´t really help us out too much either though, it still didn´t answer the question about her parental situation, sadly. Her uploaded either had just herself in the frame or there was nobody in the picture in the first place.
We were finished with our desserts as well in the meanwhile, there was no much left to do but ask for the bill really.
The nervousness still hadn't faded from my guts though. Not one single bit. And it got even worse when she came over towards us once again.
POV Lucy
"Everything alright?" she asked, "Can I get you anything else?"
"Very good!" the fennec vixen told me contentedly and with a sweet little smile towards me, "I think we´re good on food and drinks for tonight though, I think we´ve bothered you long enough" she added ironically.
"Should I get you the bill?" I asked in a relaxed way.
The maned wolf nodded with a little smile, then he looked back down at the table once again. Something still seemed to bother him a little bit for some reason, I really hoped it hadn't been me who made him feel this uncomfortable.
"I´ll…" I said slowly, "I´ll be right back."
I went back towards the bar where the receipt printer was, let it print and put the paper into one of the fancy leather booklets. Then I grabbed the card reading machine and the wallet and went back on my way towards them.
"Here you go" I told them, putting the bill onto the table for them.
The vixen immediately reached out for it to check it out, the maned wolf first looked at her then back at me.
"This was my chance to ask" I thought to myself, "Now or never."
"Can I ask" I began slowly, "…and you can tell me if it´s too personal of course…but have you ever met any other maned wolves in this town back when you lived here?"
He now took in a deep breath for some reason, it almost looked like he swallowed even.
"N-not many" he said lowly.
"But there were some?"
I didn´t quite understand why it felt so weird to ask that, but it did for some reason.
He nodded slowly. As this wasn't really getting me anywhere, I decided to jump over my own shadow and tell him about my parents.
"I´ve never really met my parents" I began, "I´ve never even seen them I believe, I was very little when I was found on the door step of my foster home."
"Really?" the fennec vixen asked with great interest, "Haha…so you meant it quite literal earlier when you said you´ve never met another maned wolf here before?"
"Yeah" I affirmed lowly and with a little smile, "My mom just left me a letter saying she was sorry. I grew up all on my own."
"Oh man" the other maned wolf said lowly, "That´s bad. I-I´m very sorry."
I knew he didn´t mean it in a bad way, but something still felt very weird. He seemed so uncomfortable about this. Even more uncomfortable than me as it seemed.
His girlfriend looked at him as well when he said it, then back at me and once again back at him, almost as if she wanted him to say something else.
"That's…" I said lowly, "That´s nice of you, but you don't have to feel sorry for me."
"What´s her name" the fennec vixen now asked me, unexpectedly curious about that for some reason. "…I´m just curious if he remembers her..." She explained.
"Her name is Laureen" I told them the one thing I knew about her, "…but like I said, I never even got to know her."
There was a short moment of silence, then the other maned wolf suddenly bent down besides the table and just like that threw up on the floor. It all happened so fast nobody had time to react. He wasn't able to cover his mouth with his hands in time and I instinctively took a step back from the table.
I immediately was on high alert of course, my colleague at the bar looked too, as well as some other people who were still dining.
"Oh…oh no!" I said in shock, following the first thought that came to my mind, "Was there something wrong with the food?"
I´ve never been in a situation like this here before, but even though this was quite inconvenient for everybody, I really felt sorry for him right now.
"N-no!" he stuttered, "I´m so sorry! The food is fine, really!"
He still tried to catch his breath, holdings his hands before his mouth, trying to collect himself in case there was more on the way.
His girlfriend was patting his back slowly, but she didn´t seem as concerned as the rest of us for some reason. I didn´t quite understand it, but I was glad that he slowly but surely seemed to be feeling a little better.
"I´ll help you clean this up of course" the maned wolf offered as soon as he was able to speak again, getting off of his chair already. "I´m so sorry for the inconvenience."
I now noticed how Monica was coming towards us, she already had a bucket of water, some one-way gloves and some other cleaning equipment with her. It seemed this had happened to her before, I was glad we were prepared for something like that.
"Are you okay, sir?" Monika wanted to know the same thing, "Was there something wrong with the food maybe?"
"No, the food was fine!" he assured again, reaching out for the bucket, "I´m really sorry. Please, let me clean it up!"
"Don't you worry about it" Monika waved it off in a motherly manner, "We´ll take care of this. I´m sure you might want to use the restroom right now, we will get this cleaned up in no time."
He nodded slowly, trying to force a thankful smile for her generous offer. "Thank you so much! I´m so sorry!"
He now shamefully and with his gaze on the floor went on his way towards the restrooms, I was pretty sure I would have wanted to do the same thing in his situation.
"Are you sure he´s okay?" I asked the fennec vixen who still remained on her seat. "He was eating kinda slowly earlier…"
"He said his stomach was kinda upset earlier this afternoon" she said lowly, shrugging her shoulders, "…but he also has a lot on his mind right now."
"Oh."
Monika already had the gloves on in the meanwhile and began to clean the floor with a wet cloth that was in her bucket as well. It hadn't been too much, luckily
"Lucy" she told me then, "I got this here, could you please go take care of the other tables in the meanwhile?"
"Oh…right!" I said, now finally realizing again that I was still at work here, "I´m on it!"
POV Fenneko
This moment was rather convenient, I immediately decided to take it.
"When does her shift end?" I asked the barkeeper, just as she had finished cleaning up the floor.
"What, you mean Lucy?" she asked in slight confusion.
"Yes" I told her lowly, "He just found out that he might be her father."
"What?!"
I put a finger in front of my lips quickly. "Yes. That´s the whole reason we visited this town. He never knew about it, but now the clues have stacked up and we´re pretty certain. That´s why he´s so nervous."
"Oh wow" the saluki dog whispered understandingly, looking over towards the maned wolf girl who was bringing a bill to another table right now, "That explains an upset stomach…"
She now took a look at her watch, then back at me.
"Normally, her shift ends in about half an hour. That´s when we´re closing up the bar as well. But as there is not too much going on anymore, I think I can take over the rest of the night for her. I´m sure this will come in as quite a surprise for her too."
I nodded slowly. "Thank you so much! That would really help us out!"
She nodded with a little smile, getting her gloves off and putting them onto the edge of the bucket.
Before she could get back on her way, I quickly reached her a 1000yen note as a tip for her service.
"Lucy is a good girl" she told me lowly, "I think she´ll understand."
"I really hope so" I said lowly, "This is not easy for him either."
"I wish you the best of luck" she told me with a little wink before she went back onto her way towards the bar.
"Oh, one more thing!" I stopped her, reaching her the booklet with our bill and the money for our food I already put inside, "Can you make sure she gets her tip as well, please?"
"Of course" she affirmed with a friendly smile.
"I´ll try to find him, we´ll wait in front of the restaurant for her."
She nodded understandingly, then she went on her way.
I quickly finished my glass of wine, then I got off from the chair and left the table as well, heading towards the restrooms. I wanted to find him again before Lucy did, I didn´t want to cause an even bigger scene here than we had already. This was something we really should discuss in private with her.
POV Lucy
"What do you mean I can call it a night?" I asked in great confusion, "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, don't worry" she assured, "None of this was your fault. I just think you´ve had an eventful evening and I can easily take care of the few guests that are still here."
"Are you sure?" I asked. Something about that sounded off.
I took a look around, the table where that maned wolf and his girlfriend had been sitting was empty now too. I found it slightly odd that they wouldn´t even wait to say goodbye to me after all that.
"Have they gone already?" I asked, Monika immediately know who I meant.
"They said they needed to get some fresh air" she told me, "But they already paid and they left you quite a good tip."
"Aww…" I said, slightly disappointed because I didn´t get the chance to talk to them again.
She now pointed at one of the windows for me, I took a look and saw them both outside, really just taking a breath of fresh air as it looked like.
"Go on" she told me with a chuckle, "I can deal with these last few guests. You got to go to school tomorrow morning!"
It almost sounded like she really wanted me to leave, but since she said it in a really friendly and enthusiastic manner, I guessed it really was alright for her.
"Hey" I greeted them again when I had left the restaurant in my regular street clothing and met them outside, "Are you feeling better now?"
The maned wolf now turned towards me with a little smile, then he nodded.
"Y-yeah, thanks for asking! Thanks for your great service tonight!"
I nodded with a little smile as well, the vibe was still a little bit odd around them.
"So it really wasn´t the food?" I asked again.
"N-no" he affirmed again, taking a deep breath, "…I…I"
"Go for it already" his girlfriend now encouraged him with a stale chuckle.
I first looked at her, then back at him and then once again back at her.
"Lucy…" he said lowly, taking another deep breath, "You´re actually the reason why we visited this town."
"W-what?!"
He nodded slowly, I was still struggling to comprehend what I just heard.
"Kai told us about you. You´ve gotten to know him at Legoshi´s birthday party, at least that´s what he told us…"
My breath got heavier now he said that, I found it a little creepy that he knew about any of that.
"Mongoose, about this tall, TV-actor…" he listed, even though I already knew who he was talking about, "Rather talented Barkeeper…"
I nodded. "I remember him, yeah."
He took another deep breath of air. "He told me he met a sixteen year old maned wolf girl here, he told me she looked just like me."
I was suddenly getting even more nervous hearing that hint, but he didn´t seem to be joking around.
"The only other maned wolf I´ve ever met here was woman three years older than me, and her name was Laureen."
My heart literally stopped beating for a second there, this was just getting more and more ridiculous.
"…I don't remember much about her, it´s almost seventeen years ago at this point, but I know she was not easy. She disappeared all over sudden, didn´t leave a trace, never tried to find contact with me again."
I just listened to his words, trying to connect everything he told me.
"…I was shocked when Kai told me about you, and even more so when I first saw you with my own eyes."
"Wait…" I stopped him, "Are you going to tell me you might be my father?"
He took another deep breath, then he nodded slightly, "Since you said her name, not having known about any of this, I´m very certain it could actually be true."
I just didn´t know what to say. Earlier I had already thought about him being related to me, we looked just so similar, now it looked like I wasn't even alone with that thought.
"W-what…" I stuttered, "…are you serious?"
"I´ve never seen her again" he said lowly, nodding a little, "Maybe she was hiding from me ever since she found out she was pregnant. I had moved to Tokyo a few months after she broke contact, I´ve never heard a word from her since."
"I…I" I stuttered, "Earlier I already thought you could almost look like my brother…I…"
"It really wasn't the food" the fennec vixen told me with a chuckle, "…you saying her name was all it took."
That really did make sense now, that could be a reasonable explanation.
"Y-you are my dad?!" I repeated what he told me once again. My heart was beating so fast, it was a really weird mixture of joy, confusion and pure excitement.
"I…I mean…" he stuttered, "…I´m pretty sure she hasn´t seen any other maned wolves at the time, but one can never know…I think only a DNA test could tell us for sure."
"Oh…oh wow" I tried to take it all in. I was pretty much sure of it already, it just made so much sense. Everything he told me about my mom, being crazy and hard to handle. It matched with what my foster parents had always told me. And on top of that, he really just looked like me. His mane had the same brown color, his fur had the same red as mine, his scent made me feel safe and secure.
"Y-you…" I began again, "You haven't even told me your names yet."
"Oh" he stuttered, "Yeah, I´m sorry, you´re right. My name is Ookami. This is Fenneko…"
"I´m so glad we got to meet you tonight, Lucy" she told me with a warm smile, "We were so excited ever since Kai told us!"
"Oh I´m excited now too, believe me!" he almost blurted out with a nervous chuckle, "…I´ve been expecting a lot when I started my shift this afternoon, but certainly not that!"
They both nodded understandingly, they seemed to be quite staggered by all this as well.
"It cost me quite a lot of courage to even come here" Ookami told me lowly, "I still feel really bad I never even knew you existed. It´s been over sixteen years, I hope you´ll ever be able to forgive me in case it should actually be true…"
I just noticed that I hadn't even thought about that before. I wasn't mad at him for a single second when he told me, I was just excited. I believed him when he said he didn´t know, he wouldn't have vomited when I told him the name of my mother.
"I´m just glad I at last get to meet you" I told him, "I never thought I would ever find out who you are!"
"I´m glad I got to meet you too" he said with a sincere little smile, "You´re very sweet and kind!"
I was flattered by that complement of his, but it also brought us into a kinda weird situation.
"So…" I asked, "…should we like…meet up tomorrow to do a DNA test?"
"Uhm…" he said, "Yeah! Of course! When…whenever you have the time…I mean…"
"We should exchange phone numbers" I suggested, "I should have time tomorrow between school lessons and my rehearsals…"
"Yeah, sure" he agreed, "That´d be great!"
I quickly reached for my phone, opened the contacts app and handed it to him. I watched with a strange kind of excitement while he put himself in as Ookami with two Os and typed in his number underneath.
When he was finished he gave me back my phone and I immediately called him so he would have my number as well.
"Oh wow" I chuckled while his phone was ringing and he saved my number, still unable to believe it, "This is so crazy!"
"It really is" he agreed, "I´m not sure I´ll be able to find any sleep tonight."
"I´m so glad…and thankful…that you came here for me!" I told them, "I didn´t have any information about my parents, I never believe I would ever meet them!"
Now that I said that, I believed he seemed slightly more relieved and self-confident already, and it undoubtedly made me feel less awkward about it as well.
The hesitation was really the worst part of this whole situation right now.
I had considered to go for a gentle hug already, but then again, I thought this could be quite awkward since we weren´t exactly sure of it yet. I didn´t really know how long a DNA test would take and how long we would have to wait for the results, but I already knew the wait would be really unnerving.
I took a close look at him again, I thought he looked like a good soul and like someone I could see being my dad. It wasn't confirmed yet, but I already was convinced it was true. I wished it was true. But why would he come here all this way from Tokyo just to make up this story. He definitely knew my mother and he even puked because he was so nervous.
"So…" I began after another kinda weird but also somewhat wholesome moment of silence, "…should I call you tomorrow?"
"Yeah" he said with a nod, "Call, text, whatever you feel comfortable with."
"Don't worry" Fenneko told me, "We won´t leave town before we have proof!"
"You better not" I said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood a little once again.
I took a short look at my phone again, I just noticed that the last few guests have left the restaurant in the meanwhile and Monika was clearing the last few tables.
"I should get some sleep" I told my new acquaintances lowly, "I´m sorry. School starts early tomorrow."
"No, of course!" he waved it off, "Thank you so much for your time. Have a good night!"
"See you soon, hopefully!" I told them with a smile as we waved each other good bye.
"See you!" Fenneko told me as well.
I went on my way, they still remained in the same spot for a little while. From the corner of my eye I could see how she hugged him now, I thought it was really cute when he hugged her back looking relieved and happy. I could tell this had not been easy for him.
I really hoped it was true, I haven't expected my weekend to become even more exciting than it already was.
I wanted to talk to somebody about this too though, and there was just one person I wanted to trust this with. So I quickly opened my chat with Leon and began typing away. He was online and I was really glad I had someone who listened right now.
"Have a guess who I might have gotten to know at work today…"
POV Julian
My first night without her was even worse than the night before. I felt so alone, even though there were five other people in this room.
The nightmares were back as soon as I fell asleep, I felt hot and bothered even though I slept just in boxers and without a blanket.
Seeing that rich kid of a wolf again didn´t exactly help either. It reminded me of the fight last Friday night, it reminded me that I was not strong enough if I should ever have to face a larger animal again.
He didn´t even mention that he carried me towards the infirmary after I fell on my head and got knocked out, but I could tell that he was thinking about that as well.
The topic hadn´t come up one single time this entire evening though, it seemed like my dorm-mates either haven't even heard about it yet or they could tell that we weren't exactly keen talking about it.
The more interesting topics for them were our weekends with our girlfriends of course, it was pretty safe to say that there was a lot of jealousy involved.
Leon apparently had his daddy´s house all to himself over the entire weekend, it seemed like he´s had quite a good time as well. I didn´t exactly care about him bragging with all his luxuries, but I was glad it distracted him and the rest of the dorm from that much more uncomfortable topic.
I was pretty sure the principal would call me into his office within the next few days, I couldn't even imagine how annoying our punishment would turn out to be.
I tried to fall asleep once more, those wolves almost immediately were chasing after me again. They always caught up to me, it always woke me up quite harsh- and unforgivingly. I was panting like I had really been running away from something scary, my heart was beating out of my chest.
Every single time I wished she was lying beside me just like in the last two nights, every time I wished I could just take her into my arms to calm down my nerves. She reminded me how weak I really was on my own.
At some point when I checked my phone, it was way past midnight already. I decided to leave my bed for a moment and head into the bathroom.
Maybe a splash of cold water from the sink would help to calm me down, I could also open a window and get a breath of fresh air.
The shock was imminent when I closed the bathroom door behind me and noticed that I was not alone in the room. It appeared Gerard couldn't sleep very well either, it seemed like he had been here for a little while already.
"H-hey" he greeted lowly when he noticed me.
He was just standing in front of the sink, wearing his weird purple pajamas, looking at himself in the mirror. "Can´t sleep either?"
"I´m having these nightmares again and again" I explained lowly, looking at myself in the same mirror, rubbing my tired eyes a bit.
"Are you feeling lonely without her?" he asked, for some reason guessing that correctly as well.
"Yeah…kinda…"
He nodded slowly and with an understanding little smile. Then he looked back at the mirror with a little sigh.
"Yeah…I feel like that sometimes too."
He slowly turned towards me again, I believed he was trying to force a little smirk.
"This is not about me being in a relationship now, is it?" I asked while raising an eyebrow.
I wouldn't really be mad at him, even if it actually was true, but I also wanted him to understand that I was with Bailey now.
"You know…" he chuckled lowly, "I would be lying when I said I didn´t enjoy that."
I couldn't hide a little smile when I heard that. I liked how open and honest that horny jackal was sometimes, I liked how easy he was about topics like that in general. He just owned it, and I had respect for that.
He now slowly and teasingly reached one of his hands out for my abdomen, I took a step back and shook my head with an ironic grin.
"Haha" I chuckled, "Don't even think about it."
He looked a little disappointed there for a second, but then he actually began grinning as well.
"Pfff" he laughed, waving it off with an ironic smirk, "Such a killjoy!"
"Come on" I told him, shaking his shoulder with one of my hands shortly, "Let´s try to get some sleep. We gotta get up early tomorrow."
"Your call, foxy" he said with a little sigh as I was on my way back towards the bathroom door already, "Good night."
I nodded with a little wink as he didn´t follow me right away, then I gently closed the door behind me.
I now was indeed feeling better than before, that fun little talk had successfully distracted me and I felt a lot calmer as well.
Maybe those wolves would be gone for the rest of tonight, maybe the night will be over sooner than I thought. I wasn´t that much of a weak loser after all, maybe I had just been thinking too negative about myself all this time. Tomorrow would be another day, I would see Bailey again, those punishments from the principal might not be so bad after all and whatever else life would have in store for me, it would go on and I would be alright.
Tell me what you think, I´m curious ;)
See ya all later, enjoy your summer!
~furr