Drinking To Cope

The New Car (Chapter 4)

Claw awoke and stared at the empty roof in front of him. His alarm went off, and Claw thought it was pretty loud. Though, he thought that his deep sleep would usually keep him asleep for longer, despite how loud the alarm was, he thought that it was him being in a more enclosed space and more self-conscious about noise, and he just got accustomed to it. He turned around, grabbed his phone, 5 in the morning.

He sat up and looked around; the sun wasn't up, and it was all dark. He rubbed his eyes as he got up and felt the light switch. What he really enjoyed was that it was adjustable, so he turned it on the lowest and turned it on. It wasn't that bad.

"I can get used to this. Damn, aren't I supposed to get some good-looking clothes for today or something,"

Claw picked up his phone and started texting his boss as he walked to the kitchen. He adjusted it to the dimmest light setting before turning it on. After sending the text, he switched on the coffee machine and watched it closely. With a sigh, he scratched his chest and headed for the shower. Gazing into the mirror, he saw his reflection, bare. Wait, when did this happen?

Claw looked down; he had no clothes on. He didn't do this from what he remembered, maybe he did it while sleeping or something else. He shrugged; at least his towel was in the bathroom.

He turned on the shower and jumped in. It was cold water and he slightly shivered, but he jumped back to being warm. He started scrubbing himself well with his musky-smelling hygiene products. The names were always so weird, and Claw could never understand why they were named 'Black Mint' or stuff like that. He liked how they smelled; yes, he had to admit that, but he didn't know why they were named that.

Once Claw was finished, he began drying himself with his towel and walked back into the kitchen. The coffee was finished and his phone was next to the coffee machine. It was uncomfortably warm and Claw didn't like how it was touching the self-heating coffee pad. He grabbed it and scrolled through the messages, and his boss responded:

"Just bring fancy clothes, I'll be by 1 in the afternoon to pick you up. I'm going to clock you in and clock you out at exact hours; don't worry about coming in today."

Claw smiled and put his phone down.

"Time to go to sleep again!"

Claw joked around, brought his coffee mug to the couch, grabbed the remote and turned it on. He turned on a sitcom and began sipping on his coffee. His phone would occasionally ring, but Claw didn't pick them up because they weren't in his favourite contacts, which were his family and his boss. He giggled as he continued watching it.:

Max was in the kitchen, busy assembling a towering sandwich to impress his date. Bella watched from the sofa, her tail flicking with amusement, while Oliver sat in the kitchen chair, his feathers puffing out in curiosity.

"Max, are you sure about this? This could end up a horrible mess!"

Bella asked, one eyebrow raised as her ears twitched sceptically. Max giggled a bit while confirming with Bella:

"Of course, Bella! It's foolproof! This is going to be the best, tallest, and biggest sandwich she'll ever see!"

Max declared, standing on his tiptoes to add yet another layer of lettuce and cheese. Bella looked at Max before remarking that it wasn't the only thing Max had to offer. Oliver squawked dramatically, flapping his wings. He tried warning him about the sandwich tilting slightly.