SHREDDED LEASH

CHAPTER FIVE: UNGRACEFUL INTERACTION; ON BOTH SIDES

WARNINGS: VULGAR LANGUAGE, GUNS WILL BE (somewhat)USED AND MENTIONED, SLIGHT MENTION OF SUICIDE

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"So, Carmen...does your brother have some sort of pet?"

"Uh, yeah, he does! Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I just heard meowing coming from his apartment and was curious."

"High pitched meowing? That might be the new one. He actually had two cats, but he recently got a kitten."

"Really? What's it's name? Or—what's all of their names?"

"...I'm sure you can ask him yourself."

"...You're really gonna make me do that?"

"If you wanna start talking to him, you have to actually start by talking to him. Not stalking him through me."

"Wha—it's not stalking!"

Alphonse exclaimed defensively. Carmen rolled her eyes with a cocky smirk, "Trying to get information about my brother when he barely even knows your name is kind of stalking. I bet you went through his social media too.", the brunette scoffed as she passed off some paperwork onto the 'finished pile'.

Alphonse stayed quiet, eye twitching a bit. Carmen was waiting for an answer, but she didn't receive one. That action raised her suspicion as she looked up to make eye contact with the dark haired man.

"You...didn't, right?", she asked, afraid of the fact that she already knew the answer to that question. "Psshhh, no.", the man said through gritted teeth. Carmen gave him an unamused look, pursing her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest, expectingly.

Pink eyes squinted as he avoided meeting her gaze, gently tapping his foot. "Alph—"—"Okay, fine! I did!", he admitted with a tiny stomp. "I just—just wanted to see what kind of person he was.", 'Am I a stalker?' No! All I did was go five years back into his account, that's not stalking!, he argued with himself in his head, worried of being anything of the sort.

"And you think an online profile is going to show you what he's really like?", Carmen took a sip of her coffee mug that said "Yes, I am an attractive woman, and yes, I SHIT.", the last word was in all caps.

"Well then, you should tell me what he's 'really' like.", Alphonse used air quotes on the 'really', then putting his hands on his hips in a sassy manner. Carmen laughed, then snorted and shut her mouth right after. She covered and face and cleared her throat before elegantly sitting up in her chair.

"Hm, what's my brother like?", she tapped her chin with her fresh manicured nails, the medium coffin shape with a light blue, french tip stood out compared to her rich plum shade of lipstick. She hummed, tilting her head as she now cupped her own chin.

"He's kinda like...well, damn.", she cursed under her breath. "Now that you put me on the spot, that's kinda hard to answer.", Alphonse groaned at her words, rubbing the curve on the bridge of his nose. Carmen gave a pitying smile, "Sorry, guess you've got to ask him yourself.", she shrugged, picking up her blue pen and scribbling on the papers in front of her.

"Well, what am I supposed to say?", the masked man inquired. Carmen rolled her eyes, "Dude. I literally just told you he has like—three cats. Obviously ask him something about cats!", she shouted across the room, emphasizing the sentences while frantically moving her lips.