FSE

Furry search engine

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"Thank you," the young coyote girl said in between licks of her ice cream cone.

"Thank you," her parents repeated as they turned away.

Erin thaked them in turn. She sighed as they left. They had easily been her best customers of the day.

The anouncement came that the zoo would be closing in five minutes.

The cougar was glad she worked in a zoo that closed at five. She'd hate to work until eight like her boyfriend Jake. At least that gave her three hours before she had to listen to him complain about his day.

"Erin," a voice sang.

She looked up from her cart. A familiar caracal stood there smiling. "Hi, Darren," Erin said plainly.

"Well, aren't you cheery today?"

"Don't start with me."

"Give me a fudgey pop."

"Four dollars."

"You're killing me." She glared at him. "Alot of that today?" He dug out the money from his wallet.

"That, complaints that we don't have butterscotch filled ice cream bars. Complaints that its too hot out and their ice cream melts too fast. Complaints that we don't take Lyre City Fast cards. I had to listen to some lady whine that her kids saw some monkeys 'doing things' and she had to tell them they were 'playing leap frog' and they're not old enough to know about that sort of thing and we shouldn't let the monkeys do that sort of thing."

The caracal laughed.

"I had some eco nuts complaining that the wildebeast are in too small of an exhibit and we need to build an exhibit that will let them roam for miles like they would in the wild. I almost asked them if we should throw some wild dogs in the exhibit to rip them limb from limb like they would in the wild, too."

"He, he. I'd love to be an animal in the zoo. No job, no worries. I'd have free food. I could sleep all day. Have sex whenever I like."

"Heh, that'd traumatize that lady's kids. Though I don't know if Zoey'd want to join you."

"Doesn't matter, Zoey broke up with me. I'm a free man, now."

"What? Why?'

"Eh, she fell in love with her boss."

"That german shephard?"

"Nah, the leopard."

"The leopard? The one who hated her? The one who's female?"

"That's the one."

"Wow, I'm sorry."

"That was a good month ago, so I'm pretty well over it. Besides, it leaves me free to court this cute kitty I've had my eye on for a few years."

"A few years? No wonder Zoey left you."

"Meh, there was never anything special between us, other than the great sex. It was always pretty much friends-with-benefits until we found someone better. Besides she's the one who suggested I try for this girl. Grabbed me between the legs, said she knows damn well I have a good size pair on me and that I should put them to use. So, I'm taking her advice."

"Where's this girl at?"

"She works at the Lyre City Zoo. Usually works an ice cream cart in the summer," he smiled.

Erin went into shock, "Darren!"

"Been a good friend of mine for a long time. She has a boyfriend, which is pretty much why I haven't said anything to her. But her boyfriend is a complete asshole, so I really don't feel to bad about trying to steal her up."

"Jake is not an asshole!"

"That's not what you said last week when you were crying in my apartment."

"I..., if Jake found out about this he'd probably kick your ass."

"He owes me a favor, I'll call it in that he doesn't."

"Darren, I,...," The anouncement came that the zoo was now closed. "I have to go," she pushed the cart off, leaving the caracal standing there, watching.

She entered the storage area and plugged the cart in. She took her cash bag back to the office and counted everything out. It took her three times to get everything to balance, she kept getting distracted and losing count. She didn't know what had gotten into Darren all of a sudden, he was normally so quiet and reserved.

She returned to the cart and restocked it for the morning person. Then clocked out and left the office. She'd hear about it tommorow that she clocked out too late.

Darren was waiting for her when she left the office. "Darren, I don't need this."

"Need? You always need something. You need to do this job, you need to take care of Jake, you need, hell I've actually lost track of everything you need. But what do you want, Erin? Do you want someone you can come home to and who actually cares about how your day went? Someone who will actually lift that burden of need from your shoulders?"

"Darren, please,"

"I'm sorry I'm being so abrupt, it's just..., come with me."

Erin followed him, though she didn't know why. He led her into the Africa building, then locked the door behind them.

"Darren, what are you doing? We can't be in here."

"It's okay, the security guard owes me a favor."

"Which one?"

"Doesn't matter, they all do. I just wanted somewhere to talk."

"Darren, please, stop. I know what you're trying to do. We've been friends for I don't know how long. I don't want to screw that up. I know Jake and I have our troubles, but I'm happy with Jake, I really am."

"Are you now? Is that why you were sitting in my apartment crying last week? You went through all that trouble of making that dinner for him. Your only day off for two weeks. Your only day off for the next week. You had been telling me for weeks how you had this all planned. How you were going to surprise him.

"You spent all your spare money to buy the best ingredients. You borrowed a dozen cookbooks to study. Stayed late at my place watching cooking shows you had me tape for you. All to make the perfect five course dinner. That day, it took you the whole day to make it. You kept getting interupted. You called me up to run and get ingredients you forgot. Asked me to watch the cooking while you ran to the dry cleaners and picked up the suit Jake had called and told you to. You had to restart your cake twice because of mistakes made.

"And what happened?"

"Please, no."

"You had it timed out to be done at eight-thirty when Jake got home. But he got home two hours early. He complained the next two hours about how he was hungry and wanted to eat. He came into the kitchen and took what he could then went and watched t.v. while you finished. He didn't want anything then, not even a slice of that cake. He complained about that expensive bottle of wine that it wasn't good beer. And on top of all else, he complained about how you picked up the wrong suit from the wrong dry cleaner.

Erin sobbed at the memory of that horrid night. Why did Darren have to dig up that horrible memory. "He... didn't mean it. He'd had a rough day. He had an important meeting the next day... He needed that suit."

"He has lots of rough days, doesn't he? And it's a good thing he has you to take them out on. Tell me, what did he say to you after that meal?"

"And when you mentioned about how you wanted to have that romantic meal with him, what did he say?"

"Don't...,"

"You remember what you told me as you sat crying on my couch. I'll always remember. He said he'd rather have a frozen pizza with a woman who could do things right."

Erin struggled not to throw up.

"You slept on my couch that night.

"I could list all the days you've cried in my arms and we'd be here all night. The list of things he's done to you to cause you to come to me crying, and I could list every one, would stretch around the world. And the list of excuses you've made for him would do so ten times over.

"I hate seeing you like that. I've always told myself if you were mine I'd never do that to you. If you were mine, I'd tell you I love you every day. I do love you."

"Darren...,"

"I love you, I can't stand to see you unhappy again. I can't stand to see you like that anymore. And I'm not going to. So you can either come with me, and be happy. Or you can stay with him, but when he hurts you again and again you won't have my shoulder to cry on anymore. I can't do that to myself anymore."

The cougar took some time to take it all in. "Darren, I. I appreciate it all. I..., never knew you felt this way. But, I don't think of you like that. We've been friends for so long. I know things have been tough with Jake. They'll get better, you'll see."

"Goodbye, then," the caracal turned and started to walk away.

"Darren, no, don't leave. We can still be friends. It'll be akward for a while but...,"

"I don't want to be 'just friends.' I want to be more than that..., I want to... I want you to do me a favor."

"What?"

"I know every favor I'm owed. Even Zoey owes me twenty-three. But I've done more for you than everyone else combined and never asked for a single favor in return. Because I couldn't imagine doing that to you, only doing something for something else back, because I love you so.

"But I'm asking you this one favor, and I'll owe you one. I want you to kiss me."

"Darren, don't. Don't make me do this. Not like this."

"Then how?"

"Why are you doing this to me? You're putting me through hell. I don't need this crap, not from you. I go through enough as is. I...," she looked up into the watery eyes of the caracal.

"You've always been good to me, Darren. I don't want to lose that. You've always been there for me. I need a friend like you. Someone I can go to after a hard day of work, when I'm in a foul mood, or when I'm pissed at my boyfriend..."

The realization of what she could have washed over her. She could have a guy she could come home to and just be loved. She could have a guy who would ask her what was wrong when she was upset, not someone who told her why she didn't have a right to be when his day was so much worse. And being pissed at her boyfriend? Why would she need to cry to anyone if he never pissed her off in the first place.

Well, maybe they'd fight sometimes but that would be rare. And he would never go out of his way to fight her, or hurt her, or worse, spite her, as Jake so often did.

She could have someone who, and she swallowed at the thought of the word, loved her. And she did love Darren. More than she had ever realised.

"No, you kiss me," she said.

Darren obliged her. And it was the most wonderful kiss she had ever had in her life. And she knew it'd be far from the best one she'd ever get, because they would do nothing but get better from here on out.

"I need you now, all the way," she told him as she reached down and unbuttoned his shorts.

"I'm not going to argue," he said as he began to do the same to her.

The klipspringer in the exhibit didn't understand the show it was watching. It just wanted to keep an eye on the two odd shaped cats in case they decided to try and eat it. It certainly didn't understand the meaning of the phrase, "Zoey was right," that it heard.