adrian was allergic to cats.
not horribly allergic, but his eyes watered and they made him sneeze a lot. but it's not like his throat closed up or anything which was good because he really liked cats and so did she. she had more than one. he could tell by the clumps of white-brown fur she sometimes had on her wool sweaters, only sometimes the fur was shorter or darker. he could also tell by the dander and pollen he felt build up in his sinuses around her, especially on hot spring days. it made his head fuzzy and put his eyes out of focus. or maybe that was just her.
but she loved cats. he could learn to live with them.
the week after the pool incident, she still hadn't spoken to him. he thought it cold but somewhat endearing because she probably wasn't trying to be rude; she was shy and a little bit awkward. maybe she couldn't get up the nerve to talk to him. maybe that's why. maybe. maybe.
maybe he could talk to her first. it wouldn't hurt, right? sure. talk to her first.
"hey, how are you doing?"
she returned a small shrug and a smile.
"um. im adrian."
"i know. i mean, i've seen you around," she gestured vaguely.
"im runa."
"hah... yeah. how've you been? you know, since.."
"fine. they usually leave me alone for a while. after they do something like that. I've been better."
he nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. she crossed her arms and her shoulders hunched in. they both looked away from each other.
he glanced back at her from behind his eyelashes and felt a strong hand squeeze around his guts. he sniffled.
"well," she said, "I gotta get to class." she walked away before he could reply.
adrian nodded to himself. it wasn't bad, he thought, for a first interaction. maybe befriending her would be easier than he'd planned for.
the only thing that was still a problem was the cats. his eyes were burning from the short time they had just spent talking. and this time, he noticed short orange hairs on her black t-shirt. that made four cats he'd counted, just from seeing her in the halls.
he made a mental note to pick up more allergy medication, wiped his nose on his sleeve, and started his way to English class.
