Summer's Early End
The final two weeks of summer went by quickly. My mother went to work at her job at Universal Studios - she was a marketing manager who happened to hit it big. That was part of why we were here. That and her engagement. Fortunately, I found that I was starting to settle in a little bit, despite being one of the only humans in the general area. Not much of note happened, at least, until two nights before football started. That afternoon I got a call from Kara.
"Hey," I said, slightly curious as to why I was being called.
"Hey," she replied somewhat shyly.
"What's up?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could, knowing that something was up.
"Oh, I'm just having some friends over this evening, while your and my parents go - do whatever adults like to do."
"Oh, that's tonight!" I remembered suddenly. My mother and Todd were going out for the evening and wouldn't be back until about midnight or so, having told me that they were going to spend the evening with Mr. And Mrs. Callagier. They had left shortly after lunch, and suggested that perhaps I should find something to do with my free time.
"Yeah. Hey, I was wondering if you might want to join us."
"Who's 'us'?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm going to have my friends from school over and have a small party."
"Huh. I don't know..." I said, slightly worried.
"Oh, silly, it's going to be pretty low-key. Swimming, playing games, eating food. Nothing super crazy, I promise."
"Oh..." I was still hesitant to accept her invitation. I had never exactly been invited to go to any party when I was in Colorado. And here I was, two weeks in to my new life and I was invited to go party with some of my neighbor and friend's friends. It seemed like a possibly bad idea, based on how Kara and my first day together went. She had yet to explain to me what the hell exactly pushed her to do what she did to me. And to be honest, I didn't like to think about it - it made me feel very conflicted and generally uncomfortable with myself.
"Please? It'll be fun. I would really like it if you could."
I knew from the tone in her voice that she wasn't anything but serious.
"Oh, alright. Sure. I'll be there."
"Could you actually come over now? I want to talk to you before the rest of them show up."
I was a little surprised but didn't hesitate. "Sure. I'll be over in a second."
"Oh, and wear your swim suit. We're swimming in the lake out back."
I knocked on the door a few minutes later, wearing my swim suit with a towel slung over my shoulder and holding a black box. Kara opened it, clearly ecstatic that I could make it. She squealed with excitement and wrapped me in a warm, furry, tight embrace. "I'm so glad you could make it!" She said, bubbling over with excitement.
"No problem. You said we needed to talk," I said, gently extricating myself from her embrace.
"Oh, right. Come inside."
The door shut behind me as I stepped into their house. The front room was floored with wood, and soft, cool colors for the paint on the walls. The ceiling was high and had a chandelier hanging down. The staircase led upstairs to a visible loft, where there were chairs, a table, and some other furniture. It was a great sight to see.
"Come on, Isaac," she said, tugging at my arm.
"Where's your brother?"
"He's over at his friend's house for the night. Sleepover party."
The way she said it gave me the impression that she was relieved that he wasn't here to bother the party and make things uncomfortable. That also gave me the feeling that some things were going to happen that maybe would be best not to think about.
"Whatcha got there?" she asked, pointing to the box in my hands.
"Oh, right," I said, setting it on a table. "I brought something."
She read the title on the box. "Cards Against Humanity. Huh. Is that a game?"
I was shocked. She didn't even know about Cards Against Humanity? Well that would have to change. "Yeah. It's a really funny - and a little offensive - game. I think you'll enjoy it."
"Really?" She seemed very interested.
"Yeah. But let's wait for the others."
"Oh, right," she said a little sheepishly, setting the box back down.
"So you wanted to talk to me."
"Oh. Yeah," she said nervously, holding her tail in her hands. "Um, well, the thing is, I never explained why I did what I did - the day we surfed and then wrestled and - " she stopped, clearly nervous and somewhat embarrassed.
I felt my face tighten slightly. I didn't particularly want to talk about this right now, but it looked like I had no choice. "Hey," I said, gently pulling her hands off her tail and holding them to help her calm down, "don't be shy. I don't bite."
She blushed as she smiled, her eyes clearly happy. "I - I really like you, Isaac. At first, it was just physical. I don't know why, but I really liked the way you looked, the way you smelled.." She laughed, a little embarrassed. "I didn't really know you," she continued. "But I struggled to keep myself at bay, even though I wanted nothing more than to intertwine myself with you and not let you go. When I accidentally knocked you off the board, I saw you were in the water, saw that you were vulnerable. I knew that was my chance to have you. When you splashed, a single thought crossed my mind: he wants it. I jumped you and started it, but then realized what I was doing. And I'm - I'm sorry."
I laughed. "I'll admit though, I was definitely surprised by it. And your tail is pretty damn effective."
She grinned sheepishly, slapping my leg with her tail playfully. "You are asking for me to pounce you, aren't you?"
I laughed.
"I heard you are going to do football this year."
"Yeah," I laughed, letting the subject change. "Mom wants me to try it if I am going to play hockey this year."
"Oh, really?" She asked.
I nodded.
"Well, listen. You clearly sound like a jock, and you clearly look like one. That means my friends will probably treat you like one. So, be prepared for that."
"But I'm not a jock. I just like sports."
"I won't argue it with you. Things may get a little - uncomfortable for you. I'll try to prevent that as best I can, but I can't guarantee anything."
"And what if it gets - uncomfortable?" I was slightly worried to be honest.
Kara shrugged. "Try to enjoy it."
The doorbell rang, and I excused myself to use the restroom while Kara answered the door. I heard the excited greetings from the two female friends as I headed for the bathroom.
"So how are you Kara?" asked the newcomer.
"I'm great! How about yourself?"
"I'm doing - " the newcomer paused. "I smell a male human. Where is he?"
"Way to change the subject, Lylia."
"What? I smell him. I want to know where he is."
"He's using the bathroom. He'll be back out."
"I hope he looks as good as he smells, because..." She stopped and yelped when Kara playfully smacked her.
"Lylia, you dirty skunk!" She laughed.
"What is Lylia talking about now?" asked a male voice.
"Cody!" Kara said, clearly running and giving him a hug. I finished up and headed back out to the front room was. They weren't there.
"Isaac, we're up here," Kara called over the railing from in the loft. I walked up the stairs and met the newcomers. Cody was a male tiger, who looked friendly enough, but quite muscular and intimidating. His golden eyes were piercing, yet friendly. He nodded hello to me and introduced himself to me. I shook his paw with a friendly smile, but felt fairly nervous.
I turned to see Lylia staring at me and I froze for a second. She was a skunk who stood a few inches shorter than me, and had well-brushed fur to match her curved form. Her eyes were a dark green that were locked on me and betrayed her emotions. She slowly approached me, clearly not nervous about me, her pupils large and staring into my face. Her breathing was slowly getting heavier as she came close, clearly eagerly sniffing at my scent. "Hello, human," she said, pausing a few inches from me.
"Hello," I replied, already feeling slightly uncomfortable. I noted that her tail swished slowly, but higher than I would have expected.
"So how is he, Lylia?" Cody teased.
"Mm," she almost growled. "I think I want one."
I laughed at the absurdity of it, while Cody and Kara were clearly amused.
"In other words, you could fuck the shit out of him?"
Lylia seemed to think it over. That was answer enough for them. They burst out laughing, as a couple more of her friends came in.
"What is so funny?" A male lion asked asked as he worked his way up the stairs to our location. "Whoa, who is that?" He asked, recoiling when he saw me in surprise. I instinctively took a few steps back as well, my brain failing to put the words together to introduce myself.
Kara jumped in for me however. "This," she said, slipping her arm around mine and leading me back - towards Lylia, "is Isaac Kowalski. He moved in almost two weeks ago, and is going to be going to Central with us in the fall." She left me with Lylia, looping my arm around the skunk's waist. Lylia then pressed herself closer to me, quietly nuzzling my neck and eagerly inhaling my scent, her tail jerking slightly, as Kara gave the both of us a knowing wink.
"Oh my God, Kara. Do you really have to encourage her?" the lion asked.
"Oh, come on, Dameon. It needed to happen."
"Well," said Cody with a snort of amusement, "at the rate she's going now, she's going to actually fuck the shit out of him before the night is through."
Lylia responded by nibbling on my neck gently. Cody, Dameon, and Kara burst out laughing.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late. I had a thing and - whoa." The newcomer was a female husky with white fur. She had brown eyes and looked very surprised to see me, and to see Lylia doing what she was doing.
"Oh, hi, Cheyenne," said Cody. "That human over there who is currently stuck with getting affections from Lylia is Isaac. Isaac, meet Cheyenne."
I nodded hello to Cheyenne as best as I could and noticed Kara had my box.
"Oh, here," she said, giving the box to me.
"What is it?" Cody asked, head cocked in curiosity.
"Have you guys ever played Cards Against Humanity?" I asked the people in the room.
Dameon suddenly started laughing, quietly at first and then getting louder. "Oh, Jesus, I love that game. Oh, my God -!"
"Okay," I said, pulling out the black and white cards, "so this game is where a judge will pick a single black card that has part of a sentence or a question and the others will use white cards that they are given to complete the sentence. It's really simple, really funny, and a tad offensive."
I dealt out seven white cards to each person as we sat in a circle, Lylia letting go of me reluctantly after a particularly long sniff and sat next to me, pulling my hand into her paw.
"I will be the judge first," I said, pulling a black card out on the ground, face up. "Introducing the new sideshow attraction: ______." it said. I read it out loud and let the others place their cards face down in front of me. Once everyone had done so, I flipped them over and began to read them aloud. "Introducing the new sideshow attraction: expecting a burp and vomiting instead." That got a couple of chuckles. I moved on the next one. "Introducing the new sideshow attraction: bitches." That got a slightly more favorable reaction. I read through the rest of them, stopping for a second when I read the last one. "Oh, Jesus!" I burst out into laughter.
"What?" Cody asked, prompting me to read it.
"Introducing the new sideshow attraction: Auschwitz."
The room was dead silent for a half a second and then everyone split their sides with laughter.
"Whose was that?" I asked, my eyes tearing up with laughter.
Lylia blushed and raised her hand. We all laughed again. She buried her face in my chest in response. I tightened my jaw in discomfort. This felt slightly familiar to me - the discomfort. But at the same time, I felt euphoric that such a beautiful female found me attractive.
"Okay," I said to her, lifting her face off of my chest as gently as possible, "you get to be the judge now.
"Okay," she said, grabbing a black card. She placed it face up and then blushed, her tail jerking suddenly, slapping me in the back. "You didn't tell us there were dirty cards!" She protested, eliciting laughter.
"Something tells me you honesty don't really care," I replied with a friendly laugh. "Go ahead - read it out loud."
"When I have sex, I like to think about _____." She said.
I looked at my cards. I didn't really have anything good. I kept looking, and then saw one that I could use. I placed it face down, being the last person to do so.
Lylia flipped Kara's card first. "When I have sex, I like to think about white people."
"Oh, what the fuck?" I laughed out loud, squeezing my eyes shut. The others laughed at my reaction.
"I don't even know what white people are," Kara protested in confusion.
"Well, humans sometimes have different skin colors. White, like mine, black, yellow, red... But using terms like "white people" are more than a little offensive in common discussion," I said patiently, realizing that they probably haven't seen many humans.
Lylia giggled, "so does Kara like to think about white people like Isaac?"
The room erupted in laughter. Kara turned beet red, which was more than enough of an answer for Lylia. She growled playfully, baring her teeth and pulling me against her. "Mine," she said. "Mine only." I didn't know how serious she was actually being, so I felt uncomfortable.
"Just keep reading them," I said.
"Calm your white ass, Isaac," she said, much to my shock as the others laughed. She flipped my card over next. "Let's see what Isaac has to say." She paused for a second, blushing a dark red, before giving me a dirty look.
"Well?" Cheyenne demanded.
"Isaac is a naughty boy!" Lylia exclaimed, turning beet red.
"What did he say?" asked Cody.
"When I have sex, I like to think about sucking the President's dick." Lylia couldn't contain herself, laughing as hard as she could. The others were not too far off.
"Do you really?" Cody asked, laughing as tears streamed out of his eyes.
"What? No!" I replied, perplexed and slightly disgusted at the thought.
"So what does Isaac think about then?" Cheyenne asked with an odd look on her face.
"I don't know," I responded honestly. The only girlfriend I had ever had was Celeste, and we never went that far - no matter how close we got. Then I felt a pang of sadness shoot through my chest, like it always did when I thought of Celeste. We had such a strong relationship that had been obliterated the instant I left Georgetown. It was a shame of an ending.
"Maybe he just never had a girlfriend," Cody suggested.
"No," I said somewhat sourly. "I had one for two years."
"Oh," said Cody, his ears laying flat against his head, his eyes lowering.
"When did you separate?" Cheyenne asked. It was a harmless question, but it still hurt.
"When I left Georgetown two weeks ago." I stood up, pulling myself out of Lylia's hold. "Excuse me for a minute." I headed downstairs before anyone else could say anything.
I headed down to the bathroom where I washed my face with water, slapping my wet face and staring at my face in the mirror. I took deep breaths to calm myself and headed up once I had erased all traces of my sadness and had gotten a cup of water. "So who won that?" I asked as cheerfully as I could, which wasn't all too bad actually.
"You did," replied Lylia with a blush.
"It's just because Lylia wants a favor returned," Cody assured me, which resulted in a laugh at Lylia's expense. Then it was Cody's turn to judge. "Instead of coal, this year Santa is giving _____ to all the bad boys and girls."
"Hepatitis," I blurted and was rewarded with a round of laughter. "Gods, who knew humans could be so fucking hilarious?" Dameon said to the others. I took it as a compliment.
After we had placed our cards, he read them aloud. Kara won the round with the card, "a cooler full of organs." It was disgustingly funny to think about that. "So how would that even work?" I found myself asking.
"Or not," replied Kara.
"Yeah. Or not."
After another hour or two playing, we wrapped up the game and counted cards. I had twenty, Kara had fourteen, Lylia had eight, and the others had seven.
I packed the game up and put the box on the table as everyone headed downstairs to get some food and drink. Everyone except for Lylia and Kara. Once I had finished putting away the game, I turned to Kara. "So what's the plan?"
"Well," she replied carefully, taking Lylia by the arm and coming over to me, "the others are thinking about grabbing some food first and then going to swim."
"Okay," I replied, before looking at the time. It was already eight-thirty. "I actually gotta go," I said, feigning an excuse to go home and sleep. I won't lie - I was tired.
"What?" Lylia blurted in disbelief and disappointment. "Already?"
"I have football tomorrow," I explained. That was true. Tryouts started tomorrow. But I didn't really need to go because of that. I didn't really need to leave. I simply wanted to.
"Right," said Kara, disappointed I was leaving early. "Well, I'm glad you could come and meet my friends. Sleep well," she said, giving me a friendly hug.
"Okay," I said, wriggling my way out of the hug before it became uncomfortable. I said goodbye to Lylia and headed down the stairs. But he stopped me before I got to the door. "You're not going anywhere yet," she said almost in a growl, before pulling me against her and giving me a kiss on the lips. I was caught off-guard, but Lylia didn't seem to note this. She let go of me when she was ready to, and then let me out the door, shutting it behind me, dazed and stunned.
"Well, I guess that's one way to settle in," I shrugged to myself as I headed home, whistling a tune to myself.