Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ginny sat on the dark blue couch while Bella had me stuck in the kitchen, just enough behind the counter that the witch couldn't see her. Meanwhile, Talia had fallen into some sort of silent statue routine, and apparently, this statue had manners befitting a filial disciple on her knees with her head bowed.
Kirishima didn't hide, exactly. He was too big, his hair too bright for that. But he crouched by the armrest on the far side of the couch. The kittens, wondering at this sudden game, approached with all the technique of thundering cows.
Hable, slightly more outgoing, dove right in, immediately climbing Kirishima's torso. Sintar took a different approach, one I liked to call "popcorn formation": slowly bobbing her neck, the orange fluff moved her head each way, dramatically up and hilariously down, trying to see all the possible angles. She was prepared, that one. But eventually, she approached the redhead she knew, giving his knee a customary sniff, then a scathing lick.
Then she retreated to the silent statue, cuddling up beside Talia and staring up at her with the purest adoration one could find in the world. If only this world ran like Monster's Inc., and we could fuel our cars, our lights, our phones with the waves of adoration animals gave to their people. Maybe it would solve animal abuse and the stray animal crisis, all in one.
"Gracie, are you listening to me?"
Right.
I turned my attention away from the living room. Bella hovered near me, the closest she's ever come to touching me. I could see her visibly straining not to, but if she did, what would she even do? Shake me by the shoulders? Grab my arm?
I'd never seen this unruffled person so skittish before. That wasn't fair, though, because everyone had these sides to them.
If Kakashi and Kirishima, characters I'd thought lived on a black-and-white page and an animated screen, could get snappy, could grow quiet, could get sad, could struggle with all of life's mysteries and endless weights, then Bella could, too.
A sharp snap, clear, cutting, shooting a quick burst of air beside my cheek, summoned my gaze. Bella's fingers, primed for another snap, hovered there as she inhaled breathily.
One thread of hair got stuck in her brows. She tried to bob it away, huffing at me, "Where are you right now? I'm trying to talk to you."
I swallowed, wondering the same. "Sorry."
"Did I ask for an apology?" She literally bared her teeth at me. I think it was supposed to be her usual sneer, but sneers don't include teeth.
"Sorry."
She threw her hands up. The anxiety pouring off of her heightened, and now her feet were tapping, too. Boots with thick heels clacked annoyingly against linoleum.
