Playing House - Aki & Under

[Undesirable]

Playing House

Jamie woke up with a small headache. He didn't want to wake up so early but he had to take his little sister, Lucy, to the nursery. He only took her occasionally when his parents were away. They were away this week, on some trip to California. They had left him, Lucy, and his older brother Jake in charge of the house. Of course, Jake was at some girls house twenty-four-seven so it was Jamie's job to take care of the little two year old.

The seventeen year old stood up from bed. The sun outside was shining brightly, lightening up his whole room. The red, orange, and bright yellow sun rays were almost stabbing him in the eyes. Yawning, and wiping the sleep from his eyes he pulled on a white shirt, cream jeans and a pair of white socks; he had no intentions of dressing up today. Walking out of his room he quickly grabbed his phone, cream hoodie and school bag. He dropped the bag in front of the door, and pulled on his hoodie. The same boring routine he did every day. He could hear Lucy stomping around in her room. For a two year old, she was pretty good at walking on her own. The advantage (and disadvantage) of living in a bungalow with a small child was that she could move around everywhere on her own without the worry of falling down stairs. The only true problem was that Lucy had learnt where the toilet was. It turned out that spilling water all over the floor was her hobby.

Jamie stumbled into her light pink room full of white, expensive, oak furniture and opened the window out of habit. A cool breeze filled the room. He sniffed the air. Fresh grass. He loved that smell, there was something about it, something that always made him smile. He looked at his little sister playing with her hammer and pegs. He never quite understood how a child could be so interested in hammering colored pegs over and over and over again."C'mon Lucy." He muttered, scooping the small ginger girl into his arms. He dressed her into a light pink summer dress, fed her and strapped her into the pink car seat, all in under twenty minutes. Himself he forgot about breakfast, and rushed out of the house.

The small private nursery Lucy went to was near to his high school, so he didn't have to worry about being late. It was less than a five minute walk really. He dropped his sister off into her classroom, waved, hugged, and kissed (man was this child clingy) her goodbye and scrambled back into his car. The drive to school took him less than two minutes. He parked his white convertible in front of the school building, grabbed his white bag and phone from the front seat and locked the car. He sighed pulling the bag onto his shoulder and walked into the school, crowds of people pushing past him. He noticed Jake standing over at his locker, arm around that pathetic red headed slut. From what Jamie had heard at the age of sixteen she had slept with every single guy in her school year. He wasn't surprised when Jake told him that she was staying back a year.

Jamie wasn't the only one who thought their relationship was wrong. His parents, Anna and Mark Anderson, were so strict when it came to relationships that Jamie didn't even bother. Their children were not allowed to be with someone who was older (or younger), someone who was from a lower class, someone who they simply didn't like, or had heard rumors about, and god forbid one of their children was gay. They probably would have disowned them. Many times they had tried to stop Jake from seeing the red head, but now that he was eighteen they had no choice. He was an adult and could see whoever he wanted to. But did he really have to see that pathetic, cheap girl?

Jamie was so different from his brother though. If a girl asked him out he would simply mutter something about being busy, this happened quite often, and Jamie was slowly running out of excuses. He was beginning to think that one day he would actually have to say yes. No thankyou. He stayed far away from girls, and boys mind you, and if he didn't look like a spitting image of his older brother, you would have never guessed they were related.

—

Fourth, and last, lesson of the day, and Jamie was absolutely exhausted. His headache had worsened, and the rating of some blonde girl in front of him wasn't helping. The teacher, a large stocky woman who always seemed to have the same clothes and the same tight bun, walked into the class and the blonde slipped down from his desk and sat at her own on the other side of the class. He rolled his eyes as she winked to him, and opened his book. 'How to take care of a little one; ages 0-6'. He sighed. Parenting and Childhood Development class was his least favorite class of all time. Why did they even need to learn this? Most of the people in his class had younger siblings that, just like Jamie, they had to take care of every day. Throughout most of the lesson Jamie zoned out. The teacher rambled on and on about diapers and feeding. Boring.

"Now class, there is one special assignment you have. This will take up at least 3-4 weeks of your free time."

Jamie opened his eyes. He looked around the class, most of the students had the same 'I-just-woke-up' expressions on their faces. His eyes drifted to a red head boy at the back of the class who looked absolutely disinterested. Jamie frowned. It was the guy who he always stayed away from. He didn't know why he did, it was just natural. Every time he saw the guy in the corridor he would give in to talking to a girl, or be suddenly extremely interested in something inside of his locker. It was a habit on his part. The other just seemed to ignore him, and never looked Jamie's way.

Jamie looked back at the teacher. He hadn't realized it, but all the time he was staring at the guy at the back of the class, the teacher had been talking for almost ten minutes. How embarrassing. There was an one hundred percent chance that the guy saw him. Shit.

"So that's all you have to do. Remember the sensor inside will tell me when the baby —"

Baby? What fucking baby? Jamie looked up and saw a small baby in the teachers arms. A plastic baby, actually. It looked so real. The small strands of hair on its forehead. The real clothes, bulging nappy, pacifier. Everything. His eyes widened. This was their assignment?! A plastic doll? He gazed around the classroom, expecting people to be in the same state of shock. The guys already had their moment of awe, and the girls were almost jumping out of their seats with excitement. He noticed the blonde girl from before leaning forwards looking at the teacher intently. She was reading out names of the partners. Jamie listened carefully. When the blondes name, she was apparently called 'Ella', was called out, and some guy he didn't quite catch, she looked back at him with a small pout. He frowned, and continued listening to the teacher at the front.

She was reaching the end of the list. Then Jamie realized that there was more guys in the class than girls. He swore under his breath as he realized there were only two people left in the class. I think you can guess who they were.

[AkiBlue]

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The alarm was shut off nearly as it turned on. Disheveled red hair was ruffled as Austin yawned. The eighteen year old male slid off his futon bed and shook his head. As he took a step forward, there was a soft meow at his feet. "Morning Oreo." The black and white kitten meowed and purred again rubbing against his leg. He leaned down and petted the kitten before sleepily walking to the bathroom. Oreo followed Austin eagerly, but stopped before the door was shut on him.

Oreo, a small black and white kitten, was once a stray before Austin saved him from a stray dog. In the house, it was just him and Austin. A quiet life. Austin's mother had died years ago, and his dad left him on his own. At first, Austin had been crushed, but now it was an every day thing. "Come on Oreo. Breakfast time." Austin, now dressed in jeans and a royal blue tshirt, picked up his kitten and walked through the small apartment into the kitchen. The apartment itself had a black, red, and design. Being the only one inhabiting the area, it was fairly clean. Sometimes it looked unnaturally clean, like tv ads and magazines.
A clock on the wall depicted that he had twenty minutes before he needed to be at school. French toast and cat food, of course the cat food being for Oreo.
He had made that mistake once...once.

"Alright Oreo. I'm going to school now. You know the drill." As if on cue, Oreo turned away and rested on a couch, waiting for his owner's return. Austin flung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the apartment. Thankfully, the school wasn't too far away. Everything went smoothly...enough. Wake up. Eat. School. Home. Nothing more, nothing less.

~~

School was something of a bore. Austin's status was not so much a loner, but not so much there really. He had plenty of friends, yet stayed...the "mysterious" kid or no one understood him. Austin didn't understand it himself, but went with the flow. As he walked in the school, there were two girls. One blonde and one a brunette, both with green eyes. Their names escaped Austin every time they approached him.
It was the same as always, they flirted, and he pushed them away, sometimes a bit too harshly. This particular day seemed to be such. Both were sent away, sadden.

Three classes later...

Austin slouched in his chair, tired from all of the other classes; it didn't help that he hated this class. Parenting and Child Development was it? He didn't plan on having a kid. Oreo was enough.
For the first few minutes or so, Austin drifted to sleep, until the word project came up to conversation.

He tried his hardest to pay attention, but a pair of eyes were practically burning into his skull. His eyes met the male's only for an instant. Austin knew of the guy, but never once spoke to him. The guy didn't seem to like him very much anyway. Names were being called out and he only let out a soft sigh.

"Since the girl to boy ratio is uneven...Austin and Jamie you'll have to be partners."

Austin blinked and slid lower into his desk as giggles sounded through the class. "Great..." He muttered and sighed.
The teacher reviewed over the project and then told the students to pair up and get acquainted before getting their babies.
Well...
Austin slowly got up and found a seat by the guy that had been staring at him. It was an awkward an silent first few minutes when he sat next to him, until Austin's green eyes looked over to Jamie.
"Uh...Hi."

[Undesirable]

Jamie stopped breathing. Quite literally. He held his breath. He didn't want to be paired up with the boy so much. Why was it that every single time there was a class project, there was something wrong, and Jamie always had to either work on his own, or with his worst enemy? He knew he was unlucky, but really?

He faltered at the boys name. His breath released, and a good job too, one more minute longer and who knows what would have happened. Austin. So that was his biggest fears name. Austiiiiiinnn. Jamie almost laughed to himself, but since the whole class was looking at him, and he'd look like a right idiot, he decided not to in the end. What was it with the boy that he always seemed to feel so awkward in the strangest situations? He was so socially awkward when it came to new people, he would just stand there quietly, and in the end, people would get bored an walk away.

He looked at the boy as he walked up to Jamie. His fire engine red hair startled Jamie. He almost would have considered that Austin was that slutty red head's brother or something, if it wasn't for the fact that the other boy didn't look like a player and/or flirt. He looked quite normal to be honest. Jamie smiled this time, but only to make himself, and the 'stranger' feel more comfortable. The boy sat next to him, and there was an awkward silence. Just as he was about to speak, the red head looked at him and poke.

"Uh...Hi." Jamie could sense unease in the others voice.

He looked up, and noticed the boys green eyes, which were almost as startling as his hair. Wait, why was he noticing all this little shit for? He huffed to himself and slumped more in his chair.

"Hi," He muttered out, "It's so not fair! Why is it always me that gets put in weird pairs? Like she couldn't have chosen two other guys, but no it had to be me!" He blushed at his small rage attack. "Sorry, I got carried away, but you know what I mean? It's not fair." Once again, he shifted. Saying more than two sentences was strange, and to a stranger.

Well, Jamie thought to himself, I wouldn't really consider each other strangers. We see each other almost everyday, I practically know his route around the school. Stalker. Lol. Shut up Jamie. He smirked slightly at the argument in his head, he was so immature sometimes.

[AkiBlue]

After starting said 'conversation', Austin searched for something to stare at. It was harder than it looked, seeing that all the posters in there had been read countless of times. He tried not to stare at Jamie- there didn't need to be any more reasons why this boy suddenly disliked him. Though that admittedly was weird too- after all, he had never done anything to offend him. Maybe he was just one of those red head haters, or just disliked the world. The thought of it made him run fingers through his hair. This strange contact sat uneasily with him as he shifted in his seat and played with the edge of his black binder labelled in oddly nice handwriting: 'The Class I'll Never Need...or Parenting and Childhood Development.' It was a pretty long title, yes.

Suddenly the quiet blonde spouted an outburst, making Austin jump slightly. That was the last thing he expected- well for him to talk. "Uh, yeah-" He really needed to stop starting his sentences with 'Uh', it was making him sound stupid an illiterate, which he could prove he wasn't. "I understand. But I guess we just ended up being the...unlucky group." Austin gave a small shrug and looked down at his desk, letting his mind wander off to wherever. Mainly hoping that Oreo hadn't scratched the furniture again, but that was besides the point.

"Remember class! This is a paired assignment. Therefore that excuse of 'step children and every other day parenting' or all that other nonsense Matthew and Willow were sputtering does NOT count. I don't care f you have to live at your partner's house. Make it happen."

More giggles and groans were heard. Austin ruffled his hair still looking at the desk. "This is going to be...interesting." Austin started to suggest his empty place but the teacher began calling them up.

"Jamie. Austin. Come get your proje- I mean your new baby. It's a boy."

She gave a small smirk and held up the blonde baby boy up. This lady wanted to make their lives miserable- at least Austin thought so. The doll wore a dark green shirt and shorts, along with socks. There was a bracelet on the 'kid' that had its name on it. *Well it has his hair.* Austin thought to himself trying to lift his spirits.

Austin looked at Jamie before slowly getting up. Already, 'couples' were examining their 'kids' and trying to figure out how this assignment was going to work.

[Undesirable]

Jamie shifted as the boy spoke, the other seemed so uneasy, he wondered what he was doing that was stressing Austin out so much... He looked up as the teacher spoke. Their baby. Jamie, stupidly, almost felt like he had just delivered the child, and now she was telling them it was a boy. He suppressed a groan. Secretly inside he may have been wishing it was a girl.

The doll was dressed neatly, a pair of shorts, a top, pretty white socks. It even had blonde hair a similar shade to Jamie's, how adorable! He wondered if they could buy new clothes for the baby, oh! Maybe they could even buy pyjamas! Jamie remembered they also had to buy diapers. Seeing as they had loads at home from Lucy, they could borrow some, although they were a bit....pink. Jamie smiled to himself.

They walked up to the front of the classroom and Jamie scooped the baby up from the woman, holding it like a real child. To be honest, taking care of a baby wasn't so bad. After all, he had been doing it for two years now. He looked at the little label on its wrist. In scruffy teachers writing is said something, but Jamie hated the teachers handwriting, so he couldn't decipher it. He nudged Austin and looked toward the label.

"What does it say? I can't read her writing to save my life." He whispered, leading them both back to his desk, holding the doll all the way.

"So, we need to figure out how we can both look after the baby...together I suppose... My house is pretty big, and my parents are away for at least another month or so, so you can stay at mine, if your parents let you, you can sleep over." Jamie blushed at the offer. Really? He was going to let a stranger sleep over at his house?

Well done, Jamie.

Jamie was sure that even if his parents came back from Cali they wouldn't mind. After all, it was a school project, homework, they would do anything for Jamie to get the highest marks, so therefore they would also let Austin over. Even if they didn't like him. That was one thing that Jamie knew his parents wouldn't reject. Past Lucy, Jamie's education was the most important things in their lives. Sad really, but true.

[AkiBlue]

Austin slipped his hands into his pockets as he followed Jamie up to the teacher's desk. Thankfully when they got up there, Jamie collected the baby in his arms because Austin had no intent of doing such. He could say he didn't have experience- no, he didn't have experience. Again, unless you say taking care of a pet is experience. Austin on the other hand, was curious to know the kid's name. Unfortunately Jamie couldn't read it, so Austin was required to step a little closer and bend down to see. He lifted the doll's arm and then squinted a little. The teacher's writing was terrible. It looked as though she rushed through it.

"It...It says...Fe..T- Oh ha, it says Felix." Austin chuckled lightly at his faltering, but straightened up and stepped back. "The doll-kid- uh boy, his name is Felix."
He repeated just to make sure Jamie heard. Afterward, he slipped back into his desk and pushed his binder in his backpack. Class was nearly over after all. Austin began pondering how this would work- along with the other humble of kids in the class. Some were excited, but majority got paired with someone they didn't know. Or boyfriends and girlfriends didn't get paired. *There goes their relationships.* Austin thought with a small smirk.

It was then he realized Jamie began speaking. Wow, this guy never talked to him this much- at all for that matter. "Staying over...at your place?" Austin seemed to shrug nonchalantly. Would my parents mind? Well of course not! The crude sarcasm in Austin's mind was a heartless one. "Sure I ca-n't do that." He had a small responsibility at home. "Sorry. I have a small...pet to take care of. He'd get...lonely" The kitten part seemed a bit out of character for Austin, so he decided to save that for a later surprise. "My place is- it's pretty small but durable. Though I'm sure we'd need more space..." He knew the project was important, so he had to figure something out. Either he stays with Austin, or Austin stayed with Jamie. "So yeah...unless you don't mind him coming over as well. He's pretty small, and doesn't make too much of a mess."

He paused and blinked. Why was he giving out this information? They hadn't even decided on a place to stay and Austin was already suggesting- The final bell rang and shattered his thoughts. The kids in the class got up a little slower this day, and walked out instead of ran. The teacher began packing her things to leave as well.
Oh yeah, did life forget to mention that the next day was a weekend?
Austin moved to a stand and grabbed his bag. The way Jamie held the kid showed the experience- so he was going to let Jamie lead this project. "I say you decide...you seem to know what you're doing." Saying such, he gestured to the kid. Oddly enough that's when he realized the kid had bright...lifeless green eyes. God he hoped his eyes didn't look like that. And did the teacher sit there and find perfect babies to fit the specific pairings in class?!

[Undesirable]

Felix? What an awkward name. Jamie came from a family of minimalists. Their parents chose possibly the simplest names they could muster. I mean, Lucy? Come on. That name is so common! Jamie was surprised he wasn't called Jacob or something. Wasn't that the most common name in the USA? Nonetheless, Jamie was close enough, and Jake. As if Jake and Jamie were any different. His parents own names were so common. He was convinced that when he would have a child he would name it something unique. But not Felix, Felix was the name of his grandfathers cat.

Jamie smiled when the guy mentioned a cat. Aw, how cute, he would do anything to make sure his kitten would be safe. Jamie almost swooned out loud, but he stopped himself, reminding himself that people would think he was weird or something.

"Hmm, what if I don't let you bring the cat over?" Jamie teased. "I can't leave my little sister alone at home, she's only two.. Unless you want me to bring over my stock of baby milk, a whole stack of nappies and a bunch of baby toys over to your house?" He paused and smiled.

"Of course your little pet can come over," He nodded, before the other boy could reply, "We have two little pug puppies and a Persian kitten. Our house is pretty big, so you don't have to worry about the space for your pet. Besides, I'm sure it will make friends with Bella straight away. She's so friendly and everything. How old is your pet? All of our pets are no more than four weeks old each, we have food for older pets too, but just making sure."

Jamie stood up and picked up his bag from the floor. He shoved his book and pens into the bag and swung the bag over his shoulder.

"So yeah, do you want to come over straight away? I have a car, we would have to pick up Lucy first, and then we can go to your house to get some clothes and your pet. If you run out of clothes or something, we could always go shopping, or I could give you some of my clothes.. If you want.. It's easier that way, isn't it? "

They walked out of the classroom, Felix in Jamie's arms. He felt a bit embarrassed that he was holding a plastic baby, and walking with a boy. Seriously, why was he not paired with a girl?! The blonde from before, again, walked up to him and smiled shyly. She had a sorry look on her face. She obviously wanted to have Jamie as a partner. Tough. Besides, it wasn't like she was happy with who she was paired with instead. A brunette stocky jock walked up to her and snaked his arm around her waist. He handed her the baby and grumbled 'Let's go' in a terribly low voice. The blonde did as she was told, but Jamie couldn't miss the fact that she slyly turned around and blew him a small kiss. Ew.

[AkiBlue]

Austin blinked and ran fingers through his hair. For some reason he continued doing that. At first, he didn't catch it as a teasing manner but eventually caught on. He sighed softly and smiled. "Well your house sounds pretty alive. Oh- he's just a kitten. Pretty young." Austin followed his partner out the class door. "Um, want me to carry your bag for you? Since you know..." He awkwardly gestures to the kid he was holding. It was kind of weird, but it did seem necessary to ask.

"I guess we might as well start right away. Who knows when that thing will start...being a baby." As he walked by Jamie, his eyes wandered everywhere but at the kid and Jamie. It was embarrassing enough to be partnered with the guy, it only made it worse to have to walk through the school him as well. "Yeah, there's no problem with taking your car. I walked to school."

As they headed toward the parking lot, Austin spotted the only person besides himself with red hair. Although hers was a little darker, it was still quite noticeable. Alexia. Legend had it- or the rumor that went around, was that Alexia and Austin were related. Sadly, that rumor was true. She so happened to be his older sister, yet he never had contact with her. Alexia stayed with their deadbeat dad. Somehow, she was picked as the child who was going to grow up to be someone in life. -But that was a sad life story for another day. When he noticed her, she was leaving with a different guy from...two weeks ago. How ironic that he looked awfully similar to...Jamie? Maybe it was his imagination.

[Undesirable]

"Aww, a kitten! I'm sure that Bella and him will be friends," He smiled at his new 'friend', "Oh, yeah, sure, thanks." He handed over his bag awkwardly, trying hard not to drop the baby or let anything disastrous to happen.

They walked out of the school, and into the parking lot. He pulled out his car keys from his back pocket with one hand, balancing the child in the other. He pressed the button and the white convertible flashed. He walked up to the car, leading Austin, and opened the door for his friend.

"You can just dump my bag on the back seat, I don't mind."

He walked around to the driver's side and opened the door, the baby nearly falling. He somehow managed to get into the car. He sat down and shoved the keys into the ignition.

"Would you mind holding the kid for me?" He nodded to Austin, holding out the baby.

They arrived at the nursery, literally a minute later. Jamie jumped out of the car.

"I'm just gonna go get Lucy, I'll be back in a second."

The nursery was a rather small, but for a nursery it was decorated with some serious technology and 'bling'. The walls were covered with animal print wallpaper, pictures of toys, teddy bears scattered all over the floor. Little toddlers were running about everywhere. From what Jamie knew, only about twenty kids went to the private nursery. This meant that Lucy often had parties, or play groups, and even friends over at their house. It was nice to see see her grow up nicely with a group of friends that she had known from the age of six months. Being as busy as they were, Jamie's parents often went for business trips, practically every month, in fact. When the kids were younger, and Lucy wasn't around, they would have an au pair. When Lucy was born, Anna only took six months off work to take care of her newborn, and as soon as she could she enrolled the baby into the highest class nursery she could find. As if that would replace the years of missed childhood with her parents. It was similar for the oldest sibling. When Jake was born, his parents spent time with him till he was four, and went to preschool. A private preschool. Then a private kindergarten. Then a private school, and now high school. Again, private.

Jamie though, oh, that story was different. At the age three months Jamie was already enrolled in a private nursery, but not the best nursery there was. This one was full of snobby kids and rich parents and mothers that walked around in Barbie clothes and chihuahuas in their purses. It made Jamie cringe. At the age of three he was put in a crappy, cheap, public nursery and then a public school. The only reason that they had put Jamie in a private high school was that it was so close to Lucy's nursery and he could take her every day. Jamie knew that the oldest and youngest would receive the best treatment. Jake was the oldest, and the first boy, and Lucy was the first girl. To his parents all that Jamie was, was an accidental kid. They had even told him that they were expecting a girl instead of him.

Jamie could easily see Lucy from the crowd of kids. Her curly ginger hair stood out everywhere. But it wasn't a bad thing, she looked so cute. She was playing with a little raven girl with a dollhouse and some little dollies. Jamie scooped her up quickly, thanked the nursery manager, and walked out with the toddler squirming in his hands.

"Who's dat?" She asked curiously, pointing at the car, where she had obviously seen Austin. "A friend.." Jamie replied, trying to strap the fidgeting girl into the pink car seat.

"Will you keep still for god's sake?!" He muttered, as Lucy tried to escape from the seat. "What is it?" She pointed to the doll in Austin's arms with her chubby pink finger, "Can I play?" She asked curiously, trying to reach for the doll. "It's a project, Lucy, leave it!" He managed to strap her in, and closed the door, sighing.

He hopped into the driver's seat and fastened his seat belt.

"Right, so where do you live?"

[AkiBlue]

Austin held Jamie's bag in one hand as he carried his own on his back. When they made it to the car, he did as he was instructed and put both bags in the back of the convertible. Austin had missed the almost incident of the baby falling to its doom, but if he had seen it he would've probably cringed in fear.

"I kind of mind.." He chuckled lightly, but took the doll. He held it with precaution, almost as if it would break at the slightest touch- or worse, explode at the slightest movement. He awkwardly rested it on his lap, so it was leaning against his right arm, facing Jamie. His free hand kept the baby from moving. At all. Though even so, Austin still managed to have a gentle grip on the doll. "I'll...uh..be here?"

Hopefully Jamie didn't hear his sputtered words. He waited patiently, occasionally glancing at the doll on his lap. "What did I do to deserve this...?" He mumbled to himself.

Minutes later, Jamie returned with a toddler in arms. He was expecting an adorable blonde baby, but got an adorable ginger baby. Interesting. "Hi, I'm Austin." He spoke in a soft and almost sweet manner- nothing like the nonchalant tone earlier. When she reached for the doll, Austin subconsciously pulled it closer to him in a protective manner. "You know Lucy. I really like your hair. It's a nice color and really curly." He smiled and turned forward.

"Go back toward the school. (Even though the school is like right there) Except go all the way down to the light and then make a left. The apartments are easy to spot."

The ride took only about five minutes, unlike his usual 15 to get to school. "It's the third on the left." Austin said as the convertible passed a sign: The Meadows' It wasn't that bad of a place. Everything was clean and well...civilized. Unlike what one probably would've expected. "I'll be back in a flash." He slid the doll into his seat and rushed to his house.

Upon entering, Oreo meowed his greeting and was petted. "Oreo we are going on a little trip and I have to pack." The kitten only watched his human run toward his room grabbing a premeditated "survival bag". It consisted of about two weeks of clothes and hygienic stuff. He scooped up his kitten in one arm gaining a soft shriek as he held on for dear life. "We can't keep them waiting."

It would've been smarter to let the two sit inside while he did this- but he was more focused on getting in and out. Austin slipped a red collar on Oreo and then went out the door, heading back to the car. This all happened in the span of 18 minutes. "Uh, sorry to keep you waiting." Austin slipped back into the car, making sure he didn't sit on the doll. "Your house it is." He breathed, trying to catch his breath from the running. Oreo let out a soft and confused mew as he sat in Austin's lap. "Jamie, Lucy. Oreo." Austin said gently before petting him to calm him down.