Playing for keeps

17. Drastically Different

E A S T O N

After my talk with Cecil, like every talk, I'm in a more positive mindset than I was before. 

I eventually leave Duchess to curl up in her bed while Cecil finishes up with the kitten room. I knock off the lights to the groom room and head out front, where Willis is cleaning the lobby.

"You still here?" Willis laughs, wiping down the coffee table in the waiting area.

"Yeah," I offer him a sheepish smile. "I lost track of time." More like I didn't want to leave. 

I search for my bag and jacket behind the front desk, sure I left it behind here at the start of my shift. Willis heads out to the back, mumbling something about finding the vacuum and picking up rabbit poop.

The underneath of the front desk is cluttered with donations we still haven't got around to unpacking, box after box filled with something for the animals.

While I'm sifting behind each box to find my stuff, the bell above the front door chimes, indicating someone has walked in.

"We're closed!" I announce from behind the desk, crouched down and out of sight. I stuff some donations back into the boxes, ones that I had pulled out in case Cecil, Willis or the other volunteers mistakenly packed my stuff into them.

I rise from behind the counter, scanning the floor again while brushing my hair behind my ears. The bell never chimed again to say that whoever walked in walked back out.

I glance up to check that they actually left, only to do a double take.

The air is knocked out of me as I'm taken off guard, wanting the ground to open and transport me anywhere but here.

Kaleb. Kaleb here. In the shelter. Stood by the door. Kaleb.

Kaleb stands in front of the front door, his face void of any emotion like always, looking directly at me and my frozen state.

Why is he here. Why could he possibly be here?

My mind and all my thoughts completely disappear as I do what I do next.

My legs happily give out as I duck behind the counter in a failed attempt at hiding.

Is it hiding if the person you're hiding from actually saw you hide while looking directly at you? Is it considered pathetic?

Yes, most definitely.

Why did I just do that? What morsel of my brain thought that this would be a good idea? What mature part of me, if I even have any, thinks that this would be the way to go?

If Oakley could see me now, he would pee his pants from laughing. His laugh haunts me already because I'm going to have to tell him about this. There's no way I can keep this encounter to myself.

I stay curled up under the desk, spotting my bag hidden behind one of the boxes I didn't check. 

My hand shoots out to grab it, in an attempt to be ready to bolt if it comes to that, but instead fall forward flat onto my face. My actions were too quick and fervent to the point where my arm shooting out to grab my bag brought my whole body with me.

"Ow," I groan into the floor, my hand curling around the strap of my backpack.

If my embarrassment couldn't get any worse, when I roll over onto my back, Kaleb is leaning over the other side of the desk, having a front row seat to my sad and pathetic life.

I feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

Does he like you? Cecil's earlier question echoes in the back of my mind, and I already know the answer. The answer is a big fat no.