Short Story for A Friend

“Hey, I’m back,” Sol called, juggling an armful of grocery bags, her iPod, and keys while struggling to close the door.

Jaiye appeared, grinning, to lighten the load. “Heard the bags in the hall,” she said, giving the flustered Were a peck on the cheek. She really wasn’t the domestic type at all and generally left things like cooking and shopping to Sol, who didn’t mind in the slightest.

Between the two of them the groceries were quickly put away.
Jaiye lifted her head curiously and scented the air. Something smelled like grilled beef, but Sol hadn’t cooked anything yet.

“I stopped at taco Bell,” Sol explained, laughing at the shapeshifter’s puzzled expression. “It seemed easier than cooking, and I had a serious craving. What were you doing?”

Jaiye had already rummaged through the remaining bags and was perched on the counter, contentedly munching away at one taco. Two more lay on the counter waiting to meet the same fate, and knowing Jaiye, it wouldn’t take long.

“Watching TV,” she replied, mouth full. “That new LOGO channel you bought has some pretty cool stuff on it.”

“You like it, then?” Sol asked dryly.

“Fuck yeah,” Jaiye agreed.

Sol laughed and dug into her quesadilla, closing her eyes as the taste of hot meat and melted cheese flowed across her tongue. “Oh, my god,” she sighed, sinking into one of the few chairs scattered throughout the kitchen. “I’ve found heaven…”

“Hey.” Sol opened her eyes and looked curiously at Jaiye. “Do I have competition?” Jaiye asked playfully.

Sol grinned. “’Course not,” she replied. “Why else would I have moved out here? They have Taco Bell’s in Oklahoma too, you know.” She looked up then, one soft black wolf ear twitching in the direction of the bedroom. “Did you leave the TV on?” she asked. “I hear voices.”

“Probably,” Jaiye replied, halfway through her third taco. “Are the rest of those yours?”

Sol pushed the bag of tacos absently in her direction and tilted her seat onto the back two legs, still staring at the hall that led to their room. “Don’t eat the quesadillas.” She slipped out of her hoodie, mildly irritated by the sudden rise in temperature. The damned A/C was so unpredictable.

“What happened to your arm?” Jaiye asked, concerned.

Sol blinked and looked down at her left arm. Her hand was completely wrapped in an Ace bandage, and so was most of her wrist. “Oh, yeah. I accidentally cut it at work.” She smiled ruefully. “That’s what I get for not paying attention, huh?”

Jaiye leaned over. “Let me see.”

Sol sat her chair upright and held out her arm wordlessly. As
Jaiye unwrapped it Sol focused on the little sounds that made this dingy little apartment home. The dripping faucet in the bathroom used to drive her insane, but eventually it became a tool to help her fall asleep when Jaiye was gone. Both girls worked at the same restaurant, but rarely had the same shifts. Luckily they both had Thursdays and Sundays off, but other than that their time together was made more valuable by how rarely it came.

Jaiye’s breath hissed out through her teeth, drawing Sol’s attention back to the gash that extended from just under her index finger to the lower right-hand corner of her palm. “Shit, Sol. What the hell did you do?”

Sol smiled sheepishly. “It was stupid, really. I was drying off one of the cutting knives and it went right through the towel – and my hand.”

“You dumbass!” Jaiye cried. “Did they at least let you off early?”

“A little,” Sol replied. “That’s why I had time to grab dinner.”

“Sweet. Other than your little emo incident, how was work?”

Sol shrugged. “Not too bad. Some guy hit on me and got pissed when I started laughing.” Sol fought back a grin at the memory.
Jaiye had no such qualms. She doubled over and burst out laughing until tears were streaming down her face.

“He didn’t even tip,” Sol muttered, pretending to pout.

That only made her laugh harder.

Grinning, Sol grabbed her food and headed for the bedroom. She was tired as well as hungry, so it seemed reasonable. “We can eat in bed, right?” Sol called over her shoulder.

“Oh, you should know that, babe,” Jaiye replied with a grin, following with her tacos.

Sol rolled her eyes and began flipping through channels. “Hey, Rent’s just starting,” she said excitedly, lying on her stomach and digging in to another quesadilla. Kin had voracious appetites, and since Sol was a half-Were and half-Kin, she needed even more calories than most. Generally six quesadillas were enough to fill her up for a couple of hours.

Jaiye groaned, sprawling out beside her. “God, do we have to? That movie’s so annoying.”

Sol cuddled up beside her, using her infamous puppy-dog eyes, and begged, “please? I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
“But this movie always makes you depressed,” Jaiye complained.

Sol kissed her. “Then you get to cheer me up.”

“Fine…”

Sol squealed happily and began singing along with the tunes. Jaiye wasn’t sure whether it was cute or annoying, and decided to go with cute… just to make things easier.

“You’re such a dork,” Jaiye said a few minutes later, once she’d polished off every taco and one of Sol’s quesadillas. That meant in about an hour and a half Sol would be up and rummaging through the cabinets, like every other night, until she got fed up and ran to the store – again. Jaiye rolled onto her back, toying idly with Sol’s hair. The cat-wolf was trying to grow out her hair again, and it was in that awkward in-between phase that looked like a cross between a bowl cut and a mullet. It was strange, but oddly endearing on her, making Sol look more like a child than before.

Sol didn’t even remove her eyes from the television. “Why?” she asked distractedly, bunching up the blanket between her hands. She couldn’t keep her hands still either; it was an odd compulsive problem she had.

Without being asked Jaiye rolled off the bed and began casting about beneath, discovering a pile of dead batteries, pencil stubs, and a couple of dead bugs. Among these was a bright red velour ball, which she pressed into the fidgety cat-wolf’s hands.
Sol blinked and smiled gratefully at her. “I was doing it again, huh?”

Jaiye nodded. “It wasn’t bad. At least you weren’t squeezing your ankle this time.” Sol did that once and her claws had punctured the skin.

Sol sighed and flopped backwards, placing her head in Jaiye’s lap. Reaching up, she batted idly at Jaiye’s long blonde hair with one hand, squeezing the stress ball in the other. The movie ended, and Sol needed something new to fix her attention on. She had a truly bizarre attention span.

“What are you doing?” Jaiye asked, biting back a grin as her hair flew about in a truly odd fashion.

Sol shrugged, which rubbed her shoulders against Jaiye’s legs.
Jaiye laughed, bent over, and placed a kiss squarely on Sol’s lips. Immediately Sol stopped moving, eyes fluttering closed, her hands moving upwards to the back of Jaiye’s head.

The two had met in a truly peculiar fashion, through an art site, and spent at least two years of their relationship getting to know one another online and through numerous phone calls. Despite that, however, the pair had formed a strong bond, and once they were both old enough they’d moved to a different state entirely, rather than Ohio or Oklahoma, and gotten a small apartment together. Both girls were taking classes, through a community college, and were working on starting a business selling art and Sol in particular was trying to get her first book published.

The strength of their relationship was startling to both girls, simply because of past problems both had in regards to their love lives. Despite their differences, though, things seemed to be going fine. After all, how common was a relationship between a ferret-Kin and a half-werewolf, half cat-Kin?

Dear, god.

When they parted Sol gave a small sigh, eyes still closed. In a sudden movement she sat up and turned, pinning Jaiye to the bed. Considering their proximity, it was a wonder Sol hadn’t bashed Jaiye’s head with hers.

“Sol, what’re you doing?” Jaiye asked, surprised. Sol was perched lightly atop the Kin, smiling easily, as if she wasn’t doing anything unusual.

She shrugged, and bent over to softly return the kiss Jaiye had so generously given her, with interest.

TBC, if I ever feel like it...