Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter seventeen. home.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Althea frowns at the emptiness of her apartment — there was no George, there was no Santiago, even her cats had mysteriously disappeared.
For the first time in a while Althea had experienced complete and utter loneliness. There wasn't the warmth of George in her sheets or the reminder of her brother staying for a break or even the soft mewls from Jo or Mochi to remind her to feed them.
She likes the silence but like all things, they must come to an end — the sound of the jiggling doorknob is what fully wakes her up, reminding her that George was coming home, and the note on the post it note on her coffee table was an even bigger reminder that her brother had gone out for the night.
She hadn't even realized it was the next morning anyway — she had fallen asleep on her couch and it seemed that her brother had moved off into the guest room at one point through the evening.
The door clicks open and Althea jumps in response, a soft laugh escaping George's lips. "I didn't scare you, did I...?" he asks as he tossed his jacket onto her coat hanger.
"No." she replied weakly and quickly dashed over to him — yelping when her foot rolls and she almost falls into him. "Hi." she said finally — hooking her arms around his waist and glancing up at him.
"Hey." he replies as he pressed a kiss to her forehead — its welcoming and sweet. "You got my gift." he says softly.
"I did." she smiles and buried her face into his side. "it was very sweet of you." she says softly and then ushers him onto the couch and holds out a keychain.
"What is it...?" he asks.
"It's you. but in a white cat calico critter form." she replies and clips it onto his backpack. "that way you think of me when you see it."
He studies the keychain, his lips curving upwards into a half smile at the intricate detailing of the Mercedes race suit on the little figure. "You made it a race suit."
