body heat

“the only way this could possibly be amazing would be if the outdoors had, like, air conditioning. wow, what a bill that’d be, to install air conditioning outside. i personally think cold weather is fine. it energizes me actually,” alex replied, laying their back down on the blanket and covering their eyes with their hands lazily. “i’m ready for all that freezing weather canada promised me. what horrible event did you experience in your life that made you like the heat? did you leave a bicycle out in the cold, only to have it rust over or something?”

“That sucks. My roommate actually just spontaneously adopted four guinea pigs, so… I don’t know how well they’d get along with a cat, honestly. But the apartment next door to us is free, so if you’re looking…” His voice trailed off. 

“Doesn’t wifi require monthly payment?”

“I don’t usually befriend people, honestly,” Bec said. “Just say hello here and there, I don’t usually get offered to sleep on couches. But yeah, I’m twenty. Enough about me, though. It’s your turn to tell me all about you.”

“Lina,” Wes said, sort of scolding her for being so brash, but he was laughing at the same time. He glanced over at the guy she’d pointed out and found himself turning slightly pink, and not just from the sun over their heads. “I don’t even know why I came to this thing, it’s way too hot out, and the view isn’t helping.”

“It may be my kitten but if I don’t have you help me pick, I’m going to adopt all of them. Or sit and be indecisive because I want all of them. I mean, I adopted four guinea pigs the other day because I have all of zero self control.”

Lina was up on her feet and on a mission to get to the pound. Jack followed right behind, long legs helping him catch up to mostly beside her. One step behind, always. She could lead. “I don’t think this is saving the world…” Jack admonished. “But it is making someone’s day better. You could do this weekly if adopting isn’t feasible, you know?” Lina’s enthusiasm was contagious. He wasn’t as expressive with his own excitement to be playing with a pup, but it was there and it was because he was feeding off of Lina’s. Dogs were an animal he was wary around due to bad past experiences in which he’d almost gotten bitten by pit-mixes or german shepherds. The people he sold his stolen goods too always had those big ass guard dogs. “Hey, Li’? Can I just request we get a small dog. Below knee level, preferably.”

Lina rolled her eyes at Jack, putting her index finger up to dismiss him. "We don't know whether this is the last day for some of them or not. It might be the highlight of their lives... I'd say we're a pretty nice sight, you know? If this were my last day, I wouldn't mind spending it with you." Her words left her mouth before she could really think about them. It was true she wasn't known because she chose her words carefully, but she was usually a lot better than that. "I'd ask for Hugh Jackman or Margot Robbie if I had the chance, but if I didn't," she glanced at him, "I guess you wouldn't be that awful.”

Jack smirked although he knew what Lina meant. He did bite his tongue and give her a hot second to redeem herself from that comment before saying any sort of lewd innuendo. He didn’t even do more than “She’d like the attention now that she’s used to people.” He wasn’t going to add in the warning of Lina being a potential pin cushion for Freeway’s little kitten claws. The tiny feline made Jack’s legs her own personal scratching post half the time. “No, you said you. I heard that.” Jack poked her shoulder. “But are we going or what? Maybe we can volunteer and pick one out to take on walk.”

“Lead the way!” Lydia grinned, following after Lina, giggling  little. “What sort of cat should we get?”

“Alright, I can do this,” Bec said, rubbing her hands together in preparation. “Born Rebecca Underhill, but I prefer Bec or Becca because I hate being called Rebecca and only my parents call me that. TMI, sorry, moving on. She/her pronouns, from London, England, and… what was the last one? Oh, cheap ass places,” she laughed. “I’ve been travelling for the past couple o’ years and cheap ass places are better than expensive ass places.”

Looking up at Lina, Sophia tilted her head off to the side and pouted out her bottom lip. “I don’t know why you think it’d be a bad idea. Kittens are adorable and I’d totally help you take care of him or her. But. If you don’t think it’s a god idea then we can go and have some fun of our own, darlin’.” Sophia said in a soft, comforting voice as she rubbed the other girls arm.

He couldn’t help but laugh shortly at Lina’s response. Really, he wasn’t going to be giving his kitten up. “I take it back! I was only kidding!” Freeway was all his. He was the one who crawled under a car just to get her out, and didn’t do so without gaining some battle wounds from his furry little warrior. But say if Lina wanted temporary custody of the not-so-kitten. “Eh, fiiine.” But as for the pound, that didn’t sound like such a bad idea despite her concerns. “I’d say it wouldn’t hurt. You might not be taking them home, but if you don’t visit then they just sorta…” Jack frowned in the slightest. The image of innocent pooches behind chain-link cages wasn’t a happy one. “… sit there with no visitors. You’d probably be the best part of their day.”

“But I want a kitten and I don’t know how I’m going to stop you from buying a kitten when I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stop me from adopting a kitten,” Lydia replied. “Seriously. Like, I’m not sure I could stop you. What if we got me a cat, and you can just visit it whenever you want?”

“Why would adopting a kitten not be a smart thing to do, though? No, seriously, I know a lot of kittens who need adopting,” Baz said with a nod of his head. 

“Wet t-shirt contest?” Wes echoed, trying to suppress a small smile. “I don’t know what that is, but I’d watch. Depending on who was playing.”

“I’m so sorry but it’s true! I’d probably be an animal hoarder if I could.” She chuckled before raising a brow. “I’m so down for all of them but I think we’d need more than one day to fit it all in, don’t you?”