The witch and the bookshop

Chapter 1:

"Xanthar, come on dude wake up," I say. He's been asleep all night. I am still yet to sleep. "Xanthar!" I say louder.
"EKEK!" Xanthar jumps up "What's going on?!" He shouts. I roll my eyes.
"We'll be arriving soon. You need to wake up,"
Xanthar looks up at me, stretching and licking his paw. "You look like shit, did you sleep?".
I scoff. "Sleep? Sleep where? You can't drive, and we can't afford to stop until we get to *yawn* the village,". I rub my eyes and slap my cheek softly.
"Yeah well you look like shit. How long are we staying in the village anyways?"
I roll my eyes "thanks for saying I look like shit, not exactly like you look any better,". Xanthar gasps in a dramatic fashion. "I'm hurt, I groom my fur regularly, and you say I look like as bad as you. I'm offended,"
I shake my head. "It's to early for this," I run my hand through my hair and put the window down. "You didn't answer my question,"
"For a month or two. As far as the others know we went in the opposite direction. By the time the realize we'll be gone. So what will it be. Cat Xanthar or human Xanthar?"
"Cat. Humans suck,"
I laugh "oh I know humans suck,"
"You're human,"
"Witch"
"Same thing" Xanthar starts hitting the map on the floor and sits on the chair. "How long?"
"About 30 minutes," I look at my collection of coffee cups, all empty or days old. I really need to clean the car.

In the distance a person stands by their car and starts waving me down. "Xanthar be quite for a moment," I pull the car over.
"Hey you all good there?" I ask the person. Instantly I start trying to figure this guy out. Black top under red flannel, ripped jeans, beanie, pride badge. Definitely a peace lover. Possibly a hippie or stoner. They seem chill. "Yeah, sorry about waving you down. My car completely broken down and towns two far to walk and my friend isn't picking up her phone. There's no signal here so it makes sense,"
"I'm guessing you need a ride into town then,"
The guy puts his hands together. "Yeah please, I'd really appreciate it. Once I get to town I can get someone to pick up my car,"
I sigh. "Well I'm heading into town anyways. As long as your not a weird serial killer then you can hitch a ride with me,"
Giggling, the guys says "nah I'm not serial killer. Would it be cool if I put some stuff in my boot in your car? My friend owns a bookshop café type place. I have a bunch of her food and drinks in the back."
I nod "Just chuck it all in the back. Touch any of my stuff though and I'll become the serial killer," the guy laughs.
"Thanks,"
They take a few minutes to put everything in the back of my pickup truck. He then gets in the car. Xanthar quickly jumps onto my lap. "Nawww your cats so cute,"
"His names Xanthar, he's a pain in the ass,"
The guy smiles and strokes Xanthar, he quickly sits on the guys lap. I start driving.
"Oh I'm Zero by the way, I use he/him. What about you?"
"Lilith, she/they,"
"Lilith, I like it. It's different,"
"My parents have an odd taste,"
After a few minutes of silence Zero speaks up again. "Sooooo, what brings you to Ivysea?"
"Genral travels. I've never liked staying in one place for too long so me and my cat took to the road. We plan on staying a month or two,"
We continue talking for a while until we eventually get to town. Zero directs me to his friends bookshop.

"And we're here," Zero says. I park the pickup truck and get out. Someone in a yellow shirt and blue shorts runs out side. Their hair is in two buns with a flower crown around their head. "Zero! You sacred me! I couldn't get hold of you are you ok?!"
"Luna chill, my car broke down. I managed to flag someone down though,"
Luna comes up to me. "Thank you so much for helping Zero out,"
"It's all good,"
"I'm gunna go head to the mechanics real quick. Are you ok helping Luna out real quick?"
Well I can't exactly say no. Luna's smiling like I just gave them a million pounds. These two are too social for my liking. "Yeah I guess,". Xanthar jumps out of the car and rubs himself on Luna's leg. "Xanthar leave them alone," he them proceeds to climb me and sit on my head. Really, he's never gunna live this down I can hear him laughing already. Zero heads off and I start helping Luna take everything into the bookshop. We make small talk, well, Luna makes small talk. They don't give me enough time to answer anything. After about half an hour or so of Luna just rambling they stop. I look up. "I just realised I never actually introduced myself. I'm so sorry, that was rude of me. I'm Luna, I use she/her pronouns and I'm the proud owner of this little bookshop of mine," she holds her hand out to me.
"Lilith, she/they. Proud owner of that pickup truck," I shake her hand.