"Mrowwwwwww, my feet are killing me!" Meowlody cried. She rubbed the soles of her paws trying to relieve some of the pain. "Why did we wear heels to work on our feet?"
"I know!" Purrsephone whined. "Why didn't Lagoona warn us?" Both kitties feet were in serious cramping territory after their four hour shift at the Coffin Bean.
"This means we need to get new shoes!" Meowlody said. Purrsephone's ears perked up at the idea of new shoes. "Flats, we need flats."
"But we barely worked off those aprons we designed," Purrsephone said, he ears falling again.
"Unless we borrow mom's credit card," Meowlody whispered.
Purrsephone thought the idea over. Taking their mother's credit card was what got them into trouble in the first place. "How about we ask mom instead," she said after a moment. Meowlody rolled her eyes but agreed that it would probably be for the best if they didn't get in trouble for a while.
"Mom," the twins called in unison as they came down the stairs. "Mom! We have a question!"
Their mother looked up from her copy of The Troll Times newspaper and eyed the girls. "Yes?" she said after a moment.
"Can we get new shoes?" The werecats said in unison.
Without answering, their foster mother went right back to her paper without answering.
"Mu-om!" Meowlody cried. "We need them!"
"For work!" Purrsephone added to her sister's whines.
"Fine," their mother said. "I will pick you up after school and we'll go to the maul before your shift and get some sensible work shoes." Their mother thought about it for a second, "and I'm very proud of your two for asking me and not just buying them." The twins beamed at their foster mother and gave her a big double hug before limping off to school in their lowest heeled ankle booties.
School wasn't as bad that day as the ones before. Without Toralei around the twins found that Cleo lost all her steam in making fun of them. In fact they hadn't even seen Toralei, which they decided was for the best, removal of temptation and all. They were surprised she was doing such a good job staying away from them.
As the twins left school for the day a friendly voice beckoned them. "Hey kitty cats."
"Hey Venus," the twins said as they walked down the stairs towards their mother's car.
"I'm doing a fund raiser for Plants for Plants after school. Word is you guys have more free time without Toralei around and I was wondering if you could help."
"Sorry," Meowlody said. "We have to work."
"Oh yeah, at the Coffin Bean. Maybe you could put up a poster for me?" Venus asked, trying to hand them both posters.
"I don't know if we're allowed," Purrsephone said. As she turned down Venus's suggestion she started to feel fuzzy and then without thinking she said, "actually, I think it's okay."
"Awesome, here!" Venus said and handed them each a poster and then trotted off.
"Why did you say yes," Meowlody hissed.
"I don't know! I felt all fuzzy and next thing I knew I was taking her poster."
"Well now we have to do it," Meowlody said. "Or at least ask Lagoona when we get to work." They didn't have time to debate, their mother was on the horn of her tiny car, telling them to hurry up.
"Mom, you don't have to come in with us," Purrsephone said as their mother got out of the car at the maul.
"No, I'm not handing over my credit card," she said as she pulled herself out of the car. "Let's go." Both kitties sulked all the way to Soulless, the new shoe store that had opened up in the maul.
"These are cute!" Meowlody purred as she held up a pair of six inch platforms.
"Flats!" Their mother said as she sat on a stool, waiting for the girls to look around.
"How about these?" Purrsephone asked as she pointed at a pair of glittery green flats.
"Oh those are so cute!" Meowlody purred.
"Let me see," their mother said as she came over. "Their $100!" she roared when she saw the price. "And there is no arch support. It's not happening, let's go!" She grabbed her foster daughters' hands and dragged them out of the shop, right passed Cleo and her sister Nefera who barely stopped short of pointing and laughing at the twins.
"Mom!" the twins cried. "What are you doing?"
"We're going to Clodhoppers," she said. "Those shoes were too silly."
"Clodhoppers?" the twins yowled. "But that's for old monsters!"
"They sell sensible shoes for sensible people. You two might not be sensible, but you need sensible shoes." The girls whined all the way to the store, but went silent when they saw who was working.
"Oh hey, the cool cats from the Coffin Bean," Felix greeted them. "And who is this lovely young lady? A triplet?" Their mother giggled at Felix's flattery, but the twins were speechless.
"I'm their mother, well foster mother. They need shoes for work."
"Well follow me, kitties. We'll get you the right gear." Felix went about sizing their paws and the conversation barely went beyond awkward giggles until Purrsephone finally worked up some nerves.
"We didn't see you at school today," Purrsephone finally said as Felix slipped an incredibly ugly but very comfortable black shoe on her paw.
"Didn't go," he said as he went to find a matching pair for Meowlody. "My parents needed help unpacking and I figured what's one day. I'll be there tomorrow."
"School is very important, young man," the twins' mother cut in. "Shame on your parents for letting you skip!" The twins hissed at their mother as quietly as they could. How could she say such a thing, and just to embarrass them no doubt!
"That's what I said," Felix said with a shrug. "But they said the third day of school probably wouldn't be that important so they made me stay home. I just hope I can still try out of the casketball team!"
"So how did you get this job?" Purrsephone asked, trying to change the subject.
"My uncle Ferdinand owns it," he said. "The shoes are a little boring, but they sure are comfortable!" He showed off his own bare of boring black shoes and the twins laughed. "Okay, you lovely kitties are all set. I assume you'll be wearing them out?"
"Yes, and thank you," there mother cut in, not impressed with her daughters' lack of focus. "You two need to get to work."
"I'll stop by on my break!" Felix called after them as the twins skipped towards the Coffin Bean. Ugly shoes or not, he was such a cutie.
"Okay," their mother said, raining on their parade. "He's cute, but you're here to work. I'll be calling later to talk to Lagoona to make sure you two are working, got it?" The twins nodded, but couldn't stop smiling as they made their way behind the counter at the Coffin Bean.
"You two Sheilas look happy," Lagoona said as the twins put on their aprons. The twins just giggled and handed Lagoona Venus's posters, not even caring what she did with them. "Oh and you wore good shoes, excellent."
"Hey Lagoona!" a robotic voice called.
"Hey Robecca, glad to see you're feeling better. Meowlody, Purrsephone, you've met Robecca before, right?" The twins nodded and shook Robecca's cold hand. "Tonight you two will get some real training on pulling drinks, and Robecca can run the register." Lagoona eyed the poster as her coworkers got ready and decided to put one up. What's good for plants is usually good for the sea!
"Good," Robecca said. "I'm way better with the register than the espresso bar."
"They did a pretty good job last night, all things considered, but that Justin Biter biomovie premieres tonight and it's going to be a madhouse in here tonight!" Lagoona said with a sigh. She didn't see the appeal in that vampire boy, she was more into One Fathom, a group of five sea monsters from the English Channel, but she'd never tell Gil.
"Here they come," Robecca said, pointing at a sea of running preteen monsters running toward them.
"Prepare the frappuccinos!" Lagoona cried and Meowlody grabbed a bunch of blenders. All night they were making double chocolate bolt frappuccinos, iced entrails macchiatos, and blood and crème icies. For most of the shift it was craziness, and finally with only half an hour before close the only people left were the parents waiting for their little monsters to come out of the theatre.
"Look whose coming," Lagoona nudged Meowlody as they tidied up. Felix was walking up to the counter and noticing the twins' reactions Robecca moved away from the register and let Purrsephone take his order.
"Promised I'd come," Felix said with a wink of his almost glowing eyes. Purrsephone giggled and managed to say "what can I get for you?"
"Hmmm…" he thought about the question. "How about a steamed milk with just a dash of nutmeg."
Meowlody got right to making his order before Purrsephone even called it out. He took one sip and rubbed his tummy. "Delicious!" The twins blushed and giggled. "Have a good night," Felix said as he walked back towards Clodhoppers.
"He's cute," Robecca said.
"Isn't he?" Meowlody said with a giggle.
"Dreamy," Purrsephone purred.
"But there's only one of him, and two of you," Robecca said. "That doesn't add up."
The twins hadn't even thought about it. What were they going to do? He obviously liked them, but which one? Meowlody stared at Purrsephone and Purrsephone stared right back at her sister. Ever so slightly the fur on the back of their necks started to rise.