One day after the kittens moved in with them, they already showed a clear preference for Taylor. Especially the white one barely left her side and it didn't have to because it would start meowing loudly whenever Taylor left the room. It didn't take long until it became annoying the cat had to go wherever Taylor was—and when Karlie expressed her disapproval, Taylor just argued that she was jealous 'she was no longer the only one who was allowed to sit on her lap'. Which was only part of the reason.
The next morning, Karlie went out to buy a litter box. Taylor refused to come with her because she was afraid the cats would destroy her curtains, but she did have a lot of opinions on what exactly this litter box should look like. Karlie was not aware of there being multiple types of litter boxes, but when she arrived at the pet store, she realized why Taylor had given her such clear instructions. Almost the entire back wall of the store was covered in litter boxes—big ones, small ones, self-cleaning ones (!), grey ones and bright-colored ones. She considered buying an obnoxious pink one just to annoy Taylor but finally decided the subsequent screaming match wouldn't be worth it and went with one that met Taylor's requirements.
When she arrived home, Toni's car was standing in their driveway. An uneasy feeling immediately settled in her stomach. Strange. Taylor couldn't have invited Toni—they were civil with each other but not that civil. So what reason could Toni have for showing up?
She was on her guard when she entered the house, wary to have to break up a fight. But there was no sign of imminent disaster—the inaudible voices coming from the living room seemed calm enough. Huh. Maybe they were that civil. She entered the room cautiously.
Huh.
There were things Karlie expected to see, there were things she didn't expect to see, and then way beyond that was Taylor and Toni discussing cat names over a cup of tea. Admittedly, this discussion, too, went with the amount of sass that always came with Taylor and Toni having a conversation, but still. It was an unprecedented sight and Karlie was taken aback, to say the least.
"Hi, honey." Taylor briefly addressed Karlie before turning back to Toni and asking, "Meredith Grey?"
"Yes." Toni didn't pay Karlie's arrival any mind.
"Meredith Grey?" Taylor repeated disbelievingly.
"Yes."
"You want to the cat after that skank from Grey's Anatomy?"
"Well, the cat is grey," Toni said defensively. "And you promised!"
Taylor shot daggers at her. "Not so you could name our cat after her."
Karlie decided it was time to intervene. "Tay, you know Meredith Grey is the protagonist of Grey's Anatomy, right?"
"I don't care, she's a brat," Taylor grumbled.
"Well, too bad," Karlie said with a small chuckle. "You promised Toni that she could pick the name."
"I know! Stupid!" Taylor bit out, before storming off to the kitchen.
Karlie turned to Toni with a semi-apologetic look. "She'll be fine with it—with the name. She would have hated it way more if you had named the cat Tigger or something. I'm sure she's gonna pick something equally ridiculous for—"
"Olivia Benson." Taylor was back with a teapot and an extra teacup. "Whitey is Olivia Benson. After the Law & Order detective."
Karlie giggled. "God, you two are both so bad at naming pets."
"Oh, yeah?" Taylor sat back down and started refilling everyone's tea cups. "What would you have named them?"
Karlie took a good look at the fluff balls on Toni's lap. "I don't know, um, I guess, Fluffy and Dibbles?"
