A Second Verse | ONC 2024

Chapter 3: Nikolas

Okay, maybe the sun is my friend, I amend as I tug the curtains open the morning after my arrival at the hotel. While the window of my second floor room offers a not-so-glorious view of the parking lot, the sun's rays stream through it to warm my face in a gentle 'good morning.'

I turn away from the window, my eyes flitting over to the fluffy black void curled up on top of the bed. As I watch, the cat stretches with a squeaky purr, his yellow eyes blinking open. I step closer to rub his chin.

"You hungry?" I murmur as he leans into my touch. As should be expected, Hazard doesn't voice a reply; he just blinks up at me, still purring quietly.

I chuckle and wander over to the side of the room where the tote bag containing the cat's supplies lies. I had set up his litter box and water bowl in the bathroom last night; now, I take out his food bowl and the large plastic container holding his dry food. While I normally feed him a mix of wet and dry food, it's easier—and not as heavy—to just bring the dry mix when traveling.

I pour some of the food into his bowl. As soon as the melodic tinkling of the kibble hitting the metal dish rings out through the room, Hazard leaps off of the bed with a chirp and trots over, his tail held high. 

"Not so sleepy anymore?" I tease with a laugh as he dips his head into the bowl and immediately starts eating. I stroke his back before straightening up, closing the food container and tucking it back into the tote bag.

As I sit down on the edge of the bed and pull out my phone, my eyes light on several text notifications—all from my friend and sent within the last few minutes.

Yasmin: how's your vacation so far??

Yasmin: and how's best boy hazard??

Yasmin: jealous I'm not there with you!!

She's attached a photo of herself, her bottom lip stuck out in an exaggerated pout. I chuckle, opening the conversation and typing back a response.

Me: Not too exciting so far, I just got here last night

Me: Hazard's doing well, I swear he's been sleeping most of the time lol. He's enjoying his food now tho!

I send her a photo of the cat, who's still chowing down. Yasmin immediately likes the photo and replies with several lines' worth of emojis.

Yasmin: god i love him so much

Yasmin: have to get back to work unfortunately, jared's going to kill me otherwise ughh

Yasmin: video call tmrw?

I roll my eyes. While my friend may be exaggerating a little, her boss isn't the nicest guy I've met. I've told her time and time again that she can just find a better, non-Jared-filled, job—there are plenty of other places to make minimum wage—but Yasmin still sticks around. It's probably the free ice cream—the one benefit she seems to get from working at the run-down parlor known as Sweet Scoops.

Me: Sounds good, good luck Yas!

Yasmin: thank youuu, I'll need it

Yasmin: talk to you soon!! <3

I slip my phone into my pocket with a small smile. Hazard has taken a pause from eating and is now wandering around the room, tentatively poking at everything he sees. I chuckle, deciding to snap a few photos to send to Yasmin.

As I settle back onto the mattress to contemplate what to do with my unusually work-free day, I begin to absentmindedly scroll through Instagram. I've never had an especially public life myself. I've posted exactly once: a dump of photos from my graduation two years ago. Other than that, my only real reason for having the app in the first place is to try not to feel so out of touch with the world. That happens a lot.