Edwin P.O.V:
I have been walking around in the rain for fifteen minutes trying to find Jasiri, but I cannot seem to find her anywhere. I tried to text and call her several times but I was met with no response. Eventually after looking for her along Clark Street for three to four blocks, I continued my search for her down Webster Avenue and down Sedgwick Street and somehow I ended up back on Menomonie Street.
I turned left to walk a couple of blocks where I came upon a small brick walkway with a few trees and benches, almost asif this area could also act as a small park. While walking though there, I found Jasiri sitting on a bench crying while being drenched in the rain, with some of the mascara she was wearing running down her fur.
I immediately approached her to see if she was alright, so I silently sat next to her.
"Hey Jasiri, are you alright? I'm really sorry about the reunion, I had no idea that my old classmates would react that way." I said as Jasiri slowly turned her head towards me.
"I know you never meant for it to happen Edwin, but I am just curious about one thing…..why did you take me to your reunion in the first place?" Jasiri said in a saddened tone that had hints of irritation.
"I took you to the reunion because I wanted to introduce you to some of my old friends and acquaintances, to try to share a little bit of my past with you. I also just wanted to spend time with you." I replied.
"If you wanted to spend time with me, I wouldn't have minded just hanging out with you at your place or something else, away from peering eyes…" Jasiri said.
"Wait? I thought you said you got used to the staring and people looking at you." I asked, then she turned her head towards a nearby tree and tears started to develop in her eyes.
"Well I am on the most part, but there are just sometimes where even when I have days where it just gets to me despite experiencing this for the past twenty one years. For years, I have been made fun of for my hyena form or being the weird girl in school who doesn't seem to fit in at school. Even when I don't give a damn what most of those assholes thought about me as an individual, it still hurts that people have deliberately chosen to judge me solely because I am of a different form or I did not have the mainstream interests of many of my I have previously experienced judgement from the Pride Landers for being a hyena, that's ancient history now since the the former kingdom doesn't exist anymore. I guess tonight was just really bad because it reminded me of an incident in my senior prom where I experienced a similar berate of teasing and the snotty popular girl gave me a dog collar and leash. That group of people laughing at me at the reunion just brought back all the memories of that night and of the related abuses I have experienced in the past and….and it just reinforces the thing that I have always known since I first became a hybrid….that I am a freaking monster." Jasiri said before she began to cry again.
I just walked up to her, grabbed her hands and stared directly into her eyes.
"Jasiri...look at me. You are NOT a monster. You are a strong, independent, intelligent and beautiful individual. Don't listen to what other assholes that try to tell you otherwise. To be honest, other than Kendall, Marino and a few others, most of the people at the reunion were either acquaintances I barely talked to back in high school or egotistical jerks, so yeah when I was younger, I never really fit in with the mainstream social circles either. But anyway, I've known you for about three months and you are nothing even close to a monster. You are beautiful inside and out in both your hyena form and your human forms. Just ignore all of those jerks, because you are amazing" I said to her.
Jasiri just lifted her head and started to lightly smile.
"Oh Edwin…..that is really sweet of you to say, but you don't need to say that for me because I had a bad day. I know you don't have any bad intentions towards me, so you don't have to say that stuff to me because you feel sorry for me today about what happened earlier tonight."Jasiri said.
"Oh no, I'm not just saying this because I feel sorry for you, I'm saying this because it is true. It has been a really long time since I have been comfortable with anyone the way I am when I am around you. When I am around you, I get this rush of oxytocin into my brain and I just don't want it to end. Jasiri, I really like you, and I have felt that way since our first jog together. I've felt that since we first met, I've gotten a chance to know you more in a way that I never thought was possible. I think of you constantly and no matter whether you are in either your human form or your hyena form, you will always be beautiful to me. Also, there has been something that I wanted to ask you for a while….Jasiri, we've been hanging out for a while and we've been good friends ever since we met and I'm having feelings for you and I want to get to know more about the amazing person you are and...I was wondering…..would you like to be my girlfriend?" I said.
Jasiri's eyes just widened and her mouth opened after I asked that question. I felt embarrassed so I stood up and turned around towards a tree because I was afraid to see her expression when I finished.
"I was thinking that perhaps we could potentially start a relationship since we have gotten to know each other after all the time we spent together and hung out. If we do, I will not be one of those idiots who took advantage of you like Kion or that guy in L.A, I will be with you the whole way, and if it means being me being socially ostracized, then fine by me as long as I get to be there for you. I am sorry that it may seem soon, and if you think it may be too soon, I totally understand and we can put off the question until later and continue what we have right now, but if you really don't want to be in a relationship with me, I totally understand if you and to just remain friends and..and" I was saying until I started to hear footsteps approach from behind me.
The footsteps stopped and two furry hands grabbed my upper arms and turned me around to end up staring face-to-face with Jasiri, who was the one that grabbed my arms and soon from her previously shocked expression she started to slowly smile at me.
Soon...she started to pull me closer to her….and all of the sudden...she kissed me…..her lips to mine.
The kiss lasted for about two or three seconds, until she pulled away from my face still with that same light smile on her face, while I had an expression of surprise on my face.
"Stop talking so I can say yes already. I have a bit of a confession myself….I have also been constantly thinking about you too. Since we met and started hanging out, I have also developed feelings for you and there were actually times where I thought about asking you out but I never had the guts to do it. I also was thinking about starting a relationship, but then I initially had some insecurities because first, a small part of my mind still hasn't got over losing Janja and I was initially afraid that if we get into a relationship, it might end up like several of the bad relationships I previously had. But after all that, I realized something…..You are the first guy I have truly felt comfortable and trusting with since Janja, and I just feel like that you are someone I can easily open up to without the fear of judgement. So with this….yes, I'll be your girlfriend, as long as you promise to be my boyfriend." Jasiri said.
"Of course I will, why did you think I asked you." I repeated in an excited tone.
We both approached each other to kiss again, and this kiss was much longer than the last one. We closed both our eyes and as we kissed, we were essentially in a world of our own. We continued as the rain continued to pour on the both of us, with the sounds of both the rain, passing cars and the occasional person that might walk on the sidewalk near us.
This passionate kiss must have lasted like twelve seconds until we pulled away and started smiling at each other.
"That was amazing," I said.
"Yeah, it was. Hey Edwin, I actually want to ask you something, sorry that I didn't ask you this earlier, exactly how did you find out about Kion?" Jasiri said in an inquisitive tone.
"Oh, Beshte told me one time while we were having coffee." I told her.
"Oh Beshte, you are such a nice guy but man you cannot keep a secret that well." Jasiri said to herself.
"Yeah, but Beshte never meant any harm in it, it was kind of when I was asking him a question on whether he knew this jackass ex of yours and the name Kion slipped out." I said.
"Oh yes, Beshte worked closely with him in their Lion Guard days. But that's all in the past, let's just focus on the present for now" Jasiri said.
"Sure, let's try to get out of this rain, want to try to find a place to go in so we can avoid the rain?" I asked.
"Sounds good to me, I ran past this cafe that seemed good, how about we go there?" Jasiri said.
"Sure, lead the way." I said as we started walking.
"Wait Edwin, why are you wet? Didn't you have an umbrella?" Jasiri asked.
"I did, but I lost it. I guess it fell out while I was trying to find you." I replied, after which Jasiri playfully hit me in the arm and started laughing a little bit.
"You klutz! Here, I still have mine in my bag." Jasiri said as she grabbed a black umbrella from her handbag and opened it.
The two of us eventually started walking along the sidewalk towards the direction of this cafe. Eventually we arrived at the cafe and we sat down at a booth. Jasiri looked a little cold, so I took off my suit jacket to offer to her.
"Thank you" She said as she took the jacket and placed it on her shoulders and for some reason, she started to rest her head on my shoulder. I did not know why she was doing that, but that reunion was rough, so I'm just going to let her do it, and besides we're dating now so I guess this is normal.
I was about to check my phone when I heard footsteps coming into the cafe, and I looked towards the door to see that Kendall and Jamal were walking in, closing their umbrellas, and within a few seconds, they spotted us in our booth. Kendall had an expression of irritation and relief on her face, while Jamal just had a neutral expression on his face as they walked towards us.
"Dude?! We've been looking for you guys for like half an hour! Have you gotten any of my texts?!" Kendall said.
I checked my phone to see that there were 10 unread text messages and two missed phone calls from Kendall.
"I'm sorry I had to miss your messages and calls Kendall, I was too busy consoling my girlfriend from the berate of teasing she experienced from our former classmates. And your reaction back there did not necessarily make anything better." I replied.
"Yeah...We were going to talk to you about that. Look, we are both incredibly sorry about the way we reacted back there. It was insensitive for us to react like that and we should have taken a more active role in defending you guys when those groups of assholes teased you guys." Kendall said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Reacting to seeing you by dropping that wine glass was uncalled for and there could have been a much better way to react to ….you know...your condition." Jamal said as he turned his head towards Jasiri.
"Yeah Jasiri, I'm also really sorry for how I reacted at the reunion. I should have never reacted in that manner and I am deeply sorry if I had offended you because that was never my intention at that time or the rest of tonight. I understand what it is like to be judged for being different and I should have not have shown judgement to your differences. I am willing to do anything to make it up to you and I hope we can remain friends after this." Kendall said to Jasiri. In response Jasiri looked up to Kendall and Jamal with a light smile appearing on her face as Kendall and Jamal sat at our booth.
"It's okay you guys, your reactions were actually two of the lighter reactions I received when people first saw my hyena form. So don't worry, we're good, I guess I was just overwhelmed at the time because when that group of your old classmates was laughing at me, it reminded me of a similar incident in which there was a similar chorus of teasing and the 'popular girl' of my graduating class gave me a dog leash. It was really more of the combination of those memories and the situation that got me overwhelmed back there. So there's nothing you should be worried about, just be careful with your reactions or word choices next time" Jasiri said as she extended her paw-like hand towards them, with both Kendall and Jamal shaking her hand individually, while each of them also took some time to feel that her paw, and the fur around it was real.
"Yes, I know my paw and fur are real, essentially Edwin had the same reaction when he first found out...Wait no, I lied, he was actually more freaked out the first time." Jasiri said, letting out a laugh after that while my cheeks started to turn red.
"Yeah, it was at a museum gala; I initially thought I was either overworked, going insane or in a classified government experiment, and I essentially ran towards the exit where the mandrill from HR shot me with a tranquilizer gun, eventually getting handcuffed to an office cabinet so you guys had to explain the truth to me." I said it with everyone at the table and started to laugh.
"Wait a minute?! You're serious? You freaked out so much that you had to be shot with a tranquilizer gun to calm you down?!" Jamal asked, and I responded to that with a nod.
"Yeah, they claimed that it was the only way to keep me from running away." I said.
"Although, Rafiki has also been known to be a little nuts anyway, so I'm not sure why he chose the tranquilizer gun." Jasiri added as our laughter continued.
"Oh yeah, Edwin, I forgot to tell you, you dropped your umbrella when you left the hotel...and sorry if it's a little wet from the rain." Jamal said as he took out my umbrella from the jacket pocket and handed it back to me.
"I was wondering where that went. Thanks Jamal." I said as I was receiving my umbrella back.
"No problem." Jamal replied.
"Wait, I actually have a few questions, is that okay or would you rather not answer any right now?" Kendall asked, looking towards Jasiri.
"Sure, I have no problem with it, fire away." Jasiri said.
"Okay, first what do you mean by the 'HR mandrill'? Who are these 'you guys' and 'we' that you guys mention? Also I heard both Edwin and you say something about 'transformations' and your 'hyena form', and how exactly does this transformation work, is it kind of like a werewolf or something in which you transform during a full moon or something?" Kendall asked.
After she asked that, Jasiri and I just looked at each other and smiled knowing that we were going to have to tell them the same story she and the others told me when I first found out.
"Okay, first of all, the 'HR mandrill' Edwin mentioned was Rafiki, he is the head of the museum's Human Resources department. Second, I am not the only one who is a hybrid, there's actually twenty to thirty of us, with all of us working in the museum, except for one who left to teach first grade at an elementary school. Also, the transformations that we are referring to are my transitions between my two forms and no it is not like a werewolf that changes forms every full moon, we transform to our hybrid forms every night when it gets dark out. I think from what we learned about it, it's probably due to some form of light-sensitive epigenetic mutation or some weird form of acclimatization. Also, I would like it if you refrain from using the term werewolf, I have some bad memories associated with that term. Specifically I am a hybrid, in which we have a human form during the day and we transform into our anthropomorphic animal forms at night when it is dark out. Despite getting used to the routine of transforming day and night every day, I was never previously this way until twenty one years ago. I was actually born a full hyena in the Outlands….oh wait I forgot, you don't know what the Outlands are do you? Okay, this is going to take a while. So it all started in a region which I eventually learned to be located in western Tanzania….." Jasiri said.
The two of us continued to tell them the same story I was told, discussing early history of the Pride Lands and Outlands, the Tree of Life coup, the droughts in both the Outlands and the Pride Lands, the loss of Jasiri's entire hyena clan, their encounter with the so-called "shaman" that gave them the injections that turned them to hybrids, along with her and the others' initial adjustments to the human world. This lasted a while and I saw that there were some parts where Kendall and Jamal started to develop expressions of shock and a bit of confusion.
"..Yeah, so that is how I ended up in the human world, how I became a hybrid and how I ended up where I am right now." Jasiri said as she finished the story.
Kendall and Jamal just stared in confusion just trying to process the whole thing. I totally understand why they seem confused, I went through the same thing when I first heard that story.
"Woah…..So you were initially a hyena that eventually became a prime minister of these 'Outlands', then some of your Lion Guard returned to the Pride Lands from a coup at this Tree of Life, and then a drought happened in both the Pride Lands and the Outlands where you lived, during which after dehydration, starvation and massacres, you lost your entire clan, including your mate, sister, niece and nephew…." Kendall was saying until Jamal began to finish for her.
"And then after losing your clan, you went to live in the Pride Lands until the drought became so bad the lands became uninhabitable for anyone to live, and while you guys were looking for a new place to live, you guys encountered this 'shaman' that gave you injections that made you became hybrid, adjusted to living in the human world and now you essentially have a human form by day and your anthropomorphic hyena form every night?" Jamal said.
"Essentially yes...and we have been living in the human world for 21 years. All of us including myself had a difficult adjustment, many of us went through intense phases of bullying and some of us had forms of abuse inflicted on us. Speaking of, I am sorry that I ran out of the reunion, all of those people laughing at my hyena form just reminded me of this particularly bad incident I experienced at my senior prom ten years ago where a bunch of my classmates laughed and called me names in a similar manner to tonight, along with the most popular girl in my senior class gave me a dog leash and collar as a present. Many of my former classmates just reinforced the idea that I was some kind of dog, some outcast that could be used as an object of ridicule" Jasiri said.
"Oh my….I am really sorry if I accidentally contributed to triggering any of those memories for you…" Kendall said.
"It's fine Kendall, you didn't do anything, you didn't know and neither you or Edwin knew that your friends were going to react like that." Jasiri said.
"Actually, even back then, most of the people within that group were not really friends with me or Edwin. For the majority of that particular group I was acquaintances at best, with several of them being total assholes then and now." Kendall replied.
"Yeah, as I said earlier, Kendall and I were not really popular in high school, we usually sat alone in lunch in the two years in which we had different lunch periods. Also, I have no idea about Kendall, but when I was both in elementary school, middle school and even college, I never really had much of a friend group." I said.
"Yeah, other than you, Marino and a few others, I didn't really have a friend group until I went to college." Kendall said
"I actually did had a friend group in elementary school, but when I started middle school in sixth grade, I got into the advanced classes at my middle school, so I got placed in different classes from those of my original friend group and although there have been a few times where we tried to hang out, but it just became awkward because I felt I was out of the flow with the peopleI called my friends. By the end of sixth grade, none of us really really had the same interests anymore, me with computers, this one guy with fencing, the other with his debate team schedule and the other with music. Eventually we just grew apart and we didn't really talk to each other the rest of middle school since our schedules became so different. We eventually ended up going to separate high schools, and now we are Facebook friends at best, sending the occasional message to one another every six months or so. Outside of that, I never really had a friend group either." Jamal said.
"Yeah, when I first became hybrid in my human form, which for some reason was at the age of seven, and I had to start out in second grade. I was also an outcast in school just like you guys, most of my classmates made fun of me for being the weird girl who was always alone, and when they find out about my nightly transformations, they basically came up with a daily assortment of dog, wolf or hyena-related insults at me, with very few actually getting the hyena right. Essentially in elementary school, books and the class material were my only friends, eventually I actually began to pick up reading and writing faster than the others who transformed with me, along with surpassing the averages of the pure human students, soI focused mostly on my studies despite all the people making fun of me. The bullying was bad in my first two years in Tanzania, but when I moved to the United States in the fourth grade, the bullying just got worse. That all changed in sixth grade, when I met a girl in my sixth grade Earth Science class, named Cindy Renjifo, who eventually became my best and only friend in middle school and high school. Although I did date two guys between middle school and high school but neither ended on good terms. In many cases, I am still in touch with Cindy despite living in two different parts of the country, me here in Chicago, while she is in San Diego. Other than her, I didn't really have any friends while I was in school." Jasiri said .
"That sucks, but that is in the past now. You have an interesting job, several friends based on what you and Edwin told us, work and otherwise…." Kendall said.
"And a boyfriend as of an hour ago…" Jasiri said as she turned her head towards me.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys. When I found Jasiri we had a bit of a long conversation, we decided to take a big step and now we are officially dating each other." I said
"That's great to hear, congratulations!" Kendall said.
"Yeah, that's great. We finally have another pair of couple friends that we can do with. Since our friends Nathanael and Dobrilo moved to Atlanta, it has been a while since we had a pair of friends who were couples that did not live in other parts of the country." Jamal said.
"Thanks, I appreciate your enthusiasm on the subject," Jasiri replied.
"Also, sorry to change the subject, but from the story you told us earlier, I have two questions. One, after this 'shaman' assigned you to your guides, did you ever see him anytime after that, and second, other than the bullying and school, what was one thing in the human world that was tough to get used to?" Kendall asked.
"Actually, after that day the shaman assigned us guides, we actually never saw him after that. Not even once, though I am not sure why. To respond to your second question, I would say that one thing the human world that was difficult for me to get used to was the concept of cooking food because back when I was a full hyena we used to scavenge or hunt for our food, so I found it kind of confusion that humans either purchase, plant or cook their food. Just going to a market or grocery store was an interesting experience, and you should have seen me the first time I went to a supermarket. It was interesting to learn about how food can be obtained just by exchanging money, or for free if one can plant and grow it but it takes a lot of time to do that, as you know and unfortunately I also learned that not everyone has the luxury or enough money to purchase everything they want or need. Another thing I was confused about was cooking because when I lived in the Outlands I just tore the flesh of whatever I hunted and ate the meat raw, but now I have to have any meat I plan to consume cooked and when I first I first was taught the concept, I was confused because I was like 'wait? we have to burn the meat a little bit to eat it? Why?' Then my guide and other humans told me that they cook foods like meat products because if eaten raw, they can make humans sick and don't judge me but there were a few times where I was curious if I could ingest pieces of raw meat since I'm a hybrid, but when I tried it in my human form and I got sick for two days, and when I tried it in my anthro hyena form, I shockingly still got sick but only for a day at that time. I was just shocked that because of my transformation into a hybrid, I can no longer eat the raw meat I once survived on as a hyena, neither in human or my anthro hyena form. Another food related thing that confused me was that I was now able to eat plants in the form of vegetables, fruits, grains and herbs. Initially the very idea of a carnivore eating the food of our prey was something I initially found hard to believe. But funny thing, that was only the second most confusing thing about the human world in my opinion, don't even get me started on my confusion on the concept of sports…" Jasiri discussed.
Then all of the sudden, Kendall widened her head to an expression of realization for some reason.
"I am sorry to intrude you guys, but as you were discussing the stories, I just realized something...I think that before tonight there was a time that I might have met someone who was a hybrid and I briefly saw them in their anthro animal form…." Kendall said.
After hearing this, Jamal raised his eyebrows a little bit, while Jasiri and I widened our eyes in slight shock.
"Wait, what do you mean that you might have met a hybrid in anthro animal form?" Jasiri said in a surprised tone.
"Well, at first I initially didn't think of it that much, but when I started thinking about it again as you guys told the stories and particularly when Jasiri mentioned being confused about sports, I was like 'wait a minute? I think I have seen someone who was a hybrid before…' Perhaps it was someone you knew called Jasiri, since you said that there were not really any other known hybrids other than the group that transformed with you. Do you remember when we were looking through the yearbook and we saw that photo of that athlete from Baker High spiking my head with a volleyball during a match?" Kendall asked
"Yeah….how come?" I asked.
"Well this encounter happened that night...So it was in the Fall of 2008, and I took a volleyball to the head during a match against Baker High. My coach benched me the rest of the game because of concerns I might have developed a concussion. We ended up losing that game, but that was not because of me being benched, Baker was a particularly good team at the time. So after the game ended, I took my ice pack and went to the locker room to get my things before my dad arrived to pick me up. As I was refilling the water in my ice pack, I heard this groaning sound, and I was guessing someone really had to go use the bathroom. I then walked to my gym locker to get my things, and I began to hear footsteps near me. I turned around as I was pressing the ice pack towards my head and I saw something that surprised me at the time. I saw one of the girls from the Baker and as I took a closer look at the jersey number, short haircut and sports goggles they were wearing, I recognized them as the girl who hit me in the head with the volleyball. On the other hand, despite recognizing some details about them, that was all I recognized compared to when I saw her in the game earlier because when I saw her at that time, she now had blue and reddish colorations on her face but I don't recall seeing her get injured in the game and I swore that on her arms and legs, I saw long brownish-gray hair or fur growing. I dismissed it because I got hit in the head with the volleyball and I thought it was just seeing things. She approached me and started to apologize over the whole volleyball in the head incident, along with telling me that she never intended to hit me in the head and how she misaimed when trying to hit the ball towards the floor next to me. I told her that everything was fine, though I thought I might need a little rest after tonight, and after congratulating her on her team's win, she just left the locker room after that. After that, I just waited for my dad to come to the school to give me a ride home. So yeah, I think I actually did encounter someone who was a hybrid, but I dismissed it at the time because I thought it was some kind of hallucination I was having after being hit in the head with a volleyball." Kendall said.
As Kendall finished her story, I started thinking about the photo I saw in the yearbook and how I initially thought about how the player from the Baker team in that photo looked a little familiar to me. I then started to think about the red and blue facial colorings Kendall described, along with something one of my colleagues in the genetics labs told me about once. I then thought….wait a minute...I think I know who Kendall met at the volleyball match that night almost eleven years ago. I flashed a look at Jasiri , who coincidentally was flashing a look at me at the same time, both of us smiling because each of us knew exactly what the other was thinking about.
I decided to pull up my phone and go to my photos, and I scrolled to a photo that was taken two days ago on the interns' last day in our lab and I zoomed in on Makini, who was in her human form. I then showed the picture to Kendall, pointing to Makini on the picture.
"Hey Kendall, just wondering, is she by any chance the girl you saw that night?" I asked her.
"Well the hairstyle definitely looks familiar but I cannot really tell for sure." Kendall replied.
Jasiri then pulled up her phone to scroll through her photos and she happened to have a few photos of Makini in her hybrid form, which shows the more prominent features of her anthropomorphic mandrill form, she then showed the photo to Kendall.
"Here's a photo I have of the same woman but in her hybrid mandrill form. Does anything ring a bell to you?" Jasiri asked while showing the picture. Kendall's eyebrows noticeably rose and her eyes started to widen.
"Oh my goodness, that's her! She was the girl I saw that night eleven years ago! I thought that the whole mandrill thing was just a hallucination caused by my hit to the head, but I can't believe that it was real! I guess my hit to the head was not as severe as I thought it was...don't get me wrong, it still hurted at the time and I did throw up a little while when I got home after the match, but I guess it never caused hallucinations." Kendall said.
"So yeah, anyway the girl you met was Makini, and she is actually one ofmy colleagues from the genetics lab I currently work. We are actually working on our latest project together. It's kind of funny to think that if I had attended that volleyball game eleven years ago,I could have met them before I started working at the museum." I said.
"Yeah, that that is interesting, I guess it really is a small world…" Kendall said.
"Anyway, Jasiri, I am really sorry that the reunion went the way it did, perhaps I can make up for tonight on our next date, perhaps we can make it another double date to take some pressure off. But if you want it to be just the two of us on our next date, I'm fine with that too." I said.
"It's okay Edwin, you did not know it was going to end up that way. In regards to our next date, I'm honestly fine either way. Also, Kendall, Jamal, I've had fun hanging out with you guys, we should hang out more often." Jasiri said looking towards Kendall and Jamal.
"I agree, I also liked hanging out with you too and we are glad that Edwin found someone as interesting and nice like you." Kendall replied.
"Thank you guys, I really appreciate that." Jasiri said, after which Jamal gently turned his head towards her.
"Yeah, we hope the best for you guys. Also I have an idea, Jasiri, you know how Kendall and Edwin introduced the two of us to some of their high school memories, I was thinking that in the next time the four of us hang out, the two of us should show them some of our old high school photos and such so that we can show each of our significant others a little bit more about our own high school experiences." Jamal said.
"Sure, that's cool, the four of us should coordinate a specific date when we can do that." Jasiri replied.
As we continued to talk, music from the cafe's speaker system continued to play in the background. Then at one point, another song started playing over the speakers and this particular song was one I have not really heard since high school….it was a song called "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. This song particularly caught my attention.
"Hey..'Bleeding Love'. I have not heard that song in years, probably since high school." I said.
"Yeah, me neither. I think I remembered that it was actually played in our senior prom, Edwin." Kendall said.
"Oh yeah, I remembered that, though the music was good, I thought it was uneventful if you ask me." I replied.
"Same, other than the music the event itself was kind of bland." Kendall said.
Suddenly an idea popped into my head.
"Hey guys, what do you say that we can make up for some lost potential dance memories at our proms and dance a little to the music here." I suggested.
They all had surprised looks on their faces, particularly Jasiri.
"Wait, you mean right now? In the cafe? You're not afraid that people will stare at a human dancing with an anthropomorphic hyena?" Jasiri said.
"Jasiri, I don't care whether people stare at us or not. I don't care whether you are human, hybrid, somewhere in between or whatnot. The only thing that matters is that you are in my life and if that means that a couple of people or even the entire world stares, it would be worth it because I get to be with someone I really care about...you…" I said while my hand slowly approached Jasiri's, whose furry hand also grabbed onto mine.
We just looked at each other and smiled.
"Oh Edwin…" Jasiri said before we briefly shared another kiss and then the two of us exited our booth to the small space between the booths and a couple of the tables around the cafe, eventually Kendall and Jamal also got up from the both and moved to the area a couple feet behind us.
As the music continued to play, Jasiri placed her arms around my shoulders while I placed my hands on Jasiri's waist and we just slowly moved along to the music as our dancing slowly turned into a calming embrace. I saw that Kendall and Jamal did the same with each other.
This has been a roller coaster of a night, first things started off casual, then the reunion ended up being a disaster in the later stages, and then I revealed my true feelings to Jasiri, which I was incredibly lucky that she reciprocated those feelings and felt the same way about me. Now I am slow dancing in a cafe with my girlfriend and my friend from high school doing the same thing with her boyfriend a couple feet away.
Sure, a few people were staring and thinking "who are those crazy people slow dancing in a cafe?" or "who the hell is the one with the blue dress and hair all over their body?" But honestly, I don't care what any of those people think or say, I'm just glad that I am with someone I truly care about. Who knows what will happen in our relationship, I'm just glad that we are able to begin our journey together.