A Taste of Excitement
Decided to write a small short story based on this art piece by Kenket. It's one of my favorites of hers and I figured I could use it as a prompt for my writing.
I was trying to keep it shorter than my other stories (1K words or less), but it still clocked in at ~1,300 words. Essentially, I was trying to make this a flash fiction piece.
Ah well. Anyway, enjoy!
It was just for one night; something to help him cut lose and have some fun once in a while. A typical Saturday night at a house party with fellow coworkers, friends, booze, bitches, and that Sunday morning regret him and his buddies met like an old friend. But it was where the ferret fell in love again since his high school days. Frank vowed never to do that again after the sour breakup with his first, and only, girlfriend in what felt like a lifetime ago. He hooked up with women, and a few men, in his college days sometimes, but nothing was serious beyond just messing around.
"This shouldn't be different," he thought to himself as he lied on the couch in his pajama pants, "It was just another night of weird, drunk sex at a party; nothing more."
His regret didn't hit him fully until later that week; once it did, he went about his ritual whenever he felt it. After work, the ferret would change out of his business wear and throw on his navy blue plaid pajama pants over his black, furred legs, reaching just under the base of his tail. He would then shut the blinds to the window above the couch in the main room of his small apartment; the windows never opened. He wouldn't turn on a single light when he got home, except for the Christmas lights he left strung up above the couch since he first moved in to the apartment. Their colorful glow barely illuminated the grimy, brown couch and the tan fur on his body. He would then grab a beer from the fridge and open it, go over to the couch, and assume the posture of someone who wanted nothing more than to be left alone: lying down wanting to either sleep or die. It didn't matter to him; he would appear dead anyway when he slept.
Frank dozed off when his phone startled him, making him sit up and puff out his black-tipped, tan tail. It vibrated and played the default notification tone as the screen lit up, indicating he got a text message. He forgot he placed it on the dark, wooden coffee table, like he's done every day when he got home from work. Among the collection of empty beer bottles he had strewn on the table, he always left a spot open enough for his phone and his phone only; it was part of his ritual. After smoothing down his tail fur with a free paw, he picked it up and turned on the screen. The bright glow nearly blinded him, requiring his eyes to take some time to adjust.
There was the text message icon near the top, and next to it in its notification window:
Kaitlin: 2 new messages.
He hissed. "Shit, that's right." Frank hung his head back on the armrest and groaned, "I forgot I already had her number for that...group project in that fiscal analysis class." He left his head back for a moment longer. "Damn...it felt so long ago..." He snapped his head back up as soon as he started falling asleep, as much as he wanted to do that.
He wanted to forget that weekend ever happened. He couldn't. Kaitlin wanted to talk, and Frank wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, let alone to the ferret girl. He set the phone on vibrate and placed it back in its spot on the coffee table. He took a sip of beer, letting the mild, warm alcohol release the tension from his body and mind. He usually didn't eat anything when he felt this way, and he didn't care if he passed out on an empty stomach. He would get up in the morning, go to work, look at financial tables and charts all day, go home, sometimes sleep, sometimes pass out drunk, repeat the next day. That was his life now. That was the reason he exists; he preferred it that way, with some excitement now and again. But a random chick he got drunk with and boned at a party wasn't going to change that, even if he did know her from his college life.
He picked up his phone after hearing it vibrate on the coffee table several times. It didn't startle him this time; he somewhat expected it this time. He clicked on the screen and looked at the notification window:
Kaitlin: 5 new messages
He tapped the window and unlocked his phone. He was about to take a swig of beer but nearly choked on the amber liquid after reading what she texted him.
[6:23 pm] Kaitlin: Hey Frankie! I had such a great time at Tanner's party this weekend! My neck's still sore from our fun but you sure know how to make a jill feel special ;)
_ _
[6:23 pm] Kaitlin: Maybe we should get together sometime! Call me when you get thiiiiiis~
_ _
[6:34 pm] Kaitlin: Actually...could call me when you get this? Like...NOW!!
_ _
[6:35 pm] Kaitlin: I just remembered something that I think you should know...something you should've done...back in Tanner's bedroom...
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[6:36 pm] Kaitlin: I tested myself this morning and...you maaaaaay have forgotten...a certain...something...on your...when you were...um...yeah... :x
_ _
Frank stared at the messages for a while longer, screamed, and threw the phone at the wall. It only made a loud thud upon impact before falling to the floor.
"Fuck! This is just what I need to hear right now!" he screamed, tail poofed-out. He took a moment to calm down then sighed, hanging his head back again. "I must've blacked out when that all happened," he told the ceiling.
He moved his head back up. After taking a swig of beer before setting the bottle down, he got off the couch to grab his phone, now lying next to the TV. He stood there, tail still poofed, staring at the phone in his paws after picking it up off the floor, pads hovering above the on-screen keypad. "What do I even say to her?" he thought, "Keep it? Get rid of it? What?" He noticed the time in the top-right corner of the screen as he shuffled his footpaws against the hardwood floor back to the couch: 6:57 pm. "I'm surprised she hasn't called me by now," he thought before flopping back on the couch. He sipped on his beer as he thought of what to say to her, and to try and forget he got one of his coworkers and former college peers pregnant, on accident of course. He started typing out a wall of text explaining himself: how he's sorry about what transpired, how he's unsure still if she should keep it, how she should keep it because their species were dwindling from CDV, how he's willing to be the father for the child, how he...
He stopped for a moment and scanned at what he just typed. He took in a deep, slow breath. "Fuck it..." he murmured.
He held down the backspace button, erasing everything he was about to send Kaitlin: an explanation on how he wants to care about someone for once in his life, how he wants to be a real friend for once, and how he enjoyed getting to know her in their classes. Frank wanted some excitement in his life, but he never wanted this. He didn't want to commit his life to a female ferret; he wasn't sure if she wanted that kind of commitment either. He typed a few, empty words before tapping "Send."
After finishing off his beer, he set the phone back on the table and closed his eyes. The phone vibrated over and over throughout the night. "I _don't_want to talk to her right now," Frank hissed as he turned off the phone. Not once did he notice the notification window as he did so:
Kaitlin: 3 missed calls
Kaitlin: 32 new messages