Senseless

chosen

My eyes drooped as I walked down the hallway. The question had kept me up all night: yes or no? Furthermore, would he let me "walk away" if I did say no, or did he mean metaphorically? The question nagged me relentlessly.

Even more, I had decided not to leave my cat for a third day and put her in my backpack. Nash didn't know and I preferred to keep it that way. Leave it to him to have me here with a gun, but flip out at a cat. I'd actually made it through the whole day and no one found out, even with my excessive bathroom trips to check on her. She actually loved it; I cleared out most of my binders and put a bunch of cat food in the bottom.

She was having a ball, only I hoped she didn't continue to make constant noise. She meowed when I got to the bathroom and I had to make sure no one was in there.

Cheer was another story. I had to be in the other room, but my cat didn't want to stay in a closed bag while we practiced. I opened the bag and rubbed the top of her head. All day, there'd been a small portion unzipped so she didn't get hot and could breathe.

I was so distracted, I didn't hear Amber come up behind me. "This has gone too far, Seb," she said, her voice slightly shocked. "You can't bring your cat to school!"

I looked at her with wide eyes as my cat meowed. Bringing my cat closer, I rubbed her cheek and looked back at Amber. "She didn't like being home alone," I said defiantly.

"She's a cat, Seb," Amber sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "You can't just cart her around! She can handle being left at home!"

"I can't just leave her!" I protested.

Amber opened her mouth, but seemed to cut herself off and let out a puff of frustration. I held my cat close and glared at Amber as she stalked out of the closet. "Shh, baby," I murmured to my cat. "I have to do a little work to get better. Okay? Will you stay here?" She looked at me blankly. "Good girl," I said, pretending she'd given me an okay.

I left the closet and began stretching outside while the other girls did so as well. I hated not being able to do much, but I was seeing small improvements. I stepped onto the scale the previous night after Elena suggested I track my progress. The numbers were what pushed me to eat four biscuits and five pieces of bacon for breakfast this morning. As a tall person, seeing something below one hundred ten was scary. Especially since I'd built up enough muscle before to be at around one hundred fifty and not cringe at that high of a number.

The abs that I'd worked so hard for looked more like ribs, now.

After cheer, I tucked my cat back in and followed Amber to the car. I placed my bag in front of me with care, tapping my cat on the nose through the hole in the zipper.

Nash turned towards me. "You can get the cat out, now."

My eyes widened and I looked at him. "How..?"

"Binders don't meow." He held his hands out and I reluctantly got the cat out of the bag.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag," Amber said, giggling in the backseat.

Nash ignored her, holding his hands out further when I didn't hand my cat over. "She doesn't like being alone," I murmured.

"I just want to see her," Nash said softly, rubbing the cat's cheek. I hesitantly handed her over and she mewled in protest. Nash held her gingerly for a few moments, and the picture was honestly so amazing. There was this guy, muscular and hotter than any guy I'd ever seen, holding a kitten. Not just a kitten, but the one who had been with me every minute for months.

"Nope," he suddenly said, using only one large hand to give me back my cat. "I can't see why you're so obsessed with it. It's just an ordinary cat." My mouth popped open and I took her back in surprise. The car was silent for a moment, save for the incessant tapping of Amber's foot.