by Guest Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:47 amJades Story. (A Chance Meeting)
Jade dropped her towel and shivered slightly as the cold, Canadian winter air hit her skin. Even in her warm, centrally heated it was reasonably cold. She glanced behind her through the slight crack between the door and the frame she could see that outside it was still a blowing a blizzard. Hugging herself she stepped into the shower the warm water permeated her fur and touched her skin. It was warm and she lifted her muzzle letting the water hit her throat and chest. She bent down to pick up her shampoo using her free hand to steady herself against the unmoveable glass of one side of the shower. The glass was cold against her pads and when she straightened up there was slight marks of where it had been.
“What have I got today?” She thought to herself as she squeezed the shampoo onto her paws and started to wash her hair, using her fingers to get the shampoo deep into her scalp. After working the lather well into her scalp she squeezed a small amount of more shampoo onto her paws and started to wash the rest of the length of her hair. Once she thought she had worked the shampoo into her hair well enough she looked down at her tail. She cupped her hands under the water before she attempted to wet her tail. She succeeded and after putting a little more shampoo on her paws she started to run her hands along its length, going with the direction of her fur. She used her claws to work the shampoo deeper into her tail because except for that on her head her tail was the thickest concentration of fur. Tilting her head back she started to rinse her hair as well as wetting her hands and trying to get the rest of the lather out of her tail. When she was satisfied that both were clean of all soap she bent over again this time picking up the shower gel. She squeezed a good amount onto her paw and started to wash herself.
As she absent mindedly washed herself her thoughts continued in earnest even “I wonder what I should have for breakfast? The bacon was OK yesterday but I don’t really feel like a fry up today. Cereal, yes, I will have cereal, but which one? There are so many. Oh hell I will just wing it”. Her hands were at her neck now; her claws were running over her skin working the soap over fur and skin. With her right hand she lifted her long, straight, wet hair and with her left she rubbed the back of her neck, moving ever so slightly so that the water fell onto her shoulder.
She flicked her hair around so that it lay over her right shoulder and onto her chest, as it had earlier when she had been washing it, so that she could wash her back more easily. She started at her shoulder blades, her elbows in the air before she proceeded to get lower and lower moving her arms so that she could reach better. Her mind started to wander again “Soo… today I really should start my citation but I can’t be bothered. Woo for procrastination. I know, I’ll do some drawing, Hmmm nails or tattoos, or I could try and learn something on piano but then my drumming needs a bit of work. God, so much stuff I could do and only 24 hours in a day. OK, OK I will do either some tattoo designs or some general drawing and colouring.” She stepped back under the water again; she was colder now than when she had got in and she hoped that getting under the torrent of warm water would change that.
She felt the water rush down her back from between her shoulder blades, to the small of her back and then over her buttocks and down the back of her legs. She rolled her shoulders liking the feeling of the water hitting her back. Jade swung the wet mass of her hair off her shoulder back to its usual position of hanging behind her. She closed her eyes and turned to face the rear wall of the shower. Water cascaded over her face and hair. She sneezed slightly as some water went up her nose as she lifted her head to let the water wash away the soap she had applied earlier to her body. It ran from the base of her neck, in-between, around and over her breasts. The water ran smoothly down the remainder of her body, tilting her head back further enjoying the sensation of the water she let her thoughts roam.
“Do I have pens, paints and stuff? I don’t think I do, I should check when I get out of here ‘cause if I don’t then it means a trip to either the crafts store or to the art department. Urgh, I think I will go to the crafts shop, I know it costs me but I can choose my own stuff so I know that it will work and if I am honest with myself the quality is better from the shop, mainly cause it hasn’t been used by a few thousand people and is new. OK, so when I finish my shower I am gonna check my stuff, then have breakfast and then carry on from there.”
She tilted her head forward, stopping the full force of the water hitting her body. She ran a paw through her hair and there was a splash as a reasonably large amount of water hit the plastic floor of the shower. She reached up and turned the shower to cold and then off. A few final drops fell from the shower head and landed on Jades Muzzle, she glanced up at it quickly before turning and stepping out of the shower.
The window that was in the bathroom was steamed up, not that you could see anything through it anyway, it was either just for aesthetics or, as was most likely, it was to let natural light into the room whilst people on the inside couldn’t see in and vice versa for those who were on the inside. Jade was dripping wet making a small puddle at her feet, whilst her tail was still dripping onto the floor of the shower. She bent down and picked up the towel that she had dropped in a heap before she had stepped into the shower. She started off drying her feet, then legs and so on and so forth, making progress up her body drying as she went. She spent a long time trying to get her tail dry and the same with her hair.
When she was satisfied that she was dry she wrapped the towel around herself in an effort to cover up. Unfortunately she found she could not achieve this and was now grateful for the fact that she didn’t have a roommate. She walked back into her room her body covered except in an upside down U shape that had been caused by her tail. She stopped by a chest of drawers and pulled open the top left hand drawer. She rummaged around and pulled out a bra and underwear, she slid the underwear on and did up the bra before dropping the towel. She looked sideways at the mirror and saw her reflection, she struck a small pose and smiled thinking “I look good”.
She stopped staring at the mirror and pulled out a lower drawer. After a few seconds rummaging around in the organised chaos that was her storage system Jade pulled out the pair of tight fitting, dark, boot cut jeans that she loved. The jeans went well with the corset that she had left by the side of her bed. The main body of the corset was black whilst the edges and stitching were red. The corset hugged her figure snugly and emphasised the size of her breasts, but not overly so. Her knee high boots were standing near the door where she had discarded them the night before when she had returned home from her sisters’ apartment.
Jade grabbed the boots and sat on the edge of her bed to pull them on. Her stomach growled, a fair indication that she should go and get breakfast as soon as possible. With a final glance in her full length mirror she turned and pulled open the room to her dorm room stepping out of its relative quiet into the hustle and bustle of the corridor outside.
The corridor was pretty busy for 8am on a Friday. Dragons, Tigers, Wolves and a whole host of other breeds were walking up and down, some talking to each other, others walking alone and a few on cell phones chatting to friends or employers. Jade joined this bustle and headed for the residents cafeteria.
Jade pushed open the right hand door as a rather large dragon pushed through the left leaving the hall a sausage sandwich. “Huh, sausages today” She said to herself, her mix of Canadian and English accents was almost musical and a few heads turned to look at her. She walked past them with a smile on her face, she felt good about today. She bypassed the queue that had developed for the hot food on offer and went straight to the cereals. Even though it was a cafeteria it was pretty much self service so Jade grabbed a box of Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut and poured out a reasonable helping into a bowel before opening the mini-fridge that was there and taking out a carton of semi-skimmed milk. She lifted it up to her nose and sniffed it; you never knew what had been left in the fridge so it was safer to smell stuff just in case. It smelt like milk so she poured it and found that she was correct.
She took her bowl over to a table and sat down between a muscle bound Siberian Tiger and a thin but tough looking Snow Leopard. Jade started to eat her cereal with small glances to her left and right taking in her surroundings subconsciously. She zoned out as she ate her arms doing the movements totally automatically, her mind wondered what she would draw.
She finished her cereal by drinking the remnants of milk straight out of the bowl. The tiger and leopard had left a short while back and Jade was now on a table alone. She stood picking up her bowl and spoon and heading over to the industrial washing up area and dumped her bowl in lukewarm, soapy water before pulling out wiping it with a scouring sponge and then putting it in a rack with others which would drip dry and then be put through an industrial dishwasher later in the day in the main kitchen.
As she walked back down the corridor towards her room Jade worked out what she was going to draw. Earlier that week she had been asked by a friend If she would draw him a tattoo that he would be getting promptly as soon as he was 18, she had done a similar thing for another friends earlier in the year and she felt as if she should do it as quickly as she could, he was her friend after all.
As she pushed open the door to her dorm room she already knew what she was going to do for him. It was going to be a Celtic cross entwined with thorns. The fills would be red whilst the main cross itself would be black and the thorns would be a dark green with red points. She could see the design forming in her mind and she wanted to get it down as quickly as possible. She had sat down, her pencil in hand sketching the basic design on a rough piece of paper before the door had shut properly behind her. She paused to think poking her tongue out of the side of her mouth slightly as she always did when she was thinking. She tapped her muzzle with the end of the pencil before she put it to paper again and carried on drawing adding details to the complicated design.
When she had gotten the design to a standard she considered acceptable Jade pulled open the drawer in her desk. Inside it was, just like her clothes drawers, organised chaos. There was no set order to the colour of pens but they were all neatly placed in the top right hand corner, whilst the A4 paper that she drew on took up the whole lower half of the drawer. She pulled out a few sheets of paper and a black fine liner and she started to draw again, this time much more carefully, taking much more care with the fluid curves and proportion.
She must have been drawing for an hour and a half before she had finished the basic outline of the cross. With all the extra intricate patterns within the main area of the cross it seemed easier now to just have the outline as black and the fill as red. She went to attempt this Idea on a rough piece of paper. She looked through the drawer two, three times, but for the life of her, she couldn’t find her red.
“Crap” She cussed to herself “I guess I’ll have to go and get one”. She used this momentary lapse to check her other pens. She used liquid ink fine liners and a few thicker nibed pens, each of the pens had on it an indicator for the amount of ink left in the pen. Jade checked all the pens; it took her no more than five minutes, jotting down the name of the colours that were running low. In total she had six pens that were nearly empty, two that were empty and the rest were all fine. She did a quick tally inside her head and worked out that to buy 9 new pens would cost her around the region of fourteen dollars, each pen being just over one dollar in price.
She stood and sighed, stuffing the scrap of paper that was her makeshift shopping list into her pocket. She left her room again and her high heels made a clicking sound as she walked towards the end doors. When she reached them she looked out, she could see the shop she wanted from campus and she could also see the few inches of snow that had fallen during the night’s blizzard.
Jade pulled open the door and shivered for the second time that day as a blast of cold air hit her. The snow in front of her was almost virginal, with only a few tracks leading up to the doors. She stepped forward and the snow made a crunching sound under her feet as she walked gingerly (High heels are never the best choice of shoe for walking in the snow) down some steps and up the long path that led to the road and eventually the craft store.
It must have taken Jade six minutes to get to the craft shop and another twenty to find and purchase the correct pens in the correct shades. She smiled at the assistant, he was cute and friendly and she came here so often she considered him a friend even though they had never hung out, but same breeds normally hit it off well.
It was a little busier outside, people in thick jackets and big boots tramping their way towards their places of work, all with the same excuse as to why they are late. Jade stepped out of the shop back into the cold no longer virginal snow and started to walk back to campus. Whether it was ill luck or whether she was walking too fast she didn’t know but one moment she was walking and the next she was face down in the street, her small bag of pens went flying and her chest, shoulders, neck and face were all now covered in snow.
“Do you wanna hand?” came a reasonably deep but soft voice from somewhere above her. Jade opened her eyes and looked up at the figure. He was tall, dark and classically handsome. He was looking down at her with his arm out stretched towards her.
“Thanks” She mumbled as she took his hand and he helped her up
“These are yours” He replied, holding out the small bag that held her pens “I looked to see if any had fallen out but there were none I could see” He took a step back getting just outside her personal space, she hadn’t felt uncomfortable, just a little awkward that he was so close.
“Thanks again, you’re a real gentleman, not many others would have stopped to help” Said Jade warmly. “I, uh, gotta get back, work and all, thank you stranger” She took a quickstep forward, meaning to step out into the road, cross it and then head back to the campus over what was usually grass, but for a second time she felt herself falling.
However, this time there was no thud as she hit the ground. She felt 2 strong arms catch her round the middle, one very central the other just under her breasts, this made her blush and she was still blushing when she looked up and to her left. She caught his eye and smiled, he smiled back and there was something about that smile, so warm and caring that she couldn’t help but blush more.
“A second time, I think you made deserve some kind of reward” She said still blushing.
“It’s OK, knowing I helped is enough, I have work so I’ll probably see you around” He said as he set her on her feet “Now be careful, I don’t wanna have to run across the road to stop you falling again” He chuckled softly and touched his forehead in a small salute just before he started to walk off down the street.
“Hey! Wait a second” Called Jade when he was about 15 paces away from her. “What’s your name?”
“Cameron. What’s yours?” He called back
“Jade”
“Then your name is as pretty as your face” It was a clichéd line but then something didn’t become a cliché unless it worked, and it did work, Jade blushed again and that was their conversation over. He touched his forehead again and turned to keep on walking. Jade also turned, heading in the direction of the campus. She sighed again, her mind still on the handsome face of that Eastern Canadian red wolf that she had just (quite literally) fallen for.
Chapter 2.
Jade inadvertently swung her hips as she walked back across the crisp, white snow on the way back to her dorm wing. Her tail followed suit swinging lazily from left to right and there was a small, subtle smile on her muzzle. Still clasped in her hand was the bag of pens but all thoughts of drawing were gone from her head. It wasn’t an infatuation with this new wolf, but it was more a lingering sense of, something. It was the little things that she was remembering, the small smile he gave her when he caught her the second time, the way she knew that he was strong, she had felt it in his arms when he had caught her, she had felt the tightness of his forearm pressing just against her breasts.
As she thought of this she blushed again and glanced quickly left and right. Others were now coming out, most were in thick coats, scarves, hats and gloves but there were a few, mainly the species that were used to living in the cold, were out in less, there was even an Arctic fox (so noticeable with his large ears) out in nothing but a pair of ripped jeans and shoes, his shirt discarded somewhere.
She pushed her shoulder blades back and lifted her muzzle taking in a sharp breath as something cold hit her in the middle of her shoulder blades, just above the back line of her corset. She instantly knew it had been a snowball and she could feel it melting; the trickles of cold water running down to the small of her back. She lowered her face and turned, looking behind her at the bespectacled, shortish dragon that she recognised as her younger brother. He was laughing, but for all his scales he was still wrapped up in a thick coat and scarf. Jade pointed a finger at him, and evil grin across her muzzle. Her brother, Jake, stopped laughing when he saw her grin. Turning slowly, her head now filled with Cameron and revenge she finished the last few metres to the door that she had originally exited from.
She wandered back to her room, her mind drifting from thoughts of revenge back to the tall, handsome wolf that had just helped her. She looked down as she slid her key into the lock on her door and turned it. Holding her bag in her mouth, she used her now free paw to open the door.
Unsurprisingly the room was exactly how she had left it, the incomplete art was still on her desk, the door to her bathroom was still ajar and her towel was still in the damp pile she had left it in. Dropping the bag from her mouth (and catching it whilst it was falling) she walked over to her chair and sat down. She didn’t feel right though, and after a minute of contemplation she thought that it was her boots, she normally walked around bare-pawed, she loved to feel the carpet against her pads, especially in her sisters’ apartment which had just been fitted with new, thicker carpet.
She pushed her chair back and lifted her leg so that her ankle was resting on her thigh. She took hold of the zipper and pulled it down; she did exactly the same with the other boot before she pulled them off using only her feet.
Jade pulled open her drawer and placed 5 of the new pens with the others that were already stashed. The sixth was the red. She pulled off the lid and put it to paper slowly doing the in fills and thorn tips. Her mind kept wandering and she kept zoning out, her pen tip stopping mid line. Eventually, after what must have been twenty five minutes of wrestling with her mind, trying to keep herself focused, she gave into the inevitable. She stood and walked to her bed, flopping face down she let her mind take over.
It’s strange what you do when you zone out, I mean, properly zone out, not just get bored in class and think about what you are going to do in your next free period. This is what had happened to Jade and the next thing she knew, really knew that she was doing, she was knocking on the door to her sisters apartment. She was surprised but not surprised at the same time, a very complicated feeling to have.
There was a click as the door was unlocked from the inside and it was pulled open. There stood Jades sister, Roxanne (Roxy for short). Roxy was tall, slim and classically pretty for a Timber wolf. Her fur, like her hair was a deep black. Her eyes were a bright blue and piercing. Her gaze softened as she saw that it was Jade standing there and not some door to door salesman or other grafter.
“Get in” She said with a slight tilt of her head to the left, her accent more Canadian than British “Why are you here now?”
“Urm” Jade replied, at a total loss for an answer “Do I need a reason to visit my sister?” the answer wouldn’t wash, but it was better than “I totally don’t have a clue Roxy”.
“Hmmm” Concluded Roxy as she shut the door behind Jade. “You came at a pretty bad time really.”
“Why?” Asked Jade, poking her head around the door frame that led into the kitchen.
“I just got a call from a friend at work, they were wondering if I would like to go and grab some coffee with them when they finish” replied Roxy “And no, you can’t come” She added quickly, anticipating what her sister would ask.
“Awwwww Roxy. That’s mean, I wanna come and meet your friend” Said Jade.
“No” Stated Roxy, making sure there was a certain finality to it.
“It’s because it’s a boy, and you don’t want me to meet him” Continued Jade, not really listening to her sister
“Its two friends who work together meeting for coffee, nothing else. You always think that my life is a huge conspiracy, that I am always hiding stuff from you” Said Roxy becoming exasperated with her sister.
“So it ‘is’ a boy! And you are always keeping stuff from me, so now I naturally assume things around you”
“I never said it was or it wasn’t a boy, so you can’t assume that it is”
“Okay then, what is this friends name?” Asked Jade.
“I’m not telling, you’re not coming so you don’t need to know” Said Roxy, trying to end the conversation.
“Then its most definitely a boy” Said Jade said to herself.
“Urgh! OK. It is a boy, but it’s none of your business who he is because he is just a work friend of mine” Said Roxy, now completely aggravated by her sister “And you ‘still’ can’t come”
“Please Roxy, I’ll buy the coffee”
“Nope”
“Urmm, I’ll buy the coffee and do extra chores” Pleaded Jade
“Does that mean you will clean both bathrooms, the kitchen, the dishes and all the floors and buy me a Caramel Macchiato?” Said Roxy, a small smile playing across her lips, she could make the most of this situation so she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
“I’ll even buy you a brownie” Threw in Jade, possibly a little too desperately.
Roxy ran a hand through her long hair then shook her head softly.”Fine, you can come, but you are going to buy us both a brownie and a coffee of our choice”
“Thank you” Said Jade out loud but in her head she was jumping up and down for joy. She was genuinely interested in her sisters’ friends; whether he would be what Jade was expecting remained to be seen.
The girls left together in a normal silence. They caught a bus which drove them into the City Centre, they spoke a little on the journey, it wasn’t about anything very interesting, or very important, but it was better than nothing.
The brakes of the bus made a familiar hissing sound as it pulled up to their stop. The two girls traipsed off, Roxy in the lead. They passed around a corner and Jade knew where she was. On one side of the street were a series of clothes shops Superdry, Animal, White Stuff and Republic to name but a few. On the side that they were walking it was a mix but it was the shop at the end that both of them were interested.
There were a few chairs outside, all of them deserted because of the weather. Roxy opened the door and stepped in, Jade followed and breathed in deeply smelling coffee and feeling the warmth of a fan heated room. The coffee shop was filled with its usual customers, students, all busily tapping away on keyboards or sitting in small groups, bags hung off chairs, talking about student stuff.
Jade looked around looking for anyone that she might have known but most of these students looked as if they came from a different university, or weren’t in any of her classes.
“You stay here; I’ll get us a table” Said Roxy as she left the line that she and Jade had just joined. Jade nodded in acceptance and stood in the slow moving queue, her eyes still scanning the people in the room.
She had to do a double take. There was one person she recognised and he was walking towards her. He stopped behind her, taller than her by a few inches; the black and grey markings on his face made him stand out from most. His dark green eyes really stood out from the maroon colour of his fur. His dress sense wasn’t what people would call, good, he was wearing a green thermal running top which had black stripes down the arm, under a plain white T-shirt. He was holding his tail to the right of his body, so that the tip was over the pocket of his jeans. Jade realised that she was staring and she turned away, trying to act naturally, hoping that he hadn’t noticed that she had been looking at him with an intensity not often seen in a coffee shop.
The queue was still moving slowly, although now there were only 5 people between her and the counter. She tried to start looking around again but her curiosity was getting the better of her and she turned, looking up into the face of the taller wolf behind her. He was looking down at her, his green eyes fixed on hers.
“Hey” He said, his accent British.
“Urm, hey” she replied, a little awkward now that she had committed herself.
“You want a picture? It will probably last longer” His comment wasn’t meant to be mean but Jade threw up her defences
“No, I don’t want a picture, I just wanted to know who you were, I recognised you from somewhere but if you’re going to be a dick about a girl looking at you I won’t bother!” She snapped
“Wow, wow, I wasn’t being mean or anything, people, especially pretty girls don’t normally stare at me, well they do, but not for the good reasons” He replied also becoming defensive. She noted his comment about ‘pretty girls’ but chose to ignore it.”I’m Aki by the way” he continued, his features softening, his paws coming down from the raised position that they had been in.
Jade held out her paw and he took it. She was about to speak when a rude “Next” cut across her, she glanced behind her and saw that she was indeed the next customer.
“Bye” She said quietly but with an essence of awkwardness, turning her back on the wolf Aki and stepping up to the counter to place her order. “Urm” she said glancing at the board that had the coffees on, she knew what she wanted but it was a strange custom that everyone did, like when ordering Chinese food, you will order the same thing every time but still insist on looking at the menu. She looked back at the bored looking Cat that was the cashier “Can I have a strong black with no sugar please, a Caramel Macchiato please and two brownies”. The cashier looked at his till and pressed a few buttons the look of sheer boredom never leaving his face, He looked up and said “That will be Fourteen dollars thirty five cents”. Jade had heard less than 50 words from this cat but his nasally monotone was enough to drive her mad. She took out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to him; she received her change and stood to the side waiting for her coffee.
After about two minutes her coffee arrived, she had already taken the two brownies over to the four person table that Roxy had snagged, there was now a group of very cold looking yuppies sitting outside, huddling around their coffee for warmth. Jade picked up the two coffees and walked them over to Roxy; she brushed past a few peoples tails before reaching their table and taking a seat, sliding Roxy coffee over to her.
“He should be here soon, He said he would be off at three and be here by three forty five”. Jade glanced up at the clock, it was twenty to four.
Time seemed to drag, minuets felt like hours. She would glance up at the clock to see only about 30 seconds had passed. Every time the door opened she looked over at it, hoping that it would be Roxy’s friend, but it was always people leaving, never entering. Roxy had finished her brownie and was sipping at her Caramel Macchiato, she looked relaxed and comfortable.
Jade took a long sip of coffee and stared into the distance.
“Hey you” Said Roxy, standing up and walking past Jade, embracing someone warmly. Jade craned her neck around to see who it was.
“Hey” came a deep voice which was strangely familiar. She turned further and stopped short. Cameron was embracing her sister. He turned his head slightly and kissed her on the cheek. It was more than a friendly kiss anyone could see that.
The good mood that Jade had been feeling all day broke. She didn’t burst into tears; she didn’t feel as if her heart was irreparably broken. She just felt confused, the way he had looked at her earlier, his smile, the way he spoke, she had been sure that there might have been something between them. However, it was plain to all that this wasn’t the case, at least, not with Jade.
Jade pushed her chair back, leaving a half drunk coffee and an untouched brownie.”I’m sorry, I forgot, I had something to do, I need to go” She mumbled, her head down, not looking at Roxy or Cameron. She brushed past them hearing Cameron mumble softly to Roxy “Who is that?” She carried on walking putting out a hand in front of her so that the door opened.
The cold air hit her and her fur stood up on end. She just carried on walking, round the corner and away from the coffee shop. She didn’t notice another wolf follow her to just outside the door, stop his hand raised, ready to call, then turn, lower his hand and walk in the other direction.
Chapter 3.
Aki lowered his arm and sighed inwardly as he watched her walked off, her head was down and he knew she was crying. He had watched the fond greeting of the two people that she had been sitting with and he had seen how she reacted. He considered calling after her, to bring her back and to just talk with her about why she was upset, but he thought against it, he was a complete stranger to her, just the wolf that worked in the stationary store that she often frequented.
He turned his ears drooping and kicked a small pile of murky slush that was sitting on the side of the sidewalk. Some of the slush covered the top of his boot and the hem of his jeans whilst the rest was propelled onto the sidewalk where it melted quickly, becoming nothing more than extra melt water on the already soaked sidewalk. His kick threw his weight forward and he followed through walking in the opposite direction to Jade.
He wandered aimlessly for a while, not because he was upset or deep in thought but because he could, he had the time to waist and even though the walks in the city were nothing compared to the huge swathes of forests and mountain walks that were in the immediate area, he still liked to travel the streets. Normally he would have a camera with him, he may not have been very good but he loved photography and any chance he had to snap some pictures he revelled in, but today he hadn’t brought his camera so he used his eyes and his memory to capture the moments he thought were interesting or beautiful.
As he walked past a department store he glanced to his right into the large single pane glass window. His reflection stared back at him and Aki took stock of his appearance. His black hair was untidy which gave him the look of someone who was ultimately scruffy or who had just got out of bed. He smiled slightly, his muzzle pulling back exposing his long canines. His torn left ear hung limp, as it always did, his blue eye visible in the split between the two halves. His right ear stood normally, pricked forward slightly because he was interested. His green eye stood out distinctly against the red of his fur and the black and grey patches that were on his muzzle.
Aki shook his head slightly and ran a hand through his hair, turning away from the glass; he must have looked so vain, staring at his own reflection. He started to walk again, joining the flow of pedestrians that never seemed to cease in a city.
The walk back to his apartment took no time at all. He slid his key into the stiff lock and wiggled the key until the barrel finally turned and the door unlocked. He slipped the key back into his pocket as he closed the door behind him.
He pulled off his coat and threw it on the couch that sat in the middle of the open plan kitchen/living room. He walked straight past the mess of clothes, rubbish bags filled with eaten fast food and empty bottles and cans, straight through one of the other 3 doors in his apartment and into his bedroom, which was surprisingly tidy. Clothes weren’t thrown on the floor but neatly folded in a pile on a chair that stood in the corner of the room. He turned so he was facing the door and fell backwards onto his double bed.
”Christ” He thought to himself “ Am I really that stupid, to try and pick up a girl who I only know through chats in a damn pencil shop…I like her but I’m nothing to her, just a face and a name, look how she reacted to me in the coffee shop…even if I had called she wouldn’t have stopped. Who am I kidding girl like that would never go for me…I will.”
A high pitched ringing noise cut through Akis’ turbulent thoughts and he grabbed the phone off the pillow he had left it on in that morning. He placed the phone against his ear after hitting the green receive button. The familiar voice of Storm, Akis’ oldest and best friend came out the speaker by Akis’ ear. The two had been thick as thieves throughout Junior and Senior high, neither had been terrible on their own, but together the two had gained a little bit of a reputation as trouble makers.
Storm was a wolf like Aki, but the two were worlds apart personality wise, Aki was quiet and sensible whilst Storm was outgoing and loud, the two were good for each other, Storm getting Aki out and about, experiencing life whilst Aki kept Storm in check.
“Yo, Aki…Aki!” Storms voice was impatient.
“What? Oh shit, sorry, I was a million miles away” replied Aki quickly.
“You are the worst for spacing out. Honestly you should have studied philosophy you’re always so…deep” Storm continued “What I just asked was, do you want to come out tonight? I mean it’s been a while since you and I and the rest of us went out for a drink…or six”
“Only six, you’re going soft on me” Retorted Aki “sure I’ll come for a drink, I got nothing else to do and a lot on my mind”
“Women again?”
“That’s none of your concern”
“Jesus man you really need to find a girl, you’re not going to find the perfect woman the first time.”
“I know, but I can dream can’t I.”
“Right, tonight I am gonna get you a girl. No excuses.”
“Fine, fine but were off point, were goin’ out tonight”
“Yes. Right, I have a lecture. I will meet you at the usual place at about nine pm?”
“Nine sounds great, who else is coming?”
“ I think you, me, Alex, Tom, Amber and Summer. You and I will be the only who can pick up women”
“You are obsessed with women”
“Slightly”
“Completely, now go to your lecture”
“Okay, I’ll see you later”
“See you man” Concluded Aki. There was a click and then the monotonous drone of the ring off tone.
Aki let his head flop back and he relaxed. He enjoyed going out with Storm and the others, and it would be a nice distraction to go out and get drunk with a group of friends instead of staying in with just his thoughts and late night T.V for company. He pushed himself off his bed and pulled off his shirt dropping it on the floor and walked over to his bathroom. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.
Jade wiped her eyes as she wondered through the streets, she didn’t want people to know that she was crying because that would invite people to try and stop her and ask her endless questions. She weaved in and out of the people that seemed the crowd the sidewalks. Her head was down, her ears dropped low as she climbed the steps up to her dorm wing.
Luckily the corridors were relatively empty and no one stopped her. She pushed the key into the lock and opened her room. She didn’t know why she was crying, it wasn’t like she had connected with Cameron in any way and she was happy for her sister but she was still in tears. She buried her face in her pillow wiping away the last few silent tears. She drew her legs up and hugged her knees.
She don’t know how long she just lay there, although she doubted it was long before there was a knock at the door. She sniffed and wiped her eyes one last time before standing up and opening the door. Standing there was Teddy, her best friend. He was a Border Collie and was only slightly taller than her.
“Are you ok?” He asked, the concern obvious in his voice.
“I’m fine” Jade replied quietly “I am just being silly, I shouldn’t even be crying”
He stepped inside and she turned and sat on her bed. He sat next to her and placed a comforting paw on her shoulder.
“You want to tell me what’s up” He asked. She glanced up at him and met his eyes, the feelings that he was having were very obvious. She looked away quickly, they were good friends and she didn’t want to give him the wrong impressions. She started her story from the beginning and ended with the coffee shop fiasco. She looked back up at him and knew that he was thinking.
“ You shouldn’t worry about it Jade”
“I know, but I do.”
“Jade, there are people in this world who really do like you” He said softly. Jade stayed quiet and stayed looking at the floor.
She felt the pads on his paws on the right side of her muzzle. She didn’t resist. She felt his warm lips press softly against hers and for a instant she was kissing him back. She leapt up suddenly and stood away from him he head down not turning to look at him.
“I’m sorry Teddy, I’m really sorry. I like you, just not like that…I’m sorry” She said quickly but quietly. She heard him stand then felt him walk past.
“I’m the one who should be sorry” He said softly “I…I should have realized we are just friends” He walked past her and pulled open the door, closing it behind him. She took the opportunity to drop slowly to her knees, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. She felt that she had just ruined something amazing with one of her greatest friends, she had betrayed him, had hurt his feelings and now she couldn’t stop herself crying.
She looked around the room but everything she looked at seemed to remind her of her friendship with Teddy. Certain drawings and pictures made her remember the great times she had had with him but she knew that she didn’t have any stronger feelings for him other than friendship.
She looked out of the window; the sun was setting slowly, the light reflecting off the white of the snow that was still around. She grabbed her coat and pulled it on before pulling open the door and for the second time that day walking out into the cold of the city streets.
Chapter 4.
Jade dropped her towel and shivered slightly as the cold, Canadian winter air hit her skin. Even in her warm, centrally heated it was reasonably cold. She glanced behind her through the slight crack between the door and the frame she could see that outside it was still a blowing a blizzard. Hugging herself she stepped into the shower the warm water permeated her fur and touched her skin. It was warm and she lifted her muzzle letting the water hit her throat and chest. She bent down to pick up her shampoo using her free hand to steady herself against the unmoveable glass of one side of the shower. The glass was cold against her pads and when she straightened up there was slight marks of where it had been.
“What have I got today?” She thought to herself as she squeezed the shampoo onto her paws and started to wash her hair, using her fingers to get the shampoo deep into her scalp. After working the lather well into her scalp she squeezed a small amount of more shampoo onto her paws and started to wash the rest of the length of her hair. Once she thought she had worked the shampoo into her hair well enough she looked down at her tail. She cupped her hands under the water before she attempted to wet her tail. She succeeded and after putting a little more shampoo on her paws she started to run her hands along its length, going with the direction of her fur. She used her claws to work the shampoo deeper into her tail because except for that on her head her tail was the thickest concentration of fur. Tilting her head back she started to rinse her hair as well as wetting her hands and trying to get the rest of the lather out of her tail. When she was satisfied that both were clean of all soap she bent over again this time picking up the shower gel. She squeezed a good amount onto her paw and started to wash herself.
As she absent mindedly washed herself her thoughts continued in earnest even “I wonder what I should have for breakfast? The bacon was OK yesterday but I don’t really feel like a fry up today. Cereal, yes, I will have cereal, but which one? There are so many. Oh hell I will just wing it”. Her hands were at her neck now; her claws were running over her skin working the soap over fur and skin. With her right hand she lifted her long, straight, wet hair and with her left she rubbed the back of her neck, moving ever so slightly so that the water fell onto her shoulder.
She flicked her hair around so that it lay over her right shoulder and onto her chest, as it had earlier when she had been washing it, so that she could wash her back more easily. She started at her shoulder blades, her elbows in the air before she proceeded to get lower and lower moving her arms so that she could reach better. Her mind started to wander again “Soo… today I really should start my citation but I can’t be bothered. Woo for procrastination. I know, I’ll do some drawing, Hmmm nails or tattoos, or I could try and learn something on piano but then my drumming needs a bit of work. God, so much stuff I could do and only 24 hours in a day. OK, OK I will do either some tattoo designs or some general drawing and colouring.” She stepped back under the water again; she was colder now than when she had got in and she hoped that getting under the torrent of warm water would change that.
She felt the water rush down her back from between her shoulder blades, to the small of her back and then over her buttocks and down the back of her legs. She rolled her shoulders liking the feeling of the water hitting her back. Jade swung the wet mass of her hair off her shoulder back to its usual position of hanging behind her. She closed her eyes and turned to face the rear wall of the shower. Water cascaded over her face and hair. She sneezed slightly as some water went up her nose as she lifted her head to let the water wash away the soap she had applied earlier to her body. It ran from the base of her neck, in-between, around and over her breasts. The water ran smoothly down the remainder of her body, tilting her head back further enjoying the sensation of the water she let her thoughts roam.
“Do I have pens, paints and stuff? I don’t think I do, I should check when I get out of here ‘cause if I don’t then it means a trip to either the crafts store or to the art department. Urgh, I think I will go to the crafts shop, I know it costs me but I can choose my own stuff so I know that it will work and if I am honest with myself the quality is better from the shop, mainly cause it hasn’t been used by a few thousand people and is new. OK, so when I finish my shower I am gonna check my stuff, then have breakfast and then carry on from there.”
She tilted her head forward, stopping the full force of the water hitting her body. She ran a paw through her hair and there was a splash as a reasonably large amount of water hit the plastic floor of the shower. She reached up and turned the shower to cold and then off. A few final drops fell from the shower head and landed on Jades Muzzle, she glanced up at it quickly before turning and stepping out of the shower.
The window that was in the bathroom was steamed up, not that you could see anything through it anyway, it was either just for aesthetics or, as was most likely, it was to let natural light into the room whilst people on the inside couldn’t see in and vice versa for those who were on the inside. Jade was dripping wet making a small puddle at her feet, whilst her tail was still dripping onto the floor of the shower. She bent down and picked up the towel that she had dropped in a heap before she had stepped into the shower. She started off drying her feet, then legs and so on and so forth, making progress up her body drying as she went. She spent a long time trying to get her tail dry and the same with her hair.
When she was satisfied that she was dry she wrapped the towel around herself in an effort to cover up. Unfortunately she found she could not achieve this and was now grateful for the fact that she didn’t have a roommate. She walked back into her room her body covered except in an upside down U shape that had been caused by her tail. She stopped by a chest of drawers and pulled open the top left hand drawer. She rummaged around and pulled out a bra and underwear, she slid the underwear on and did up the bra before dropping the towel. She looked sideways at the mirror and saw her reflection, she struck a small pose and smiled thinking “I look good”.
She stopped staring at the mirror and pulled out a lower drawer. After a few seconds rummaging around in the organised chaos that was her storage system Jade pulled out the pair of tight fitting, dark, boot cut jeans that she loved. The jeans went well with the corset that she had left by the side of her bed. The main body of the corset was black whilst the edges and stitching were red. The corset hugged her figure snugly and emphasised the size of her breasts, but not overly so. Her knee high boots were standing near the door where she had discarded them the night before when she had returned home from her sisters’ apartment.
Jade grabbed the boots and sat on the edge of her bed to pull them on. Her stomach growled, a fair indication that she should go and get breakfast as soon as possible. With a final glance in her full length mirror she turned and pulled open the room to her dorm room stepping out of its relative quiet into the hustle and bustle of the corridor outside.
The corridor was pretty busy for 8am on a Friday. Dragons, Tigers, Wolves and a whole host of other breeds were walking up and down, some talking to each other, others walking alone and a few on cell phones chatting to friends or employers. Jade joined this bustle and headed for the residents cafeteria.
Jade pushed open the right hand door as a rather large dragon pushed through the left leaving the hall a sausage sandwich. “Huh, sausages today” She said to herself, her mix of Canadian and English accents was almost musical and a few heads turned to look at her. She walked past them with a smile on her face, she felt good about today. She bypassed the queue that had developed for the hot food on offer and went straight to the cereals. Even though it was a cafeteria it was pretty much self service so Jade grabbed a box of Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut and poured out a reasonable helping into a bowel before opening the mini-fridge that was there and taking out a carton of semi-skimmed milk. She lifted it up to her nose and sniffed it; you never knew what had been left in the fridge so it was safer to smell stuff just in case. It smelt like milk so she poured it and found that she was correct.
She took her bowl over to a table and sat down between a muscle bound Siberian Tiger and a thin but tough looking Snow Leopard. Jade started to eat her cereal with small glances to her left and right taking in her surroundings subconsciously. She zoned out as she ate her arms doing the movements totally automatically, her mind wondered what she would draw.
She finished her cereal by drinking the remnants of milk straight out of the bowl. The tiger and leopard had left a short while back and Jade was now on a table alone. She stood picking up her bowl and spoon and heading over to the industrial washing up area and dumped her bowl in lukewarm, soapy water before pulling out wiping it with a scouring sponge and then putting it in a rack with others which would drip dry and then be put through an industrial dishwasher later in the day in the main kitchen.
As she walked back down the corridor towards her room Jade worked out what she was going to draw. Earlier that week she had been asked by a friend If she would draw him a tattoo that he would be getting promptly as soon as he was 18, she had done a similar thing for another friends earlier in the year and she felt as if she should do it as quickly as she could, he was her friend after all.
As she pushed open the door to her dorm room she already knew what she was going to do for him. It was going to be a Celtic cross entwined with thorns. The fills would be red whilst the main cross itself would be black and the thorns would be a dark green with red points. She could see the design forming in her mind and she wanted to get it down as quickly as possible. She had sat down, her pencil in hand sketching the basic design on a rough piece of paper before the door had shut properly behind her. She paused to think poking her tongue out of the side of her mouth slightly as she always did when she was thinking. She tapped her muzzle with the end of the pencil before she put it to paper again and carried on drawing adding details to the complicated design.
When she had gotten the design to a standard she considered acceptable Jade pulled open the drawer in her desk. Inside it was, just like her clothes drawers, organised chaos. There was no set order to the colour of pens but they were all neatly placed in the top right hand corner, whilst the A4 paper that she drew on took up the whole lower half of the drawer. She pulled out a few sheets of paper and a black fine liner and she started to draw again, this time much more carefully, taking much more care with the fluid curves and proportion.
She must have been drawing for an hour and a half before she had finished the basic outline of the cross. With all the extra intricate patterns within the main area of the cross it seemed easier now to just have the outline as black and the fill as red. She went to attempt this Idea on a rough piece of paper. She looked through the drawer two, three times, but for the life of her, she couldn’t find her red.
“Crap” She cussed to herself “I guess I’ll have to go and get one”. She used this momentary lapse to check her other pens. She used liquid ink fine liners and a few thicker nibed pens, each of the pens had on it an indicator for the amount of ink left in the pen. Jade checked all the pens; it took her no more than five minutes, jotting down the name of the colours that were running low. In total she had six pens that were nearly empty, two that were empty and the rest were all fine. She did a quick tally inside her head and worked out that to buy 9 new pens would cost her around the region of fourteen dollars, each pen being just over one dollar in price.
She stood and sighed, stuffing the scrap of paper that was her makeshift shopping list into her pocket. She left her room again and her high heels made a clicking sound as she walked towards the end doors. When she reached them she looked out, she could see the shop she wanted from campus and she could also see the few inches of snow that had fallen during the night’s blizzard.
Jade pulled open the door and shivered for the second time that day as a blast of cold air hit her. The snow in front of her was almost virginal, with only a few tracks leading up to the doors. She stepped forward and the snow made a crunching sound under her feet as she walked gingerly (High heels are never the best choice of shoe for walking in the snow) down some steps and up the long path that led to the road and eventually the craft store.
It must have taken Jade six minutes to get to the craft shop and another twenty to find and purchase the correct pens in the correct shades. She smiled at the assistant, he was cute and friendly and she came here so often she considered him a friend even though they had never hung out, but same breeds normally hit it off well.
It was a little busier outside, people in thick jackets and big boots tramping their way towards their places of work, all with the same excuse as to why they are late. Jade stepped out of the shop back into the cold no longer virginal snow and started to walk back to campus. Whether it was ill luck or whether she was walking too fast she didn’t know but one moment she was walking and the next she was face down in the street, her small bag of pens went flying and her chest, shoulders, neck and face were all now covered in snow.
“Do you wanna hand?” came a reasonably deep but soft voice from somewhere above her. Jade opened her eyes and looked up at the figure. He was tall, dark and classically handsome. He was looking down at her with his arm out stretched towards her.
“Thanks” She mumbled as she took his hand and he helped her up
“These are yours” He replied, holding out the small bag that held her pens “I looked to see if any had fallen out but there were none I could see” He took a step back getting just outside her personal space, she hadn’t felt uncomfortable, just a little awkward that he was so close.
“Thanks again, you’re a real gentleman, not many others would have stopped to help” Said Jade warmly. “I, uh, gotta get back, work and all, thank you stranger” She took a quickstep forward, meaning to step out into the road, cross it and then head back to the campus over what was usually grass, but for a second time she felt herself falling.
However, this time there was no thud as she hit the ground. She felt 2 strong arms catch her round the middle, one very central the other just under her breasts, this made her blush and she was still blushing when she looked up and to her left. She caught his eye and smiled, he smiled back and there was something about that smile, so warm and caring that she couldn’t help but blush more.
“A second time, I think you made deserve some kind of reward” She said still blushing.
“It’s OK, knowing I helped is enough, I have work so I’ll probably see you around” He said as he set her on her feet “Now be careful, I don’t wanna have to run across the road to stop you falling again” He chuckled softly and touched his forehead in a small salute just before he started to walk off down the street.
“Hey! Wait a second” Called Jade when he was about 15 paces away from her. “What’s your name?”
“Cameron. What’s yours?” He called back
“Jade”
“Then your name is as pretty as your face” It was a clichéd line but then something didn’t become a cliché unless it worked, and it did work, Jade blushed again and that was their conversation over. He touched his forehead again and turned to keep on walking. Jade also turned, heading in the direction of the campus. She sighed again, her mind still on the handsome face of that Eastern Canadian red wolf that she had just (quite literally) fallen for.
Chapter 2.
Jade inadvertently swung her hips as she walked back across the crisp, white snow on the way back to her dorm wing. Her tail followed suit swinging lazily from left to right and there was a small, subtle smile on her muzzle. Still clasped in her hand was the bag of pens but all thoughts of drawing were gone from her head. It wasn’t an infatuation with this new wolf, but it was more a lingering sense of, something. It was the little things that she was remembering, the small smile he gave her when he caught her the second time, the way she knew that he was strong, she had felt it in his arms when he had caught her, she had felt the tightness of his forearm pressing just against her breasts.
As she thought of this she blushed again and glanced quickly left and right. Others were now coming out, most were in thick coats, scarves, hats and gloves but there were a few, mainly the species that were used to living in the cold, were out in less, there was even an Arctic fox (so noticeable with his large ears) out in nothing but a pair of ripped jeans and shoes, his shirt discarded somewhere.
She pushed her shoulder blades back and lifted her muzzle taking in a sharp breath as something cold hit her in the middle of her shoulder blades, just above the back line of her corset. She instantly knew it had been a snowball and she could feel it melting; the trickles of cold water running down to the small of her back. She lowered her face and turned, looking behind her at the bespectacled, shortish dragon that she recognised as her younger brother. He was laughing, but for all his scales he was still wrapped up in a thick coat and scarf. Jade pointed a finger at him, and evil grin across her muzzle. Her brother, Jake, stopped laughing when he saw her grin. Turning slowly, her head now filled with Cameron and revenge she finished the last few metres to the door that she had originally exited from.
She wandered back to her room, her mind drifting from thoughts of revenge back to the tall, handsome wolf that had just helped her. She looked down as she slid her key into the lock on her door and turned it. Holding her bag in her mouth, she used her now free paw to open the door.
Unsurprisingly the room was exactly how she had left it, the incomplete art was still on her desk, the door to her bathroom was still ajar and her towel was still in the damp pile she had left it in. Dropping the bag from her mouth (and catching it whilst it was falling) she walked over to her chair and sat down. She didn’t feel right though, and after a minute of contemplation she thought that it was her boots, she normally walked around bare-pawed, she loved to feel the carpet against her pads, especially in her sisters’ apartment which had just been fitted with new, thicker carpet.
She pushed her chair back and lifted her leg so that her ankle was resting on her thigh. She took hold of the zipper and pulled it down; she did exactly the same with the other boot before she pulled them off using only her feet.
Jade pulled open her drawer and placed 5 of the new pens with the others that were already stashed. The sixth was the red. She pulled off the lid and put it to paper slowly doing the in fills and thorn tips. Her mind kept wandering and she kept zoning out, her pen tip stopping mid line. Eventually, after what must have been twenty five minutes of wrestling with her mind, trying to keep herself focused, she gave into the inevitable. She stood and walked to her bed, flopping face down she let her mind take over.
It’s strange what you do when you zone out, I mean, properly zone out, not just get bored in class and think about what you are going to do in your next free period. This is what had happened to Jade and the next thing she knew, really knew that she was doing, she was knocking on the door to her sisters apartment. She was surprised but not surprised at the same time, a very complicated feeling to have.
There was a click as the door was unlocked from the inside and it was pulled open. There stood Jades sister, Roxanne (Roxy for short). Roxy was tall, slim and classically pretty for a Timber wolf. Her fur, like her hair was a deep black. Her eyes were a bright blue and piercing. Her gaze softened as she saw that it was Jade standing there and not some door to door salesman or other grafter.
“Get in” She said with a slight tilt of her head to the left, her accent more Canadian than British “Why are you here now?”
“Urm” Jade replied, at a total loss for an answer “Do I need a reason to visit my sister?” the answer wouldn’t wash, but it was better than “I totally don’t have a clue Roxy”.
“Hmmm” Concluded Roxy as she shut the door behind Jade. “You came at a pretty bad time really.”
“Why?” Asked Jade, poking her head around the door frame that led into the kitchen.
“I just got a call from a friend at work, they were wondering if I would like to go and grab some coffee with them when they finish” replied Roxy “And no, you can’t come” She added quickly, anticipating what her sister would ask.
“Awwwww Roxy. That’s mean, I wanna come and meet your friend” Said Jade.
“No” Stated Roxy, making sure there was a certain finality to it.
“It’s because it’s a boy, and you don’t want me to meet him” Continued Jade, not really listening to her sister
“Its two friends who work together meeting for coffee, nothing else. You always think that my life is a huge conspiracy, that I am always hiding stuff from you” Said Roxy becoming exasperated with her sister.
“So it ‘is’ a boy! And you are always keeping stuff from me, so now I naturally assume things around you”
“I never said it was or it wasn’t a boy, so you can’t assume that it is”
“Okay then, what is this friends name?” Asked Jade.
“I’m not telling, you’re not coming so you don’t need to know” Said Roxy, trying to end the conversation.
“Then its most definitely a boy” Said Jade said to herself.
“Urgh! OK. It is a boy, but it’s none of your business who he is because he is just a work friend of mine” Said Roxy, now completely aggravated by her sister “And you ‘still’ can’t come”
“Please Roxy, I’ll buy the coffee”
“Nope”
“Urmm, I’ll buy the coffee and do extra chores” Pleaded Jade
“Does that mean you will clean both bathrooms, the kitchen, the dishes and all the floors and buy me a Caramel Macchiato?” Said Roxy, a small smile playing across her lips, she could make the most of this situation so she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
“I’ll even buy you a brownie” Threw in Jade, possibly a little too desperately.
Roxy ran a hand through her long hair then shook her head softly.”Fine, you can come, but you are going to buy us both a brownie and a coffee of our choice”
“Thank you” Said Jade out loud but in her head she was jumping up and down for joy. She was genuinely interested in her sisters’ friends; whether he would be what Jade was expecting remained to be seen.
The girls left together in a normal silence. They caught a bus which drove them into the City Centre, they spoke a little on the journey, it wasn’t about anything very interesting, or very important, but it was better than nothing.
The brakes of the bus made a familiar hissing sound as it pulled up to their stop. The two girls traipsed off, Roxy in the lead. They passed around a corner and Jade knew where she was. On one side of the street were a series of clothes shops Superdry, Animal, White Stuff and Republic to name but a few. On the side that they were walking it was a mix but it was the shop at the end that both of them were interested.
There were a few chairs outside, all of them deserted because of the weather. Roxy opened the door and stepped in, Jade followed and breathed in deeply smelling coffee and feeling the warmth of a fan heated room. The coffee shop was filled with its usual customers, students, all busily tapping away on keyboards or sitting in small groups, bags hung off chairs, talking about student stuff.
Jade looked around looking for anyone that she might have known but most of these students looked as if they came from a different university, or weren’t in any of her classes.
“You stay here; I’ll get us a table” Said Roxy as she left the line that she and Jade had just joined. Jade nodded in acceptance and stood in the slow moving queue, her eyes still scanning the people in the room.
She had to do a double take. There was one person she recognised and he was walking towards her. He stopped behind her, taller than her by a few inches; the black and grey markings on his face made him stand out from most. His dark green eyes really stood out from the maroon colour of his fur. His dress sense wasn’t what people would call, good, he was wearing a green thermal running top which had black stripes down the arm, under a plain white T-shirt. He was holding his tail to the right of his body, so that the tip was over the pocket of his jeans. Jade realised that she was staring and she turned away, trying to act naturally, hoping that he hadn’t noticed that she had been looking at him with an intensity not often seen in a coffee shop.
The queue was still moving slowly, although now there were only 5 people between her and the counter. She tried to start looking around again but her curiosity was getting the better of her and she turned, looking up into the face of the taller wolf behind her. He was looking down at her, his green eyes fixed on hers.
“Hey” He said, his accent British.
“Urm, hey” she replied, a little awkward now that she had committed herself.
“You want a picture? It will probably last longer” His comment wasn’t meant to be mean but Jade threw up her defences
“No, I don’t want a picture, I just wanted to know who you were, I recognised you from somewhere but if you’re going to be a dick about a girl looking at you I won’t bother!” She snapped
“Wow, wow, I wasn’t being mean or anything, people, especially pretty girls don’t normally stare at me, well they do, but not for the good reasons” He replied also becoming defensive. She noted his comment about ‘pretty girls’ but chose to ignore it.”I’m Aki by the way” he continued, his features softening, his paws coming down from the raised position that they had been in.
Jade held out her paw and he took it. She was about to speak when a rude “Next” cut across her, she glanced behind her and saw that she was indeed the next customer.
“Bye” She said quietly but with an essence of awkwardness, turning her back on the wolf Aki and stepping up to the counter to place her order. “Urm” she said glancing at the board that had the coffees on, she knew what she wanted but it was a strange custom that everyone did, like when ordering Chinese food, you will order the same thing every time but still insist on looking at the menu. She looked back at the bored looking Cat that was the cashier “Can I have a strong black with no sugar please, a Caramel Macchiato please and two brownies”. The cashier looked at his till and pressed a few buttons the look of sheer boredom never leaving his face, He looked up and said “That will be Fourteen dollars thirty five cents”. Jade had heard less than 50 words from this cat but his nasally monotone was enough to drive her mad. She took out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to him; she received her change and stood to the side waiting for her coffee.
After about two minutes her coffee arrived, she had already taken the two brownies over to the four person table that Roxy had snagged, there was now a group of very cold looking yuppies sitting outside, huddling around their coffee for warmth. Jade picked up the two coffees and walked them over to Roxy; she brushed past a few peoples tails before reaching their table and taking a seat, sliding Roxy coffee over to her.
“He should be here soon, He said he would be off at three and be here by three forty five”. Jade glanced up at the clock, it was twenty to four.
Time seemed to drag, minuets felt like hours. She would glance up at the clock to see only about 30 seconds had passed. Every time the door opened she looked over at it, hoping that it would be Roxy’s friend, but it was always people leaving, never entering. Roxy had finished her brownie and was sipping at her Caramel Macchiato, she looked relaxed and comfortable.
Jade took a long sip of coffee and stared into the distance.
“Hey you” Said Roxy, standing up and walking past Jade, embracing someone warmly. Jade craned her neck around to see who it was.
“Hey” came a deep voice which was strangely familiar. She turned further and stopped short. Cameron was embracing her sister. He turned his head slightly and kissed her on the cheek. It was more than a friendly kiss anyone could see that.
The good mood that Jade had been feeling all day broke. She didn’t burst into tears; she didn’t feel as if her heart was irreparably broken. She just felt confused, the way he had looked at her earlier, his smile, the way he spoke, she had been sure that there might have been something between them. However, it was plain to all that this wasn’t the case, at least, not with Jade.
Jade pushed her chair back, leaving a half drunk coffee and an untouched brownie.”I’m sorry, I forgot, I had something to do, I need to go” She mumbled, her head down, not looking at Roxy or Cameron. She brushed past them hearing Cameron mumble softly to Roxy “Who is that?” She carried on walking putting out a hand in front of her so that the door opened.
The cold air hit her and her fur stood up on end. She just carried on walking, round the corner and away from the coffee shop. She didn’t notice another wolf follow her to just outside the door, stop his hand raised, ready to call, then turn, lower his hand and walk in the other direction.
Chapter 3.
Aki lowered his arm and sighed inwardly as he watched her walked off, her head was down and he knew she was crying. He had watched the fond greeting of the two people that she had been sitting with and he had seen how she reacted. He considered calling after her, to bring her back and to just talk with her about why she was upset, but he thought against it, he was a complete stranger to her, just the wolf that worked in the stationary store that she often frequented.
He turned his ears drooping and kicked a small pile of murky slush that was sitting on the side of the sidewalk. Some of the slush covered the top of his boot and the hem of his jeans whilst the rest was propelled onto the sidewalk where it melted quickly, becoming nothing more than extra melt water on the already soaked sidewalk. His kick threw his weight forward and he followed through walking in the opposite direction to Jade.
He wandered aimlessly for a while, not because he was upset or deep in thought but because he could, he had the time to waist and even though the walks in the city were nothing compared to the huge swathes of forests and mountain walks that were in the immediate area, he still liked to travel the streets. Normally he would have a camera with him, he may not have been very good but he loved photography and any chance he had to snap some pictures he revelled in, but today he hadn’t brought his camera so he used his eyes and his memory to capture the moments he thought were interesting or beautiful.
As he walked past a department store he glanced to his right into the large single pane glass window. His reflection stared back at him and Aki took stock of his appearance. His black hair was untidy which gave him the look of someone who was ultimately scruffy or who had just got out of bed. He smiled slightly, his muzzle pulling back exposing his long canines. His torn left ear hung limp, as it always did, his blue eye visible in the split between the two halves. His right ear stood normally, pricked forward slightly because he was interested. His green eye stood out distinctly against the red of his fur and the black and grey patches that were on his muzzle.
Aki shook his head slightly and ran a hand through his hair, turning away from the glass; he must have looked so vain, staring at his own reflection. He started to walk again, joining the flow of pedestrians that never seemed to cease in a city.
The walk back to his apartment took no time at all. He slid his key into the stiff lock and wiggled the key until the barrel finally turned and the door unlocked. He slipped the key back into his pocket as he closed the door behind him.
He pulled off his coat and threw it on the couch that sat in the middle of the open plan kitchen/living room. He walked straight past the mess of clothes, rubbish bags filled with eaten fast food and empty bottles and cans, straight through one of the other 3 doors in his apartment and into his bedroom, which was surprisingly tidy. Clothes weren’t thrown on the floor but neatly folded in a pile on a chair that stood in the corner of the room. He turned so he was facing the door and fell backwards onto his double bed.
”Christ” He thought to himself “ Am I really that stupid, to try and pick up a girl who I only know through chats in a damn pencil shop…I like her but I’m nothing to her, just a face and a name, look how she reacted to me in the coffee shop…even if I had called she wouldn’t have stopped. Who am I kidding girl like that would never go for me…I will.”
A high pitched ringing noise cut through Akis’ turbulent thoughts and he grabbed the phone off the pillow he had left it on in that morning. He placed the phone against his ear after hitting the green receive button. The familiar voice of Storm, Akis’ oldest and best friend came out the speaker by Akis’ ear. The two had been thick as thieves throughout Junior and Senior high, neither had been terrible on their own, but together the two had gained a little bit of a reputation as trouble makers.
Storm was a wolf like Aki, but the two were worlds apart personality wise, Aki was quiet and sensible whilst Storm was outgoing and loud, the two were good for each other, Storm getting Aki out and about, experiencing life whilst Aki kept Storm in check.
“Yo, Aki…Aki!” Storms voice was impatient.
“What? Oh shit, sorry, I was a million miles away” replied Aki quickly.
“You are the worst for spacing out. Honestly you should have studied philosophy you’re always so…deep” Storm continued “What I just asked was, do you want to come out tonight? I mean it’s been a while since you and I and the rest of us went out for a drink…or six”
“Only six, you’re going soft on me” Retorted Aki “sure I’ll come for a drink, I got nothing else to do and a lot on my mind”
“Women again?”
“That’s none of your concern”
“Jesus man you really need to find a girl, you’re not going to find the perfect woman the first time.”
“I know, but I can dream can’t I.”
“Right, tonight I am gonna get you a girl. No excuses.”
“Fine, fine but were off point, were goin’ out tonight”
“Yes. Right, I have a lecture. I will meet you at the usual place at about nine pm?”
“Nine sounds great, who else is coming?”
“ I think you, me, Alex, Tom, Amber and Summer. You and I will be the only who can pick up women”
“You are obsessed with women”
“Slightly”
“Completely, now go to your lecture”
“Okay, I’ll see you later”
“See you man” Concluded Aki. There was a click and then the monotonous drone of the ring off tone.
Aki let his head flop back and he relaxed. He enjoyed going out with Storm and the others, and it would be a nice distraction to go out and get drunk with a group of friends instead of staying in with just his thoughts and late night T.V for company. He pushed himself off his bed and pulled off his shirt dropping it on the floor and walked over to his bathroom. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.
Jade wiped her eyes as she wondered through the streets, she didn’t want people to know that she was crying because that would invite people to try and stop her and ask her endless questions. She weaved in and out of the people that seemed the crowd the sidewalks. Her head was down, her ears dropped low as she climbed the steps up to her dorm wing.
Luckily the corridors were relatively empty and no one stopped her. She pushed the key into the lock and opened her room. She didn’t know why she was crying, it wasn’t like she had connected with Cameron in any way and she was happy for her sister but she was still in tears. She buried her face in her pillow wiping away the last few silent tears. She drew her legs up and hugged her knees.
She don’t know how long she just lay there, although she doubted it was long before there was a knock at the door. She sniffed and wiped her eyes one last time before standing up and opening the door. Standing there was Teddy, her best friend. He was a Border Collie and was only slightly taller than her.
“Are you ok?” He asked, the concern obvious in his voice.
“I’m fine” Jade replied quietly “I am just being silly, I shouldn’t even be crying”
He stepped inside and she turned and sat on her bed. He sat next to her and placed a comforting paw on her shoulder.
“You want to tell me what’s up” He asked. She glanced up at him and met his eyes, the feelings that he was having were very obvious. She looked away quickly, they were good friends and she didn’t want to give him the wrong impressions. She started her story from the beginning and ended with the coffee shop fiasco. She looked back up at him and knew that he was thinking.
“ You shouldn’t worry about it Jade”
“I know, but I do.”
“Jade, there are people in this world who really do like you” He said softly. Jade stayed quiet and stayed looking at the floor.
She felt the pads on his paws on the right side of her muzzle. She didn’t resist. She felt his warm lips press softly against hers and for a instant she was kissing him back. She leapt up suddenly and stood away from him he head down not turning to look at him.
“I’m sorry Teddy, I’m really sorry. I like you, just not like that…I’m sorry” She said quickly but quietly. She heard him stand then felt him walk past.
“I’m the one who should be sorry” He said softly “I…I should have realized we are just friends” He walked past her and pulled open the door, closing it behind him. She took the opportunity to drop slowly to her knees, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. She felt that she had just ruined something amazing with one of her greatest friends, she had betrayed him, had hurt his feelings and now she couldn’t stop herself crying.
She looked around the room but everything she looked at seemed to remind her of her friendship with Teddy. Certain drawings and pictures made her remember the great times she had had with him but she knew that she didn’t have any stronger feelings for him other than friendship.
She looked out of the window; the sun was setting slowly, the light reflecting off the white of the snow that was still around. She grabbed her coat and pulled it on before pulling open the door and for the second time that day walking out into the cold of the city streets.
Chapter 4.
