A Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 4

Alexis

"Valerie? Um, there's something on you." A voice whispered in my ear.

"Hmm?" I readjusted my head on Zach's shoulder keeping my eyes closed.

"Do you have a dog?" Zach asked.

"No. A cat." I answered slowly opening my eyes.

The sun hadn't come out but I could tell it was now the morning because the sky was a darker shade of blue than it was last night. Then I heard a low growl and something heavy was suddenly balancing its self on my legs.

"Uhh..." Zach started scooting farther away from me.

"What?" I looked up at him.

Then I saw that Rafiki was standing on me and facing Zach with his teeth showing.

"Hey baby. It's ok, it's just Zach he's ok." I started to rub Rafiki's head and push him back away from Zach.

"What is that?" Zach's eyes were wide and he looked tense, him and the cheetah keeping a strange eye contact.

"Rafiki," I said letting him know he had a name, "is a cheetah. He's only one, he won't hurt you." I said scratching behind his ears.

"You have a pet cheetah?" he said like it was the craziest thing in the world.

"Like I told you yesterday, I live condemned life. It's a lot different than most peoples. C'mon baby." I pushed Rafiki off me and he finally looked away from Zach.

"You hungry? If I can walk I'll go get you something." I muttered trying to push myself off the ground.

But it was surprisingly easy, and my headache was gone. It was like the events of yesterday never happened. I looked over at my clock and saw it was six o'clock. My dad would be home at eight at the latest which left me two hours to get rid off all the evidence from last night. I looked down at Zach and he was just watching Rafiki walk in figure eights between my legs.

"Well, I guess you can go home now. I would offer you a shower but, I don't think either of us have any clothes for you." I said as he stood up next to me.

"I'll be fine for a few more hours. Are you gonna be ok here?" he asked fixing his hair.

"Once I get rid of all the evidence of last night." I sighed.

"Who do you live with?" Zach asked.

Hmm, time to lie just a little bit more.

"My aunt and uncle." I lied. I didn't know where I was going with this, but I'm sure in time I would have a full cover story.

"Oh. What about your parents?" he looked almost scared to ask me that question and I was just as scared to answer.

"Uh, business. They travel a lot. My mom passed away a few years ago." My dad did travel a lot, so that wasn't a total lie.

"I'm sorry. My parents always wanted to travel, but it never worked out." He sighed.

"Because of you? I know my parents didn't travel as much as they could because they had to take care of me." Good one, Alexis.

"Nah, we just never had the right amount of money. And they died before they ever would've had the time to do it anyway."

His parents were dead? Both of them? Oh yep, great job Alexis. Now who feels like a jerk? I do.

"I'm sorry." I muttered looking down.

"Nothing to be sorry for. No one could've done anything about it. That makes me feel a little better. But enough about this, so you know how I said there's someone I have to ask about what happened last night?" he said.