Precious Virtue ✓

Chapter 45: The Love Of Queens

Precious Virtue

Chapter XLV: The Love Of Queens

[Adrien's POV]

"This place is cute," Elijah commented as we walked inside the cat cafe. A bell chimed over our heads, a gust of warm air brushing against our faces, tickling us with the smell of coffee beans and pastries. Elijah glanced around the cafe, wrapping his soaked umbrella—it wasn't as busy as it was the last time I was here with Preston, but there were still several people sitting around the tables, doing work while drinking coffee, or playing around with some of the cats.

"Isn't it? I'm in love with this place. If I could, I would be here all day every day cuddling the cats." I reached into my bag, pulling out my wallet. "The food here is amazing too, and the drinks. They put paw prints on my cappuccino."

"Really? Now I'm gonna have to get a cappuccino." Elijah laughed, taking the five-dollar bill and toonies I held out for him.

As Elijah walked up to the register and ordered drinks for us, I glanced around the cafe in search of Latte. I had checked their website religiously over the past week, and Latte's picture was still there under the adoption list, so I knew that he had to be here somewhere.

Last week after the arcade, I pulled Elijah aside and told him about Latte, the cat that Preston fell in love with during our cat cafe trip. I told him how much Preston wanted to take Latte home, and so we made a plan that when I came back the following week, we would sneak off to the cafe while Preston was at rehab for a few hours to see if we could adopt Latte for him.

It was a long shot—the most we could do was fill out an application and hope that we get an interview, and if we did, hope that they could hold on to Latte until Elijah and Preston moved into their apartment. I wasn't sure if they would let us adopt him, or even hold him for us, but for Preston, it was worth it to try.

My heart leaped in my chest when I spotted Latte curled up on one of the cat trees over by an empty table, tucked against the rain-soaked window. I parted ways from Elijah and hurried over to the open table, setting my bag and coat on the chair so no one else would claim it. I then moved over to Latte, a smile tugging my lips when Latte lifted his cute little head. He rolled over, exposing his tummy, and I gave him a scratch behind his ears.

"Remember me?" I rubbed my hand over his exposed stomach, purrs vibrating against his warm fur. "You were all over my best friend the last time we were here."

"Is this Latte?" Elijah cooed when he walked over, carrying a tray with two cappuccinos. He set the tray down on the table and then joined me at the cat tree, gently brushing his hand over Latte's head.

"Yeah. Isn't he the cutest?" I bopped Latte on the nose.

"He's absolutely precious. I can see why Preston fell in love with him," Elijah laughed.

"You should have seen the two of them together," I told him. "They were inseparable. We were just sitting down at one of the tables when Latte came up to Preston while he was midbite of his waffle, and he just started meowing and pawing at him. Preston completely crumbled."

"I wish I could have seen that. Did you take pictures?" Elijah asked. I hummed, fishing my phone out of my pocket.

I flipped through my camera roll, showing Elijah the many photos and videos that I took of Preston cuddling and playing with Latte. There were a couple of Latte rolling around on Preston's lap, one of him sleeping, and a video of Preston wiggling a toy mouse in Latte's face.

Elijah cooed and awed at every photo and video, all while giving Latte pets on the cat tree, scratching under his chin and belly. Latte purred loudly at the attention, a chirpy meow stumbling from his chest whenever Elijah stopped petting him.