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“Tchuck tchuck tchuck,” clucked the ginger from the window. She held out her fingers as if she were luring the dilute tortoiseshell with food, but there was nothing in her hand. “Sophie, baby,” she cooed. “You’re supposed to be an emotional support cat. Why are you causing me anxiety?”
Sophie turned away, her sure paws easily balancing on the small ledge as she turned her tail to Jinkx.
“No, no,” Jinkx’ pitch heightened. She forced her arm further out the window, as if she were going to just grab the cat by her tail and physically drag her back into the apartment. She whined in impotent frustration. If only she had longer arms.
Sophie started biting at something out of Jinkx’ view. She forced more of her upper body out into the evening air to see the little criminal cram her paws under a crack she’d made and pushed up with her mouth, starting to shuffle the neighbor’s unlocked window open.
“Sophie! Sophia! No! Bad girl!” Jinkx snapped.
Sophie did not give a single shit. She got her head under the window and started shuffling her whole body. Jinkx knew she had no other choice at this point. She looked down at the thin metal balconies caging in both the window she was hanging out of, and the neighbor’s window which Sophie was damaging.
Jinkx pulled her head and shoulders back inside so she could clear off the small desk that sat in front of the window. She’d need ample space to get her whole body out this one teeny window. Lifting one shin onto the desk, Jinkx cursed Nick for not just staying home on a Tuesday night. Then he’d be the one wiggling his body through the 24 inch (~71 cm) gateway into the breezy air. Jinkx blew stray hair from her face and grabbed onto the ancient metal railing. Nick’s scrawny ass wouldn’t have a problem getting out of this window.
Jinkx had to stop and breathe to angle her hips so they would actually fit through the opening, and even then she felt her skin being scratched through her clothes. “Oh, I am so gonna kill you, Sahoyah,” she muttered under her breath. Casting a glance to the other window, she was just in time to watch Sophie’s feather-duster-looking tail slip under the windowsill along with her backside, allowing it to slide shut.
Jinkx groaned loudly and pulled her legs onto the windowsill. Once her hips were through it was smooth sailing. But now she had to do all that again.
Thanks to the bitemark dents Sophie had made in the bottom of the window, Jinkx could easily wedge her fingers into the dents and push the window up, squeaking on the way. She winced at the noise and tried to figure how best to go about getting herself through the window. Sophie had done it face-first and sideways, and now that Jinkx looked at the geometry of the window, it was taller than it was wide…
On the inside of the neighbor’s apartment, Sophie had tipped over a white flower pot. Soil and an orchid lay on the ground, physical evidence of Sophie’s breaking-and entering. Heart racing, Jinkx waited and listened for the neighbor to come running with 911 on the phone. When no one did, she figured the coast was clear and hurled herself vertically through the window, careful to avoid cutting her hands on shards of ceramic.
Catching her breath, Jinkx looked around. This apartment was the same size as Nick’s, but whoever lived here actually had taste. While just next door obviously lived a twentysomething gamer/stoner, this place could very well have been owned by a stylish grandma or an interior design student. Jinkx stood on off-white carpet that was accented by a green and gold rug. The furnishing she could see were all white, and had a vintage look to them, but with obviously modern quality.
“Okay,” Jinkx whispered to herself.
She started clicking again as she scanned the room for grey fur, half hunched over when she heard “Um.”
Jinkx startled, grabbing her shoulders for protection and spinning to see a young woman sitting at a white bar, holding a mug of something that steamed. Her face was intense and angular, and Jinkx immediately backtracked. “I can explain!”
The neighbor, undaunted, merely brought her mug to her lips. “I assume so.”
Jinkx stayed right where she was, wringing her hands. “I’m not a burglar.”
“Didn’t think so,” said the neighbor, looking her up and down.
Jinkx blushed. “I’m cat sitting,”she said as if that explained it all.
The neighbor blinked slowly. “Okay.”
Jinkx swallowed hard, heat rising to her face. “Uh, so the cat -- I’m cat sitting. You already know that. She came in through your window -- sorry about your orchid -- she did that, not me by the way.”
The neighbor smiled and took a sip. “I knew she would.”
It was Jinkx’ turn to be puzzled. “Uhm. what?”
“I hate that fucking orchid,” said the woman simply.
Jinkx knit her brows together. “Then why…?”
“Because my stupid ex got it for me and I pretended to like it and it wasn’t the only thing I pretended to like but I didn’t have the heart to throw it out after I spent so much fucking time to take care of such a needy fucking plant and I didn’t want to be responsible but I know my neighbors cat loves to come into my apartment for some reason and if I put the orchid in front of the window I’d have an excuse to get rid of it.”
Jinkx stood there blinking for a few seconds to process all that. Now that she had more time to size up the neighbor, she noticed brownish purple eyebags on top of sculpted -- if not sunken-in -- cheekbones and chapped lips. Her hair, which was pulled into a knot on top of her head, was oily and likely hadn’t been washed in days.
Jinkx extended her hand and took a few steps forward with a smile. “Hi, I’m Jinkx. I’m looking for my friend’s cat. Sorry to hear about your breakup. I’m willing to sit and listen more about it if you want.”
The woman actually cracked a smile. Her lip split open and started to bleed a little with the stretch, so she sucked the lip back in while she shook Jinkx’ hand. Letting go of the lip, she said “Nice to meet you, Jinkx. I’m Violet. Sorry you have to meet me when I look so gross.”
Jinkx rolled her eyes. “My friend and your neighbor pretty much always looks gross, so I’m used to it.”
Violet offered a safer smile and rested her head on her fist as she leaned back on the bar behind her. “Soph likes to burrow into my bookshelves,” she said, closing her eyes. “You can try and pull her out, but it’s best to just let her decide when she wants to leave.” she sighed. “You’re welcome to pull up a chair. I’d offer you a drink but holding my head up right now takes so much fucking energy.”
“Don’t worry about it,” assured Jinkx. “Maybe you should take a nap.”
Violet shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “I’ve been sleeping for most of the last 48 hours. I have work tomorrow night, there’s things I have to do I just…”
“Don’t have the energy,” finished Jinkx.
Violet’s eyes opened and she was looking far away. “Yeah.”
After making the observation that Violed didn’t really wanna talk right now, Jinkx resolved herself to action. “So if you can tell me where your dustpan is I can clean up that orchid for you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Violet offered weakly.
“You wanna do it?” Jinkx leveled with the woman.
“No…”
Jinkx smiled. “So. Broom? Dustpan? Trash can?”
It took Jinkx only about fifteen minutes to clean up the orchid, as it was only one orchid in one relatively small pot. Violet watched from the bar with an expression that was both sad and ashamed.
“Any last words?” asked Jinkx as she held the long single stalk of the flower above the trash can.
Violet shook her head slowly. “Bombs away, bitch.”
Jinkx dropped the orchid. The trash can had a slow-closing lid, making the orchid’s demise more dramatic as they watched it disappear.
Jinkx asked Violet about supplies and started making herself some tea. “So what’s the story with the orchid?”
Violet groaned. “His favorite flower. So I would always look at it and remember him. And -- get this -- if I let the orchid die, that was a sign I didn't have the ability to keep the relationship alive.” she tapped the bar with long fingernails, morse code for her annoyance.
Jinkx turned on the electric kettle after pouring water in. “I mean count me wrong, but if I wasn’t mistake, prior to Hurricane Sophie, that orchid was doing just fine.”
“Yeah,” Violet breathed. “Wasn’t on my end that the relationship failed.”
Jinkx nodded and leaned over the bar to make eye contact with Violet. “How long did it last?”
“Year and a half.” Violet rubbed her forehead. “Which is a really long time, especially for me.”
When she lowered her hand, Jinkx could see how much she was shaking. Jinkx went about checking Violet’s cabinets as if she owned the place. “You want a sandwich or something?”
Violet shook her head.
Jinkx pulled a tupperware container of sliced cucumber from the fridge and half a loaf of bread from the bread basket. “Well I’m making myself one so if you want one, just let me know.”
Violet was quiet for a little bit, half in her own head, half listening to Jinkx hum showtunes while she assembled two sandwiches. Jinkx cut a diagonal line down the completed sandwiched and placed the halves between the two of them.
Violet picked at half a stray cucumber, squeezing it between her fingers, feeling the cool water leak down her hand. “Jinkx?” she asked. “What’s your longest relationship?”
Jinkx took a bite and puzzled over the question for a bit. When she’d swallowed, she said “ten months, on and off.”
“Really?” Violet seemed charmed, if not reassured. “I just feel like so many of my friends are getting married and having kids and I’m like… two years was my longest and I ended it because I was bored.”
“Hey,” said Jinkx. “I just like to think, half the people who claim to be super happy now are gonna be miserable and divorced in ten years and I’m gonna be rich from not having kids, so.”
Violet pulled the corner off of one of the sandwiches. “That’s a way of looking at it… do you want kids?”
“I feel like I’d adopt a twelve year old when I’m like forty-five. If I had biological children I’d have to deal with like little kids and no thanks. You?”
Violet smiled a little and swallowed her little bite. Her stomach reawakened and remembered she hadn’t eaten in around 12 hours. She grabbed the whole rest of the sandwich. “I feel like… like I like the idea of having kids, but like… I’d just fuck them up, y’know?”
“Mm.” Jinkx swallowed. “See, if I foster a twelve-year-old, they’ve already been in the system--they’re already fucked up. It’s unlikely at that point I’m gonna fuck ‘em up more than they already are.”
Violet nodded. “Smart.”
Hours passed before Sophie was seen skittering over to the window again. This time, Jinkx caught her around her middle, Sophie making her unhappiness known with a grumpy ‘mrrrp,’ and walked to Violet’s front door. Contact information exchanged, Jinkx did the best to hug Violet with a full-sized cat draped over her shoulder. “Thanks for not calling the cops,” said Jinkx. “I can’t afford another night in the slammer.”
Violet chuckled. “Thank you,” she said. “For everything.”
Jinkx looked away, unable to help the blush that rose to her face.