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Hope huffs as she shoves her phone back into her pant pocket and slams the car’s door in frustration. She now regrets that she decided to take her car instead of calling the driver to pick her up. She could’ve send him to do what she was doing now and at least one of her problems would’ve been solved.
Though when she thinks over it, her certainty doesn’t last long when she enters the third supermarket she found since last hour. Still, haven't found what she's looking for irritating her immensely.
The angry clouds around Hope’s head don’t go away as she storms through the corridors in the shop. How unprofessional can they get from here? It won't surprise me if they show up in their pajamas to the meeting tomorrow. It’s amazing how that company is still even-
She stops with a halt when her eye catches a line of yellow packages on the bottom shelf of the pet section. Hope lets out a sigh of relief and forces herself to feel happy for that one little win. Despite all the stuff she still has to deal with later, it's better than nothing.
Hope doesn't bother to spare a second glance at the woman standing in the middle of the section and goes straight to her prize. Sunflower Cat Food ‘The Best Food For The Best Kitties!’
She picks up two packages, but an afterthought of how she looked for them in two other stores, but she found none until this one makes her take another one just in case.
Practically hugging the packets, she turns to leave but the woman who's been standing in the section stops her by touching her shoulder.
“Excuse me, um- Why did you buy those?” she asks.
Hope frowns at the absurd question before her eyes flicker from head to toe of the tall woman. When she speaks her tone sounds is a bit harsh, “Excuse me?”
The tall woman grimaces briefly and holds up her hands, the motion making her long wool coat to wave. “Sorry- that came out wrong! I mean, I’m staring at this ton of various cat food for almost ten minutes, but honestly I still have no idea which one to buy. But you came, picked one and now leaving under a minute- I just meant to ask why that one since you haven’t spared a glance to the others.”
“Oh,” Hope says, hugging the three bags and not being sure how to answer it exactly. “Honestly, my cat is a prick and he refuses to eat any dry food other than Sunflower. I’ve looked for two other stores before finding it here.”
“Wow,” the woman says, almost horrified. She looks at the shelves filled with cans and packages. “I didn’t think cats could be that picky.”
“Trust me, they can,” Hope says almost sighing. “If you’re buying for a friend I say you should ask them,” she offers.
“No, I- just adopted one and I’ve been giving her leftover pizza since yesterday. Figured I should buy some real cat food, but honestly I wasn’t expecting the dilemma of lamp kidney or tuna fish.”
Hope chuckles. “I say you buy various small packets. See which one she likes most. That’s what I did for Opal anyway.”
“Good idea, thank you,” the woman nods to herself. Then stops Hope in mid-turn when she adds, “Opal is a nice name by the way.”
Hope smiles, “Thank you. What’s her name?”
“Uh, I haven’t named her yet,” the woman takes a small a wet food can too. “I wanted to name her something unique so, I’m not rushing it.”
“Nice,” Hope nods. “Well, goodnight. Hope your cat wouldn’t turn out as picky as mine.”
The woman laughs. “Hope so. Thank you again for your help.”
“No problem,” Hope says over her shoulder and as she goes to register there is small quirk upwards on her lip.
“I’m home little panther!” Hope calls inside to her apartment after she closes the door. “Look, I’ve got your stuff!”
A meow that almost sounds like chuckling fills the little hallway when Opal sprints to the door to greet Hope. Or his food. Hope hopes it isn’t food.
Hope puts the bag to the floor and holds on the wall with one hand as she takes off her high heels. Opal immediately starts to rub himself on her legs before Hope could even take off her second shoe.
“Missed me, huh,” Hope picks him up with one hand and takes the bags from the ground with the other. Opal headbutts her under her chin as she walks to the kitchen. A delighted smile on her red lips.
When they enter the kitchen, Hope glances at Opal’s food and water bowl and sees that Mister hasn’t even touched their food. Hope puts him down and picks up the food bowl to dump the uneaten food and put the food he wants.
“You know, I pity that woman if her cat turns out like you too,” she says, cutting the packet open then pours it to his bowl. Opal’s ears stick up at the sound coming from the counter, and hehe meows softly, pawing her leg. Two beautiful, colorful eyes shining on his black face looks up to her.
“I know, I know. Promise I’ll leave some here or at least bring with me next time we came to New York, okay?”
She puts his food down and just as crunching sounds comes, her phone starts to ring and leaves Hope wondering for a short moment how it’s managed to be silent for fifteen minutes in the first place.
“Alrighty, let's try this one...” Tina says as she tears the thin packet from the dots and pours it to her cat’s bowl. The tall but thin cat watches her from under the dining table, her fluffy, gray tail swinging side to side.
“You know, I’m almost going to be jealous of her,” Queenie says behind her laptop where she was laying on the couch with it on her lap. “You literally follow her around since yesterday and now you seem like you brought the whole section of cat food for her to rate.”
“Hey, the woman’s idea was clever. I was starting to think to give her leftovers one more night and google search on cat food.” Tina sets down the bowl beside the oven and walks away so she can eat her food in peace. “And now we both know she doesn’t like lamb…”
“Yeah, I wish I took that on video. Her barf then swinging it to the wall was amazing,” Queenie giggles at the memory.
“Sure, it’s funny when you’re not the one who cleaned it up,” Tina says.
“Come on! You haven’t even raised your voice and no offense, but if it were me I know you’d make a fuss about it.”
“Probably. At least a bit,” Tina says, sitting next to her sister. “Is she eating? I can’t see it from where I sat.”
Queenie stretches her neck to the side and sees that the cat was eating even if she was reluctant. “Hey, she’s eating! What did you give her this time?”
“Tuna fish I think,” Tina says and smiles. “Mauler likes tuna, huh.”
“Mauler? Please don’t tell me you’ll name your cat Mauler.”
“Too late, I already did,” Tina says. “Haven’t you seen her throw that food away? She’s a mauler. Right, Mauler?”
A muffled meow comes from the cat, making Tina smile and Queenie roll her eyes with a moan.