Catnip

02 | In Which Caleb is Outnumbered

"I just gotta see Marnie." He leans up and kisses Mom's cheek because, despite hating all forms of affection, he knows her weaknesses better than she does herself. "You'll feed the cat for me, right?"

"What, you really think I'd neglect her?"

"Caleb would," Maya mutters. Caleb smirks in his younger sister's direction; she glares and flips him off.

"Fine, you're excused. But be back for five, OK? Oh, and tell the twins I said thanks!"

"Thanks for what?" He doesn't want to know but he has to ask. Though he can already hazard a guess at where this is heading.

"Didn't Marnie tell you? I met them in the pet store this morning!" Mom's face lights up in the same way it always does whenever Marnie and Daniel are brought into the equation. If she wasn't such a model citizen, she'd probably have kidnapped them and claimed them as her own kids by now. "They helped me pick out the perfect scratch post for Margo."

"Mom, get real. We're not naming the cat after someone's dead grandma."

"Caleb –"

"Margo's cool," Maya supplies, lips curving in what can only be described as a devil smile.

(Translation for: right back at ya, bitch.)

"Whatever. I'm out." Caleb makes a break for the door, feeling more than a little outnumbered.

(And more than a little convinced that the-evil-cat-that-shall-never-be-named-Margo is watching his every move.)

            ~    ~    ~

In his haste to escape, he forgot to pick up his cell phone. Now he's stuck outside Marnie's house pounding his fist bloody against the door (because Marnie's incessant ringing of the doorbell eventually led to the battery's demise) and he's pretty sure she wouldn't notice he was here even if he stripped off and started humping the mailbox.

Which he'd never do. Honest.

The worst part is, he knows it's probably unlocked and he could saunter in if he damn well pleased. But he'd blow up on anyone who did that in his house, and he hates feeling like a hypocrite, so instead he's opted to wait it out on the wraparound porch in the hopes that Daniel or either of their parents will eventually hear his cries.

(Odds are categorically slim.)                                                             

(But the odds of Katniss cat-hating Everdeen making it to her eighteenth birthday were categorically slim too, so what the hell?)

After two and a half minutes of standing around like a useless moron, he sighs and slouches down on the top porch step. On a normal day, he wouldn't mind waiting out here so much. It's pretty enough: a large split-level ranch, faded white in color, with a low-pitched roof and pine-rimmed windows. Marnie's mom, an architect, got permission from the town council to design and construct the whole thing after they moved out here from Texas, and despite not having an artistic bone in his body even Caleb has to give her props. The whole place has this secluded, earthy feel to it, an ideal sanctuary for hermits like him.

But today's not a normal day. Today's a shitty day – wind howling, clouds fat black blobs waiting to burst – and Caleb's freezing his balls off. Definitely not in the mood for admiring or thinking or reflecting.

He gives it another five minutes before he gives up and accepts that no one's coming for him. Funny thing is he knows someone's in there; he can hear the TV blaring, volume turned up to its limit, and considering how Marnie's practically deaf from all those days wasted at the shooting range it's no doubt her. But he doesn't have the patience to wait out here a minute longer, hypocritical or not. Climbing to his feet, Caleb asks himself, What's the worst they can do? Bring out the M16? and then proceeds to step inside, caution be damned.