FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Resolutions (Part 1)

January: Fireworks and cafes

By Al Song

January 1st, 2015

I think last night was the worst New Year's party ever, at least for me. I watched the red fox I was supposed to be kissing during the countdown making out with an arctic fox. The guy wasn't cheating on me or anything like that. We broke up a couple weeks ago, but seeing him with another guy still stung like no other.

When the clock struck midnight the couples kissed and everyone else was on the balcony watching fireworks explode in the night sky. I looked at my roommates going at it and then the foxes. When the scene got too heavy I turned my attention back to the loud blasts hoping that they could serve as a distraction.

He broke up with me so a part of me asks 'What does the arctic fox have that I don't?' and 'What can I do to get him back?' It's all a lost cause, like the supplemental reading for a class that doesn't seem related to the course material.

I got out of bed without a hangover but I wanted a swig of something that would burn away the pain. Instead I made it my mission to have a bowl of cereal and some pulpy orange juice. Maybe the tanginess would do the job.

I turned on my phone and the background was still a picture of a fox and an otter smiling in the center with a cherry tree in full blossom behind us. I knew I should have changed it when we first broke up but a part of me still thinks that it's possible for us to get together again. I don't know if that's a healthy thing to happen or even if it's a healthy thought. All signs from friends and even the media point to 'no,' but I still wish the desire would just leave my head.

I decided on a red lava lamp as the background. It was one of the wallpapers that came with the phone since I didn't want to go through my picture library. I then realized that red was Ty's favorite color, so then I switched it to a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. I couldn't tell what it was and it didn't matter. It reminded me of him less. That was the important part.

I sighed and slumped over as I looked at myself in the mirror. A sad and muddled otter looked back at me. I winced at the mirror and it winced back at me. I washed my face and walked back out into the living room trying to navigate my way through trash and bottles to the kitchen. I stepped over a beer can but my big tail knocked it into the wall with a ringing thud.

My roommates Arvin and Geo, a buck and a kangaroo, respectively, were hugging each other in an eschew position and were snoring with minimal clothing on their bodies. Their bedroom door was open and Arvin's sister was sleeping in there in a more traditional position, with her head in on the pillow and the blanket over her.

When I got to the kitchen the only trace of cereal I saw was a cardboard box inside the recycling bin. The only milk left was a carton of empty hemp milk. I grumbled and decided to head out for breakfast. I put a belt around my jeans and a gray hoodie around my t-shirt. I put my yellow beanie on and fixed it so my ears popped out.

As I got out I locked the door behind me and ran to the bike lockers and freed my bike. It was my 'mean green machine' as Arvin dubbed it. Geo painted 'Lime Time' on the side of it. I put on my helmet, which was also a shade of lime green, and cruised around the neighborhood on my quest for breakfast.

After a couple minutes I got to the University of the Pacific Northwest and peddled through the eerily empty, yet liberated campus. It wasn't all deserted I saw what looked like a hipster napping in front of the graduate library and a few students on a bench talking. I got to the other side and rode around that neighborhood for a while until I saw a quaint café that I hadn't been to yet.

I chained my bike on the rack in front of the café and headed in. It was called 'Purine Café' and was styled like a chemistry classroom. The menu was on a large chalk board behind a counter with baristas in lab coats and goggles on their foreheads. The skunk at the register took my order and I got a croissant sandwich and some chai tea. I took a seat at a smaller desk rather than a large work station where a family of squirrels sat and laughed together.

On another wall there was a white board with a bucket of dry erase makers and erasers on a desk next to it. It looked like people actually used board to study and explain concepts to each other rather than write inappropriate messages to the other customers.

There was also a large steel shelf with used science textbooks for sale and there were also some science magazines on the side. I grabbed a modern medicine magazine to help pass the time to see what new things they've been able to cure.

"Hey, Wes," a voice from my side called. Through my peripheral version I saw a black wolf smiling and waving at me.

I turned to him and said, "Hey Nathan, take a seat. How are you doing?"

His golden eyes were bright and welcoming. "I'm good. Just let me get my order then I'll sit down with you," he said kindly.

"Sure," I said and smiled back.

"You want a biscotto?" he asked.

"Hey, how did you know the singular form of 'biscotti'?" I asked surprised.

"TV show," the wolf said quickly. "You want one?"

"Yeah thanks, that's kind of you."

"Hey, it's no problem."

He walked over to the counter and ordered. He also made some small talk with the barista and he made the skunk chuckle. He carried back a plate of biscotti then sat down in the chair in front of me.

"You live around here then?" I asked and looked out the window.

"Yeah, it's my usual coffee place. Are you taking French three-oh-two next quarter?"

I nodded. "Yeah, are you?"

"I will be. Did you want to be study partners?" he asked as he pushed the plate of biscotti towards me.

"Sure, you're really good at it."

His ears perked. "Thanks, but so are you."

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you very much all of last year and last quarter," I said with a frown.

"Hey, at least now we're being acquainted," he said kindly and it made my ears perk up in between the fabric of my beanie. "Are you majoring in French studies too?"

"I'm double majoring in French and Italian. I presume you're majoring in French too then."

"I'm doing French and Engineering."

"Wow that must be a lot of classes. I'm guessing more than four years' worth of them."

"I've studied French before and I finished up calculus and linear algebra before I started at the university."

"That's awesome I didn't know you were so good at math," I said. I felt self-conscious at that moment. I'd been just learning languages but he knew two completely different fields of study. "I took French in high school but I needed to start at the beginning for Italian."

"Languages are great. It's impressive that you can juggle more than one at a time," he said kindly.

It was really nice of him to be so validating. "Yeah, it allows us to communicate with more people," I blurted.

"That's a sweet notion. So, how's the break been treating you?" he asked as he cocked his head.

"It's been relaxing. Yours?"

"Mine's been good. I thought I'd actually go out and try to do stuff today. That was one of my resolutions for the year. I've been cooped up in my apartment too much last quarter. Have you made any resolutions?"

"Not really," I said as I drummed my fingers along the desk abashed. "I always end up forgetting about them and then breaking them."

"Come on, there has to be something you want to improve," he said gently.

"I guess making friends would be a resolution I should make and then maybe eating healthier or exercising more. You know, as I take a bite out of this chocolate dipped piece of paradise," I said with a hard crunch.

"Well maybe keeping reasonable goals is a good way to go. For me, instead of watching movies all afternoon maybe I should go for a walk in the park or if it's raining then go to the mall and wander around."

"I do like riding my bike. I guess that could count as exercise. Was your resolution to just go out more?" I asked.

"I mostly don't want to continue having a predictable and lazy routine. I want to go and explore and do things. When I was in the navy I was stuck on a boat for a really long time with short breaks and now that I'm out I really shouldn't be locking myself up in my tiny apartment," he said and looked down at the desk.

"You were in the navy? How old are you?" I asked. "Sorry, if I shouldn't have asked you that."

"It's fine. I'm thirty three. I joined a little after I graduated high school and got out a little before I started here."

"What? Really?"

At that moment the barista brought out drinks to us in beakers with handles and my croissant sandwich was on a digital lab scale. The drinks had spoons with digital thermometers at the end of them. We thanked the skunk after he wished us a good day.

"Yeah, here's my student ID from our freshman year," he searched in his UPNw sweater and turned up with nothing. He then checked his jeans for his wallet and reproduced his ID. It looked like he was still in high school. "We're both juniors right?"

"Yeah." I looked through it and it turned out that he was telling the truth. "You're twelve years older than me?" I asked shocked.

"Yes, if you're twenty one."

"But you look like you're twenty one," I said gesturing to him.

"I guess my mom looks really young for her age and my dad does look a little young too."

"You also act like you're in your early twenties."

"I was at sea for a really long time with only short breaks in between. That's where I took some French and math classes. I guess there are parts of this that seem to have been cryogenically frozen," he said as he pointed to his head.

I guess I thought that thirty something year olds were supposed to be the more responsible and mature versions of twenty something year olds, not that he wasn't responsible or mature. But then again I didn't really know many other people his age. I guess he acted like a college student because he was a college student.

"I've made some presumptions about you that I shouldn't have. I thought you were a stereotypical college jock."

"Well, I think rowing team and lacrosse t-shirts don't help to change that."

"You're also really smart. I don't mean that someone athletic can't be smart too," I said trying to catch myself.

"You are too. To be honest I thought you were a stereotypical hipster," he smirked and stirred his coffee.

"Ouch, I deserved that," I said and looked into my tea. "And I'm not a hipster."

"I'm sorry," he said with care in his voice and countenance.

"It's okay. I still think you're incredibly smart."

"We're at this university for a reason. I've had to quit sports and focus on trying to find a part-time job. I don't know if that affects the stereotype."

"I'm sure you'll find something. You've got the charisma of a silver tongued TV personality."

"Thanks but it's still hard to talk to girls sometimes. Okay most of the time," he said and took another sip of his drink.

"But you talk to girls in class."

"I do, but in a platonic way. Small talk is easy. I just do it. Trying to convince a girl to date me is hard."

"You're a nice person and you're witty. I don't see why they wouldn't want to date you," I said and he smiled at that. "Does the age difference affect your dating life?"

"Well, usually they don't mind. I tell them but I look and act the part, so I guess they don't care about it. Sleeping with someone is rare and having an actual relationship for me is even more so."

"Can finding a new boyfriend be a resolution?" I asked jumping into the pity party.

"I'm sorry, did this happen recently?"

"It was right before finals."

"Ouch. That really sucks. What kind of person does that to someone else?" the wolf asked in disgust.

"I wish he waited until after I was all done. I've been sulking a lot and he and his new boyfriend came to my New Year's party and they made out in front of me."

"Wait, why would your roommates let him come to the New Year's party?"

"He's their friend too and I thought it would be okay until he brought a date without telling me," I explained and finished my cup of chai.

"Dang, I'm really sorry about all that," he said as his black furred ears turned back.

"I don't think I can do much now. He broke up with me. He said that I was too needy and boring. He wanted someone less socially inept," I said and took a breath. "We were going out for nine months and then he drops this on me. I mean it feels late in the game to be using those kinds of reasons. Couldn't he have figured this out in like the first month? It makes me think there was more to it than that. Maybe he met that arctic fox and wanted me out of the picture. Sorry I'm rambling now."

"It's okay," he said calmly. "You're going through a lot."

"But it's been weeks. I should be over it."

"Some wounds take longer to heal."

"Thanks for listening to me," I said and smiled at him.

His ears perked and he said, "I just realized. You are accomplishing your goal. You're socializing with me and you've made a new friend."

"You consider me a friend already?" I asked.

"We've know each other...we've known of each other for a while and you're fun to talk with. I don't always have deep conversations. We could all use having more friends in our lives. So friends?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said and shook his paw.

"You want to keep each other on track for these resolutions?"

"Sure."

So my year wasn't off to a great start at the stroke of midnight but it's been improving. I made a new friend and I had some pretty good tea. Things were looking up.

-To be continued...