"I thought you wanted to be either a librarian or a patent attorney, but I'd never have pegged you for a vet, Ross," Lucy says, caressing the back of the sleepy mountain lion. We all sit cross legged on the floor of my tool shed. "No, wait, wasn't your dad a vet?"
"He was." I swallow. "There is an emergency animal first aid kit around here somewhere."
Z-man is huddling in the corner, hugging his knees, glancing at his wristwatch.
"It's almost midnight, dude." He wipes his sweaty forehead. "I'm so damn tired. I think I even got some blood on my t-shirt. We dragged that stupid mountain lion all the way here."
The animal growls and he lets out a yelp.
"Chicken." Lucy sticks her tongue at him.
I say nothing, and scratch the animal's chin. She cocks her head, and her golden brown eyes are focused on me the way a feline might study an interloper in her forest.
"You're on his side, too? I think..." Z gulps. "Dudes, I think we made a mistake. We shouldn't have brought it here. We could have just called for animal control."
"Zaman Laghmani, I am on your side. You are the one who ran the mountain lion over. What if she doesn't get better? What would the animal control, or animal protection services say?"
You know something is off between them when she uses his full name.
"That animal is weird, I'm telling you." He points his finger at her. "She growled at me when I called her stupid."
"The tone of your voice must have been a dead giveaway." I chuckle, and caress the mountain lion's tiny ears. I am rewarded with a purr.
"She seems to like you," Lucy notices. "She only lets me touch her fur on the back. Poor thing. Do you want a rice cake? Who's a good mountain lion?" She tries to plant an uneaten rice cake under the animal's chin but she shakes her head.
"Don't make me laugh." Z snorts. "A rice cake for a mountain lion? She'd rather devour us if she could. Shit, imagine if someone saw us dragging her in here? We're lucky your mom is working and Gus still hasn't returned from the party."
"The party we've missed." Lucy sighs. "Aww and I was so looking forward to it."
"Looking forward to it? Hello? That's an understatement! This was our one chance to get tight with the cool gang." Z kicks a nearby tool box.
"Something tells me Beatrice Laurent will organize many many more parties in her mansion," I say. "She seems like the type, you know? Sociable, outgoing... This was a lot more important." I reckon.
The animal lets out a whine.
"Is she hurt? Do you think..." Lucy scrunches her face in pain. "Can you check her for injuries?"
The animal snorts and droplets of red liquid come out of her nose.
"Shit shit shit! Is that blood?" Z -man yells, and the mountain lion roars at him.
"Stop it! You're freaking her out!"
"Bite me. Oh, come on! I'm freaking her out? She's freaking me out." He finally plucks up the courage to get up from the corner where he'd been huddling, and begins pacing around my tiny tool shed.
"All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared and cold," Lucy says.
"This is mental. I don't know how you convinced me to drag a friggin mountain lion all the way to your tool shed. There's something seriously wrong with you, Ross. Like, wrong in the head." Z begins massaging his temples.
YOU ARE READING
Once Upon a You | A Beauty and the Beast Retelling ✔️
Paranormal| 8𝘅 𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗗 · A YA Beauty and the Beast gender-swapped retelling. Bit of a Stranger Things vibe going on, too! Life was going mega well for Beatrice-Bea Laurent, a soon-to-be 18-year-old certified Insta star slash posh gal. She was spen...
