I'm yours

Part 13

„Hey, what is that?“ Beth asked after seeing something small moving in the shadow, next to the entrance door of their building. “Probably a rat or something.” Ciel was completely uninterested. “Meow.” The creature made a sound on which Beth and Sebastian immediately came closer to it. A small, black kitten came to them, purring loudly. “It’s so cute and fat and fluffy. And she has one white paw.” Beth almost melted while caressing it and Sebastian seemed thrilled. “Ciel, look.” With a wide smile, Beth grabbed the kitten and showed it to Ciel. “Get it away from me.” He quickly said while backing away. “Why?”, “I’m argic…” *sneeze*, “t…” *sneeze*, “cas.” *sneeze*
“He’s allergic to cats.” Sebastian simplified to Beth when she stared at Ciel. “Oh… is that so?” she wickedly smiled at them. “Yeah, I chased him with one at home.”, “When you were kids?”, “Actually, it was last year.”
 Beth turned to side and burst out laughing.
“What? Are you kidding me? Oh my God.” She had to let the cat go and sit down on the ground they were standing on. The pictures of Sebastian running after Ciel while holding a cat wouldn’t leave her head. Now, the problem was that Beth really didn’t laugh like that for a very long time and she kind of forgot how it sounds. It was that kind of laugh when there is no sound, just air coming out with an enormous pain in the belly. “Believe me, it wasn’t funny at all. Anyway, I’m going in.” Ciel somehow angrily said and went into the building.
“Don’t worry, he’s not angry.” Sebastian said while sitting down next to Beth, holding the kitten. “Oh, I’m not worried. Don’t get offended, but he’s not that dear to me.”, “I know. I mean, I can see that.”, “How?”, “Well, our parents spoiled him too much when he was a kid. They’re spoiling him now, too, but he always got what he wanted. Every toy, food, girl.”, “What, and you didn’t?” The question surprised him a little and then he smiled. “No, not that much. I guess they didn’t love me as much as him. Ciel is younger and cuter, of course he’ll be the favorite one.”, “Aw, don’t be like that. You can also be cute.” Sebastian looked at her confused and smiled. “Anyway, since it’s his habit, he gets angry when it’s not like he imagined.” The kitten in Sebastian’s hands happily purred as he was petting it. “Then he really is spoiled. But I still don’t get it how can you see he’s not dear to me.”, “You seem sort of annoyed with him and you’re kind of cold.”, “Ah, yes, he can be boring. It’s like he’s my younger brother.”, “You’re lucky he isn’t.” Beth snorted and leaned her head on her knees, looking at the street and passing cars. It was still kind of warm outside, almost felt like spring is coming. Overly suspicious.
“By the way, how’s your foot?” he suddenly asked. “Oh… it’s so much better now, thanks to you… and my fast healing.”, “I’m glad.”, “Hi Glad, I’m Beth.”, “You waited for this opportunity, didn’t you?”, “You have no idea.” Beth happily smiled and started observing the street again.
Their street was a little separated from the other streets in New York. It had a series of 6 blue, yellow and grey buildings; partly new, partly old, which were 20 feet apart from each others. It was almost an idyllic street with all those trees and neatly decorated parks with children’s playground. It also had a walkway, together with a road for bicycles. In front of every building were parking lots. It was a little difficult in the winter ‘cause of the cold and snow on the cars. You could forget for a moment you were living in New York.
“Betsy!” an old lady suddenly got out and started yelling. The kitten, which was quietly enjoying the treatment, opened its eyes and walked to the old lady. “Oh Betsy, here you were.”, “Good evening, Ms Rayten.” Sebastian and Beth politely greeted their neighbor that lived on the first storey of the building. “Good evening.” She quickly said and went back in with Betsy in her hands. As soon as she closed the door, Beth let out a loud sigh. “Holy shit, she scared me to death.”, “I could say the same.” Sebastian agreed with her. “It was like, ‘Surprise motherfucker!’, I mean, come on.” They started laughing and slowly went inside.

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“Beth?” she heard Brian calling for her in the math class. “Don’t talk to me. I’m still mad at you.” Beth answered without turning to him. That thing with a spider still haunted her. “I already apologized.”, “Don’t care.”, “Please.”, “No.”, “Come on.”, “No. Jesus, you’re annoying.”, ‘But not more than Ciel.’, “Can you then give me a homewo- Thank you.” He said when she threw her notebook at him.

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“The guy on the weather forecast said there is a storm coming tomorrow.”, “And you believe him?”, “You don’t?” Deb and Beth sat at their usual table in the school cafeteria, this time without Emily and Amy. “Of course I don’t. We’re not in Ice age.”, “We might be again… Anyway, I won’t be at school this Friday, I’m going with my parents at my grandma’s in Chicago. She’s sick. Or she’s imagining she’s sick.”, “That’s in two days, right?”, “Yeah.”, “That’s great, bring me a Bulls’ hat.”, “As if.”, “Kidding, just say hi to her.”

Beth furiously watched as snow was falling in a speed of light, covering everything in a blink of eye. She should have trusted Deb, or at least watch forecast. Everyone left school, except maybe janitors or cleaners and her. She hoped that it’d stop anytime soon, but it didn’t even after half an hour. There was 30 minutes on foot to her home and there weren’t any taxis driving by, so she just had to deal with it. Also, her phone was at home. Luckily, she wore her Martens and winter coat, so she shouldn’t complain. Just as she stepped on the snow, it reached the half of her lower leg. ‘Fucking great.’ She thought while walking through snow, holding her bag tightly to her.
After 15 minutes of her journey, a black BMW stopped next to her and honked. ‘Is he making fun of me?’ she thought, refusing to look at its way. When he didn’t stop, she turned to him and almost showed him a middle finger, but calmed down after seeing Sebastian in the car. He was showing with his head to her to come in. “Thank you.” She said with a relief while panting rapidly. “I meant to take you before, but you were gone when I got out of the school.”, “You were staying late?”, “Yeah. Why didn’t you call a cab or something?”, “I left my phone at home. Very smart of me, I know.”, “Yeah, not gonna comment on that.” The inside of the car was nice. Black, of course, with a leather seats. “Sorry I messed your car.”, “Not a problem, I’m no better.” After 5 minutes of driving, they finally got home. Beth didn’t fail to notice he was going a different path, it was probably shorter than the one she was using. He also didn’t park on the parking lots, but drove a little further to some small building that looked like a garage from outside. Then the door opened and he got in. “So, this is like your own garage?”, “Yeah, kind of. I asked for one when buying the apartment.” He got out and Beth reached to put off the seat belt, but it stuck. A small cloth of her coat stuck in the buckle and she was powerless here. Second after, her door opened and she heard Sebastian asking what was wrong. “I might have a problem.” Beth sheepishly said while turning her head to him.
It was a kind of awkward situation. Beth was pulling like crazy, while he was on the other side, pulling as well, a few inches separating them. “Why don’t you let me cut it?”, “You’re not going to cut your clothes, I’m not letting you.”, “But I can sew it back together.”, “No.”, “Fine, mother.” She heard him snort and smiled a little. “Just a little more…” Indeed, they managed to get out a little of it out. With a deep breath and one last pull, Beth put her strength into it and… it ended badly. Well, the coat was out, that was good. But just as Beth pulled it out, her hand, with which she was holding the piece, hit Sebastian in the nose, causing it to drip blood. She could only widen her eyes and stare at him. “A-Are you okay?” he looked at his hand, now covered in blood, and then at her. For a few seconds, only the wind from outside could be heard until he started laughing. “I didn’t know you were that strong.”, “What are you talking about? Are you hurt?”, “No, no, it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt.”, “Seriously? It’s not broken, is it?”, “No, I’m telling you, it’s fine. You don’t have to worry.” They got out of the car and he wiped the blood with a tissue. “To tell you the truth, you’re the first woman that hit me. Ever.”, “For real?”, “For real.”, “Well, it’s an honour.”