For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.
Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Casey installs new washers and dryers as part of a deal with the landlord, so that he and Ellie can keep Downy.
Separation
Ellie leaned against the nurse's station. She'd been called in to cover a shift but it was an unusually dead one. She was almost bored. She watched orderlies and techs bustle about, as nurses made laps. She'd already made her rounds and was back to that awkward moment of nothingness.
Slipping her hands into her lab coat pockets, her fingers closed around her cell phone.
Pulling it out, she smiled a little and headed towards one of the hospital's cell phone safe zones, one of the empty waiting areas at the end of the hall. Her thumbs made quick work of the message, sending it off to her intended target.
She bit her lower lip a little as her phone told her that it had sent successfully. It was too late to reach out into cyberspace and try to stop it, even if she'd wanted to. Tapping her fingers on the exterior of the phone's protective case, she dropped it back in her pocket, lingering to see if he was where he could respond.
John sat in the laundry room. It was odd without the noises from the old machines. He knew he should be thrilled but it was just... different. He liked things in order. The change made it peculiar and uncomfortable.
If Ellie had been there, it would've been better, easier to deal with. She probably would've started a round of twenty questions, something to break the ice, something to kill the silence. It would've been nice.
He wasn't alone, though. Downy was there, in his hamper, nestled among his dirty clothes. She was of no use as a companion at all at the moment, more interested in sleeping through his visit than paying him any mind.
When his cell phone buzzed however, the cat lifted her head, peering out at him.
"Sorry," he told her before quickly reading the message.
Heya, stranger. What are you and Downy up to?
Casey glanced at Downy. "What are we up to?" His fingers agilely responded and he pressed the send button. He smiled a little at his response and, partially, at the fact that she'd contacted him at all.
She idly checked the selection of sodas in the vending machine. They were out of grape soda, and she had a thought that made her shiver: what if Morgan was around?
Pushing that idea out of her head, she made sure that the machine still had at least one diet soda. The machine told her they were being kept at a frigid thirty-seven degrees. It would be icy cold, plus it would give her the caffeine boost she'd need to get through the rest of her shift. But, the coins in her pocket didn't quite equal enough money to get one.
Before she could be too disheartened, she got a message.
Plotting to take over the world. You in?
She chuckled, answering him without hesitation.
Downy exited the hamper and sat with him, eying the offending device that had dared to wake her from her slumber. She sniffed at it cautiously before looking at Casey, as if to ask him something.
"No, you can't eat it."
Her ears angled backwards.
"No, it's not an enemy."
Casey had never seen or heard a cat huff in annoyance but he was pretty sure he saw Downy accomplish it.
She slunk down further when the cell phone buzzed in Casey's open hand.
As Casey opened it, she tried to smack it with her paw, claws extended.
"Easy, there, it's just your mom," he told her before reading what she'd sent.
Depends. Do I get a cool title?
Casey had to think for a moment before texting back.
She'd walked back to her locker in the doctor's lounge, to see if she had some spare change hiding somewhere. The more she thought how nice a soda would be, the more she craved it.
Technically, sure, a cup of coffee would do the same job, but hospital coffee was notoriously bad, even for the hospital's personnel. There was never any way to tell who had prepared it, or how long it had been sitting on the burner. Canned soda, on the other hand, was prepared the same every time. The quality of the product was what she was after. She knew exactly how good it would taste and she desperately wanted one.
As she found a nickel that had fallen behind a medical text, she received his message.
Take any title. My suggestion: Queen. Downy's suggestion: Pawfect Mastermeowind.
She laughed openly, hitting the respond button.
Casey wasn't entirely sure what to make of her next text.
Does that make you King in return?
Before he could fully consider his response, the phone buzzed again. He expected it to be Ellie apologizing or saying that the previous message had been a joke, but that wasn't it at all.
Count me in.
Stay tuned...