Orpheus & Eurydice

It’s been quite a week for Cassiopeia. Jonny’s team unfortunately was eliminated from the playoffs, but surprisingly, Jonny wasn’t that upset about it. Well, he was upset, but not as much as Cassiopeia anticipated.

She is currently at her apartment feeding her cats, getting ready to meet up with Jonny. He told her he had something to give her and she was a little anxious to see what it is. His birthday is tomorrow and Cassiopeia still hasn’t gotten him anything and it makes her feel guilty knowing that he got her something, but he’s getting nothing on his birthday.

She tries not to think of it as she feeds her cats and tidies up her meditation pillows. Now that Jonny has invited her into his condo, they’ve been spending a lot of time at both places, but mostly still hers.

She’s trying to decide what to eat for lunch when three loud knocks come from her front door.

She ignores it, figuring that if it’s Jonny, he’ll just walk in. It’s silent for a few minutes while she’s digging through her fridge. Then, a voice calls out from her hallway.

“Cass, it’s me. Can you open the door? Your present is here.”

She frowns. She can tell he’s being weird by his voice and walks over to her door and opens it. She’s immediately knocked down and is a little disoriented but can tell that a dog is on top of her and sees a smiling Jonny standing above her and the dog.

The dog is licking her all over her face and she just giggles at the whole affair. She loves animals but her dad is allergic to dogs so she never had one growing up. She finally finds her bearings and sits up, pushing the dog back so he’s not blocking Jonny’s view anymore.

“Who’s this?” She half asks half laughs as the dog nuzzles his face into her hands, begging for attention. He’s a huge St. Bernard and Cassiopeia runs her fingers down his back and starts to scratch his butt.

“His name is Hercules. I rescued him from a local pound, they were going to put him down because he’s so big and takes too much work to take care of.” Jonny sounds like he doesn’t particularly like the people he interacted with to get Hercules, and Cassiopeia doesn’t blame him. Dogs are very important to the Earth’s ecosystem. Plus, they make everyone happy.

“Well, what’s he doing here?” She grins down at Hercules who is now on his back, stretched out looking to get his belly scratched and Cassiopeia complies while waiting for Jonny’s answer.

“He’s yours.”

Cassiopeia’s head snaps up and she stares at Jonny with her mouth gaped open.

“Are you serious?” She whispers. Jonny grins and nods his head yes. It’s a race for Cassiopeia to get up off the ground and fling herself onto Jonny. He catches her, laughing. She keeps muttering thank you’s to him and hugging him tighter and tighter.

She leans back and lands a kiss on the corner of his mouth. His grin gets bigger after that and before they can go any father, Hercules sticks his nose in between Cassiopeia’s legs.

The cold of his nose makes her jump and Cassiopeia and Jonny separate. He drops a hand that is wrapped around Cassiopeia’s waist to rest on Hercules’s head. Hercules seems so happy and it makes Cassiopeia happy.

“Actually, he’s ours.”

Cassiopeia walks into her kitchen and hears Hercules large footsteps following her, with Jonny not far behind.

“I don’t have any dog food for him. I guess he can have some of the cats food for now?”

Jonny nods and Cassiopeia finds a big enough bowl and gives Hercules a little bit of food, not a lot to upset his stomach in case he’s anxious about his new surroundings. So far, he seems to be really comfortable, immediately finding some of the cats to play with and flopping down on Cassiopeia’s pillows.

“So, are you excited for your birthday tomorrow?”

Jonny looks surprised by the question, but shrugs his shoulders.

“Not really. Twenty – six feels too old.” Cassiopeia frowns and knows how he’s feeling. When she turned twenty – one she had a bit of an existential crisis and started smoking way more than usual.

“Hey, I haven’t had time or any ideas on what to get you tomorrow.” She admits while opening up her fridge to get out some food. She has some cold beans that she’s going to warm up when an arm wraps around her middle, pulling her flush against Jonny’s front.

“That’s ok. You’ve done so much for me, anyways.” He kisses her neck and she giggles, breaking out of his hold.

Suddenly an idea sprouts in her head of what she can give Jonny for his birthday. Well, not really give but more like a recreational activity to engage in.

“I know what we’re doing for your birthday. We’re gonna do it tonight.”

“What is it?” He seems confused. He’s picking the cold beans out of the bowl that Cassiopeia pulled out of the fridge. She makes a face and pulls the bowl away from him.

“A surprise.”

ॐ

“No. No way. Absolutely not, Cassiopeia.”

Cassiopeia tries not to focus on the fact that Jonny used her full name and more on the fact that she just wants him to take a hit.

“C’mon, Jonny. You said you don’t smoke in the season. It’s not like we’ll get in trouble.” She nudges him with her shoulder where they’re perched on her rooftop. She takes another hit from her bowl while Jonny contemplates smoking or not.

“Please? For me?” She juts out her bottom lip, knowing that it’ll make him cave. She silently cheers in her heads when he sighs and holds out his hand for the bowl.

She eagerly hands it over and leans over him to light it while he takes a hit. He surprisingly takes a huge hit and holds the smoke in for a really long time before exhaling in small tiny smoke rings.

A large laugh escapes from her and suddenly, she can’t stop laughing. Who knew Jonny was a pro at smoking weed?

She takes the bowl away from Jonny and finishes the pack, dumping the remnants over the side of her building. She looks back at him and he has a dumb dopey smile on his face while he’s staring at her.

“What?” She asks.

“You’re an angel.” He breaths out, his eyes going wide. She grins and tilts her head, confused by the statement.

“What?”

“I love you.”

Cassiopeia sucks in a breath and diverts her eyes from Jonny. She fakes a laugh and turns away.

“Wow, your tolerance has gone down if the pot is affecting you that much.”

“I’m not that high. The pot isn’t telling you that I love you. I’m telling you I love you.”

She turns back towards him and sees that he’s staring at her with his face so open, so vulnerable that she can’t help but believe him. She’s been repressing how much she likes Jonny and how much he affects her, but she lets it all out right now.

“I love you, too.”

She crawls over on all fours towards him and pins him to the cement and crawls on top of him, straddling his middle.

“I’ve loved you ever since you walked into the shop. You know, these last few weeks I haven’t detected any bad vibes from you? Instead, you act like you are a manifestation of the sun and I can’t get enough of you. I want to bathe in your happiness.”

She leans down but not far enough to connect their lips, but enough that she can brush their noses together.

“I didn’t know until you spent that first night with me, after that bad game? You needed me in that moment and I was here. I’ll always be here. But knowing that you chose to come to me instead of wallow in your own self-pity opened my eyes. It showed that someone thought about me first. No one has ever thought about me first.”

She finally connects their lips, keeping the kiss closed mouth and chaste. Jonny has been silent this whole time, but Cassiopeia can see in his eyes how much this means to him. Cassiopeia sharing the same feelings for him is a fear that she can tell he holds in his body.

“Come to Winnipeg with me. I leave in a week. We can bring Hercules and your cats.” He brings a hand to her face and brushes a lock behind her ear and slides the hand to the back of her neck to rest.

“I’ll go anywhere with you.”