Kitty

18

*Edited*

(Jay's POV still)

Halfway through the movie I lost focus because ginger hair was brushing my cheek. Leo had fallen asleep and had slowly slipped into the armchair, leaning against my side. His head rested on my shoulder, and I was shaking from how nervous I was. The girls definitely noticed, because they were giving me sly smiles and Spam took a photo, resulting in me glaring at them.

I take deep breaths to try to calm down, and eventually I do, and regain focus on the movie. It didn't last long, the screen going black, startling me with my reflection. I snap my head around to look at the girls, and they just shrug and reply that the movie was boring and they're going to bed, leaving me in a dark living room with a certain person asleep on me.

I groan and grumble softly to myself as I carefully turn towards him and slip my arms under his legs and upper back, lifting him up slowly. His head rests against my chest and he subconsciously leans against me, making my job of carrying him easier.

I carry him to his room, setting him softly on his bed. I pull the sheets back on one side of his bed and scooch him over to that side, then tuck him in.

This definitely doesn't occur normally between platonic friends.

I stay there next to him, sitting on the edge of the bed to think for a minute. All that's happened today already feels like a dream, with that alcohol induced coma and now Leo falling asleep against me. I glance over at him, longing for this not to end.

But it does. I can't live in this moment forever. I carefully push away from the bed and stand up, stretching my arms over my head and yawning as I walk to the door.

I open it, pausing to look in as I close it softly.

"Goodnight, Leo."

(Back to Leo's POV)

It's been too long since I've had some time to myself, so I make that my first priority when I wake up. I shapeshift into my cat form and stroll around outside for a while, scratching on trees and monitoring the neighborhood. I spend time in the slight forest that surrounds our neighborhood as well, taking in everything around me. Birds chirp and sing out, their unique calls filling the air, leaves rustle on trees high above me as the breeze sweeps in, and dappled sunlight hits moss covered tree roots and dead leaves and pine needles covering the forest floor. I shiver slightly as the wind ruffles my fur, reminding me of the cold weather.

For a while I run up trees and scan the forest floor from limbs, hoping to find suitable prey or see some other wildlife. I leap after squirrels playfully and root around through leaves when shrews or mice scurry by. I never actually catch anything, I wouldn't hurt a rodent on purpose, but it's fun to relax like this.

After I wear myself out, I fan myself out on a dead log and bask in the afternoon sun. I think about how close I was to Jay last night, and wish I had savored it longer without giving in to sleep. I'm still not sure how I ended up in bed, but I figure I sleepily trudged back to my room after the movie like I usually do when it's family movie night.

Something crunching dead leaves breaks me out of my thoughts, and I am immediately on high alert, ears pricked up and head turned towards the sound. It's a deer, carefully meandering along, ears flicking back and forth occasionally. I melt back into my log, relieved, and study the deer with interest. It only glances at me a few times, and considers me harmless, to which it would be correct. My tail flicks back and forth in curiosity as I admire the deer, most likely as close as I'll ever get to one. But then the sun washes over my face and I fight to keep my eyes open but fail, dozing off.

I spend most of the day drifting in and out of a comfortable nap, then stretch and mosey back to the house to see if someone has started dinner. The sun lingers in the sky still, casting a pink hue over the house when I sneak back in. I curl up sleepily on the edge of my bed, smiling internally from the state of happiness I'm in. I can smell dinner cooking and hear my dad humming along to a song downstairs, and I feel free from any burdens and satisfied from my day.

The rest of the night I'm back to Leo the human, talking to my dad about things from school and how annoying my homework is. Since my mom was away for most of the night with her friends, it was just me and dad eating the alfredo pasta he made and reading silently in the living room after. Occasionally we'd exchange conversation during our reading, but it was our favorite thing to do together.

When we went our separate ways for bedtime, I found myself unable to sleep, most likely from my previous napping, and so I read until I fall asleep.

🐈🐈🐈

As soon as I woke up, I invited Spam, Lola, and Jay over for breakfast.

I quickly discovered Jay uses a lot of syrup on his waffle, while I use none and prefer to dip my waffle in butter and eat it.

"Wanna do something fun today?" I ask them all, placing a pitcher of orange juice on the table, "The morning after the party you guys really helped me clean everything up so I wanted to repay you." I really am grateful that they cleaned the house up, otherwise my parents would have come home to an area of destruction.

"Nah, we've got important stuff to do," Spam says between mouthfuls of her breakfast. She gives Lola a look and a smirk and movement under the table tells me they've locked their hands together.

"Mhmm, okay," I say, looking at them suspiciously. Jay laughs, then starts choking on a piece of waffle. Lola rolls her eyes and slaps him on the back and then they both carry on eating. I stare at them with concern as I return to eating, slower this time.

"I'll hang out with you, Leo." Jay pipes up, throwing a stunning grin my way, making me momentarily forget about him hacking on a waffle.

"Sounds like a plan," I say, smiling.