Chapter 20 James

As it turned out, James did not get to sprint to his room and bury himself inside Liana the second they got home, as he'd been dreaming of doing for the entire car ride back to his apartment. As soon as they walked through the door, they were greeted by a distraught Kelsey, wailing that Harry the cat had diarrhea and had ruined the white cloud couch. Indeed, an unpleasant odor permeated from the living room, and a giant yellowish spot indicated Kelsey's failed cleaning attempt.

"Where's Harry now?" James asked.

"In the bathtub," wailed Kelsey, disconsolate. "I tried to wash him, but… he got mad. I think he has probably destroyed the bathroom by now."

James couldn't believe his bad luck. Did he have to go be an adult right now, when he was finally seconds away from having Liana in his bed? Was the universe fucking with him?

Liana's hand at his elbow steadied him. "Go check on Harry. I'll clean in here."

No, no, no. This was all wrong. He was supposed to be seducing this woman, not having her clean up cat shit. "Don't do that. I'll just go see him quickly and then I'll be right back." Without waiting for an answer, he sprinted to the bathroom, where he heard an unnatural clawing sound behind the door. Taking a deep breath, James opened the door. Kelsey nervously peeked in behind him.

Okay, he thought, this actually isn't that bad . Sure, there were towels everywhere, toilet paper was strewn all across the floor, and Harry seemed to have left claw marks in the door, but at least there was no sign of diarrhea. James gathered Harry in his arms. He'd expected the cat to jump away, but to his surprise, Harry nestled into him and closed his eyes.

"Poor guy," James cooed, stroking Harry's head. "You just rest. Kelsey," he said, turning to his roommate, "I've got this. You go and find Liana. I'll be back in a minute."

He found a baby wipe in the bathroom drawer and gently wiped Harry. Then he held the cat firmly in one arm while he used his free hand to try to clean the bathroom. He gathered the toilet paper roll, used a towel to rid the floor of water, and then threw the towels in the hamper. The whole time, Harry stayed asleep in his arms.

Satisfied with the state of the cat and the bathroom, James returned to the living room, where he found the couch slightly damp but otherwise perfectly white again. Not a trace remained of the earlier damage, and the room smelled of lemon. Kelsey still looked shell shocked as she sat on the armchair, head in hands.

"She's a wizard," Kelsey said, indicating Liana, who was wiping down the living room floor.

"Kelsey!" James was horrified. "You let Liana clean up cat diarrhea?!"

"What?" Kelsey shrugged. "She was already mostly done cleaning it when I came into the room. I tried to help, but she said she had it handled."

"Oh my god," James cried. "I can't believe you let my girlfriend clean up after our cat. You are the worst roommate ever. I —"

"Wait!" Kelsey held her hand up. "Did you just say girlfriend?"

James internally winced and berated himself for using the g-word before they'd had that discussion, but then his mind turned back to the matter at hand. " That is what you took from what I just said? Are you being serious right now?"

"It's okay," Liana jumped in. "I did tell Kelsey I would take care of the mess."

James noticed Liana hadn't commented on the girlfriend part. At least she hadn't unequivocally denied it, which was something, he supposed.

"Kels, I won't have Liana cleaning up after us. I won't have her acting like my maid."

"It was an emergency," Liana soothed. "I didn't want to sit here uselessly while you were dealing with the cat. But I really do appreciate the sentiment, about me not being your maid."

He couldn't stop the rush of love he felt. Love? No, it couldn't be. It was too soon.

"I have to take the cat to the vet," said Kels.

"I'll go with you," James said.

Kels shook her head quickly. James realized she was trying to get out of the apartment and away from James, probably because she knew she'd messed up by not helping Liana clean. "There's no need for both of us to sit in that waiting room," Kels said. "I'll run now, before the vet's office closes." She ran to her room, returning a second later with her wallet, keys, and cat carrier. She took a still-sleeping Harry from James' arms and settled him into the carrier, then ran to the door.

"I'm going to assume your kind offer to let me drive your car has not ended yet. We'll be going in the Beemer. Toodles!" She shut the door, leaving James to stew.

"You'd better not get diarrhea in my car!" he yelled after the closed door.

Liana laughed. "I've got to hand it to her. You're normally a pretty unflappable guy, but she really knows how to get under your skin."

James forced himself to release the tension from his shoulders. "Yeah. I love her, but she makes me want to strangle her sometimes. I seriously can't apologize enough for leaving you to clean up Harry's mess."

"It's all good," she said, and by God, he adored this woman. He drew her into his arms, but before he could pick up where they'd left off at the courts, his stomach growled loudly.

He glanced at his watch; it was almost seven. He knew Liana had to eat small meals every few hours and mentally chided himself for not thinking through a dinner plan in advance. They definitely needed to eat soon, and it seemed like Liana was prepared to let his "girlfriend" comment go. They could talk about that another time. Preferably soon.

"All that stress has made me hungry," he said. "Should we order in? Sushi? I know a place around the corner that delivers fast."

"Perfect."