Chit Chat Cat
#26 of Hockey Hunk Season 3
Cats and wolves..hmmm...
Don't forget to check out some Mason fan art drawn by the most kind Akeron Valanx! http://www.sofurry.com/view/386859
*
So...there he was...Mason Stephens...my co-worker and my once-man-date, standing by the still partially open door into an unknown chamber of secrets, clutching a book in a paw and looking curiously at me, sitting there on the couch and probably looking both somewhat miserable and well surprised by my latest encounter with the frat wolf.
"Uhm...Rory?"
My ears perked upon his words, and my eyes soon followed, to look up to the lanky wolf, quietly standing there with one paw resting against the door handle. His tail swished between his legs quietly.
"Mason," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "Hey."
"Uhm...hey..." the wolf replied, and smiled a little.
A quiet moment passed. I was starting to feel somewhat uneasy by the way he was mostly looking at his foot paws and not me, and I wondered whether he had been unprepared for a renewed socialization with me, after the accidental "hello" moment instigated by none other than Doctor Nicholas Gaye Junior, PhD. He hadn't been too talkative yesterday either, back in the shop, and I still wondered...considering everything that had going on...whether he still held something back, or felt uneasy about the whole fiasco of the karaoke bar incident that had left one lynx's photogenic muzzle bloodied, one wolf girl screaming, and one Rory being puzzled as SHIT.
"Where'd you leave your friends?" I tried then, searching for an easy, almost flippant tone to address my co-worker-wolf-buddy.
Mason quickly looked down each side of the corridor, as if he was checking whether his buddies might be indeed hiding there, but since none were found, he simply tugged the door properly closed behind him, and stepped closer to me. He now stood only about three feet away, towering over me, naturally, considering my seated and...somewhat withdrawn state, which probably made him seem even bigger to my upswept eyes. He was still wearing his backpack, though he didn't have his earplugs on, which was...a change.
"Uhh, they had to run, and I had to come by here to get something...uhh...well, this," he said and lifted up the book for me to see.
I flicked and ear and observed the cover with a smile.
"A Game of Thrones," I declared. "Don't we sell these?"
Mason flicked an ear at me and nodded quickly.
"Sure, right next to Caledon Rocks and Wheel of Time at the Fantasy and Altered Reality section," the wolf rumbled.
Yeah...I kept a brave face, despite the mention of the masterpiece that was the making of a certain very particular tiger, a fact that I knew all too well...and didn't really want to think about so much. Mason would probably strangle me with his MP3 cables should he ever find out that I had caused his idol to flee Kirk City in tears and probably vowing to never come back AGAIN.
"I thought as much," I said quickly.
"It's on TV too now," Mason mused, and his eyes got a bit of a geeky glint that I sometimes saw there alright...
Especially when The Caledon Rocks were mentioned.
"Is it now?" I asked politely.
"Sure," he said. "It's great. It's on HBO."
Sounded like frat-friendly slow alright. Sex and violence were bound to be an integral part of the plot.
"Hehe," I smiled. "Made you want to grab the book as well?"
"Naaah, I read it years ago," Mason shrugged. "But we're doing a workshop on gender roles in A Song of Ice and Fire and since I didn't have my copy with me, I thought I'd borrow one here...uhh...they've got a few extras here."
"Convenient," I mused.
"Yeah," the wolf replied. "Guess it's good. Plenty of furs there haven't read it before."
"Then you can be the expert," I noted with a small smile.
Mason looked a bit surprised, but then he nodded.
"Well at least I know the story already, and the characters...." he replied.
"I'm sure it'll be a breeze," I smiled.
Mason rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I guess...a bit busy now before the term ends so I guess it's good to have something a bit easier for once," the wolf mused.
I chuckled a little.
"Isn't that what every student wants?" I said. "A bit easier?"
"Yeah, I guess," Mason replied with a quick nod, "though I guess after all the technical stuff, this literature stuff is all breeze compared to that."
"Heheh," I rumbled.
The wolf's tail swayed, and an expression I knew all too well appeared on his face, and I knew that the question was about to be popped.
"So...uhh...you know Mr. Faye, Rory?" the wolf said.
Gotcha.
It had been inevitable, I thought, quite simply. Nicholas had said that we used to study together, and he had made it explicit...and with the overtly cordial nature of Nicholas' behaviour in general, I wouldn't have been surprised if Mason now had the idea that we were the best of friends.
"Well, as a matter of fact, today was the first time I had seen him in...oh...five years, maybe," I replied, truthfully, and felt ill at ease with the fact of our surprise reunion, and all the potential for things going extremely unpleasant extremely fast, should something go wrong so quickly.
"Oh..." the wolf breathed.
"But we used to study at the same time, yeah," I continued. "It's a small enough a faculty, everybody knew everyone, really."
That sounded innocent enough, I hoped.
Mason nodded, and flicked his ears amiably.
"Ohh..."
"Funny that he teaches here now, huh?" I suggested, wondering what Mason, now that the said lion was not present, had in mind about the latest staff member at the Taylor University English department.
And I guess it carried the added weight of "funny that he teaches here but I am stuck selling books like a lousy college kid who just wants to make a few bucks for party-party-partaaaaaaaaaaaaaaying" as well, but I didn't want to go there.
Mason rubbed his chin.
"Yeah, guess someone has to."
Now didn't that sound confident?
"Does he teach something to you as well?" I asked quickly, genuinely curious about whether Mason had to suffer such treatment each day of his schooling here at Taylor.
Mason's eyes skirted by his footpaws again.
"Uh, yeah, a couple of things," he said quickly, "Nothing big..."
I nodded.
"Heh," I heh'd.
Another pause.
I wondered whether I should ask more about the teachings of Nicholas Faye, or maybe just wonder about something polite about Mason's course on the book he was still holding, or inquire about how he was doing with Haakon, or perhaps...hmm...well...
"So how're you doing, Rory?" Mason asked. "Didn't really get to ask you with all the stuff going on with Alex and all, sorry about that."
I tensed a little, but didn't let it go.
That was one loaded question it was, alright. I was sure that Mason probably meant the best with it, being a considerate young man as he was, but I also couldn't help but...wonder, whether there was something else to it as well. After all, his best buddy and confident Haakon had been in contact with me, and knew a bit more about my current health...and some other things that were going on as well. I had asked Haakon not to talk about it with anyone, and what else could I do but trust him, of course, but...you never knew. Maybe he had slipped something, or suggested, or even casually wondered..."so you ever thought if Rory has a girlfriend or something else?" or whatever else he might do to propose that the alpha lion was actually a confirmed bachelor and something other than his mane was rather...pouffant.
Or maybe I was just being paranoid and puzzled and generally feeling like not such a bright lion at all at the moment. I shouldn't inflict that feeling on the innocent wolf standing by me, whose life was much easier, I was sure of that, with his own share of innocent problems such as having to write term papers because he had to.
I waved a paw over my crutches and smiled a little.
"Well, I'm getting better, slowly," I said.
Physically, at least.
"Just taking it easy until I'm back to shape," I continued.
Yeah...so that I could walk between the fridge and the couch without a problem.
"And I'm staying with my friend Peter, whom you also just met," I carried on, because why not? It was just a casual fact, and would cover the question of whether I had anyone to take care of me if I needed any help with anything.
Mason's expression became a surprised one.
"Oh you mean the...uh..."
I smiled.
"The guy with the mask, yeah," I filled him in. "He wears it in crowded places because he doesn't want to catch any diseases. Poor immune system because of the medication he's on, you see."
The wolf nodded quickly.
"Ohh...well I was wondering..."
"Yeah," I smiled. "It's alright. He's used to furs being a bit puzzled by it."
"Okay," Mason noted. "And you...all three went to Taylor together? You and your friend and...Faye? "
"Yeah," I smiled, "Been friends with Peter ever since. Or Sinclair, as Nicholas says, because he always calls everyone by their last names."
Mason chuffed.
"Yeah he does that," the wolf snorted, "I mean, he had problems with Haakon's...ended up something like Kill-ROFL or something."
My ears perked a little at the mention of the infamous pierced-eared herring-munching hottie, whose allure seemed to reach me even while my mind was mostly concerned with brooding over the moribund state of my budding relationship with Victor.
"He's getting the Nicholas treatment as well?" I asked.
Yeah, I refused to play along to the Faye game. I refused it back then, and I wasn't going to start now...a Mister or a Doctor Faye or not.
Mason gave me a slightly puzzled look at first, but I guess he then caught on, and nodded.
"Yeah...uh...yeah."
"Heheh," I snuffled.
"I actually had a small chat with Haakon recently," I decided that was safe enough to say...and why not...the small talk would be alright, I thought, and considering the lynx's promise to keep our secrets as our very own secrets, I didn't see anything bad about it all.
"You did?" Mason seemed surprised.
Hmm...maybe he hadn't told Mason that we had talked...hmmm...I wasn't sure whether the wolf liked that fact or not...considering everything.
"Yeah," I nodded. "He cornered me on Facebook one night and asked me how I was doing."
"Ahhhhhh..." the wolf's ears flicked quickly. "Well that's...uh...cool."
"Well it was nice to hear from him," I said, "since I didn't hear from him after the little thing that happened at the bar."
Ugh...well, I guess I was pushing it bit, speaking like that, but I was tired of dancing around stuff. I had seen the awful results of that sort of behaviour as of recent, and it was preferable to just say it...and let Mason choose whether he wanted to tell me anything else about it or not. It wasn't my business to pry, really.
Mason didn't seem too happy either. His eyes searched the floor for hidden patterns, it seemed, and his tail flicked a bit more sharply than before, or at least the tip did. I tried not to let my face speak away my own unease at seeing this reaction.
"Everything going alright between you two? It sounded like that from what Haakon said," I noted.
Mason gave me a quick look.
"He spoke about...uh...us?" the wolf questioned.
Hmmm...
"Well, he did mention you casually so I assumed that you're no longer...hmm...arguing?" I suggested, wondering if that was the proper way to address the blood-curling sudden fist attack on the person of a certain mottled Adonis hailing from the land of the Viking cats.
Mason's posture seemed to relax upon me saying that, and his eyes actually met mine again, and didn't seem too...affected, I supposed.
"Ohh..." his free paw ran over his neck again, and rubbed there, in a gesture I knew quite well, from whenever he had think about something really hard, or...as I knew, too, when he also had some trouble choosing the right words.
I waited patiently and gave him the time and space he seemed to need for now.
"Uhm...yeah, I was pretty pissed off..." the wolf's ears began to droop a little.
"I could tell," I mused.
Mason waved his book-holding paw quickly.
"Yeah, it was a bit dramatic, I guess, but we sorted things out pretty much alright," the wolf continued. "Not much came out of it in the end. Bit of a misunderstanding really, you know."
I flicked an ear at him, and nodded.
"I see," I rumbled.
Mason carried on rubbing his neck.
"And we're kinda really sorry that you had to be in the middle of it and if you ever wanna...you know, make up for it, we'll promise to behave."
I quirked my brow, but tried to keep my face steady.
"You and Haakon?"
Mason nodded.
"Well he wants to make up for it too, I guess, and he thinks you're pretty cool, so if you ever wanna get up to something or...hmm...yeah..."
Well that was news to me. Sure, Haakon didn't seem to mind a late night Facebook chat with me, but to actually spend a whole evening hanging out with an old lion like Rory...it certainly would be a bit more involved than that.
But then there was also another question to consider...and that...well, I wasn't sure whether it was too wise to speak of it, but I guess it was also an important part of the thing that had been keeping me in suspense for the past weeks...when I had had the time to divert any thought for it, that was.
"How about that girl?" I mused. "Jessica, wasn't she?"
Mason's tail stilled between his legs, and for a while I wondered whether I had hit too much of a nerve with my question.
Mason's paw wouldn't leave his neck.
"Well it was kind of...well...uhhh...she doesn't really want to hang out with us anymore," he said after an unnerving pause.
I snuffled.
"Well, it happens," I said.
"Yeah, I guess," Mason rumbled.
I smiled more broadly now, and said the first cheerful thing that came to my mind.
"Well, your other friends seemed really nice," I said, and almost managed to sound chirpy as I did, "Megan and...and...uh..."
Mason nodded.
"Yeah, Megan, and the guy was Aiden," he said. "They're alright."
"That nice," I said.
"Yeah," Mason smiled.