Susan's Story #53 - Kitten Aftermath (Patreon)

Continuing directly after #52, Susan and Nathan bring the injured kitten to a veterinary clinic in a local mall. She really seemed to have connected with the little fella!

I intended to upload this one last week, but that was the day I got pretty sick and opted to delay it another week. Even now, I'm still kinda ill (don't worry I'm staying inside though) but got enough energy to finally get this one out there. :D

Folder with all the angles 

 
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Susan glanced over to the far edge of her desk, smiling at the kitten that’s resting on the pet bed. So much had happened in just one day, she barely believed it herself. Susan took a moment to reflect back on the day, back when she and Nathan took Lucky, her new cat, to the nearby vet inside the shopping center. 

The two found the place pretty quickly, thanks to Nathan’s trips to the mall with Eli and Noah. Once they entered, doubts started to fill their minds. Were they in the right place? It just looked like a regular pet store, with shelves of various items and aquariums against the walls. They looked around for any hints that there would be more to it, but nothing that gave them complete certainty. Fortunately, someone with a polo shirt approached them. The name tag with ‘Lauren’ attached to her upper chest confirmed it.

“Good afternoon you two, how can I help?” She asked in an upbeat tone.

“Ah hi, good afternoon, uh… Lauren.” Nathan started, expecting to do most of the dialogue. But before he could continue, Susan took charge.

“W-we uhm.. found this kitty abandoned in an alley a couple of streets away. We weren’t sure if he was going to be okay, so we bought him with us here. Only… this doesn’t seem to be a.. vet-veterinary clinic?”

The woman, who looked to be the right age to be either of their parents, chuckled. “You’re at the right place! Unfortunately the space here is pretty narrow so we had to tuck it away over there.” She pointed behind her at the door, close to the register.

“Now… may I take a look at this little fella?”

Susan nodded, tilting the box slightly to the woman. She peeked inside briefly before nodding. “Looks to be in good shape. But let’s take him back so I can get a proper look at him.”

They followed her through the door into what seemed to be a waiting room. It had a good handful of seats, separated by tables that carried stacks of magazines to read. Lauren continued to lead them into the examination room. She signaled for Susan to put the box down, and she did so.

“Alright. Let’s see what we’re dealing with here.” She said as she peered into the box, with her hands digging in. She gracefully lifted the kitten with one hand onto the examination table. The orange tabby looked confused, looking around the new environment. Fortunately the kitten stayed put as she inspected him carefully. It didn’t take long before she noticed a wound on the left back leg, almost obscured by the fluffy exterior. She moved the fur aside to get a better look, but the cat tried to stribble itself free.

“Hrm… I’ll have to take a closer look at this…” She paused, now looking at the couple. “If you two could wait in the previous room for a bit, I’ll go see what I can do. Will probably be about half an hour.”

The two nodded and left, taking a seat in the empty waiting room.

“Hrm… I hope he’ll be fine…”

“She seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing.” Nathan brought up. “I mean, if it actually was serious… I feel that she’d either just straight up tell us, or have a different tone in her voice.”

“I guess so, yeah. You pick up on these things way better than I do.”

“Hey, no worries. You’ll get there.” Nathan comforted with a smile. He glanced around the room, looking for potential topics to pass the time with. Coming up empty, he reached over for one of the newspapers and started browsing through it. Susan caught wind of it, reaching for a different newspaper.

Nathan browsed to a page of advertisements, of which one was a note that started with “HELP WANTED”, with the specifications in as many abbreviations as possible. The name and job description sounded familiar. But that’s when it hit him, it was for this store. He didn’t see any posters out in the store, but they weren’t inside for very long either so he could've missed them.

“Okay. So, I’m about to say something crazy.”

“Huh?”

“This seems like a pretty peaceful place right? They’re actually looking for help here.”

“W-what? As what?”

“As a store clerk, look here.” He brought up the newspaper and passed it onto her. She read through the section.

“I don’t know…”

“It’ll keep you busy for the rest of the semester, plus you could make some cash. There’s not really a requirement for it either.”

“Eh...”

“And interacting with customers would give you plenty of practice- well… I’m jumping ahead. We don’t even know if she’d agree, but I think it would help you a lot. And I’m sure you can do it.” He said, caressing her shoulder before giving her some space.

Susan didn’t respond and opted to contemplate the option Nathan just gave her. She’d much prefer to decline and spend her time just by herself. But… that was the easy way out. The safe option. She had taken that option for most of her life, ever since that one time where going out of her comfort zone went completely south. When she thought about it, ever since that time, she was extremely quick to dismiss any option if she failed prior or didn’t know much about it. If back then, approaching Nathan at college had not worked out, she probably never would’ve tried that ever again. Just to avoid the potential embarrassment and pain, maybe to end up never trying to invest into a relationship. So following that instinct, she automatically felt like declining it. The sheer thought of having to interact with customers on a daily basis was more than enough to cause distress in her mind, let alone her having an actual job for the first time in her life.

Susan shook her head. No… I’m so tired of this. Of all of this. She had done so well lately, and it was all thanks to Nathan. Her love for him trumped any almost form of anxiety, as long as he was there. He made her do activities she never imagined enjoying a year ago. But losing the internship spot was essentially a relapse to her. It made her realize she was still the same insecure, anxiety-filled girl that didn’t know how to make any friends. It all felt like an illusion that shattered in a thousand pieces. Despite all that, she had faith in someone else. That person being her significant other, the person who still loved her for all of her faults. Nathan. He actually believed it would help her with her problems, it resonated with her. The concept of him trusting her to deal with the personal hardships, was the spark that ignited the same thought in a new light. What if she actually worked there? Her mind started to fill with opportunities. Challenges, but ones that felt like it was worth taking the risk for. If it made him happy, she'd do it. She couldn’t help but smile.

“Maybe…” Susan couldn’t bring herself to say that he was right. She didn’t want to disappoint him if she ended up backing out, yet another effect of her instincts. “Let’s just… see if she’s open to it…”

“That’s the spirit.” He said happily, reaching over to kiss her on the cheek. “I’m already proud of you.”

“P-please… I haven’t even done anythi-” Before she could finish her sentence, the door opened. The veterinary stood there with a big smile, beckoning them to come inside again.

They reentered the examination room, with the kitten sleeping on a blanket. Susan looked at the cat with a concerned face.

"No need to worry, I sedated him to make sure I could treat the wound properly. He's going to be just fine."

"Ah, that's such a relief…" She took a deep breath, relieved but somewhat still stressed out on what she and Nathan talked about.

"You two said you found him in some alleyway?"

"Yeah." Nathan started, while Susan walked up to the kitten. Waiting for the non-verbal confirmation to pet him before doing so. "In a residential area. We only noticed him because he was meowing. And he was really affectionate with Susan right off the bat."

"Hrm… most likely someone couldn't take care of him. Why they wouldn't take him to an adoption center is beyond me…"

"Oh! Can we- I… I mean, can I adopt him instead?" Susan blurted out.

"Of course you can! I was secretly hoping for that, you really seem to care about the kitten, huh?"

"Hehe… yeah. It just clicked, like… like they say."

"Perfect, we'll have to make a few arrangements and schedule a checkup in a couple of weeks when they would also neuter him."

---

Once they tended to the documents, Lauren gave some general tips to taking care of Lucky, his new name given by Susan. The vet emphasized the first few weeks are important since he's still quite young, as adoptable kittens usually are several weeks older. Not to mention the wound, that cats oftens tend to bite open. To help that she gave Susan a pet-cone, in case that he starts doing so.

Afterwards, she guided the couple through the store, picking up the essential items such as a scratching post, cat litter box and some toys. 

"Alright, I believe that's everything!" Lauren said, leaving the counter to give them a proper handshake.

"Thank you so much for all of your help." Susan said, gladly shaking her hand. Nathan gave her a sneaky nudge in her side before Lauren shook his hand.

"S-so uh… we noticed that you were looking for some help in the store."

"Oh yup, what about it? Ooh! You'd like to work here?" 

Susan gave the biggest nod she could, messing up her hair in the process.

"That would be great! I have a hunch you'll do just fine here. How about… we discuss the details, say… tomorrow? Or would college interfere with that?"

"Tomorrow's good!" 

"Well, so..." Nathan started. "-she ran into some issues getting an internship that was completely out of her control. Basically giving her a lot of free time this semester."

"Aah, gotcha. Then you could even work full-time huh? Ah listen to me, I'm getting ahead of myself! We'll talk about the possibilities tomorrow then." 

After saying their goodbyes, Susan and Nathan head back to their place, now with Lucky and a whole lot of stuff for him at their side.