8 Seconds // Mashton [DISCONTINUED]

Fought For Me

~ Double update aye! Picture of Zelda to the left/at the top~

Chloe's P.O.V

"Come on Luke, we have to hurry." I grab his hand, pulling him down the street, walking past small shops and a few actual houses. I still don't understand how people live this close to such a trafficked road but I guess you get used to it, just like I got used to living where I do, even though it's a lot noisier than what I was used to back home.

"Where are we going?" I turn around to look at him and my heart suddenly beats a little faster. He looks so beautiful, standing there with a scarf wrapped around his neck and red cheeks. He's adorable, even with the lip ring that's supposed to make him seem more punk, something he'd never admit himself.

"In here." I pull him through the door and into a very small and cozy apartment like room. It's not a store, even though there's a small counter in one of the corners. There's cat toys everywhere and through two glass doors on the other side of the room from where we're standing I can see at least five cats.

"What are we doing here?" Luke asks, pulling his gloves off and putting them in a pocket.

"Chloe! Oh it's lovely to see you again!" before I get a chance to answer Luke's question the door behind the counter opens and Esmé, one of the women owning this place comes out. "I didn't think we'd see you here again for a while after-oh who's this?"

"Hi, I'm Luke." Luke smiles, stepping forward and taking her hand. "I'm Chloe's boyfriend." it's the first time I hear him say that, since all the boys already knew and we haven't met anyone else since we made it official, and I blush slightly. It's just so surreal, knowing that yes, I actually get to call him mine.

"Oh I see, so this is the boy you and Katia was talking about last week?" she asks me and I nod, blushing even more when Luke grabs my hand again. "you two look good together, now what are you doing here? I'm having a feeling it's not just to say hi."

"No, it's not actually." I tell her, suddenly feeling pretty nervous. "Do you have any young ones? Maybe one that wouldn't go well with other cats?" Esmé nods and walks past us.

"You know where to go." I nod and take Luke's hand, pulling him with me into a small room with a few cat toys and chairs. Luke follows me without questioning it and sits down on one of the chairs, taking his jacket off.

"Okay, what are we doing here?" he asks, for the second time since we came here and this time there's no one here to distract him and save me from having to answer.

"Well uh...I go here a lot with Katia and the last time I was here I just started thinking about how happy cats make me and I thought that since Michael's been so sad lately maybe he needs a cat too?" it comes out as more of a question and I nervously look at him, waiting for a reaction.

"you want to give Mikey a cat?" he asks and I nod. "for real?"

"Yes. I've seen how he acts around Smitty and maybe it'll make him stay home more and well...yeah." I shrug, feeling a little bit better when he actually thinks about it and doesn't say no right away. "and it'd give a cat a new home too you know, giving it a seconds chance." the door opens again and Esmé comes in, carrying a small carrier that she places on the floor.

"This one's new here. She's around seven weeks old and we might get some problems getting her adopted because...I'll just let you see for yourself." she tells us. "we found her in the streets and she doesn't have any sibling so she's not really used to other cats or to people."

"Okay, thank you." she leaves again and I move over to the carrier, opening the small door and looking inside. In there, curled up into a tiny tiny ball in one of the corners, are a small tabby. When she notices that the door's open she makes a run for it, rushing out from her hiding place and sliding in under one of the chairs, sitting there with her tail going everywhere. Luke reaches out for her and she swats at his fingers, hissing.

"vicious little thing this one." he mutters, pulling his hand away to avoid getting hurt. "I'm still not sure about this Chloe." I pick one of the toys up, waving it in front of the chair. The kitten immediately starts chasing it and I smile as I watch her rolling around on the floor.

"Luke please. You heard what Esmé said, it'll be hard to find her a forever home and if they can't, who knows what's gonna happen with her. Everyone deserves a second chance, everyone deserves someone they feel needs them and if we do this we might be able to give someone that. Michael clearly feels like he doesn't have anyone to talk to, that he doesn't have anyone who actually needs him, and this girl needs a home, a forever home."

"Chloe I know...no, I don't." Luke sighs, looking at the small kitten. "what's a forever home?"

"It's a place where the cat feels safe, where it knows it won't have to leave again, a forever home." I explain, suddenly feeling a lump in my throat. "We got Smitty here when we first decided to get a cat and he came from a place where he'd been ignored, he wasn't used to people, it took months before he felt comfortable around us and when we moved from our old house to where we live now we were back at zero, until he realised he wouldn't get abandoned by us, no matter how many times we moved. That's a forever home, when a cat or a dog knows it won't get abandoned, when it feels like one in the family." I don't realise that I'm crying until Luke reaches out, wiping a tear from my cheek.

"don't cry, please." he whispers. "don't cry. I understand how much this means to you and we'll give it a try okay? But if things doesn't work out we'll take her back here, you have to be prepared for that." I quickly nod before kissing him, trying to put everything I feel in the kiss. He smiles but doesn't deepen the kiss, instead he pulls away. "now, lets get everything we need and get this little monster home."

~

"Michael! Are you down here!" I carefully make my way down the stairs, not wanting to trip and hurt the little kitten in the carrier I'm holding, and walk through their band room, knocking on his door. I don't get an answer from him but knowing him he's probably still sleeping, that being the only thing he's done since they came back from Australia. "Mikey?" I push the door open and enter the room. He's laying on the bed, just as I thought he would, but he's not sleeping. When he sees me he takes his headphones off and sits up.

"Chloe what are you doing here?" he asks before noticing the carrier I'm holding. "What's that?"

"This is your new kitten." I place the carrier next to him on the bed and watch him when he opens the door, for the first time seeing the small creature inside it. Carefully he sticks his hand inside and I expect him to pull it back out, swearing or something, but instead he just takes out the kitten, holding her to his chest.

"She's so tiny." he whispers. "is this for real?" he suddenly looks worried, almost as if he thinks I'm just messing with him and is going to take her away again.

"yeah, yeah of course. She needs someone and so does you so why not give it a shot?" the kitten, who's shaking with fear, clearly not used to this new environment, struggles to get out of Michael's grip and when he lets her go she runs in under a pillow.

"she's amazing." he says, not taking his eyes of the tail sticking out from under the pillow. "but what about Ashton and the others? They don't even like cats."

"Luke's okay with this and we'll talk to Ash and Cal about it. Don't worry." he nods and pokes the tail, making the kitten spin around, sticking it's paw out and trying to claw him. "you should probably try and get to know her a bit so I'll leave you two alone." I stand up again, ruffling his messy red hair just because I can, and he groans. "hey, do you have a name for her yet?" he nods, smiling proudly.

"I was thinking of calling her Zelda." he says, letting the small cat chew on his thumb.

"That's a good name." I say, nodding in agreement. "Well I'll leave you two alone then, I'll go talk to the boys." he nods, clearly not playing any attention to me anymore, and I smile before leaving the room.