I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 26: Dinner Preparations

It didn’t quite feel right but I chose to be brave.

I texted Sophia, “Hi Sophie, would you ever like to come over for dinner?”

I laid on the bed, staring at the message stream for a minute but it wasn’t helping make the anxiety less so I instead pulled up some recipe sights to scroll through inspiration. If we did have dinner here, who would cook? Sophia wasn’t exactly used to the gourmet palette that Alisha had but it would feel cheap to give her a salad and be done with it. I didn’t know her exact tastes either, it had been a while since we sat down and ate together. And our parents were very much ‘white bread and bologna’ kind of people, not really venturing past the American staples. At the same time, Alisha… well she ate avocado toast which put her in a different category all-together. On top of that, my parents would probably complain that a Szechuan dish would… make them have to spend a long time on the toilet. So where Sophia fell on this multidimensional scale, I had no idea.

I’d have to talk to Alisha about it, I decided. She might have a better sense of how to entertain people.

I rolled over on the still un-made bed. We hadn’t had time to think about it this morning. I got up and pulled the sheets up and then the blanket to smooth everything out. Then I grabbed the pillows to arrange them how they usually were. Instead of getting back on I moved to the couch, where the outdoor sunlight beamed in and made the space feel a bit more wholesome than the stark emptiness it still sometimes portrayed.

My phone vibrated, finally, and I opened the message.

Sophia: “That sounds great, I’d love to see where you’re staying and catch up. And who you’re staying with.”

I swallowed. Was I really ready for this intersection of old life and new life? But Alisha wanted this, and she wanted this to make things safer, or so she said. It still felt sudden.

With a shake of my head, I cleared the doubt away. It didn’t matter. This would be good for Sophia. She could potentially find a way away from our parents if she needed to, and seeing that I could do it might make it easier for her.

“Yes, let me get you the details,” I texted and got up again.

I hurried down the steps, hoping Alisha hadn’t left yet. My bare feet slapped against the wood floor as I went and I found Alisha leaning against the kitchen counter with her phone in hand.

She looked up as I came around the corner. 

“So if we have my sister over… when? And how? And, I don’t even know the address and–”

She put her hand on top of my head, making me stop. That was a surprisingly effective way to calm me down. 

“Did you text your sister?” Alisha asked. She pushed away from the counter and set her phone down to look at me properly.

I nodded. “She said she wanted to come. But I just don’t know.”

“It’s going to be okay, Kitten,” Alisha said. “It’s just a dinner.”

I nodded. “But it’s a dinner with you. And this house, where you don’t usually let people in. I don’t want you to invite varmint into your house on account of me.”

“You’re sister isn’t varmint,” she chided. “And she isn’t associated with people I would be worried about sticking their nose in here. If the police for some reason convince her to wear a wire or something, that’s fine, too. Because we won’t be talking about any business matters anyway.”

I nodded again. 

“So we’ll have her over. You can ask if she wants to do tonight, since I don’t have any meetings after three I’ll be able to be here and I can have my cook prepare something.”

“And what should I tell her the address is?” I asked.

Alisha paused for a long moment, letting thoughts turn over in her head.

“I’ll have Tye pick her up,” she decided.

My brain short circuited a moment. “T-Tye?” He was probably the most average-looking of her guards, but still not necessarily my top pick of non-intimidating.

“Yes,” she said. “So give me your parents address.”

I froze, a chill creeping into my blood. 

At my hesitation she leaned her weight back against the counter again. “I won’t use it for anything nefarious,” she said.

“But… you could,” I said.

“Yes. If your parents were worthy of my attention.”

“They’re not?” I had gotten the impression Alisha would skin alive anybody that dared put their hands on me.

“They’re civilians. I don’t get involved with them if I don’t have to.”

At my continued hesitation she sighed.

“Say I did send Tye or Matteo or someone like that to rough up your parents, what do you think would happen?”

“They’d probably call the police and tell them.”

She nodded. “Exactly. What do you think would happen if I sent someone to rough up Sergei?”

“Oh, he wouldn’t want them involved since they’d find a bunch of stuff on him, too.”

“Exactly. So as long as your parents are being reasonably within the law, I can’t do much to them without taking on great risk.”

I nodded. It did help ease the anxiety inside me. That meant Sophia was relatively safe as well, should things go wrong.

“Okay,” I agreed. I gave her the address and she entered it on her phone.

“So, if she’s okay for tonight, I’ll have Tye pick her up in the Mercai at six,” she said.

“The Mercai?”

“The sedan,” she explained. “The one I don’t usually use.”

I nodded. The same car Sophia had seen me get into at the grocery store. “I’ll ask her.”

I sat in the dining room, leaning against the table to message her.

“If you’re available tonight, Alisha– my partner– can send her driver to pick you up at six.”

“Her driver? Would you be in the car too?”

I hesitated. If I went close to my parents, they would try to harass me and that was a headache I'd rather spare everybody from.

“No. But you can trust her driver. It’ll be the same guy you saw me with at the store. And he’ll be driving the same car, too.”

There was a long pause on the other end and I got impatient enough to put my phone down and rest my head on the glass for a couple minutes. I didn’t blame her for being wary. It generally wasn’t a good idea to get in a car with a stranger.

My phone vibrated, making a loud noise as the glass table didn’t agree with the treatment.

“Okay,” Sophia agreed. “I’ll be ready at six. Should I get dressed up?”

“No. I’ll be in my usual.” I’d tell Alisha as well. I couldn’t imagine her going to too many casual dinners with friends, but I didn’t have very fancy clothes. 

“Okay. I’ll see you tonight.

”I let out a huge breath and put my head down again.

“Are you okay, Kitten?” Alisha asked from the other room.

“Yes,” I said against the glass.

“Is your sister coming over?” she asked.

‘Yes,” I repeated. It was nice to have a cool surface against my face.

“Okay, good.” She came to sit down. Her phone made a clunking sound as she set it on the table next to me. Her hand stroked my hair a few times and I shut my eyes. It felt good against my overwhelmed nerves. Her touch was always so soothing when she treated me like this. It was a lot like when we first started to get close and that felt like forever ago even though it wasn’t that long at all. There was just always so much happening. I had gone from wasting away on a street corner to being pampered and well-taken care of.

I really was a lost kitten taken in by her. Part of me rejected how pathetic that made me sound but another was happy to let it happen.

I cut my nails back until they were practically non-existent. My nerves were encouraging me to chew on them, a habit I desperately did not want to pick up. Instead I got ready. I showered and scrubbed into every crevice and every nook and cranny, not so much because I worried about being clean but to help soothe the restless energy. I also brushed my hair out while it was wet and used a blow dryer from one of the sink drawers to dry it, pulling it taught in the process so when it was released, it stayed mostly straight and fell lightly against my scalp. When I was done, my hair felt soft and fluffy while the layers were more pronounced. Stella would probably disapprove of something but for me, it was satisfactory.

I browsed my clothes to wear tonight. I didn't have that many but I compared several different combinations to see which felt right. In the end I couldn't really pick one. Most of them were similar. I had pastel blouses galore and a couple different jackets that were in darker colors. The combination made the pastels not wash out my skin quite as much and simply made them more of an accent to it. That also meant pretty much everything had the same vibe. I could make it a little dressier, or a little more casual based on which jacket and which pair of pants I chose to go with it but that was pretty much it.

After much debate I chose the same outfit she had first seen me in. This house could feel overwhelmingly stark sometimes, almost scrubbed clean of humanness so even if it was a small thing, it might help her and I feel a little more comfortable.

I approved of my reflection in the mirror and finally settled down to wait. Alisha would be back soon I knew so I took out my phone to watch some videos in an attempt to stay relaxed.

This was all so sudden, when I woke up this morning I was thinking I'd have a fairly normal day. What if this was a trap though?

I shook my head. I had never had Alisha express ill will toward me. Even right after the police were here, probing me for information about her. She would not hurt Sophia and if she did… I wouldn't stay here.

It was an unpleasant thought riddled with far more wriggling anxiety than I intended. I didn't want to leave this place. My subconscious basically associated that with death and I didn't want to die. And I really wanted to feel Alisha's hand giving me a soothing pet every now and then… and the things she did to me when no one was around.

I felt flushed suddenly and got up to cool off. I stared out the window for a long moment. It was one of the few things that brought life into this place and I did find it soothing to look across the balcony and see the trees gently swaying out there.

Alisha's steps came up the stairs, her heels clacking as she did so.

I turned and waited for her.

She smiled, seeing me.

“Hello, Kitten,” she greeted.

I approached just to happily bury my face against her.

The subsequent pet she gave me felt amazing and I closed my eyes to soak it in before letting her go.

“I missed you too,” she comforted before going into the closet to get settled.

I had learned this about her, she didn't take her shoes off at the door, but rather went straight to the bedroom closet before shedding off her unnecessary items. Her purse went on one of the shelves and her shoes were returned to a shoe rack. If she had any kind of jacket or blazer on it was hung up again and any soiled items were tossed in the laundry. It was one of those things that made her house feel so sterile. She never left things lying around and I had gradually picked this habit up as well since any clutter felt egregious.

She came back dressed in fresh clothes and I was relieved to see it was a nice blouse that fit her very well, like everything else, and some black pants that didn't quite look like dress pants.

She was heeding my advice and dressing more casually, which was a little alien on her. I could only assume these were the closest thing to casual clothes she had, short of pajamas.

She sat with me and pulled my head over onto her lap as she scrolled on her phone for the remainder of our time. It was much easier to believe things were okay like this. Some shreds of my reason still persisted, warning me that having Sophia and Alisha in the same room would be a bad idea, but this was important. This was how I could make amends, and how I could forgive myself for leaving the way I did. It was necessary, I knew. I wouldn't survive in that household. But it still hurt.