His Kitten

Chapter Twenty - You Owe Me

After searching vasts amount of aisles for the seasoning I needed in order to give it the fresh taste my stir fry is known to have, I finally found it.

"Gotcha!" I said to myself as I reached up for the small glass container.

Just as I was about to grab it someone else's hand took it from the shelf.

"Long time no see my little friend." My eyes widen as my lips formed into a smile when Dustin came into sight. "I see you have been busy lately?"

"I'm going to cook stir fry tonight, would you like to come over for dinner?" I asked and Dustin's smile couldn't be ignored.

"If you're the one making it then I'm not so sure that I would as my chance of survival is very slim." Dustin teased and I couldn't help but giggle.

I had forgotten just how nice he was.

"Well, either way, I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss this as it was specifically requested by your beloved best friend." When those words left my lips it was easy to pick up on my feelings towards the monster himself.

"Did he hurt your feelings Jane? Should I go talk to him?" Dustin asked me and I shook my head.

"No need. It was my fault for trying to fix his relationship with his family, specifically his brother." My mouth felt a bit dry as I told Dustin the truth. "But as we both know there's no point in trying as Russell rejected my help and I don't plan on intervening on his private manners anymore."

Dustin sighed as he pulled me into a quick hug. He was sure to not break the small glass of the seasoning when doing so.

"He'll tell you why he doesn't talk to his family but I'll tell you this about him, Russell didn't really experience a normal childhood because his parents are always traveling for work." Dustin spoke to me as I listened to every word.

"For work?" I asked, questioning the occupation of Russell's parents.

"For what I can remember both of his parents work for some type of large corporation that has to do with a lot of business dealings. Russell's parents were the ones in charge of making sure the deal went smooth and there were no problems for a given time period until they picked up a new project and so forth." He said to me and I nodded my head as it was beginning to make so much sense.

Russell must've gone through a lot with his parents to have become like this. I wonder how felt as a child.

"His life has been anything but fun." Dustin's words echoed through aisle we were standing in, leaving us both with a heavy atmosphere as we took in the meaning of the words.

"I can't imagine." My expression softened and so did Dustin's.

Before either of us could comment anything my phone went off as someone had sent me a message. But it was the person who did that caught me by surprise.

Monster:

"If you're stir fry satisfies my tastes then I will go with you to my brother's dinner tomorrow night."

Just as I was about to reply another message came from him.

"Don't make me regret this."

I couldn't stop a smile from forming on my lips as I hadn't expected anything from Russell.

"It seems like he's making effort towards being more open with you. Even if you are bribing him with your cooking." Evan chuckled which caused my cheeks to heat up as he was right.

"Are you still going to join us for dinner?" I asked Dustin as his answer was already obvious to me.

"I think I'm going to take a rain check on this. You and Russell seem to need this time alone and I will not be the one to intrude on it." Dustin shyly said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.