A Change (of fate)

A Recording, A Conversation, A Meal, and A Deal

"Aaand... Welcome back to another episode of Guy's Grove, today I joined with Jacob who's not from around here, how are you today Jacob?"
Carrie wasn't telling me everything, but I just couldn't figure out what I was missing!
"Jacob?"
"Oh, sorry. Got a little bit distracted there. Yes, I'm good thanks Guy, how are you?"
"Good thank you. So Jacob, I was informed prior to our meeting that you have never been on a podcast before, would you be able to confirm that for us?
"Ye-yes, that's true. In fact, until yesterday I hadn't even been in a recording studio"
"Well there you have it. So Jacob, just to get to know you a bit I'm going to ask you some questions for you to answer yes?"
"That's correct"
"Alright, question number 1..."
Carrie had something on her mind which she didn't share, unless she was just a bit shaken from last night, or, from speaking with-
"Jacob?"
"Oh, sorry Guy, could you ask the question again sorry?"
"Alright, looks like someone forgot their morning coffee, so, I've got here that your girlfriend recently bought you a neck accessory which you didn't approve of, could you elaborate on that?"
"Yeah, I went shopping recently and we didn't stick together as we both had stuff we wanted to get done, I know now that I should have stayed with her as she still needs to learn what my tastes are"
"And yet you're wearing it today"
"Well, today was your sister's idea Guy, something tells me that she was in on it"
"You here that guys? Jacob is accusing my sister..."
"It's unfair if I'm forced to look cute and you're not"...to intentionally make herself look cute..."I don't want to let you know"..."You're so much more"
"Jacob?"
"Oh, sorry I-"
"James"
Guy stopped the recording, we would have to start again.
"James is there something wrong?"
"No, it's just... Have you spoken with Carrie recently?"
"No, not since last night, have you?"
"You're not to tell either Guy or Chelsea about last night or what I've told you this morning!"
"Well, I apologised, but apart from that no"
"Okay, I take it that it didn't do well?"
"I mean..."
"You Pervert!...Just Get out! Leave!...it wasn't really your fault...You're so much more"
"It wasn't very smooth, and we didn't entirely come to a conclusion, but it could have been worse"
"Maybe I should go talk to her"
"No, I don't think so"
"James?"
"Not yet, you yourself said that she needs time"
"Yeah, but it's been a whole night and I am her brother"
Oh how much I wanted to say something, Now much I wished to prevent his discussion with Carrie, but I just remained silent as he left the room.
The stress over this whole situation was starting to get to me, so I decided it was time to catch up with Chelsea, spending time with her was always my best solution for easing my mind.
I went looking around the house for Chelsea, eventually finding her in our bedroom. When I saw her she was sitting on the edge of our bed with her arms crossed, "I've been wondering when you'd show up" she didn't look too happy. I briefly informed her that I actually had already entered our room, I showed her my collar to to prove my point. I also explained that I had breakfast and attempted some recording with Guy, I didn't say anything about Carrie though.
Through the whole explanation her expression didn't change, and only then did I realise, "Wait, don't tell me you've been waiting here this whole time?"
"I have, and you're explanation sounds legitimate. But that doesn't explain where you were last night!"
"I was with Carrie-"
"You Were With Ca-carrie?!?"
"Let Me Finish! I was with with Carrie, apologising for the dinner incident"
"Must have been some apology, to take the whole night"
"It didn't"
"Then where were you?"
Oh no.
"I, I can't remember" ha, like she'll believe that!
"Yeah right, where were you?" I can't avoid this. "I was outside Carrie's room, I fell asleep outside her door"
"Why?"
"I-" was interrupted by a knock on our door. After the first knock both Chelsea and I just looked at the door. When the knocking sounded a second time though, Chelsea told whoever was on the other side that they could come in. The door opened, and it was Carrie. She was looking a bit flushed, which is surprising, considering she is covered with fur.
"Sorry, did I enter at a bad time?" Chelsea seemed very surprised at what Carrie was wearing (it was the same as when I had already seen her in the morning) as she seemed incapable of answering so I decided to answer for her.
As I was saying the word "yes"  Chelsea cut in with a "no", and Carrie wasn't sure how to respond, so she just continued with why she came in here for the first place, "Chelsea, do you have any-" she looked at me and hesitated. She walked over and finished her sentence, whispering to Chelsea, but I still caught the words "feminine products."
Chelsea and Carrie entered our wardrobe but soon returned. Carrie was about to leave when Chelsea asked her "Carrie, why was James outside your door last night?"
Carrie then shot a cold stare in my direction and replied, "Can this wait sorry?"
"Yeah, but I'll be expecting an answer later"
Great, now Carrie's going to have both Chelsea and Guy asking her questions. Just great. After Carrie left, Chelsea began talking with me again, "Alright, I'll let you off the hook for now. What made you want to come here after your attempted recording?"
"I wanted to see you!" and get my mind off Carrie.
"Right"
"I hadn't even spoken with you since dinner, I was missing you. I don't know why I'm the one being interrogated though, it's not like you've got a clean slate either!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Have you already forgotten about the pet shop, when you bought this collar?"
She was caught then, she wasn't sure how to respond. I was expecting her to question the relevance, where I had already prepared a reply in that I accepted her mistake, no-ones perfect, but instead she accepted the relevance.
"That's fair. But I still want Carrie's side of the story"
As I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop her, I just responded with a large sigh.
"Alright. But can we just hang out now? You know, the reason I came back here?"
"Yeah, sure. Do you want me to brush you again?"
"Nah, I'm going to have a shower before lunch"
"Uno?"
"I know what?"
"No, as in, do you want to play Uno?"
I can be such an idiot sometimes.
"Sure"
I don't know how long we played for, but it was worth it, I was spending time with Chelsea, that was all that mattered.
It came as a fair surprise when Guy knocked on our door and informed me that it had been two hours since our attempted recording, and was wanting to try again. Chelsea decided that she had things she was wanting to get done as well so I headed down with Guy and we recorded, successfully, on our first try. After our recording Guy informed me that lunch would be in about an hour and thirty minutes. Which was enough for me to shower and dry before lunch.
So that's where I went.
I have an odd habit of singing in the shower, most of the time I do it without realising. Since it is something I do when my mind is eased, I hadn't done so since the morning I was preparing for the chess tournament, now that was a while ago.
So anyway, I was feeling well enough to sing while I had my shower today, I sung Count On Me by Bruno Mars, followed by Talking To The Moon, which I found slightly ironic, then Battle Scars by Guy Sebastian, then Helt Æling by Morgan Sulele, and I finished drying myself singing Spirit In The Sky, by KEiiNO.
These were all favourites of mine, so I was able to sing them without music, and I may have gotten a bit carried away with them, but fortunately Chelsea didn't mind, as when I exited the bathroom she was on our bed on her phone, probably on Pinterest.
"You're out"
"Yeah, was I holding you up?"
"Nah, I did consider joining you, but you sounded like you were having a good enough time by yourself"
Every word she said, she said without looking away from her phone, and as she made her way into the bathroom, she still didn't make eye contact with me.
"Oh, you heard me?"
"Of course! I'd be surprised if anyone in this building didn't!"
This is why I don't sing too often.
"Great..."
"Hey, don't be so worried, you're actually a really good singer"
"Really?" I didn't even bother trying to stop my tail from wagging.
"Really"
"Thanks. Hey, will you be done before lunch, or do you want us to start without you?"
"I'll be done in time"
"Alright"
And with that she shut the door, so I headed down to lunch, early.
Of course Guy was already there.
"James, you're early!"
"And you're not?"
Carrie was also sitting down already, and she's not usually there early.
"True, but I'm usually early. You're not"
"Neither is Carrie" I said, shrugging off the, probably one off, difference.
"That's true, I've already spoken with Carrie, so I know her reason for being here early, but why are you here early?"
Guy wasn't accepting my answer in that I just was, I didn't have a particular reason, so by the time Chelsea arrived, we were still on the same topic.
"What's this?" she asked as she sat down.
"Guy is curious to why I arrived early, and I don't have any reason in particular"
"Anyway, now we're all here we should eat!"
The meal was only small, but delicious nontheless. We had sausages and veggies, all done on the barbeque, which I didn't even realise this place had.
"Yeah, it's on the terrace"
Was Guys response when I asked him where it was located. I found out later that it was actually Guy who was cooked lunch.
As I was thinking about the location of the barbeque, someone had made a comment which brought silence to the table.
Once I noticed this I asked what the problem was, and Guy was about to speak when Carrie snapped at him, telling him to not tell me what came up.
This caused the room to tense up to a scale I hadn't felt before. It was tense.
Guy was able to break the silence and tension in one sentence though (fortunately), which was, "Chelsea, I found your ability to reach low notes today very, remarkable"
"Sorry Guy?"
"I could hear you singing, in the shower?"
What the heck.
"Oh, that wasn't me," don't you dare say it! "that was James" she said it.
"Wait, seriously?"
"If him sinking into the seat and covering his face with his tail isn't obvious enough, you must be horrible at reading people. So yes, I'm serious"
"No Way! James, you can actually sing really well, your voice is amazing, I actually can't put it into words!"
"Shell said the same thing..."
"Shell? The one who died?"
Did I say that out loud?
"Yeah"
As much as I wanted him to stop, Guy didn't seem able to change subjects from my voice.
"James, I'm telling you, you could make a career out of your voice"
But the one thing that suprised me was, "But Guy, aren't you a professional singer?"
"Well, no. It's a hobby. Yes I make money out of it, but I'm not good enough for a career, and I usually autotune my voice anyway. But that doesn't mean I don't have an eye, or well, ear, for talent. You would be able to rise to the top!"
This was definitely encouraging, but I still didn't believe him. But, if what he said is true, I could potentially use this to publicise, well, the James Wolf project.
"I could do that, as a way to expose the James Wolf project, but I would need to become popular very quickly, and I know I'm not good enough for that"
"What treacherous lies come fourth from that mouth of yours?"
"Well, technically it's not a mouth-"
"Maw, jaw, trap, snout, whatever, that's not the point. I do see what you mean about the accelerated popularity though, we'll have to think hard on this subject-"
"How about never?"
"No, I believe it may be possible"
This conversation followed through all of lunch, and once it was over (which I was glad for), we all made a staggered exit to our rooms. I was on all fours on my way to our bedroom when who should I encounter other than Carrie!
The reason I say encounter, is that we didn't stumble across each other, it was actually really strange. She approached me from behind, I was only about five metres away from my bedroom, when she reached under me and picked me up! I was going to shout, bite, scratch, but luckily, before I had, I realised who it was, and I figured I'd caused her enough harm already. So I let her carry me (heh, I was carried by Carrie), to the third, and currently the only unoccupied, spare bedroom.
After dumping me on the ground I properly stood up, only to be shoved back down landing directly on where for a human the coccyx would be. It. Hurt.
"Can you not keep your maw shut?"
"Sorry I honestly didn't mean to please don't hurt me!"
"Hurt you? Why would I do that?"
"Well, you just brought me to a secluded area, and you're being kinda harsh"
"Oh, I wasn't meaning to come across violent. But we're getting distracted, Guy's the reason we're doing this, he suggested that we properly talk things out! They all know about me now, congratulations, singer boy!" she said that extremely sarcastically.
"Carrie, I-"
"James, two things. One, I know it's not your fault, I can just be a bit, temperamental, when people spill beans I don't want spilt. Two, you don't have to call me Carrie if you don't want to, Carrots is fine"
She then turned around and placed her hand on the door handle, she was leaving. What?
I grabbed her arm, bad mistake. She turned around and somehow made it so she was grabbing mine, and she was slowly twisting it into a body lock.
"What do you think you're doing?"
She had tears in her eyes. The cuts you idiot! That would have stung.
"Sorry, I-I forg-got!"
She released me then.
"Whatever, why'd you grab me?"
"You were about to leave!"
"And?"
"You yourself said that we were going to properly talk things out! You call that talking things out? Let alone properly!"
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know, maybe why you made the sudden decision of liking the nickname Carrots! Maybe why you've only really spoken to me in private! Maybe an explanation on why you carried me here? I can walk! Why do you sometimes look like you could kill me, and other times you act like my best friend!" I started to laugh with a twinge of hysteria, "These aren't things that you can keep doing without an explanation, Carrie, you've got to tell me what's going on!"
"BECAUSE I LIKE YOU DAMMIT!"
I couldn't do anymore than, blink. What?
"Shoot, no. You Didn't Hear That!"
Carrie- likes me?
"Jame's! Just forget you heard anything! Forget what I said!"
"You, like me"
"James!"
Right then and there, I sort of just, clicked. Her self harm was from her liking me but believing that we'd never be together because I'm with Chelsea, and everything else. Wow I'm blind, from day one she's been dropping hints.
"Carrie- Carrots, I'm not sure how to respond to that right now"
"You don't need to respond to anything" and she looked me dead in the eye before saying her next line, "Because you don't know anything"
"Yeah, I can't unhear what you said, and I don't believe your brother owns anything related to causing amnesia, although it wouldn't surprise me either"
"James! Can't you be serious right now?"
"Sorry, I can go a bit sarcastic when under pressure"
"Why are you-? James... Did you just say that you're under pressure?"
"Yeah? Why?"
"No, why to you. Why are you under pressure?"
"Great, now I've got the Queen song stuck in my head"
"James!"
"Well, I don't know. It's not that simple. I didn't think I was attracted to you"
"Let me guess, until you saw me naked? Typical of guys"
"No, there was no time it started, that I could notice anyway, but it was getting really bad this morning, I couldn't get you out of my head! I was missing all my ques for the podcast recording, because I was unable to stop thinking about us, I mean you!"
"Guy did say you seemed like you were daydreaming, anyway, thanks. Now, if you don't mind I'm going to go now"
"Wait, is this really settled?"
"Well, no. But until you make up your mind it is as settled as it can be"
"Wait what?"
As these words left my mouth she appeared beside me and rabbit-kissed me! I believe natural rabbits don't kiss, but nibble to show affection, cross that with a human kiss and that's what she did! I was frozen from shock, and only just turned around to see her leave.
What have I gotten myself into?