500 Days (20 page)

Not wanting to make matters worse, I asked
Declan what was wrong. She rolled her eyes and took a seat next to
me. “On our run today we saw the kitten again.” I raised my brows
needing her to elaborate more. “A few days ago she saw this
stranded kitten on Old Miller’s Run, and again today. Ever since
she’s been moping around the apartment.”

“
Why?”

“
Because the kitten is
hurt and she wants to help but she can’t.”

“
What did it look
like?”

“
Why?” She got up to help
the other bartender.

“
Just curious.”

She poured the man a drink and then came
back over to me. “It was black with brown spots. One of its eyes
was all messed up and I’m sure it was covered in fleas and who
knows what else.”

Already done with this story I moved on.
“What are you guys doing this weekend?”

“
It’s Alex and her brother
Jaxson’s birthday.”

“
What’s the
plan?”

Declan sighed. “I haven’t gotten that far.
Alex and Jaxson can’t exactly agree on what they want to do.”

An idea popped into my head. “Let me take
care of it.” Declan looked at me funny. “If anyone can throw a
kickass party you know I can.”

“
But why? Why would you
want to do that?” she asked suspiciously.

I shrugged. Honestly I wasn’t even sure
myself. “I figure I still owe her for the black eye.”

“
Uh-huh,” Declan said,
smiling.

I made an appointment to get my tattoo
finished and while at the shop I thought I would maybe get some
insight on what Alex liked. I knew I had to tread lightly without
her brother Jasper getting suspicious. He ended up not being much
help but while I was there I came up with this great idea for a
present for Alex. Once I was done I gave Colton a call. “Grab a box
and meet me at Old Miller’s Run.”

“
Are you
drunk?”

“
No jackass. Just fucking
do it.” I hung up the phone and slid into my car. It was after ten
and pitch black. Okay, this might not be as easy I thought, but it
was worth a shot. I drove the few miles to the trail and turned off
the car while I waited for Colton.

“
Did you bring a box?” I
asked when he got out of the car.

“
Yeah.” He pulled an empty
beer case from the back seat. “You didn’t specify so I hope this is
good enough.”

“
It’ll work.”

“
Now, care to tell me what
the hell we’re doing?”

I handed him a flashlight while I used the
light from my phone. “We’re looking for a cat.” He shined the
flashlight in my eyes and then yanked my jaw open to smell my
breath. “Dude?”

“
Just checking.” He
flashed the light in my eyes again and I raised my fist. He put it
down and chuckled. “You’re not drunk. So want to tell me why we’re
looking for a fucking cat at night on some creepy
trail?”

“
I was talking to Declan
and she told me she and Alex saw a kitten here the other day and it
was hurt.”

“
And when the fuck did you
become a member of PETA?”

“
She said Alex was really
upset about it and that she wanted to help it but Declan wouldn’t
let her.”

“
And for probably a good
reason. That thing is probably covered in diseases.”

“
That’s what your
girlfriend said,” I frowned.

“
So why are we out here
again?”

“
Because I want to do
something nice for Alex for her birthday and because I still feel
like I owe her for giving her a black eye.”

“
By what, putting it out
of its misery?”

“
No, dick. We’re going to
trap it and take it to the humane society to get it checked out and
then I’m going to give it to Alex as a birthday
present.”

Colton shook his head and started laughing.
“Dude, you got it bad.”

“
What?”

“
Nothing,” he
chuckled.

I punched him in the shoulder. “Shut up and
help me find it.”

“
Keep that up and you’ll
be buying me a puppy next.” I raised my arm and he flinched,
putting his hands up in surrender, but he couldn’t hide his smug
smile. “So what does this thing look like?”

“
She said it was black
with brown spots.”

“
Great, so we’re looking
for a black cat, at night, in the woods.”

“
Less talking more
searching.”

We walked about a half mile back onto the
trail. We found squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, but no cat. Another
mile and a half later and still nothing. “I think we should head
back.”

“
You scared?” I laughed.
He jumped and let out a womanly scream earlier when a raccoon
surprised us.

“
No. I just don’t want to
spend my night looking for a damn cat that’s probably not even here
anymore or maybe even dead.”

I glared at him. “Just a little more and
then we’ll turn around.”

We were almost at the end of the trail and
we were coming up empty. I sighed, feeling defeated and turned back
around. On the way back, I stopped in front of a clearing. “What is
it?”

“
Do you see
that?”

“
See what?” Colton looked
over his shoulder, spooked.

I rolled my eyes. “The two glowing dots.” I
stepped into the tall grass of the clearing. I shined my phone out
in front of me and the two dots went low to the ground. I took a
step back. “Turn off your flashlight.”

“
Are you fucking
nuts?”

I ripped the flashlight from his hand. “Quit
being a pussy.” I turned off my phone and the flashlight and then
bent down. “It’s the light. It’s causing it to hide. Here kitty,
kitty.” I called.

“
You better hope that is a
fucking cat or I’m leaving your ass here.”

“
Dude, does your
girlfriend know how much of a wuss you are?” He frowned and crossed
his arms. I shook my head and put my attention back on the
creature. I called it again and saw the tiny eyes appear. It slowly
made its way closer and then it was right by my feet. “Well, aren’t
you an ugly looking thing?”

“
I am not touching that.”
Colton backed away like it was a ticking time bomb.

I ripped the box from him and put it on the
ground. Then I scooped up the kitten and placed it gently in the
box closing the lid. “Alright, let’s go.”

I took it to the emergency
clinic. One look and I knew they wanted to just put the poor thing
down. When I explained
‘my
girlfriend’
found it earlier and was
worried about it, they promised they would see what they could do.
An hour later and one of the vet’s came out to talk to me. “The
kitten is a little malnourished. It has a small infection in its
right eye. But other than that it’s perfectly fine.” I let out a
breath of relief.

“
No fleas or diseases?”
Colton asked.

“
Surprisingly no. We ran
all the standard tests and everything came back negative. You’re
very lucky. One of the nurses is cleaning him up now and giving him
all his shots and flea medicine. We’d like to keep him over night
just to make sure he’s a little stronger before we let him go. You
can pick him up tomorrow.”

“
Awesome Doc, thanks.” I
slapped Colton on the back as we walked out the door.

“
I hope you know what
you’re getting yourself into?”

“
There’s no going back
now, is there?” I said, unable to keep the smile off my
face.

The vet called in the morning to let me know
he was okay to go. I picked up the little guy and was informed I
would have to put drops in his eye for the next few days until his
infection cleared up. Next stop was the pet store. I took the
little guy inside with me where I picked up a proper cat carrier,
along with everything else it would need. Every single girl I
walked by stopped to pet the kitten. This thing was a chick magnet
and if I was there under any other circumstance I would take
advantage of every single minute of it, but I kindly parted ways
with each one and headed to the register.

When I got home, I set the little guy up in
my room, and then closed the door to head out for our band
practice. There was a new song we were working on that I wrote this
past month. It was a little different from the hard rock we’ve been
playing but I really wanted to get this song perfect so we could
perform it at our next gig. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the beat
going so we had to nix the song for another time. When practice was
over I was beat and secretly wanted to get home to check on the
kitten.

When I opened the door to my room it looked
like someone had TP’ed my room. Toilet paper had run from the
bathroom in ripped up shreds all over the floor and across the bed.
There was a small pile of white fluff in the middle of the floor. I
spotted his black tail flopping back and forth underneath all the
white paper. I approached slowly and peeled back the pile. The
kitten rolled over on his back swatting at my hand playfully.
“Aren’t you a bad little kitty, but you’re lucky you’re cute.” I
picked him up and put him on my bed. Then I began to clean up the
mess. By the time I was done he had tuckered himself out. I had a
quick shower, changed, and then laid down on my bed.

I had to plan Alex’s party. I racked my
brain with things I could do. The cat would be a definite win, but
I still felt it wasn’t enough. Think Casper, think…

I didn’t want to do something lame or
anything too extreme that would scare her away. Alex was not like
other girls so I knew I would have to think outside the box with
her.

“
Hey Cas,” Colton
knocked.

“
Yeah?”

He opened the door and let himself in. “Gus
called. He said the band he had lined up for Saturday just canceled
and he wanted to know if we could play.”

“
Who are the other
bands?”

“
There are none. Just us
and a DJ.”

“
This Saturday?” He
nodded. I sat up. This Saturday was Alex’s birthday. I would be an
idiot if I gave up an opportunity to play the whole night. I would
also regret it if I wasn’t there for Alex’s birthday. “Give me a
sec,” I held up a finger and grabbed my phone. I think I just
figured it out. I called Declan and told her my plan. She loved it
and said she would meet us later.

Colton looked at me curiously. I think he
was more annoyed that I was calling his girlfriend. “Call Gus and
tell him it’s a deal.”

“
What the hell were you
and Declan talking about?” He crossed his arms.

“
How impotent you
are.”

“
Dick,” he mumbled while I
laughed.

“
Chill bitch. She was
helping me with Alex.” I got up and threw on jeans and a t-shirt.
Then I grabbed my keys. “C’mon.”

“
Why do you need help with
Alex?” he asked, accusingly.

“
I’m planning her birthday
party.”

“
But why? Casper Covington
doesn’t do things out of the kindness of his heart, especially for
a girl.”

I glared at him. “Alex is a friend and I
want her to have a good time on her birthday. You only turn
twenty-one once.”

He stood in my way, blocking the door.
“That’s not it. What’s in it for you?”

“
Nothing,” I growled, not
liking where this was going.

“
Bullshit. You drag me out
at night to find some stray cat, plan her birthday party –” Colton
stopped, looking like a light bulb just went off in his head. “You
like her.”

“
No I don’t,” I
snapped.

“
You totally do dude. You
can try to deny it all you want, but it’s so obvious.”

“
Oh yeah genius, how is
that so?”

“
You’ve been walking
around this place for the past two days miserable and angry. You’re
having more mood swings then a hormonal pregnant chick. At first I
thought it was because you weren’t getting any and maybe the chicks
had finally caught on to your bullshit, but Greyson told me the
past couple of times you guys went out you turned girls down on
more than one occasion. His exact words were,
‘these bitches were practically sucking his dick right there
under the table’ but you were ‘too busy gawking at Alex to
notice’
.”

“
I don’t gawk and it was
that crazy bitch Alex who was scaring all the chicks
away.”

“
You and I both know if
you wanted to you would have no problem getting another girl. Plus
Angels and Demons is not the only bar in town.”

“
No, but I happen to like
that bar.”

“
Because Alex works
there?” I shoved him into the wall and he started to crack up.
“Just admit it Casper, you fucking like her. That’s why you’re not
hooking up with anyone else.”

“
That’s not true. I was
with Kaylee last weekend.”

“
Kaylee doesn’t count. You
wouldn’t do all this shit for some random chick.”

“
Fuck you.”

“
Casper fucking Covington
actually likes a girl. Holy fucking shit. Maybe I should go play
the lotto?”

“
Get the fuck out!” I
threw my pillow at him. “Get out before I beat the fucking shit out
of you.” He laughed all the way down the hall. “Fucking dick,” I
mumbled, throwing myself back on my bed. He was wrong. I did not
like Alex. Half the time I couldn’t stand the chick. But damn, last
weekend I would have given anything just to hold her in my arms. To
feel her soft skin and touch those tender lips over and over
again.