Page 30 of Cat’s Guide To Romance

Lars: Did he tell you to come watch him dance?

Lucien: No.

Ryan: Oh. Yeah. Wolfie’s right. That’s creepy.

Lucien: Okay, then I’ll just keep watching him from the roof.

Lars: WHAT?!

I ignore Lars’s little outburst and roll back onto my stomach to watch Sparkle when I can. I’m like this for a very long time, long enough that my neck starts to join my ass in protesting my life choices.

Lucien: THE CAT HAS BEEN FORCED TO SIT DOWN.

Lars: Are you still on his fucking roof?

Lucien: That’s irrelevant.

Ryan: You need hobbies.

Lucien: I own a nightclub.

Ryan: Apparently your new hobby is peeping through windows.

I’m not peeping. Peeping implies something sexual. I’m observing. There’s totally a difference.

Inside, Sparkle tries to stand again, but his mother points at his chair. I can’t hear what she says over his sisters talking at once, but Sparkle slowly lowers himself back into his seat. One of the twins grabs whatever he was reaching for and carries it into the kitchen instead. Interesting.

His mother puts a plate in front of him and kisses the top of his head before moving away. Sparkle stares down at the food like he doesn’t know what to do with it, and my chest squeezes.

Lucien: His mother made him sit down again.

Lars: YOU’RE STILL ON HIS ROOF?!

Lucien: I am lying down. No one can see me.

Lars: ON HIS ROOF.

Lucien: You keep getting hung up on that.

Sparkle’s little brother wedges himself into the chair beside him. One of his sisters takes the other side, and within seconds, everyone is talking over each other again. Sparkle laughs, and there it is. That beautiful fucking smile.

I sigh and watch him while his family fills the table. His father eventually returns too, though he takes the seat farthest from Sparkle. His ears are still out. So is his tail. Good. The bastard can suffer through having a perfectly adorable set of cat ears.

Sparkle doesn’t look at him, but his mother does. Every time Father Sparkle opens his mouth, Mama Sparkle shoots him a look that makes him close it again. I need to meet this woman under circumstances where I haven’t spent way too long spying on her family.

One of Sparkle’s sisters reaches across the table and steals something off his plate. Sparkle laughs when she shoves the entire thing into her mouth. He looks happy. Not the way he does at the bakery with his friends. This is softer. Comfortable.

But every time someone gets up, Sparkle starts to move. Someone needs a drink, he moves. Someone drops something, he moves. His mother needs something from the kitchen, he moves. And every fucking time, someone else beats him to it. He looks lost. Oh, darling.

Lucien: I think Sparkle’s family is trying to make him stop doing everything.

Ryan: Good.

Lars: Are we still pretending you aren’t spying on a private family dinner?

Lucien: Yes. Keep up.

Sparkle starts to rise again, and his mother catches his shoulder. Whatever she says makes two of his sisters laugh. Sparkle sticks his tongue out at them and drops back into his chair.