A few weeks earlier...
Mei tried to keep up her fake light key smile as she sat next to Krystal, situated at Sandy's backyard patio, as the Squirrel and fox women spoke about their children. Mei, the female feline, was still dealing with the nearly crippling pain of her, on again off again, boyfriend deciding they needed to take a break from their relationship for the summer, as he went back to visit his family in New York. She was aware the man did this, so she wouldn't join him, and he'd have a free pass to do what he please, or more accurately whom he pleased.
Mei had told Krystal, her best friend, two weeks prior when it happened. Ever since then the female fox had drug Mei out nearly daily in a desperate, and mostly failed, attempt to keep the feline from falling further into overbearing depression. The blue furred professional female tried her best to humor her friend, but was beyond tired of keep up appearances. After today, she was dead set on not leaving her house, besides for work, and having a good cry for at least the foreseeable week to come.
She was so caught up in finding comfort in her planned self-pity that she didn't even hear the sliding glass back door open, only mere feet away from her, but did raise her head at the sound of a familiar male voice calling out to the seated females.
"Well, howdy there pretty ladies!"
Mei's eyes glanced up to see Randy, Sandy's twin brother, smiling face. The male casually walked to the outdoor furniture, that the women were seated at, before opting for a seat right next to his sister and then placing a six pack of bottled beer on the table. He wasted no time to then break free one of the glass receptacle from its cardboard prison, and crack it open with a random key. He smiled happily as he focused on his drink and then helped himself to a long swig.
"Please!" Randy started after taking in a long breath of air, and letting it out hard, once done over doing his first drink. "Help yerselvers, ladies!" Randy smiled happily while gesturing to his overly strong beer, and likely knowing no one else would enjoy it. "Sandy's gonna give me hell if I drink it all by muhself." The only male at the patio table teased.
"I'll take one." Sandy smirked as she broke one beer free and then placed it under her chair, still unopened.
"Dat ain't what I meant by help yerself." Randy sighed irritated as his twin sister grinned at him mockingly.
"I'm just making sure ya stay in line, little brother." Sandy lightly laughed as she referred to the fact, she was the first of the twins to be born.
"So kind of ya." Randy groaned before taking another drink of his beer. "Remind me again why I'm driving down ta grandma's house ta pick up all dat crap to haul back up here fer ya?" Randy continued to smile at his sister as he obviously wasn't really upset by her taking just one of his beers. However, his smile was nowhere near what it was not long ago, and likely a warning for her to not take any more of his self-prescribed medication from him.
"I thought ya were thrilled about dis road trip." Sandy questioned, as she now seemed confused by her brother's slight attempt at complaining.
"Yeah, I was until Jeff's dumb ass failed his last pee test fer his diversion class." Randy let out a sad sigh before continuing. "So, he's gotta take his drug class all over again, and still can't leave da state. So... I guess I'm going solo." Randy let the last part out while showing he was obviously disappointed. "I had everything planned out perfect too, but on da bright side I can get it done in a about a week... without all duh fun dat would take a bit longer."
"OH?" Krystal jumped in. "A road trip?" The fox looked at the cat, causing Mei's eyes to go wide as she already was well aware of what her friend was likely thinking, and completely wanted no part of it.
"Krys..." Mei tried to start before finding her whispering voice of caution being drowned out by Krystals loud excited voice singing out in an attempt to help her friend, even if in Mei's eyes she was doing the opposite.
Randy let out a loud, and obviously uncomfortable laugh. Only he and Mei knew what took place between the two 4 months prior. When he had stayed over at her house, after a movie, and then they found each other in her kitchen during the early morning before they'd please one another with their hands. The coming morning Mei made it clear it was a mistake and the two barely spoke since then. As Randy had broken down crying to the female's surprise after her rejection of him.
"Oh, I ain't about ta bore Mei!" Randy grinned, but Mei could easily see it was fake as the male made damn sure not to look in her direction. "Sorry gal's, but I'm thinking I'm gonna head off and hang out with da cool kids now." Randy continued to look away as his voice nearly cracked. "Y'all just ain't keeping up my interest." He pushed back on the table to stand up while trying to hide that he was obviously somewhat distraught. "Later!" He then jumped out of his seat after cracking a new beer open and walking off the deck to see what the children were up to.
"I think he still likes you." Krystal teased, before getting an annoyed glare out of Mei.
"Don't!" She threatened, as she was far from amused about her friend trying to push her into a long outing with the man eight years her junior, and this only added fuel to her already raging fire.
"Krys..." Sandy sighed sadly, and getting both of the other women to glance towards her. "Randy ain't really in a good place right now... I mean... he never really is, but right now..." Sandy finally trailed off for a good moment before finally finding her words. "It's just.. uh.. he had a bad break up a month back, and sure he wasn't seeing da girl dat long, but the break up really tore him up something awful." All three females then looked towards the lone adult male that was now seated in a sand box interacting with Sandy's two toddlers, and Krystals eight-year-old son. "Randy's obviously has had a huge crush on Mei fer a while." The female squirrel asserted causing Mei to look down and blush a bit in shame for rejecting the male in question far more than either of the two other women were aware of. "So, bring up da idea of her tagging along with him ain't da best idea... even if he knows full well, she never would."
"My apologies." Krystal sighed while looking at Sandy a little ashamed for bringing the idea up. "I just thought it'd be a way to help your brother not have to go about his trip alone, and Mei to get out of her house before the summer's completely ov-"
"He'll be fine." Mei spoke up while cutting her best friend off as her eyes stayed glued to the man, across the large yard, that their current conversation was focused on. "Randy's not the type of man to let a little disappointment in life keep him down." She continued to speak, mainly to herself, as she seemed to forget about the two other women seated near her.
"I suppose yer right." Sandy stated and then continued to speak as Mei lost focus on the conversation around her.
The blue furred cat kept her attention on the adult male squirrel as he and the 3 children continued to play together. He seemed to be enjoying himself almost as much as the kids were. And even still after his bottle of beer fell over and spilled out on the grass, as he kept up his good mood and merely laughing about the loss. It amazed her that so many children seemed to love him, as much as he enjoyed them, so she saw that it was truly a pity he couldn't find a woman that would be happy in the same path of life that he'd talked to her about wanting. Then again, the man had his fair share of demons... Addiction was far from a walk in the park for those with it, and sometimes even worse for their loved ones.
At that very moment Randy came off as a decent family man as Mei continued to watch him. However, even if the false image before her was actually ture, she still couldn't give him want he wanted out of her. Mei'd never had any interest in getting married to a man as she was already married to her career. And children? She barely had the time, or energy, to devote to her occasional romantic meets let alone to raising a family. Still, watching the younger man that, for some reason, was still head-over-heels for her filled her with a sort of happiness. She couldn't help give way as a smile now crossed her face. That was until Krystal placed a hand on Mei's shoulder to get her attention.
"I'm sorry." Mei let out with a lightly sigh as the two women she'd been talking to her looked at her more than a bit confused, as she normally wasn't the type to get lost in her own thoughts. "I just started to feel a bit guilty." She confessed while trying to keep the heat creeping up on her cheeks at bay.
"But ya just got done saying he don't need no pity from us." Sandy pointed out while giving the feline a questioning look as she raised one of her eyebrows.
"He doesn't." Mei now scoffed despite her face flashing hotter as she looked back towards the lone adult male on the property. He was still in the sandbox keeping the kids busy, and paying no mind to them dumping wet sand all over his worn tee-shirt and jeans. "But still..." Mei looked back to her friends and then cleared her throat as she reached out for one of his beers, and then stood up while using her free hand to cradle her nearly empty glass of red wine. "Maybe I should talk with him?" She let out as a question despite her not waiting for the other two women to chime in.
"I wish you wouldn't!" Sandy now shouted at Mei seriously as the cat refused to even look back in acknowledgement. Even despite the female squirrel's words causing the children, and adult male to looked their way with alarm.
"Everything ok?" Randy smiled at Mei as she finished approaching before offering him the beer in her hand. He quickly accepted, but then looked past the blue furred woman at his sister who was still looking at them both sternly.
"Oh, everything's fine!" Mei laughed while settling down in the grass next to the sandbox. "You know how Sandra hates you drinking, but I insisted on bringing you another drink after yours had tipped over." She kept her eyes on him while flashing a positive lip curl.
"Ah. Okay." Randy now nodded his head as he seemed to digest, mentally, Mei's explanation. "Ya know ya didn't have ta." Randy smiled back at the women he'd harbored a large crush on for around two years. "But thanks." He quickly followed up while breaking the cap on his beer on a wood log that was holding the sand in the structure, he was seated on.
"Oh, it's hardly the first time your sister, and I haven't seen eye to eye." Mei continued to smile while surprisingly finding herself more relaxed after taking another small sip of wine. "Besides, I was really hoping to hear more about this road trip of yours."
"Really?" Randy asked unable to hold back his excitement.
A nod escaped Mei's before she took another small sip of her wine while turning towards watching the young children play. "The last extensive road trip I was on was only a few years after I graduated college." She cast him a glance followed up with a light grin. A small giggle then made is way out of her mouth as she placed her glass of red wine down on the grass next to his dark brown beer bottle. "So, you can imagine just how many eons ago that was."
Randy now let out a giggle himself as both adult's lost focus on the children tossing sand around, and then locked their eyesight on one another. "I'd imagine is was only a few years before I dropped out of high school." The male continued to chuckle in an attempt to down play her own attempt at putting herself down due to the fact she was older than him. "Where did ya drive to?" Randy now asked while picking up his beer and taking a sip as he was honestly curious. She was from the UK, and he imagined her road trip was back home where her roots were, which was a place he'd never been.
"Oh, a few girlfriends and I spent a good 3 weeks driving around western Europe. Camping out, or finding a hole in the wall hostel, when we were lucky enough to find a somewhat real bed to lay in. It was absolutely atrocious most of the time, but looking back I do fine a lot of happy memories in it. Still, it was just us working out some built up childish angst."
Randy nodded his head, not really understand her last line, but kinda getting her seeing road trips as something adolescents would do for fun, as low on funds. "I end up doing long road trips almost every year, but den again I never really grew up." The male squirrel sighed while still holding his smile. He was more than thankful that Mei's attention was still locked on him, even after his admission, that she was already well aware of, while she picked up her wine glass again and finished it off.
Mei reached out and placed her free hand on Randy's, that was on the log he was sitting on. "Forgive me for being so bold, but... If you'd really be up for replacing your travel mate, than I might enjoy a short trip away." Mei then coughed under her breath as she looked at Randy seriously. "Just a friendly trip." She said steady but her face forced the point she wasn't looking for more.
"Sounds like heaven." Randy spoke in a whisper while reaching out and surprising her with a hand shake.