I sank back onto the couch, holding a giant stuffed bear to my chest that I’d gotten a long time ago. The bath had done nothing to relax me even though I’d been in there for an hour and a half. I had busied myself drawing designs, organizing my closet, rearranging my furniture, and even baking cookies to fill up the decorative cookie jar on the counter that had never once seen a cookie.
It’s been about five hours since I hung up with Brad, the conversation that I’d thought would brighten my day having only made it worse. I flicked on the tele, holding the scorching hot mug of tea that was burning my hands. Nothing interesting was on, so I settled on the movie channel where the credits from Harry Potter were playing. I let out a loud sigh and laid back on the cushions. Suddenly, an oddly familiar intro began to play.
It took me a few minutes to realize what was playing, but as soon as it did I immediately focused. Lord of the Rings. It may be a bit too late to try and understand the movie, but I stayed focused through the whole film, sitting back when it was over and pressing my hands to my temples.
“That was a great movie.” I mumbled to myself, covering my face with a pillow and breathing deeply. I’m a terrible person. My phone buzzed with a text from Connor that I didn’t bother to look at, only noticing that it was nearly nine at night. Maybe it was time for bed, a good nights’ sleep sounded wonderful right about now. I was just getting to my feet to head to bed when there was a knock at the door.
“What.” I groaned, walking to the door and swinging it open. There was nobody there, but I glanced down and saw a box with holes in the sides at my feet. Panic pulsed through my veins, praying to god it wasn’t some sort of exploding gift from a fan of the boys. I decided to let my curiosity take over when the box moved slightly.
I squatted, messing with the flaps of cardboard on the top of the box until I got it opened, wincing as I lifted the lid. When I opened my eyes, my jaw dropped and I let out an inhuman noise.
“What the hell...” I trailed off, reaching into the box and lifting the tiny kitten up by his tummy. I held him up in front of my face, the both of us staring at each other.
“Hello.” I said blankly, staring at the kitten’s tiny back head. Clearly it was as young as you could get them, probably too tiny and young to even walk properly yet. In reply the kitten made a tiny little mew, making my heart melt.
“Aren’t you precious?” I asked, sitting on my bum and holding the kitten to my chest. I fiddled with the little pale blue collar, looking at the tag. “Aren’t you precious, Hugo?” I asked, reading the name from his collar. Hugo mewed again, clinging to my shirt and trying to climb up onto my shoulder. I let out a short giggle, pulling him away and setting him between my legs.
There was nothing on the tag other than his name and my phone number, which meant whoever had adopted Hugo had gotten him for me. I grabbed the box while making sure Hugo stayed in the little pen I’d made with my legs. Nothing was on the outside of the box, but I spotted a piece of paper at the bottom of the box. I grabbed it, unfolding it and flattening it on the floor.
Be Mine? was spelled out with a tiny little blue heart at the end, like a tiny candy heart. My face lifted slightly. It was from James. James had gotten Hugo for me. My heart swelled, and I got to my feet, pulling the door closed and lifting Hugo into my arms before searching for my phone. Hugo hung himself over my shoulder, digging his tiny claws into my shirt. He was so tiny and fragile, he could lie down in the palm of my hand and have room to spare.
I found my phone and was about to dial James’ number when I saw another new text from none other than the boy himself.
He’s all yours. If I can’t be with you at least he can. xx
My heart sunk. James was trying to say goodbye. Well, I’ll have him know that you can’t buy a girl a kitten and just leave it at that. Nice try, Mister Mcvey. I typed up a quick tweet, hoping that James would see it and get the message, seeing as I refused to resolve this through text.
@ElizabethW01: Hugo will not live in a single-parent home, that simply will not do.
As soon as I tweeted it I knew half of the people who followed me would think I was mentally unstable, but I just sat back and watched the favourites flood in, until the name I wanted to see popped up. James retweeted it. James retweeted it. Such a simple gesture and I was about to burst with excitement. He got it, he understood my message. Maybe.
A/N
Glad to let you know that I am working on a sequel to be called No Pictures Please! There is one chapter left to this and I hope you've all stuck with me and Liz to the finish! Until I post NPP, please read my best friend Eve's story Criss Cross about Tristan Evans, it will intertwine a lot with NPP
XXXXXXX Ally
