Neighbors(.)

Chapter 11

Scott smiled, taking a bite out of their cotton candy. Pink sugary strands stuck to his nose and his hair as he pulled back from the huge ball of fairy floss, "This is so much fun."

Vincent grinned at Scott from the other side of it, his hair likewise covered in pink, "I know, right? I haven't had cotton candy in years!"

At first, Scott had been really nervous. He hated people knowing he was scared of heights. For someone like him to be terrified of some little thing like heights was incredibly embarrassing. And yet, Vincent had been so understanding, and so calming. He hadn't even laughed...

...Alright, so he'd laughed a little, but so had Scott, eventually.

He didn't want to ask how Vincent knew about his cat, but he was secretly very glad. The curse of being a cat person in a no-pets apartment was that you had nobody to show off your kitty to. But now that Vincent had seemed undeterred by the thought of Alphy, there was nothing stopping Scott from showing him to Vincent. He knew Alphy would love that. Alphy may act snobby, but he was a sucker for anyone who would scratch him just at the base of his tail.

"What are you thinking about?"

Vincent's words shook Scott out of his reverie. He blinked, looking back at his friend, "I was just thinking about my cat, actually..." He grinned. "I can't get the image of him sitting at the window staring at us on the ferris wheel out of my head."

Vincent chuckled, licking some cotton candy off of his fingers, "What's his name?"

"Alphy," Scott smiled. "I don't really know how the name came to me, but... It suits him. He's a great cat. He keeps me company, since I don't usually have anyone to talk to."

Vincent frowned slightly, tilting his head, "I thought you had a girlfriend?"

"Oh," Scott's eyes widened for a second, "Well, she's not always around. She's..." Scott stuffed a handful of cotton candy in his mouth while he thought. "She's... a night guard."

"A night guard?" Vincent asked curiously, his eyebrows raising, "That's so cool!"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is. Well, actually, she says it gets pretty boring most nights," Scott shrugged, putting another strand of cotton candy in his mouth. "Plus, she works all night and sleeps most of the day, so... we don't get to see each other very much."

"What time does she work?" Vincent asked.

"Oh, s-she starts at 6pm, and finishes at..." Scott blinked, "6am?"

"She works for twelve hours?!" Vincent gasped, "You're not serious! No wonder she sleeps for so long! Having to watch a building all night every night for twelve hours... I hope she gets paid well. Where does she work?"

"O-Oh, um..." Scott cleared his throat, and glanced around, "Actually, she works at... Oh!" Scott jumped to his feet all of a sudden, "Hey, look! The fireworks are just about to begin! Let's go get a seat before they're all taken!"

"Oh, right," Vincent stood up as well, "Thank goodness you noticed, or we would have missed them!"

"Yeah," Scott grinned, internally breathing a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."