"Then and Now" - Day 3, Chapter 6 & 7
#6 of Then and Now
_Thanks for being patient, everyone. I know it's been aaaaages since the last part of the story was uploaded, but I finally got back into writing, so you can expect more soon! _
To the newcomers - be sure to read everything leading up to this point, or the story won't make much sense! First part - http://www.sofurry.com/view/375904
- Ven.
Chapter 6
It was dark by the time I stopped talking. Leanne and I got off the bed to change the sheets for the second time, then went downstairs for something to eat.
However much I hated the idea of fast food, there was nothing to work with in the fridge. I mean, really nothing. A tube of mayonnaise, about a shot-glass full of ketchup left in the tube, two lemons, old celery... All the stuff necessary for a Prawn Cocktail, but no prawn. Li wasn't fond of seafood anyway.
"Our life seems to be based around an 'eat-screw-eat-sleep' cycle." I remarked.
"And you got this from three days' worth of life?" Leanne countered. She's just come out of the shower, so was in the process of drying her hair.
"Eh... Good point."
I pulled my head out of the fridge and turned. Just in front of the counter stood a naked wolf fur. As she dried her hair, her breasts wobbled.
"Jiggly." I said, under my breath. It came out more as speaking my mind - because any cognitive function had been once again disabled by the very attractive wolf, I just spat out whatever word floated through.
Leanne raised a corner of the towel to look at me, following my eyes to her mid-section.
"Oh. Thought you'd have gotten used to me by now."
"Uh... No, I don't think I could ever get used to having a wolf-fur wandering around my apartment in her birthday suit."
Leanne giggled. Such a sweet sound, coming from someone oh-so dangerous. I don't think I've mentioned before how much fear this wolf could incite in others. I mean, sure, she's sexy as sin and has the personality to back it up, but piss her off and you'd better run for the hills.
One time in Uni, a freshman wolf fur tried coming onto her. It got to a point where I had some distance from the two due to being called over for conversation. The wolf fur tried to touch her in inappropriate places. She fractured his jaw, broke a lot of his teeth, cracked a rib and, judging by how much he was screaming, burst a testicle.
Assault charges were filed, against him, and from then on other males knew better than to try and come onto my wolf.
"What're you smiling about?" Li giggled, wrapping the towel around herself.
"Remember when you beat Jeremy within an inch of his life after he groped you?"
"Oh... Yeah, I felt a bit bad about it afterwards. He did apologise - flowers and all."
I eyed Leanne as she reminisced on the events that night. A subconscious snigger was on her lupine face - I could almost imagine her shaking her head and laughing.
"I really don't feel like pizza tonight. How about we make a trip down to the supermarket?" I suggested. Leanne nodded furiously.
"Make me a steak? Pwetty pwease?" She performed a long-practiced move a puppy-eyes.
"Oh, alright." I gave into her begging without even trying to argue.
"Yay!" Li whooped.
Since my regular green grocer was shut on Sundays, I had to resort to visiting one of the normal shops in New York. Leanne and I took both of our bikes out, since we'd need the extra knapsack room to hold the groceries.
The skyline of the city was alight with neon signs, flashing communication masts and planes flying high overhead. NY was abuzz with all kinds of different events; movie premieres, big parties, guided tours. A lot of those people were likely ignoring the coming week, the fact that the day was Sunday, trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel for that last bit of fun before needing to drag themselves to work the next day.
I, for one, was free of that feeling for the first time in years. For once since Morgan's passing, I was comfortable in the knowledge that I'd wake up to someone at my side, that I'd come back home from working knowing that Leanne would be there to comfort and cuddle me.
Dangerous thoughts, these. My logic tsk'd me. This is exactly what you thought the night she left you.
"It's not going to happen again." I said, the helmet muffling my words so that only I could hear them.
And what proof do you have? Maybe she's just here because she's broke?
"Yeah, right. Like she'd make such a stupid move."
Did you ask her why she just accepted a job at a restaurant as opposed to looking for one as a mechanic? She said she was pretty tech-savvy after all.
"No... I didn't feel the need to."
You're an idiot.
"Excuse me?"
She waltzes in, fucks you silly and you just expect everything she says to be true.
"You're... Not supposed to give doubt."
I'm your logic. It's my job to make you doubt thing. But think about it; why would she just show up out of the blue like that? It took her seven years to do it; any attachment would have been gone by then.
I felt as though everything that had happened over the weekend was feign, a lie that masked some darker intention.
My hands twisted the handlebars of the bike and I turned into a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Chapter 7
I stepped off my bike and removed my helmet, covering my thoughtful expression with a happier outlook. The joyful mask I had on was still alien to me; after seven years of constant frowning, what else could I say?
Leanne, in her infinite wisdom, noticed.
"Are you alright? You look a bit... Off." I felt her paw settle on my cheek, her tall form looking down at me.
"Yeah. Everything's great. Just some bad memories making an appearance."
"Oh. D'you need to talk about it?"
"I'd rather not. The feeling'll pass soon enough."
Li looked into my eyes, but accepted what I said. "Okay."
We walked towards the store together; Li's paw finding my hand and squeezing. I didn't pull it away from her, enjoying the contact whenever I could. That lingering bit of doubt in the back of my mind was still bothering me, but I decided to leave the questions for a time when we weren't in full view of the public.
Inside, the store was like any other store. Shelves stacked with all kinds of different goods, ranging from rice to bonbons. Clean floors reflected soft lighting at the customers and shelves, affording a good and clear view of everything. A few clerks slithered from one place to another, undoubtedly worn out by the long day of work they had to endure.
I grabbed a basket as we went past a big stack of them and made our way down the aisle towards the greenery.
"Doctor Hendrick!" I heard my name being called out. A female voice, early forties was what my intuition told me. Stopping and turning, I stared down the shop to see a Tigress making quick progress towards Li and me, one paw on the handle of a half-filled shopping trolley, the other holding a baby tiger fur to her shoulder. She looked like any other tiger; deep orange fur with dark stripes running across her in patterns. What made her distinctive was her tail - orange with black streaks, but also having a white end.
"Oh, hello Ms. Langwell." Li and I stopped holding hands as the tigress approached. "How are you?"
"I've told you, Doctor, my name is Dorothy. I hate being called by my surname." She let the trolley slide over to the side of the aisle in case anyone wanted to pass. Her son, little Walt, giggled happily for no apparent reason. "And I'm okay. I see you've found a friend?" Dorothy looked over Li with a slight smile.
"It's more along the lines of re-found." Leanne laughed. "I'm Leanne. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dorothy." They shook paws.
"Likewise. Doctor, I know you're off-duty at the moment, but I don't feel like going to see one of the others at the Hospital." Dorothy had a very hopeful expression, at least that's what I picked up from her feline features.
"What seems to be the problem?"
Dorothy glanced at Walter, then back to me, unsure of what to do.
"Uh, I can hold him." Li offered. Dorothy nodded her thanks, strangely comfortable with handing her child to a stranger. Woman's intuition, I thought.
While Li played with Little Walt, making all sorts of strange sounds that caused erratic laughter from the baby, Dorothy turned her attention to me.
"I've been having this problem with my left shoulder. It hurts whenever I lift something heavy. You can guess how much of a hindrance that is with little Walt around."
I nodded. Dorothy turned her shoulder to me, pushing down her coat, and pointed roughly where the pain was. I didn't have any gloves, but she didn't seem concerned. Right under the shoulder was a tense bit of muscle which, to my knowledge, was the cause of the pain.
Laying one hand on her shoulder, the other on her arm, I focused my thumbs into the muscle and pushed slowly. Repeating the move a few times made Dorothy moan with relief.
"Oooh, Doctor, you wouldn't believe how great that feels." She purred.
I chuckled. "You've been under a lot of stress lately, am I right?"
"Yes... My husband's in Iraq. His calls have been late a few days in a row. I was on the verge of tears last night when the phone finally rang."
"When does his deployment end?"
"Two weeks from now. He's promised to take it easy, which gives me some peace of mind."
I felt for any more tension. Unable to find it, I pulled her coat back up to cover the striped fur. "That should be it. I can recommend a professional masseuse in case anything like this happens again."
Dorothy turned to face me again, a less agitated expression on her face. "Can't you fix me when I need it, Doctor?"
"I wish I could, Dorothy. But I'm an amateur when it comes to massage. I know how to work tension out of muscles, but that's about it."
"You're too modest, Doctor. I don't think my health plan covers off-duty work..." She reached for the handbag which hung from the trolley. I put my hand on her paw, stopping it.
"Don't be silly. I'm not going to extort money from you."
"But you helped me-"
"Yes, and I took the Hippocratic Oath. To help those in need without expecting anything in return."
Dorothy smiled, her paws holding my hand. "Thank you. It's so good to know that there are still honest people in this world." A single tear appeared at the edge of her eye. It was likely a combination of gratitude for my help and sadness for her husband. I curled up my index finger and wiped the tear away for her.
"Don't worry, Dorothy. Your husband will come back. I'm sure of it." Feeling that this wasn't enough to cheer her up, I decided to try something else. "I'll put you in the 'Important' category in the Hospital register. That way, you'll be able to skip the queues."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Of course."
"Thank you, Richard." Dorothy considered her actions, then hugged me. She was a little shorter than me, so ended up tickling my neck with her whiskers. I suppressed the chuckles until Dorothy let go. We turned our attention to Leanne, who was kissing Walt all over the stomach, making him squeal in joy.
"That's wife material, right there." Dorothy remarked. I nearly choked on my own spit. A very sudden change from utter happiness to making factual points.
"Uh, thank you for pointing that out, Dorothy."
"Can't you see that?"
"I haven't looked at her that way."
"Maybe you should start?"
Dorothy's words were left in my head as Leanne walked up to us, handing the baby back to his mother.
"He's adorable." Li told her.
"Oh, I know. Where did you learn how to handle a child?"
"Baby brother."
Dorothy nodded. "You did a splendid job, Leanne. You two go have fun."
She took hold of her trolley and wheeled it off, both her and Walter waving goodbye to us.
After a rather quiet round of shopping, we left Wal-Mart. In the middle of filling the saddlebags of our bikes, Leanne tapped my shoulder.
I turned to her, seeing those puppy eyes once again.
"What?" I asked, rather cautiously.
"You know I love you, right? Like, really, really, really love you?"
"Uh... Yes?"
"I want to ask you something... Will you get mad at me if you don't like it?"
"Leanne, I will never get mad at you, no matter what you ask. I'll ask to talk about it, but I will never react with anger."
"Okay..." She took a deep breath. "Can we have a baby?"
I stayed quiet for what felt like hours. My gaze was focused on her eyes, not even blinking. When I spoke up, I kept a hushed tone.
"I'm not ready for that, Leanne."
A moment of disappointment, after which her smile reappeared. "Alright, I understand."
"Thanks."
I opened my arms out to the wolf. She stepped forward and hugged me tight.
"I love you, Richard."
"I love you too, Leanne."
With most things said and done, we got on our bikes and headed home. I made up my mind to ask Leanne, once and for all, why she left me. Just... Not there and then. Soon.