A Little Bit of Trouble (16 page)

    
“You’re such a pig.”

     “A loveable pig.”

     “Nope, just a pig.”

     “Your standards are a little low then.”

     She shakes her head, I’ve rendered her speechless. Score.

     We sit and chat, laugh and joke whilst Amelia plays. Then food comes and we enjoy that, why did I stop talking to her? I can’t remember the reason if I’m honest. Of course I feel like a dick, I made her cry, I stopped talking to her. How can she forgive me?

     I sit and watch her as she talks to Amelia whilst eating a slice of pizza, her mouth is so damn sexy. Even sexier now I know where it’s been. She really has no idea just how attractive she is.

     “What?” she asks and pats at her mouth with a napkin. “Do I have sauce around my mouth?”

     “You’re beautiful,” I state, my eyes holding hers. She flushes a few shades of red. Yep, she definitely doesn’t know how attractive she is. “Are you coming back to ours? Or do you want to go home?”

     “I should go home, I’ve only had Velcro a few days. He needs love and attention to help him settle well.”

     “Why didn’t his owners want him?”

     She shrugs, “They were mean to him. They had a dog and they used to let it bully him. That’s why his tail is a little on the short side. When Gary’s mom took him, he’d been bitten on the tail and the back of the neck.”

     “I may not like cats but that’s just sick. Animal cruelty is disgusting.”

     She nods in agreement, “Thanks for this.”

     “No problem. Come Amelia, time to go.”

     “Aww!” she whines and stomps over to us. I help her with her shoes and lead the women to my car. “Loryn, you wanna watch a movie with me?”

     “Loryn has to go home baby.”

     Loryn nods and turns in her seat so she can see Amelia, “Sorry kid. Maybe next time.”

     “Ok
ay.”

     I walk Loryn to her door and wait for her to enter. She chews on her lower lip and leans in to kiss me. I step back and shake my head, Amelia is watching from the car.

     “When can I see you again?”

     “I’ll be here tomorrow,” and with that reassurance no doubt lingering in her mind she vanishes inside.

Lucas
: You really are beautiful.

Loryn
: Is it weird that I miss you already?

Lucas
: You miss me? Or my dick?

Loryn
: You’re a pig.

Lucas
: A loveable pig ;)

      “Guess who?”

      I groan, “Hi Maya.”

      “I have good news, so I spoke to the Senator who spoke to the mayor who spoke to…”

     “Get to the point.”

     “Sorry, anyway, the Cops who handled the break in have been reprimanded, the leader of said squad has been suspended pending further investigation, they are also paying Loryn something like four grand in compensation. Unless she takes it to the papers. The Chief is furious. She should have been taken to the hospital for shock, the street should have been cleared.” She says quickly and excitedly into her cell. I hear Evelyn and James in the background. “Isn’t that awesome?”

     “Maya, you are an amazing woman. Thanks for that.”

     “It’s no problem, is she there?”

     “Amelia?”

     “No, Loryn. I couldn’t get her on her cell.”

     I chuckle, “The woman sleeps like the dead.”

     “Ok, well bring her to ours tonight,” she demands and hangs up. I guess I’m going to Maya’s tonight.

     The entire car journey to school, the
entire
way, Amelia sings I’m a Barbie Girl. She doesn’t stop. I have the CD on and it’s on repeat, so now this stupid song is stuck in my head as well as assaulting my ears. Remind me to kill Sylvia for buying her this song.

     “You can brush my hair! Undress me anywhere!” Amelia squawks…. Wait… what the fuck? Undress her? “Ah, ah, ah, yeah.” Oh my god.

Lucas
: What the hell is this CD you got Amelia?

Sylvia
: It’s just a song Lucas.

Lucas
: She’s singing about people undressing her… it just said hanky panky!

Sylvia
: James used to listen to this song all of the time. It won’t hurt her.

Lucas
: What? He did?

Lucas
: I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie world. Ring any bells?

James
: What? :/

Lucas
: Nothing… see you at dinner tonight!

    
Oh, this is going to be fun.

     Feeling like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible I poke my head slowly around the apartment door. I can smell it but I can’t see it.

     “Would you stop being stupid?” Loryn laughs and shoves me inside.
“I promise, he’s not going to hurt you.” For the sake of not looking like a pussy, no pun intended, I put my brave man pants on and head to the shelf on the wall with my tools in hand. It needs fixing. Something moves on the sofa. I freeze, the cat stares at me, mid lick of its paw. It lowers its paw slowly, yellow eyes on mine. “Velcro.” The cat doesn’t look away from me.

     I gulp, remain brave
Lucas, it’s just a cat. It hops down off the sofa, and starts stalking towards me. Meow. It yowls a little and stops a foot from me. Then it starts wagging its tail, like a damn dog! What’s up with that? I lower my screwdriver that I was about to fix the shelf with and take a step back. The cat takes a step forward.

     “Loryn,” I hiss, my eyes never leaving the cats. Shit, where’s she gone? “Loryn!”

   
Meow. Fuck.

     The cat pounces, I scramble backwards, it lands on the broken shelf, the shelf tips, the cat jumps blindly and for some fucking reason I reach out to catch it. After it lands in my arms, in its state of shock it turns and sinks its claws into my chest.

     “LORYN!” Get it off, get it off! I spin, the cat clings on for dear life. “LORYN!”

     I look up, she’s laughing her ass off, phone out, as I dance around with a fucking cat on my chest. “Velcro,” she coos and the cat jumps down. “There’s a good boy.”

     I watch as the cat rubs itself up against her, yowling and purring. After lifting up my top I find little red marks where the claws had sunk into my skin. I point at the fur ball, “This isn’t over.”

     Loryn slaps me upside the head, “Stop being ridiculous.”

    
“I don’t like cats.”

     “Why not?”

     I sigh, “When I was about seven, I was in a foster home, these people had like three dogs. Awesome dogs, absolutely massive. We were walking them between two houses to get to a large opening where they could run, when three cats jumped out of nowhere and started attacking us. I had to have stitches up my right leg and my arm. Fortunately the dogs were there and managed to scare them off.” I shudder a little. “My foster father had to give me up because he lost his sight in his right eye where one had jumped from a garden wall and clawed at his face.”

     “That’s awful.”

     “Yeah, animal control couldn’t believe it, they’d heard of cat attacks but not three cats. Turns out, one of them had her kittens nearby, they were strays or something. Protecting her litter.”

     “Well that makes sense.”

     I shrug, “I know, I get it, the animal world and all that shit. Still doesn’t mean I have to like them. Couldn’t you swap it for a dog? They’re more useful.”

     As if the fucking cat can understand me, he starts using my leg as a scratch pole. What the fuck? Loryn grabs him before I can kick him off.
He’s only about a year old, and not very big, but he seems to love Loryn already. So, I guess I can tolerate him.

     “Do you need any help?” Loryn asks as I finally get started on the shelf.

     “Me man, me use hammer, you woman, you do dishes,” I throw a rag at her, she catches it and hits me around the back of the head. The shelf takes me all of two minutes. “Man want sex now.”

     “Are you serious?”

     I stomp over to her, wrap my arms around her waist, “Man horny.”

     “Why don’t we just watch TV for a little bit,” she suggests as my lips move down her neck.

     I nip her skin and run my palms down her back, making sure to dig my fingers into her skin as they go. “TV later.”

     She really does not need much persuasion.

     I’m comfy, why’s something moving on my back? What’s that purring noise? “Loryn? Why are you…? Cat. Loryn get your fucking cat off my back.”

    I hear her giggle, “Come on Velcro.” The weight on my back lifts
and disappears. Yowl. “Lucas is a meanie isn’t he? Yes he is. Oh yes he is.” Is she really using baby talk? On a cat?

    There’s banging at the door, the one downstairs. “Yoo-hoo!” A female voice calls.

    I climb out of bed and pull my pants on, “I’ll get it.”

    “Dammit,” Loryn says and scrambles to pull on her clothes. She throws my shirt at me, it bounces off my chest and hits the floor. “That’s my mother. Why is she here?”

     “LORYN!” the woman shouts. I pull my shirt on, slip my feet into my boots and head downstairs. Wow, I haven’t seen this woman in years. She’s the double of Loryn except
this woman has blue eyes. “Oh,” she says as I open the door. She takes note of the mess of a store before eyeing me up and down. “Who might you be?”

     “I’m Lucas, Loryn’s boyfriend,” I respond even though I hate that word, it sounds so juvenile. “It’s nice to meet you…”

     “Call me Harriet,” she holds out her hand as if expecting me to kiss it. I shake it and head back upstairs where the god damn cat tried to trip me. “Loryn darling.” Harriet rushes straight to her daughter and hugs her tight.

     “Hi mom,” Loryn sighs, not seeming happy about the visit.

     “I’ve missed you my angel.”

     “Yeah. What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Loryn asks suspiciously and presses herself to my side for support.

     Her mom points to the downstairs, “I just came to check on the progress of my store.”

     “It’s not your damn store,” Loryn practically shouts. “Or are you forgetting the fact you abandoned me?”

     “Not this again Loryn, I ran the store for ten years, you’ve had it for two.”

     “You drove it into the ground with debts and your ridiculous ideas.”

     Her mother holds up her hands, “Alright, alright. I was just seeing what your plans were that’s all. I don’t want anything.”

     “Yeah right,” Loryn whispers but her mom doesn’t seem to hear her. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

     “Oh, he’s at home.”

     Loryn turns to me, “She lives in Florida now with her new boyfriend. We speak on the phone once a week.”

     “And yet she’s never mentioned you.” Harriet smiles at me. “So, shall we have lunch?”

     “Sure,” I say at the same time Loryn says, “No.”

     Loryn shoots me a look that doesn’t scream happiness that’s for sure. She relents though, “Where do you want to go.”

     “Anywhere darling, I have so much to tell you.” Harriet smiles, she seems happy to see her daughter. Why is Loryn being so hostile? I don’t comment, it’s none of my business.
“Shall I drive?”

     I shake my head, “If you’ll give us a moment to get dressed. I’ll drive.”

     “Of course, such a lovely boy.” She vanishes down the stairs.

     Loryn glares at me, “Well done! Now I have to suffer through that.”

     “What did I do?”

     She softens, “Nothing. I’m sorry… my mom just… she really rubs me the wrong way.”

     I shrug, “At least you have a mom Loryn.”

     Her breath catches, “You’re right… I… I’m sorry.”

     After placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth I finish getting ready alongside her. She feeds the cat and we head on out. This should be interesting.

     “Such a gentleman,” Harriet grins when I open the car door for her. I send Loryn a smug grin, at least somebody notices my gentleman ways. “And so handsome too. Aren’t you a lucky girl Loryn? What do you do for a living Lucas?”