Would You Rather...

Chapter Nine

Her bed was disheveled, two bodies with legs intertwined wrapped in what covers had managed to remain on the on the mattress. The only hint of their clothes was the speck of translucent red fabric teetering on the edge of the bed closer to their feet.

"Would you rather have a dog or cat?" Rafael chest vibrated beneath her head, his fingers still lightly brushing through her hair. "You have a problem with my question?" Alice huffed without looking up to see his expression.

"You're stretching the whole would you rather thing now."

There had been over an hour of would you rather being bounced back and forth between them. Would you rather be considered intelligent or funny... a question they both answered the same way, at the same time. It had been too easy. Would you rather know how you'll die or when you'll die? Would you rather give up your love life or work life? That one prompted a follow up question on whether on not they could still have sex.

"I know," Alice sighed, "I may be tapped for the evening."

"I'm more of a dog person." Rafael smiled.

Alice lifted herself so she could actually look at him. "Really?"

"Yes really. If I actually had the time for one I'd love to have a dog."

"Hmmm..."

"Hmmm... what?"

"Nothing." She seemed humored by something and he was determined to know what it was.

"That hmmm was something." Rafael smirked while lifting both brows at her.

"I just prefer cats, that's all."

"How could you prefer cats to dogs?"

Alice sat up in her bed pulling the covers up to her waist, but not any higher. For a brief moment he thought it was a diversion tactic, but then she began defending her position on their ridiculous discussion on cats versus dogs.

"Cat's are low maintenance. They do their own thing, demanding very little attention most of the time. They don't have to go outside to go to the bathroom or for walks. You can leave them for a few days if needed without having to find someone to watch them. Also they're cute."

"You left out the fact that most cats are ornery little assholes."

"That's my favorite thing about them. They're smarter and have more personality than a people pleasing dog."

"You say that like dogs aren't smart."

"They aren't." She was a bit more augmentative than he'd expected her to be, especially considering the subject. She was also wrong.

"Dogs are loyal..."

"Needy." She scoffed.

Rafael bit his lip hard to keep from laughing at the absurd argument they were having. "They're loyal and can actually be trained, were as cats just bat your shit on the floor while walking across the counter that they shouldn't have been on to begin with. And they only don't go outside because they use a litter box, which is disgusting."

"You can train them to use the toilet." Rafael didn't actually respond to that argument, merely looked at her as though she had lost her mind. "They also sell self cleaning litter boxes."

"You've done research on this."

Alice paused briefly, but only briefly. "I have. I'd have a cat if I didn't basically live at the hospital."

"I thought you said they weren't needy?" Now he was just screwing with her, pushing to see if she could out last him in an argument... he kind of hoped she would.