A Change (of fate)

Dinner 2 Subjects

I think I had the collar on a bit to tight, because when I took it off I felt a slight freeing sensation. I'm not meaning like, 'my chains are free!', I'm meaning like, when you take a slightly tight ring, or watch off.
I was about to step into the shower when I remembered that I wasn't meant to get my fur wet for twenty four hours after I got my shoulder side tats, otherwise it would mess up the design. That's something I desperately didn't want to do.
So instead I just finished setting up my phone. Only when I had finished had I realised why I hadn't bothered getting a new phone. I don't wear pants, I didn't have any pockets!
I had just picked up my brush when Chelsea entered.
"James! I'm sorry! It didn't even cross my mind! I, I..."
I knew exactly what she was talking about, and I could tell she was ashamed of her actions, she was turning our room onto a river and she had only just entered, "It's alright, everybody makes mistakes, it's alright... Shh, it's alright"
"How can you forgive me so easily?"
"Well first of all, you're going to brush me" I say as I hand her the brush and then lie down on the floor, in a very canine way, "And secondly," I said, without opening my eyes, "everyone here is really nice, they all care about me and helped me see the bigger picture. One slip up isn't that big of a deal. I mean, it's not like you're planning on continuously making fun of me"
"James! I'm sorry I-"
"It's fine! I already told you that, just keep brushing"
"O-okay"
After a while I let Chelsea get herself ready for dinner, and I headed to the dining room.
When I reached the dining room, Guy was already there.
"Hey Guy, are you always super early for dinner?"
"That depends if I'm busy or not, most of the time yes I'll be early, but sometimes I'll be 'in the zone' for my work. I usually skip dinner on those days, despite Butler bringing it to me."
Carrie was next to arrive, she seemed to be in a good, slightly giddy, mood.
She came from the same direction as me, and instead of walking past my seat she leant on my shoulder and said, "Hey James, you bet me here did ya?"
As she moved over to her seat and sat down I responded, "Yeah, all females are slow so I'm not surprised"
Guy laughed at that, but Chelsea, who unbeknownst to me was not far behind, heard that.
"What was that?"
"Judging by your reaction you already know what I said so I don't need to tell you"
"Anyway, James, Chelsea, Carrie, dinner's ready" and with those words Butler came over to the table and placed our meals in front of us. We we had roast beef for dinner, accompanied with chips and veggies. Everything about it was perfect, from the seasoning on the chips to the thickness of the gravy. Butler really was a great cook.
"So, James. I told you about my work today right?"
This conversation with Guy occurred about ten minutes into dinner, as usual Guy had to start the conversation.
"Yeah, you do lots of cool stuff, radio, music, podcasts"
"Yeah, with the last one. Podcasts. Would you be interested in doing one with me?"
"Umm," I mean, it wouldn't be a bad thing. It is only voice, and I figured that as long as I was careful on what subjects we spoke about and I watched what I said, "Yeah, I reckon I'd be cool with that"
"Nice. I haven't actually started working on this episode yet, you can help me out with that tonight if you want"
I looked to Chelsea incase she had anything planned, but she just gave me a under-the-table thumbs up.
"Yeah, nah that shouldn't be a problem"
"Sweet"
"James, you're not wearing you collar anymore!" Carrie said, trying to spike up some more conversation.
"I was going to have a shower before dinner, but I changed my mind. I forgot to put it back on"
"Wait, did you actually put it on?"
"Didn't you see it lil brother?" she then looked towards me, with an odd smile on her face, "He actually looked pretty cute in it"
"Huh, to be honest Chelsea, I thought you bought it for... other purposes"
"Sorry Guy, I'm not sure I understand what you're meaning"
Guy spoke up next at the worst time possible, as I was about to swallow a piece of meat when he asked, "Actually, I have been wondering if you two have been thinking about marriage at all?"
This caused me to start choking on my food. Unbeknownst to me Chelsea had decided to have a drink to avoid answering. I wish she didn't, because when Guy defended himself saying, "Hey, I could of said have a child!", she spat it out. Narrowly missing Carrie, who was sitting opposite her.
Looking at the small mess in front of her, Carrie asked, "Can we change subjects please?"
I had finally gotten over the food I was choking on and agreed with Carrie.
"Yeah, Carrots is right"
At this point in time I hadn't even realised what I said, it just happened to slip out like that.
"And if we could refrain from giving me nicknames!", She was looking very agitated now, her claws, for it was the first time I could see them, were digging into the table, "That would also be aprectiated."
She then in an aggressive manner, shoved her chair backwards and left out towards her room, she was currently using one of the spares.
I was the first to speak up, "What was that about?"
Guy, the one who knew Carrie better than anyone, said "I don't know, she's been called a lot worse in her time, something like carrots, despite what's happened to her, shouldn't have mattered to her"
"Carrots?"
It was Chelsea who made me realise my mistake, "You called her Carrots"
An immense amount of guilt came over me then, despite what Guy said, there wasn't anything else that could of caused her to rush off like she did. It had to be my fault.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to even say that. I didn't actually realise I did. I should go apologize to her-"
"No, don't do that. Not yet anyway. She needs time to cool down, she's very headstrong, that's one thing I admire about her, but because of that, in times like this, she needs space"
Guy's right. Even though I hardly know her, I know that I should give her space.
"Well, I guess that concludes dinner! Butler will leave dessert in the fridge so you can grab it when you want. James, do you want to come with me and start working on the podcast for now? Then maybe talk to Carrie afterwards?"
"Uh, Chelsea, you alright for me to go now?"
"Yeah, you go do whatever, I'll find something to do"
"Yeah, okay Guy. Sounds good to me"
We then headed downstairs to the sound room. There Guy just familiarised me with the equipment and we then started planning what we were going to talk about. Guy told me that he normally does his planning in the floor one study (as it was next to his bedroom), but thought it would be better for me to do the planning in the room we'd be recording in. Soon we had the skeleton of a script done, and a list of subjects to avoid, and some words we could use to still tell the truth, but not give away my anthropomorphic situation.