Lightning

Chapter XXXI

.Age 19. Part 4.

It has been two week since I saw Sawyer. And what's surprising is he is actually still talking to me. Normally if I go on a date and they don't get sex they stop talking to me. But not him, he seems to be really interested. Why? I don't know, but I'm not going to fight it. I am seeing him again today. Today is Haven and I's housewarming party for my Dads side. They will be here shortly and right now Haven and I are deep cleaning the house. I feed Ninja who has not been feeling the greatest. His head had grown in size and he hadn't been eating. He has a vet appointment in a couple of days to see what's going on. And I fed Oerba. My new cat...

One Week ago....

Carlee had moved about a hour north after graduation, she has a lot of land now. She has a lot of animals as well. Including three kittens she has to rehome. I had offered to take one. I get a cat and it's a good excuse to go see my oldest friend. Unfortunately her step dad changed his mind about getting rid of the kittens and my truck started to smoke so those plans got canceled. I had called Brenden because he works at the humane society and could probably get me a deal on a kitten. He lived right around the street and he had to go into work to pick up his check anyway so I asked if I could tag along to look at the cats. Our apartment didn't allow Dogs so we had to go with cats and cats only. He picked me up in his blue pick up and we went to the shelter. When we got there he had introduced me to the director and asked if we could go back and look at the cats. After we were granted permission we went back to the cages.  I took a look at a couple cats and none really caught my eye except the one. She had to have been the biggest cat I have ever seen. 

"What about her?" I asked.

"This one is Kitty Cat. She has been here about two years and will probably be euthanized soon if not adopted." Brenden explains.

My heart hurt for this poor creature. She looked so sad. Like she needed someone to love her. She may be big but she is adorable. Why had no one adopted her yet.

"Why hasn't she been adopted?" I ask.

"Most people that look at her say they don't want a cat that big." 

"Seriously, that's the reason? Because she is too big?" I ask again.

"Yeah." He says giving her a pet on the head.

I didn't even need a millisecond to think about it. I wanted her.

"I'll take her." I said.

"Really!" He said excited. 

"Yeah where do I pay?" 

"Well, before you take her we need to see if you two get along and put you both in a playroom." He said unlocking her cage.

"Okay, that's fine.

We were placed in a room and the cat joined shortly after. She was the nicest thing to me. Made me even more confused as to why she was never adopted. After the humane society saw that she would be good with me we started paperwork. I had Chosen her a new name. Oerba (Air-ba). I got the name from Final Fantasy XIII of course. Oerba was a ruined city that was, in a way crystallized. Beautiful. And so was she. Oerba. My new baby. Her fur was tan with black tiger striped around all of her 22 pounds. Her poor paws looked way to small or her body along with her head. I got a bit of a back story on her aslo. She had had a litter of kittens and had been in a house fire so she is afraid of smoke and smoke alarms. Her previous owner had died in hospice and she had been here ever since. Not to worry Oerba you're with me now.

...

The party was about to start and the first people to arrive was Cat and her husband, and their daughter Skylar. Skylar looks a lot like her mom.  She was pretty short and very very skinny.  Next to show up was my Dad and my Grandma. My dads hair had grown out and was now slicked back into a small ponytail. My Grandma walked in directly went to Ninja and Oerba, Then she said hello to everyone else. 

Sawyer had just pulled up and was about to meet my family. I know it was kinda soon and I honestly didn't know if we were dating or just messing around. I had asked him how he wanted to be introduced and he said as a friend so we are gonna go with that. I met him outside and naturally my Dad and Cat had followed. They were smoking a cigarette while we kissed hello and came to meet everyone. He was wearing dark blue jeans and black shirt that showed his arms off very well. 

"So you must be Sawyer." Cat said.

Here we go.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you." He said shaking both their hands.

"Sawyer how old are you." She asked taking another hit. 

"I'm 25." 

"Have you been to jail?" 

"Cat." I say.

"No." He laughs.

"Just so you know, if you ever hurt my son the way Dan did, You will have wished you hadn't."

"Yes sir." He says.

I grab Sawyer by the arm and lead him into my room to apologize to him about all that when he asked the question that was still too soon to answer.

"Who is Dan?"  

...

The party had come and gone. Just as the last people went, Haven told me that her Mom and Moose were taking her to dinner so she won't be home tonight. After she left Sawyer had started helping me clean up.

"Are you gonna tell me who Dan is?" He asked.

I sigh dreading this conversation. 

"Sit down." I say sitting at our black fold up card table.

He sits and waits patently.

"Aside Dan being the name of my asshole boss, it is also the name of my last husband." 

He cuts me off.

"Husband?" 

"Yes, but please let me finish. Dan and I were together for six months when I was 17. We decided to get married but never went through with it. I still considered him my husband. Everything was fine for a while until he started getting into cocaine. After that he became very abusive and started beating me every time I saw him. It finally go to the point where I had enough. I contacted the police and he was arrested. A day or two after his arrest I had gotten a call from his Mother telling me that he had suffered an aneurysm and died." 

"Oh my God." He said grabbing my hand.

"You wanna go sit in my car so I can smoke?" I asked.

"Yeah that's fine." He says and follows me out to my white Blazer.

When we were in the car I told him about it all. Kyle, Dan, the bridge. Everything. Even the falling out we all had with Lexi. I'll Explain later. After I told him everything I was expecting him to run, to run as far as he can from me. Instead he started to kiss me. He kissed me so good that my head started to spin. He stopped and stared at me.

"Can I be your boyfriend?"