Much to my surprise and absolute happiness, I did hear from Jessie that night. It was just a brief text but at least it was a sign of life. She texted me every day after that but I could tell there’s been something up with her. Most of her texts were blunt and short, even when she did text first. It’s been weighing on my mind more than it should have to be honest.
“Julie,” Lydia called, obviously annoyed as she waved her hand in front of my face. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said have you?” she accused.
“Sorry, I was just—“
“Yeah, yeah I know exactly what you were thinking about, or who rather,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m all for you being in love but I need you to listen to me for five minutes.”
“I’m not in love,” I scoffed. “What have you been going on about then?”
“I want a kitty,” Lydia said, her face forming into a childish pout as she stared at me.
“You want a what?” I stuttered, hoping I’d heard her wrong. Apparently I hadn’t. Lydia sat herself down in my lap and continued to pout.
“Please, please, please can we get a kitten?” she begged. “I promise I’ll feed it and clean up after it.”
“Ugh, let me think about it okay?”
“Fine. Just remember all those meals I cooked for you,” she said as she got off of me. She left the room and so I laid back down on the couch and groaned tiredly. Hopefully while I was ‘thinking about it’ she’d just forget about the whole thing. What the hell were we going to do with a cat anyway?
I closed my eyes, intending to possibly take an unplanned nap since it was my day off. That is, until I heard my phone going off on the coffee table. The repeated tone meant that it was a call rather than a text. I sat up and grabbed it, glancing at the screen to see it was Jessie calling. Well, that was definitely unexpected.
“Hello?”
“Julie?” Jessie voice came from the other end, sounding a bit breathless. “Hey I was just wondering if you were busy today.”
“Erm, no I’m not. I actually have the day off. Is everything okay? You sound like you’ve been, well running,” I commented.
“Yep, everything’s fine. I’ve just been walking around and decided to see if you wanted to do anything,” she said hopefully.
“To be honest, Jess, I’m tired as hell. You can come over here if you want though,” I told her, hoping she wouldn’t be disappointed.
“Are you sure, babe?” she asked. “I don’t want to be a nuisance or anything.” I could tell she didn’t really mean it.
“Of course. You’re welcome to come over any time you like,” I smiled.
“You might regret saying that.” No I won’t. “I’ll see you in just a few minutes, Julie.”
Once I hung up I laid back down on the couch. I couldn’t be bothered actually getting up right that second even though I knew I’d have to get up when Jessie got here. I slipped the hood of my hoodie over my head and closed my eyes as I waited for her. Hopefully she wouldn’t be long.
~*~*~*~
“Hey, wake up!” Lyd’s loud voice jolting me awake along with her hard punch in my shoulder.
“Fuck’s sake, Lyd,” I complained grumpily, sitting up to see Lydia standing there with Jessie. Both of them were absolutely failing at containing their laughter. I sighed and pulled my hood off my head, revealing my somewhat messy hair underneath.
