AN: Hey, guys! Do you know what today is? Today marks one year of me writing fanfiction on . Can you believe it? I never thought I'd ever get this far. I love you guys so much for all the support on here and on my other stories. You're all the reasons I didn't give up a long time ago. I even bought a cake for the occasion. :) So, this is the last chapter of iPet unfortunately. I loved writing this story - it was so fun and always left me with questions that needed answers, and so this chapter will hopefully tie up any loose knots. I have to admit, if I could, I would carry on with this story and new ideas into it, but this story has come to an end because I've done all I can with the idea. I've never been a big fan of stories that drag on for way too long, and I think here is a good place to end it. x
Chapter Quote: "She's an amazing roommate, but also a high-maintenance pet." - Sam
I love you guys so much! x
….
The doorbell rang just as Carly settled down on the sofa to watch Girly Cow with a bowl of rice in her hands. She hadn't been bothered to make herself some proper dinner - a bowl of plain rice was good enough for her. She was just relieved that Cat was still taking a nap in the other room and hadn't smelt food yet. She had checked the cupboards and had come to the conclusion that she had to go shopping before Sam came back the next day. There was nothing apart from several packets of noodles, a few half-empty bags of rice, and a packet of crackers. Even the fruit bowl was empty. She groaned and dragged herself to the door, not expecting Matt to be standing there. He was dressed in a white shirt, a pair of black jeans, some trainers, and a black tie which hung loosely around his neck. It was casual date attire.
"Matt," Carly said, raising her eyebrows. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight." She mentally cursed herself for just throwing some sweats on that morning. "So what's up?"
"Hey, brunette," Matt smirked. She didn't exactly hate that nickname - she found it rather amusing, actually - but she didn't want it to be a permanent nick-name. It was obvious she was a brunette already so why did she have to be told that? "And here I was, thinking you were happy to see me."
Carly rolled her eyes. "Of course, I'm happy," she said. "Just surprised that you're here - I thought you'd have better things to do than hang around with me on a Saturday night."
"That's where you're wrong," he told her. "I bet hanging out with you is fun. So how about a movie and dinner?"
"Sure," she agreed, nodding her head. "But it'll have to be here. I'm kinda still pet-sitting."
Matt smiled. "That can be arranged."
An hour later, Carly had ditched her bowl of rice - Cat could have it when she eventually woke up - and was eating a vegetable pizza, the kind Sam and Freddie would cringe at. Matt was sat beside her, and it wasn't long after he had done the whole 'stretch as you yawn and put your arm around the girl' trick, not that Carly minded of course. She was a hopeless romantic at heart, after all. She moved closer to him.
"Hey, do you get what's happening in the movie?" she asked. "Did the butler kill the niece or not?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," he replied. "I have no clue what's going on." Without a second thought, he reached over for the remote but Carly stopped him.
"No," she said. "We've already sat through an hour of this so we might as well watch the last few minutes." She was thankful it was only a short movie.
Matt shrugged. "Alright then, if you insist." He stole a piece of pizza from her.
She glared at him playfully. "Hey! Don't take my food!" she pouted. She reminded herself of Sam when her and Freddie were dating - it was rather amusing for the brunette to watch the couple fight over whether couples shared food or not. Yes, couples usually shared food, but Sam and Freddie weren't a normal couple.
He showed her his empty pizza box and smiled sheepishly.
She smiled. "Fine," she conceded. "But you need to make me a hot chocolate." He went to stand up but she once again stopped him. "Not now. Just stay here and finish the movie with me, then you can make the hot chocolate."
"As you wish, brunette."
Just then, Cat came in on all fours. She barked the sight and smell of food.
Carly rolled her eyes, but wondered how long Cat had been awake for. She picked some mushroom off the pizza and stood up, waving it in the air and out of Cat's reach. She expected the human-dog to stand up, but Cat didn't - she instead decided to climb the furniture and snatch the food out of Carly's hand with her teeth.
"Very attractive, Cat," Matt said with a playful laugh. He knew that Cat usually hated it when somebody teased her. But she just growled and finished the food.
Carly dropped back down on the sofa and patted Cat's head. "When your little game's over, you can tell me where Sam really is this weekend."
Cat looked at her sitter blankly. She honestly had no idea either - her roommate had been extremely secretive the last few months to be honest. And she thought Sam was away bailing her mum out of jail, so why would Carly think any different? She shook her head and pouted, before letting out a loud bark for food.
Carly clearly got the message because she piled a slice of pizza on the top of Matt's empty pizza box and placed the box on the floor for Cat. Cat nodded gratefully before eating the pizza, not caring that she was eating off the floor when she accidentally knocked the slice from the cardboard and it landed toppings down.
"Eww," Carly said to no one in particular. She cringed. "Just look away, Carly. Just look away."
….
"Try not to drool all the way through dinner," Sam teased, watching as Freddie stared at her. She had gone with a safe option - a little black dress. She fitted it well; it showed all her curves and went well with her blonde curls. Sliding a pair of heels onto her feet, she admired herself in the mirror once more.
"I'm not drooling," Freddie defended.
She rolled her eyes at him and took the arm he had just offered her. "Yeah, well, let's keep it that way." She'd been wondering where they'd be going all day - she'd asked a few times, but he just told her that it was a surprise. She decided to just wait until she got there to find out, but to be honest, she wasn't sure if she could wait that long. She wasn't very good with surprises because she was very impatient, and she'd admit that.
They were silent for the rest of the walk downstairs and into the lobby. It was only then that Sam realised limo parked outside.
"Surprise," Freddie whispered to her. "So do you like it?"
She didn't reply in words - she gave him a long kiss as her way of saying 'thank you'. He didn't question it, he just pulled her closer to him and kissed her back. They pulled away a moment later, and she let him lead her to the limo. The driver opened the door for two.
Sam had a feeling it was going to be a good night. But she wasn't sure whether it was worth lying to everyone for.
She looked up at Freddie. "I'm telling Carly tomorrow," she decided. "I'm going back to LA and telling Carly."
"If that's what you want," he said.
She thought for a moment before replying. "It is."
….
It didn't matter what time it was, but it did matter that Carly had fell asleep and the front door was wide open. She was blinded by the light instantly, causing her to groan. She realised then that the lounge room was a mess and the door was open. It didn't take her long to connect the dots. She got up in such a hurry that she fell straight to the ground.
"Ow!" she said as she fell, landing on her stomach. When she was falling, she realised that her and Matt had both fell asleep while watching the fourth movie of the night. "Crap!"
Matt awoke immediately. "Carly?"
"Down here," she sighed. He offered her a hand to help her up. "Thanks."
"How'd you get down there on the floor?"
"I fell," she shrugged. "But we have bigger problems right now." She pointed towards the CDs which were now scattered all over the floor and the ripped-up magazines on the kitchen counter and the puddle of water on the floor and the cereal box emptied out onto the dining table. She then pointed at the door. "Cat's gone."
"We'll find her," he assured her. "Don't worry." With their hands still entwined, he led her out the apartment, neither of them caring that Carly was still in pyjamas and that Matt's shirt and tie were awfully creased. "Where does she go around here?"
"I don't know," Carly said in a panic. She fanned herself with her free hand. Matt had to grab her other hand, too, to calm her down. "I don't live around here - and it's not like I can call Sam and say, 'Hey, I lost Cat. Where does she like to go?' There's a chance that she'll never speak to me again!" She didn't want to lose her best friend over this. Cat had to be somewhere, right?
Matt sighed. "Hey, Carly," he said softly. "We'll find her, okay? This isn't your fault." He took a step forward, running a hand through his hair nervously. To tell the truth, he had no idea what to do now. "Alright, we need to first realise the reason why she left. Do you remember anything from last night? Did you get up during the night?"
Carly thought about it for a minute. But then she realised. She remembered the argument between her and the human dog. She swallowed hard, realising it was all her fault. "I shouted at her last night," she admitted. "I told her to stop acting so stupid and to start acting like a human again. I said for her to get Sam on the phone - I was ready to give my best friend a piece of my mind. She's been lying to me, after all."
"Then what?"
"I can't remember," she groaned, burying her head in her hands. "I just, I remember her barking at me, like, really loud. I'm surprised she didn't wake you up with her noise."
"Okay, can you remember what else?"
"I yelled at her, and yelled, and yelled, but she didn't get up and walk like a human," Carly told him. "And I was sick of it. I completely forgot about my anger towards my best friend, and I threatened to call Sam if Cat didn't do as I said, and then I realised that Sam's been lying to me, and she's going to hate me now because Cat's gone and-"
"Calm," Matt instructed. "Please, Carly. Calm down. We'll find her. Now, think about it. Where does Cat go around here? Who does she know?"
Carly's face softened. "I know just the person."
….
But Carly was wrong. It took five hours to search everywhere she could think of. The redhead wasn't at Jade's, or at Tori's, or at Nona's. She didn't give them much information because the last thing she needed was for one of them to call Sam and tell her that Cat was gone - she just said that Cat didn't tell her where she was going and that she was probably waiting at the park for her anyway.
"Cat!" Carly yelled as she walked through the park. Matt had gone to look at the supermarket and at Bots - he promised to let her know if he found her. She was close to putting up 'missing' posters, but she thought that that wasn't the best idea because she'd have to get them printed and then put them up - it'd take too long, especially when Sam was due home in a few hours.
She whistled as if she was an owner, whistling for her actual dog.
But there was no response. There weren't many people around, and the people that were around just gave her weirded out looks, and they probably thought she was crazy person when there was clearly no dog in sight.
Carly even went as far as checking the ground, the mud, and the grass for handprint trails, meaning Cat would've been there recently, but there was nothing. And the human-dog was nowhere in sight.
She left the park and then went in search of Cat somewhere else.
It was official - Cat was nowhere. Maybe she was at the supermarket or the mall or the hospital. Carly had gave up and was making her way back to the apartment. But when she stepped inside and dropped down onto the sofa, Matt following not too far behind her, she realised something: the apartment was clean, spotless. The CDs were stacked back up, the ripped pieces of paper from books and magazines had been swept up and were no longer in sight, the bins had been emptied and lined with a new binbag. And the fruit bowl was full.
It was only then that Carly took note of the blonde who was dancing around the kitchen with her music at full volume.
"Sam!" Carly gasped, getting to her feet. "You're back!"
"I sure am," Sam said with a nod, turning around from where she was doing the washing up. She paused her music. The flight home had been a nightmare, and she was completely jet-lagged, but she had to pretend like she was fine, like she hadn't cried while at the airport. She put her hands in her pockets. "So, where's Cat? The leash's still here and hung up, so I knew you guys couldn't have gone far. And why are you still in your pyjamas?"
Carly sighed. She couldn't hide it anymore. "Look, I know you're going to be mad, but-"
Carly turned around, awfully surprised when Matt came through the door with Cat at his side. Carly was relieved, heavily relieved that the redhead was okay. Cat rushed up to Sam, still in all-fours, and licked the blonde's face once she kneeled down to say hello.
"Hey, Cat," Sam said, grinning. She wiped her hands on her skirt before turning to ruffle Cat's hair. She then used her slightly wet skirt to wipe the saliva from her face. "Did you behave for Carly?"
Sam and Cat both looked at Carly.
"Yeah," Carly said, still in a slight haze. She blinked and stepped closer to Matt when all the attention went back on Sam. "Where'd you find her?" she whispered to him.
"Airport," Matt whispered back. "She must've got there after Sam had left."
"Ah, okay," Carly nodded, understanding that Cat had gone there to see Sam. But why? But the answer was simple: because of the yelling from Carly.
….
"I'm sorry," Carly said to Cat later that day. Sam had already explained to Carly that that was what it was always like when Sam was away or even when Sam was there. In her own words, 'She's an amazing roommate but also a high-maintenance pet.' "I'm sorry for yelling. It was wrong of me."
Cat nodded her head but didn't say anything. She then leaned over and licked the side of Carly's face and smiled - her way of saying that all was forgiven. She began to bark, and she jumped off the sofa and ran over to Sam when she entered the room.
Sam rolled her eyes at the redhead's behaviour. "Thanks again, Carls," she said to her best friend while attaching the leash to Cat's collar. "I appreciate it, you know."
"Oh, you're welcome," Carly said bluntly, still slightly annoyed at what Sam had put her through.
Sam sighed. "Carly, I'm sorry, okay? I should've told you that you'd be looking after a human-dog."
"This isn't about Cat," Carly said. "It's about you lying to me. Tell me where you really were, Sam."
Sam swallowed. Now was her chance. She knew she'd agreed to video-chat with Freddie later and then they'd both tell Carly, Cat and Melanie at the same time, but she couldn't help it. Carly was their best friend - it wasn't like Freddie could be angry at Sam for telling her before they could tell her together. "I was-"
But she was interrupted. Cat barked and then took the leash from Sam before handing it to Carly. The small gesture made Carly's heart melt; Cat trusted her to take her on a walk, a final walk together. All her anger towards her best friend's secret disappeared all together.
The two left the apartment, on their way to the park but were going to stop at Matt's quick on the way, too. Carly was sure she now had a steady boyfriend - a cute boyfriend worth keeping.
Sam sighed before playing with the ring that sat on her finger nervously.
It was one thing telling your best friend that you'd been dating your other best friend secretly behind everyone else's backs for nine months, but it was a complete other thing telling your best friend that you were now engaged.
AN: So, what did you think? Did you love it? Did you hate it? And most of all, did you expect that ending? It's abrupt, I know, but I found it the best place to end it. Thank you so much for the follows, favourites, reads from this story. Your comments and positive feedback is what's making my writing better, well, along with the endless support that I'm most grateful for. I love you guys! I'll see you soon with another story. And once again, thank you so much. x
