Author's Note:
Hello, dear readers, and a very happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! I don't have much to say to introduce this story, other than that I'm fond of it and I hope you will be as well. As a disclaimer, I'm neither a software developer nor a graphic artist, so please forgive any mistakes I may have made in describing either profession. As always, all characters engaging in sexual activity are over the age of eighteen.
***
Deceiving Appearances
Growing up, my mother always told me that I should never judge a book by its cover. I'd understood what was meant by the saying, but I'd always thought it was strange advice - wasn't the entire point of a book cover to advertise the contents of the book to would-be readers? I'd never devoted too much brain power to puzzling through that saying, but its meaning became crystal clear to me the moment I met Nash Ellison.
If Nash were a book, his cover would make a person browsing the shelves assume he was some kind of avant-garde horror novel. His dark hair brushed his shoulders and often fell in his hazel eyes. His lean six-foot-one frame was usually clad in dark jeans, a black leather jacket, and a rotating carousel of t-shirts featuring cover art from metal bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween. He had multiple piercings, including rings through the right side of his lower lip and his left eyebrow, and tattoos on both arms.
Imagine my surprise when I opened that book and found a warm and happy children's story about rainbows and fluffy bunnies, since that was the most apt metaphor for Nash's personality I could think of.
I'd met Nash on my first day of work at the tech company I'd joined after graduating with my bachelor's degree in computer science. Being twenty-two and fresh out of school, I'd been pretty nervous as I'd gotten settled at my new desk to begin my career as a software developer. He'd popped his head over the adjoining cubicle wall and flashed me the sweetest and most genuine smile I'd ever seen as he welcomed me to the firm.
I remembered being a bit surprised at first when he'd stepped around into my cubicle and I'd seen his full appearance, but his warmth and friendly demeanor had soon put me at ease. He'd bent over backwards that day to help me get set up and make me feel like I belonged, and we'd been friends ever since.
It had been four years, and he was easily my closest friend in the office. We were close enough that he could tell I was in a funk one Wednesday morning and unilaterally decided that he was taking me down to the coffee shop on the first floor of the building and treating me to my beverage of choice.
"Iced coffee, medium roast, black," he announced, setting the drink in question down on the table in front of me.
I smiled. "You remembered how I take it."
"It's not exactly a complicated order, Lena," he chuckled, sitting down across from me with his latte. "You wanna talk about whatever's bothering you?"
"What makes you think something's bothering me?"
He gave me a look, the expression in his hazel eyes leaving no room for denial.
I sighed. "Fine. Robbie called me last night."
Nash raised his eyebrow, the ring pierced through it jiggling slightly as he did so. "I thought you left him two months ago?"
"I did," I confirmed. "He screamed at my little sister for interrupting our evening together when she came over crying and needing to talk to me about her boyfriend cheating on her. I have no desire to be with someone who lacks basic empathy."
He nodded. "It's an admirable line in the sand."
"Anyway," I continued. "Last night he was drunk off his ass and called me up, basically begging me to take him back."
"Please tell me you're not going to," Nash groaned.
I scoffed. "Of course not, I told him to go pound sand. I don't tolerate his particular brand of toxic douchebagery. We were only together for as long as we were because it took those full three months for him to show his true colors. He seemed so nice when we first got together..."
"Just because someone
seems
nice doesn't mean they
are
nice," Nash pointed out.
He wasn't wrong about that. I had a track record of dating nice-seeming, clean-cut, All-American type guys who turned out to be jerks. Since I didn't tolerate jerks, none of my relationships ended up lasting very long. It was becoming a frustrating cycle.
"That frown on your face is bringing me dangerously close to breaking out some of my patented 'groaner' jokes," Nash warned me, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
I grinned despite myself. "Honestly, your goofy sense of humor might be just what the doctor ordered."
"Ask and ye shall receive," he pronounced before clearing his throat. "What should you say when your best work friend buys you an iced coffee?"
"I don't know, what should you say?" I took a sip of the beverage in question.
"Cool beans."
I almost choked on the liquid as I burst into laughter. "Dang, Nash. That was a hell of a dad joke there. Are you sure you don't have some kids somewhere that I don't know about?"
He smiled broadly, his lip ring glinting in the sunlight streaming in through the shop window. "Nope, not yet. I'd like to have kids someday, though. That way I'll actually have someone to embarrass with my dad jokes."
"You'd honestly make a great dad," I told him, resting my chin on my hand thoughtfully. "You have just the right combination of goofiness and patience, and you're about the nicest person I've ever met."
I could've sworn I saw a slight blush rise in his cheeks.
"Thanks, Lena. That actually means a lot to me." A serious look clouded his hazel eyes momentarily before dissipating, leaving only his usual cheerfulness. "Tell you what: I'm going over to the humane society after work tonight to do some volunteering. Why don't you come with me? Playing with fluffy puppies and kittens for a few hours should pull you right out of whatever funk that jackass Robbie put you in. What do you say?"
Nash was a regular volunteer at the local humane society. He had the biggest bleeding heart I'd ever encountered where animals were concerned, and watching him soothe a frightened cat or scrunch his face up with laughter as an overly enthusiastic dog licked it all over was enough to melt even the most frigid of souls. I'd once even seen him lie down on the floor in a room full of puppies and let them climb all over him to their little hearts' content while he giggled like he was having the absolute time of his life.
Nash may have looked intimidating on the outside, but he was a giant teddy bear of a man on the inside.
I smiled at his suggestion. "Sure, why not?"
He positively beamed at my answer.
When we finished up with work that evening, Nash and I walked the six or so blocks to the humane society's facility.
"Good to see you, Nash!" the middle-aged woman working the front desk greeted him. "How are you doing?"
He smiled. "I'm great, thanks, Vera. This is my friend Lena Becker. She's going to volunteer with me tonight."
Vera shook my hand. "That's wonderful! It's nice to meet you, Lena. Any friend of Nash's is always welcome here. Nash, would you mind starting off in the cat room? That litter of kittens could use your attention."
"Sure thing, Vera," he replied, heading down a hallway to the right and motioning for me to follow him. "A litter of five orphaned kittens was brought in while I was volunteering last week," he explained to me. "They seem to think I'm their mother."
"Awwww, that's super cute," I cooed, already feeling my mood lift. "Mama Nash. That has a nice ring to it."
He chuckled and rolled his eyes, opening the door to the cat room for me. The walls were lined with large kennels, some of which held napping residents, while the open area in the center was filled with various scratching posts and cat trees. Seven or so cats of various ages wandered around, sniffing each other, rubbing on furniture, and sharpening their claws on the carpeted towers.
Nash went over to one of the kennels and opened it up, extracting a fluffy cat bed with five tiny balls of fur perched on it.
"Hi there, babies," he greeted them in a soft, soothing tone. "Did you miss me?" He carried them over to a part of the room separated from the main area by a low wall and set the bed down on the floor, taking a seat next to it.
"We use this area to socialize younger or shier cats before letting them roam free," he told me. "Socializing is a big part of what I help with. It makes it more likely they'll bond with an adopter."
I sat down next to him. "How can I help?"
He smiled at me. "Just pet them, snuggle them, show them affection. It helps them become more comfortable around people."
A few of the kittens had already ventured off of their bed and begun to climb up Nash's jean-clad legs. One, an orange tabby, mewed loudly at him.
"Why yes, Jonesy, I did bring a friend today," Nash replied as though having a conversation with the tiny creature.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you name him after the cat in
Alien
?"
He gave me a lopsided grin. "Guilty as charged. He kind of looks like him, doesn't he?"
"Fair enough," I conceded, recalling the time we'd watched the film together and how loudly I'd screamed during the chest-burster scene, much to Nash's amusement. "What did you name the others?"
He pointed at the two still curled up on the bed. "That's Ripley and Jack. This," he gestured to the calico that had settled on his lap, "is Mina. And the one using my shoe to sharpen his claws is Freddy."
"So you named literally
all
of them after horror movie characters," I laughed.
"Yup. Once I named Jonesy, I decided to stay on theme."
Still chuckling, I gently lifted Freddy up before he completely shredded Nash's black Converse. He mewed in protest before accepting the move when I started stroking his dark fur. Soon enough, he was purring.
"Aw, Freddy likes you!" Nash crooned.
I scratched behind the kitten's ears. "Well, the feeling's mutual. I honestly don't know how you can come here every week and not take literally every single animal home with you."
"Believe me, I wish I could," he chuckled. "But my building only allows two pets per tenant and I already have Eddie and Ace."
I nodded in understanding, having made friends with Nash's two rescue cats while over at his apartment for a party the year prior.
"I'm just happy I can come here and help them until they find their forever homes." He pressed a soft kiss to Jonesy's head at that and my heart melted a bit.
Jonesy, on the other hand, apparently saw this as a golden opportunity to play with a previously out-of-reach shiny object and pawed at Nash's lip ring.
"Careful there, buddy," Nash chuckled when one of the kitten's claws hooked around the metal and gave it a tug.
I smiled to myself, still stroking Freddy's tiny head. Nash was quite possibly the world's sweetest man, and I considered myself extremely fortunate to be able to count him among my friends.
After an hour or so, we moved to the dog room to give some of the residents their baths. I zoned out as we soaped and rinsed a friendly terrier mix, my mind wandering back to the phone call from Robbie and how utterly stupid I'd been to date him for as long as I had.
