Chapter 8

We got three rooms; one for Mum and Dad, one for Shane and Jason, and one for Frankie, Bubba and me. Tess is staying here too, but she and her band are on a different floor than us.

When Frankie and I got in the room, Frankie turned on the TV, and Buster hopped on his lap.

Luckily, this hotel allows cats so we were able to bring Buster without having to sneak him in.

I tried to go to sleep, but I was restless, so I sat up in bed and told Frankie, "Hey, I'm gonna go take Buster for a walk."

He was completely absorbed in the TV, and he didn't hear me, so I just put Buster's harness on and take him out of the room.

I walk Buster down the hallway and into the elevator. I click the first floor button, and the elevator goes down. I lean up against the back of the elevator and sigh.

The elevator stops, but not on the first floor, but on the tenth.

A girl comes in the elevator and doesn't even look at me; she just stares at the doors.

Only she has a cat.

And it starts yowling.

The girl turns around. "What's wrong, Zoe, the best white-and-greyer with the pink nose?"

Zoe and Buster start meowing at each other.

"Bubba!" I say, pulling back on his leash.

The girl laughs. "You have a cute cat."

"Thanks," I say and point to hers. "You too. What kind?"

"Ragdoll. You?"

"Actually, we don't know what he is. We think he's part Irish Labrador."

She laughs. "Why?"

"Because sometimes he hears the call of the wild and goes absolutely bonkers."

"Call of the wild?" she asks, a hint of amusement in her voice.

I nod. "The Irish call of the wild."

"I didn't know there was such thing."

"Well you haven't met Bubba."

The elevator doors open and I head off to the left with Buster. Only when I'm walking, I hear Bubba start meowing like a psychopath again, so I stop and turn around. "Bubba, stop that!" He tugs on the leash and he's awfully strong, because he forces me to go the other way, after the girl and her cat.

The girl stops walking when her cat, Zoe, jumps out of her arms. "Zoe!" she exclaims and turns around.

Buster scampers over to Zoe and they start meowing at each other again.

"Your cat seems to like my cat," the girl laughs.

I nod. "Yeah. Love at first sight?"

"I guess."

We stand there in an awkward silence while Zoe and Bubba start sniffing each other's butts.

"You look really familiar," the girl says. "Where are you from?"

"Alma, Colorado," I tell her.

"Oh, I'm from Fairplay!" she exclaims. "Maybe I've seen you… have you ever been to the Al-Mart?"

"I go there every day!"

"Seriously?! I work there!"

"No way! It's such a small world, isn't it?"

"Wow, yeah! What are you doing here in Denver?"

"Oh, we're just staying here for one night and then we're off to New Mexico."

"Visiting family?"

"Nah, just… chillin'."

"So, I've seen you, but we've never actually met. I'm Leslie."

I laugh. "My best friend Leslie said, 'oh, she's just bein' Miley.'"

She looks confused. "What?"

"Never mind."

Leslie laughs. "You're funny."

"Thanks. I'm Nate. Nate Gray."

"Oh!" she exclaims. "I've met your brother – Shane Gray, right?"

"Yeah."

"He always buys People magazine from us. Like every week."

"Yeah, he's pretty much obsessed with celebrity gossip."

"I don't understand that celebrity gossip crap. Why don't people just leave them alone?"

"Hey, that's what I said!"

I hear Buster yowling like a mad cat, so I look down only to see him and Zoe… gettin' it on, if you know what I mean.

"Bubba!" I scold. "Get off of her!" I pull back on his leash as hard as I can and he rolls over on his back, having a temper tantrum. He yowls and hisses at me.

Leslie starts laughing. "Cats will be cats…"

"I'm so sorry if my cat just got your cat pregnant."

"It's okay; she's spayed."

"Oh, good."

Only Zoe the sex kitten starts rubbing up against Buster's flank and purring. Bubba starts meowing again.

Leslie and I look down at our cats.

"Well this couldn't be more awkward," I mutter.

"Yeah," she laughs.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go this way. Bye." I tug on the leash. "Come on, Buster."

Only Zoe the sex kitten just cannot control herself, because she comes scampering after Buster. And they start…. Ahem.

Again.

"Oh my goodness gracious," Leslie says, grabbing her cat. "Come on, Zoe."

Zoe and Buster start yowling and Buster rolls over, hissing and scratching the air.

"Buster, keep this up and we're taking you to get your jingle bells detached from your sleigh if you know what I mean."

Buster keeps meowing.

I end up dragging him away from Zoe the sex kitten and I just keep dragging him away as far as I can. I end up at the outdoor pool and I tie up Bubba to a pool chair and sit on it, closing my eyes.

"It's nice and quiet out here, eh?" I hear a voice.

I open my eyes and turn my head to the left.

About three chairs away, I see Tess sitting there with sunglasses and a hat on. She takes them off, letting her hair down.

I nod. "It is."

Tess stands up and comes over to a chair right next to me.

"So why are you sitting here at one in the morning?" Tess asks.

"Can't sleep," I tell her.

"Yeah. Me neither."

We both sigh.

"So why can't you sleep?" I ask.

She shrugs. "No clue. I guess there's just a lot on my mind."

"Yeah me too."

"It's kinda like… the world is moving way too fast and I'm stuck in slow-mo."

"I know what that feels like."

"Can't it just stop for like two seconds so I can catch my breath?"

"I wish…"

"I'm just… so tired. Of trying to be perfect all the time."

"Story of my life," I mutter.

"I want to tell you something, but I'm afraid you'll think I'm a freak."

"Trust me, no one is freakier than I am."

"Seriously, Nate, if I tell you, you have to swear not to tell anyone."

"Tess, you couldn't be more fucked than I am."

"I think I am." Then she takes off her jacket. And all up and down her wrists are cuts. "Wow, that felt really good to tell someone."

And I take off my jacket and show her my cuts. "I know."

"Oh, damn it, not you too Nate," she sighs.

"Oh yes. Me too."

"But you're not dark and twisty enough."

"I am to dark and twisty!"

"Not enough to be doing that!"

"Well you don't really know me, do you?"

"I guess I don't."

We sit there in an awkward silence.

What is up with me and awkward silences?

"Anyway," Tess says, standing up. "I'm gonna go to bed."

"I better go to bed, too," I say and stand up, untying Buster.

Tess pets Bubba. "Good kitty."

Bubba hisses.

"Oh, goodness," Tess says, jumping back.

Buster starts jumping up the air and running in circles.

"He must be having another 'call of the wild' episode," I laugh. I tug on the leash. "Come on, Bubba."

Bubba and I walk back into the hotel with Tess, hissing.

Well, Buster was hissing – Tess and I weren't.

All three of us go into the elevator and Tess gets off at her floor, and Bubba and I get off at ours.

Right when we get off, I see three girls standing there talking. They take one look at me and then scream as if there was a house on fire.

"Nate! Nate Gray! We love you!" one of them screeches.

"We've been waiting here all night for you!" another one exclaims.

I wave and pick up Buster. "He says hi."

They all scream again and one even falls to the ground.

"Oh my god, Nate's cat, Bubba, just said hi to us!" the one who fell on the ground says, standing up.

That's when Buster flips a shit.

He jumps out of my arms and makes this noise similar to a small child screaming and goes crazy, hissing and thrashing around. He then leaps up in the air and scratches one of the girls.

"Oh my god, Nate's cat, Bubba, just scratched me! And now I'm bleeding!"

I gasp. "I am so, so sorry!" I take the hissing Bubba away.

"No, it's okay! I feel so honoured!" she says. "Oh my god, Nate just told me he was sorry!"

"I'll go get you a band-aid."

"Oh my god, Nate Gray's cat just scratched me and now he's gonna nurse me back to health!"

"Aww!" a different one sighs. "That's no fair! You're so lucky!"

I throw Bubba in our room and get a band-aid out of the first aid kit, going back over to the girls. I hand her the band-aid and she faints.

"Oh my god, Nate! You and your cat just killed her!" one of them yells.

I crouch down by the girl.

"Oh my god, he's gonna give her mouth to mouth!"

"Here," I say to the girl, "I'll give you an autograph!"

She springs right up. "Autograph?!"

"Okay, she's fine," I tell the other girls.

"Oh no!" Fainting Girl starts. "I think I'm gonna die." She coughs. "Nate, you better give me mouth to mouth!"

"You're fine," I say standing up. I help her up.

"Oh my god, Nate Gray just helped her up!" one of the girls screeches.

"How romantic," the other one sighs.

Fainting Girl jumps on me. "I love you!"

I laugh awkwardly and push her off. "Okay, thanks. Bye."

"Wait what about the autographs!?"

I sigh. "Okay, okay. Who has a sharpie?"

All three of them hand me a sharpie at the same time. I take one and they take off their shoes. So I sign the shoes for them and then they all scream again.

"Okay, now stop screaming before you get kicked out."

"Group hug!" one of them says, and they all hug me.

I laugh awkwardly.

"Much better," they all recite at the same time.

"Okay… bye." And then I run. I run into my room, lock all the locks, close the curtain, and then slide down the wall to the floor and sit there.

And then Bubba hisses and jumps on me.

"BUBBA!"