Like You Do
into these
April 21st, 2013
_____
"Miller, can ya hold that cat a little tighter? I'm trying to do sub-qs, not have my eyeballs rearranged."
I shook my head furiously, my vision coming back into focus as I stared down at the fluffy, orange tabby cat that was clutching the edge of the exam table for dear life, screaming and spitting every time Holly moved, writhing against the feeble pressure of my grip on the back of its neck.
"Sorry, Holl." I muttered to my grey-haired partner, tightening my grip on the cat's scruff and lifting it off of the table, only to put it back down, this time laying it on its side. I waited a moment for it to stop kicking before grabbing both back legs with my right hand, holding them together firmly.
"You're fiiiiiiine." I crooned, my voice low as I nodded to Holly that I was back to earth and ready. She rolled her eyes and reached for one of the cat's front legs and began to prep it. I continued to mutter to the cat as she clipped away the fur around what would be theinjection site.
"What's up with you? You've been out of it for at least the past day and a half." Pausing in her work, Holly locked eyes with me, raising an eyebrow and causing her forehead wrinkles to deepen. "And don't you dare give me 'it's nothing', Miller. I know you, and that was the worst start to a cat hold I've ever seen."
I pursed my lips, staring down at the immobilized cat in my hands. I heard Holly let out a long sigh, followed by the sound of an I.V. being prepped. The cat began to growl softly and I tightened my grip.
"Fine, Miller. You don't have to tell me." Holly huffed and shoved the needle into the cat's leg. It hissed, and I shrugged my shoulders defiantly.
"Good, because I wasn't going to."
_____
What a fucking day.
I jammed my key into the lock on my apartment door, jiggling it back and forth until it sat right so I could finally turn it. Pushing the door open with my shoulder, I quickly bent down and extended my left arm just in time to catch the dark shadow that attempted to streak past me and into the hall.
"Hi, Mooch." I hefted the 18 pound black tomcat over my shoulder. "Nice to see you too."
Moving inside, I set him down onto the scuffed hardwood floor, quickly kicking the door shut behind me. I walked the five steps to my small kitchen counter, ignoring Mooch's whines as he paced in front of his half-full food dish and retrieving my forgotten cell phone. I pressed the "power" button and the screen sprung to life, displaying 5 missed picture messages.
I hit "message retrieve" and pulled them up. All 5 of them were from Mark, and each was a different photoset of different apartments and townhouses.
Damn. I took my time looking through them. They were all beautiful. And huge, compared to my 3 1/2 room little place.
Stepping over Mooch, I turned and walked the seven steps to my tiny couch and plunked down, still feasting my eyes on those pictures. I tapped the dialogue box and sent him a long overdue reply.
Gorgeous. Looks like you've had a productive day. How's the weather there?
Mooch jumped up into my lap then, and I set my phone on the cushion beside me so that I could fulfill my duty and pet him. I let my mind wander as I waited for Mark to reply.
It had been more than a month since Mark had blurted out the news that he had been planning to move to L.A., and then immediately apologized for stealing my moment. We had laughed about it, what a crazy coincidence it was, that we were both looking into moving to L.A. and yet too embarrassed and unsure to tell each other.
He never did tell me how he found out about my acceptance into U.C., but I had a theory that he probably happened upon it before I caught him nosing around in my room that time a few months ago.
Why did he wait so long to bring it up?
Who knew, really. Why did I wait so long to tell him, was a better question. But none of that really mattered now, anyway.
We were going to L.A. We had talked half the night that day, and made up the base of a plan that was slowly being put into motion.
And Mark had started the hunt for home. He was out there now, primarily to shoot a collaboration channel with one of his YouTube friends. But he was also touring homes, getting a feel for what was out there.
We both knew it would be a lot of time and work before it would happen. But we were doing it. Really doing it.
"We're getting out of here, Mooch." I hefted him up by his armpits so that I could touch my nose to his.
"We're going to go chase our dreams."
_____
"Miller, can ya hold that cat a little tighter? I'm trying to do sub-qs, not have my eyeballs rearranged."
I shook my head furiously, my vision coming back into focus as I stared down at the fluffy, orange tabby cat that was clutching the edge of the exam table for dear life, screaming and spitting every time Holly moved, writhing against the feeble pressure of my grip on the back of its neck.
"Sorry, Holl." I muttered to my grey-haired partner, tightening my grip on the cat's scruff and lifting it off of the table, only to put it back down, this time laying it on its side. I waited a moment for it to stop kicking before grabbing both back legs with my right hand, holding them together firmly.
"You're fiiiiiiine." I crooned, my voice low as I nodded to Holly that I was back to earth and ready. She rolled her eyes and reached for one of the cat's front legs and began to prep it. I continued to mutter to the cat as she clipped away the fur around what would be theinjection site.
"What's up with you? You've been out of it for at least the past day and a half." Pausing in her work, Holly locked eyes with me, raising an eyebrow and causing her forehead wrinkles to deepen. "And don't you dare give me 'it's nothing', Miller. I know you, and that was the worst start to a cat hold I've ever seen."
I pursed my lips, staring down at the immobilized cat in my hands. I heard Holly let out a long sigh, followed by the sound of an I.V. being prepped. The cat began to growl softly and I tightened my grip.
"Fine, Miller. You don't have to tell me." Holly huffed and shoved the needle into the cat's leg. It hissed, and I shrugged my shoulders defiantly.
"Good, because I wasn't going to."
_____
What a fucking day.
I jammed my key into the lock on my apartment door, jiggling it back and forth until it sat right so I could finally turn it. Pushing the door open with my shoulder, I quickly bent down and extended my left arm just in time to catch the dark shadow that attempted to streak past me and into the hall.
"Hi, Mooch." I hefted the 18 pound black tomcat over my shoulder. "Nice to see you too."
Moving inside, I set him down onto the scuffed hardwood floor, quickly kicking the door shut behind me. I walked the five steps to my small kitchen counter, ignoring Mooch's whines as he paced in front of his half-full food dish and retrieving my forgotten cell phone. I pressed the "power" button and the screen sprung to life, displaying 5 missed picture messages.
I hit "message retrieve" and pulled them up. All 5 of them were from Mark, and each was a different photoset of different apartments and townhouses.
Damn. I took my time looking through them. They were all beautiful. And huge, compared to my 3 1/2 room little place.
Stepping over Mooch, I turned and walked the seven steps to my tiny couch and plunked down, still feasting my eyes on those pictures. I tapped the dialogue box and sent him a long overdue reply.
Gorgeous. Looks like you've had a productive day. How's the weather there?
Mooch jumped up into my lap then, and I set my phone on the cushion beside me so that I could fulfill my duty and pet him. I let my mind wander as I waited for Mark to reply.
It had been more than a month since Mark had blurted out the news that he had been planning to move to L.A., and then immediately apologized for stealing my moment. We had laughed about it, what a crazy coincidence it was, that we were both looking into moving to L.A. and yet too embarrassed and unsure to tell each other.
He never did tell me how he found out about my acceptance into U.C., but I had a theory that he probably happened upon it before I caught him nosing around in my room that time a few months ago.
Why did he wait so long to bring it up?
Who knew, really. Why did I wait so long to tell him, was a better question. But none of that really mattered now, anyway.
We were going to L.A. We had talked half the night that day, and made up the base of a plan that was slowly being put into motion.
And Mark had started the hunt for home. He was out there now, primarily to shoot a collaboration channel with one of his YouTube friends. But he was also touring homes, getting a feel for what was out there.
We both knew it would be a lot of time and work before it would happen. But we were doing it. Really doing it.
"We're getting out of here, Mooch." I hefted him up by his armpits so that I could touch my nose to his.
"We're going to go chase our dreams."
♠ ♠ ♠
I know their relationship is not super clearly defined and I know it seems all over the place now but PLEASE bear with me and don't kill me I like my life.