#but really mostly

The animal shelter was long closed.

At least her roommate, Delphine, was okay with it.  She had been captivated for the last four hours.

“I think we should call him-”

“No!”  Shay cried.  

Delphine flinched and covered that cat’s ears.

“Sorry.  Just… don’t name him.  Don’t get attached.  He’s going to the shelter first thing tomorrow morning.”

Delphine pouted.  The cat gave a fierce ‘mrow’ or rather, as fierce as a kitten the size of a hand could give, and squirmed out of Delphine’s protection. 

Shay got up from her desk, giving up on her homework for the night, and curled up on the floor across from her.  The kitten toddled over to her.  He was so soft, his fur felt like it was barely touching her fingers.  

“Hi, buddy,” she cooed.

“I thought we weren’t naming him?” Delphine muttered.

“It’s not a name, it’s a… nickname.” 

“Sounds like a name,” Delphine sassed.

“It’s not,” Shay punctuated her point by sticking out her tongue.

Delphine did it right back.

The kitten mewed again.

“God, he’s loud,” Shay murmured.  She had never encountered a cat that made so much noise.

All three of them jumped at the three solid knocks to their door.

“It’s your cool, fun RA, Donnie, guys.  Can you open up?” came from the other side of the door.

“Merde,” Delphine whispered.  She scooped the kitten up and gently placed him in the bottom, mostly empty, drawer of her dresser.

Shay leapt to her feet and opened the door.  “Hey, Donnie.  What’s up?” Shay said, barely containing her fear and disdain.

“Well, you know how it is.  Just workin’.”  He shrugged, not really living up to the chill façade he was trying to give off.  “Um.  Just one thing though.  Alison, the other wing’s RA, was walking by and she said she heard some meowing.  Did you guys get a cat by any chance?”  He laughed and it sounded like he was going to have a heart attack.

“Hmmm… I don’t think so.  Sorry Donnie.”

“And you haven’t heard anything?”

Delphine piped up from behind her, “No, we’ve both had our ear buds in.”

Just then, Cosima, their neighbor poked her head into view.  Cosima, who Shay had a massive crush on and wanted to date, was looking into her dorm room while she had an illegal cat.  Great.

“Hey, Donnie,” she greeted him.  “Are you asking about the cat noises?”

“Y-yeah.”  It didn’t seem like he had been expecting anyone to help him.

“I am so sorry.  I didn’t think it would carry.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“I’m taking an acting class, lib arts bullshit,” she waved a hand dismissively.  “There’s this exercise we have to do where we act like an animal.  I was just practicing.”

“Really?”  Even Donnie could use his critical thinking skills to see that that wasn’t very plausible.  “It sounded so real.”

Cosima gasped and brought her hand to her chest.  “Thank you.”

“Alright then,” Donnie nodded.  “I guess that’s mystery solved.”

“I guess,” Shay jumped in.  “Well, thanks for checking in, Donnie.”

“Yes,” Delphine concurred, “You do very good work.”

“Oh well thank you.  I try.”

“See you later, Donnie,” Cosima prodded him away.

“Okay.  Bye.”  Donnie left and the three of them sighed in relief. 

After a brief pause Cosima gestured to the room, “Can I come in?” she asked.

Shay was about to protest, but Delphine was faster.  “Sure,” she said, voice chipper.

Shay shot her a look of death over Cosima’s shoulder as she walked and Delphine just grinned.  Shay closed the door and locked it, maybe a little more brisk than usual.

“So where’s the cat?” she asked.  “I gotta see it, now that I saved it and everything.”

“Right here,” Delphine muttered as she bent over and pulled the cat out of the drawer.

Cosima gasped and went ‘aww’ for exactly the appropriate amount of time for when one sees a kitten.  

Delphine pulled him to her chest and asked, “Would you like to hold him?”

Cosima nodded, still entranced.

Delphine lowered herself to the ground and gestured for Cosima to do the same.  Once she was settled, she was handed the kitten.  Cosima went ‘aww’ again at a higher pitch and for exactly the appropriate longer amount of time for when one is handed a kitten.

“Where did you find him?” she asked after she had regained some of her composure.

“I didn’t, actually.  Shay did.”

Shay shot her another death glare.  They had a silent conversation where Delphine was trying to persuade Shay into sitting down but Shay wasn’t happy with the situation.  She hadn’t even done her hair.  She was wearing her cupcake jammies.

Eventually, Shay gave in and sat next to Cosima.  “Uh, down by Parker Hall.”

“And there wasn’t anything around there?  No mom or boxes?”

Shay shook her head.  

“Poor guy,” she cooed and scratched under his chin.

They fell into a comfortable silence, just watching the kitten do his thing. 

“So,” Cosima asked the quiet room, “What was your major again, Shay?”

“M-massage therapy,” she stumbled out.  “You’re in biology, like Delphine, right?”

“Yeah.  Evolution.  But, uh,” she turned her body towards Shay, “Massage therapy.  Tell me more about that.  What are your classes like?”

Shay blushed.  Being more important to someone’s attention than a kitten, let alone Cosima’s attention, was a little much.  “Probably a lot like yours.  Books, teachers, lectures.”

“So you don’t need like, volunteer subjects.  Like the art students?”

“No,” Shay laughed.

Delphine shot Shay a thumbs up over Cosima’s shoulder before speaking.  “I am going to go to the study lounge for a bit.  I have to work on some assignments.”

Shay knew damn well that Delphine had finished her homework hours ago and was about to say as much.

But Cosima piped up, “Oh, okay Delphine.  See you later,” in much the same way she had with Donnie.  There was less contempt, obviously, but the same excitement about being left alone was there.

Delphine stood, grabbed her laptop, and snuck a encouraging smile in before leaving.

Turned out, Cosima was a wonderful conversationalist.  They talked for hours about all kinds of things.  Only when Shay mentioned her morning class, regretfully, did she leave.  But it wasn’t all for nothing.  She was promised, “We’ll pick this up later.”

The thought made her head spin.