Suit & Tie

Chapter 47- Tiered tower and foreseeable future

"The cat does not need a four tier tower to climb on," Ian pointed out, arms crossed over his chest in annoyance. "She'd be perfectly fine with one bed."

"Yes, she does. Just like she needs that adorable pink tutu and cat hair bows. And she needs the best kind of food. I don't remember asking for your opinion, anyways."

"I didn't even want to come with you." I stuck out my tongue at him childishly.

"Well, if you didn't own a car, you wouldn't be forced to be my personal chauffeur. Now shut up and grab the box. It looks heavy."

With a final roll of his eyes (which I'd received approximately 100 times since the time we'd entered the pet store), Ian squatted down to grab the elaborate cat tower from the bottom shelf. He was probably right about 2 Chainz not needing the twelve pack of cat toys, cat perfume, and cat toothpaste, but Tyler wasn't here to talk me out of it, and so into the cart they went. After grabbing one last pack of all-natural cat treats (my mother had grown on me, apparently), I deemed we had enough items to accommodate our new kitten comfortably in the apartment.

"Finally," Ian grumbled from behind me. "Took us long enough."

I shot him a glare as I placed the items onto the check-out counter. "It wouldn't have taken so long if you hadn't insisted on arguing about every single item I picked out. Which was pointless, really."

"No, it wouldn't have taken so long if you hadn't spent so much time deciding on the pink or purple hair bow."

"You just don't understand fashion."

"You're just psycho."

"Well," I hummed, swiping my credit card, "I'd rather be psycho and understand fashion than be normal and caught dead in those awful shoes that you're wearing." Ian pouted and my smile grew. "Ready?"

We heaved the massive amount of plastic bags off of the counter and made our way out, where Ian's small car sat waiting for us. With the temperature dropping more and more with each day that passed, I was beginning to abandon walking for a more comfortable drive. Ian turned down the dial for the music as we pulled out of the parking spot.

"So what's up with Shawn ? Kinda left in a rush last night. You two good?"

"Oh, he's fine," I mumbled. "We're totally fine. Just busy. Busy bee, he is. Busy Shawn . Hard-working Shawn ."

"You haven't talked to him, have you?" I pressed my forehead against the window with a sigh.

"He's just busy. Something happened at the office. It's like, I want to text him, but I don't want to bother him, y'know?"

"I'm not really, like, good at advice. You should probably talk to Tyler . Or your mom."

"Tyler is already sick, I'm not going to bother him. And my mother would probably tell me to grow him fresh vegetables or something. And don't even think about mentioning Russo for help, because god knows I'm not going to perform an impromptu play for Shawn ."

"You could, like, text him?" I opened my mouth in protest, only to realize that yeah, I probably could just text my boyfriend. But rather than admit that to Ian , I insisted insulted his intelligence and hid my phone from him as I typed out a quick text.

To:Shawn Mendes , 1:21: everything okay? x

There was no response before we pulled into a parking spot outside my apartment, so I shoved my phone back into my pocket and grabbed a few bags of the pet supplies. I said goodbye to Ian , heaved the bags over my shoulder, and made the trek up to my apartment where the usual crowd was waiting. After setting the items down in the small hallway between my room and Tyler's (which we'd dubbed the 2 Chainz zone, so we could share her adorableness), I plopped down onto the couch beside my mother, who was knitting something that looked somewhat like a pair of socks.