With an exasperated groan, Lee started off on a sprint as the droplets connected with him in a quick and sudden down pour that came with no warning. Soon each of his steps felt heavier as the merciless rain plundered down on him, soaking through his clothing, weighing it down further as if to slow his attempt at a quick dash home. During moments like these, he would always regret his choice to take a
nice walk
to the store, instead of taking his reliably dry car. With the bag of groceries in hand, he closed in on the final few steps to the complex and dashed up the stairs, finding the dry and warm foyer to his building scarcely comforting, considering that each of his steps were still sopping wet, and he left a trail of evidence behind him as he walked to B4, struggling to insert his key as his body refused to stop convulsing from the cold.
A click and a quick turn of the handle let him into the apartment, where on the spot he dropped the plastic bag and started shedding his clothes. Normally, he was rather picky about where he left laundry, but at the moment, all he could think about was ridding himself of the clinging wetness that was threatening hypothermia.
The hot water stun against his cold skin at contact, but then it started to sooth, the warmth enveloping him as he stood there, hot water splashing down on him, washing the cold from his bones. His tense muscles relaxed and the cold and wet incident of his
nice walk
was quickly forgotten.
With a towel around his waist he saunters out from the bathroom, eyeing the trail of wet close in his living room with annoyance. Luckily, his apartment had wood floor, making the mess an easy clean up, but even then it was an annoyance he didn't want to deal with at the moment. He took careful strides to avoid the sopping wet piles, swiftly hooking his finger into the loop of the plastic grocery bag left on the floor and took the bag of cold beer with him as he wanders to the couch.
Plopping down and propping his feet on the coffee table, he opened up a can and took a quick gulp as he fingered the remote, turning on the TV and flipping through the channels idly. On the upside, the rain kept his beer cold on the way home, he noted to himself ironically, finally settling on a movie.
As he relaxed and time started to pass, along with a collection of empty beer cans on the coffee table, his eyes lids started to feel heavy. Just as he closed them, a small whimpering sound woke him, and he turned to find its source. To his right, outside the glass sliding door of his balcony was a small ball of wet fur, staring at him with pleading green eyes. He eyed it for a moment before realizing it was a cat, a small and incredible wet cat, sitting on his balcony, on the second story, in the rain.
It stared back at him as he watched it, unsure what to do. While he often found animals adorable, he had no desire to fuss over them himself as a pet owner, so more often than not, watching was good enough. But tonight he felt differently, perhaps due to the six pack of beer he had just finished, or from what he would imagine as common distaste for the cold and intrusive rain, he decided that for just one night, providing shelter for the ball of fur from the rain would be the right thing to do.
Almost cautiously Lee treks over to the sliding door, pausing a moment before unlocking the hatch with a sound click. The cat watched him as he slid the door open and held it. As if on cue, the small animal gave him another look before tentatively entering the apartment.
Shivering from the cold air that was now entering his apartment, with a disgruntled groan, he quickly slides the door closed and locked the hatch, turning to find those round green eyes on him again. They kept a stare down for a few minutes before Lee turned to get a dry towel from the bathroom. If he was going to have an animal in the apartment, he'd rather not have it leaving puddles of water everywhere it went.
Just as he reenters the living room, he came to a dead stop, frozen in place by what he saw. Where he had left the cat before now stood a woman, who was very drenched, and very naked. His mouth opens but no sound was made as he stared, more so in an unbelievable and astonished way than a perverse way.
Quickly, his brain ran through all the options. It must have been the beer, he reasoned. Still clutching the towel while he stood there with only a towel around himself, and staring, now rather rudely, he was still stunned in silence. Then, once again as if on cue, the woman, with dark raven hair, like the fur on the cat, and those stunning green eyes tilted her head to the side to look at him curiously while standing there, shivering from the wet and cold.
"Is that for me?" she asked, in a soft and gentle tone.
Lee stood, speechless, and undoubtedly, looking like an utter idiot, before he realized she was talking about the towel in his hand. Still unable to speak, he nods and with a shaky and unsure gesture, extends his arm, offering the towel.
The woman accepts it thankfully and starts to dry herself, either oblivious or completely unashamed of her nudeness in the presence of a man, and a stranger at that.
"Am I dreaming..?" The words fell from his lips before he even realized he had spoken, and was only caught aware when those green eyes reacted by catching his again, with a confused look.
Of course he was dreaming, he thought. How else could a cat, an animal, turn into a woman, a very naked woman, in his living room? It must be the beer, his brain concluded again and he even unconsciously nodded in agreement, his inner thoughts broken back into reality when he felt a hand make contact with his chest. During his inner dialogue, he hadn't even noticed that the woman had dropped the towel and closed the distance between them, now dangerously close to him, her fingertips, against his chest.
