Neena had spotted our furry friend in the shower this morning, meaning that I spent a good one hour chasing it until it escaped through the window and down the fire escape.

'I'm buying poison', I said putting my hand on my head.

'And who's gonna scoop it up after it dies?', she asked.

Good point.

Anyways, the whole fiasco cost me my morning breakfast so I found myself listening to my stomach instead of the presentation on the Medici family's contribution to Italian architecture.

It finally reached a point where I couldn't think so I said that I had to go to the nurse's office and made a swift exit.

What? Being hungry is a serious thing. You could faint.

Says the person who hasn't fainted in her entire life.

The nurse's office I chose was small cafe right outside of campus named Elixir, whose name now seemed to make sense.

As I waited for the barista to bring my blueberry-jumbo-muffin, my eyes caught the familiar face of a man exit the store. My heart suddenly decided to lodge itself in my throat as I recognized those ash eyes.

It was an uncontrolled move which caused me to run out of the cafe which caused the barista to call after me but I had to make sure I wasn't dreaming but I was too late as I realized he had become a part of the crowd.

I returned to my seat feeling confused.

'I thought you forgot your order', said the barista as she put down my muffin and latte.

'The man who just left, he had grey eyes and dark hair right? A small scar near his lip?', I asked in a gibberish rush.

'Um, yeah I remember seeing his scar and wondering how that happened', she said with a puzzled look.

'You know him?', she asked.

'Yeah'

I felt like I had just seen someone who died come back to life because that was exactly how I had left.

When relationships get out of hand, I tend to take the cowards way and run without prior warning. In this case, he knew I was running and cut me off on the bridge to safety. I being the crazy dramatic teen I was, chose to burn it with us both standing on it. I ran through the flames unhurt until I reached the other side and screamed as the burns started to seep in but I was safe. Back then, that was all that mattered. I didn't even turn to see if he was alright.

And now here he was as if karma had decided to finally pay me back with interest.

'Are you alright?', asked Ethan as we drove back after class.

'Oh yeah', I lied. I didn't feel like sharing my morning flashback with him.

'You look perplexed', he said.

'We have a rat', I replied.

'You're worried over a rat?', he asked stunned.

'The whole poisoning it and then scooping it', I said and realized that this was actually something I was concerned about and now thanks to my lie, it was my present thought to be anxious about.

'What's so hard about disposing a rat?', he asked.

'Was that an offer?', I asked.

'Oh yes. I'm a part-time rat disposer as well', he said and I grinned.

'If you see anything furry streak across the apartment feel free to tackle it', I said as I opened the door with the set of spare keys we had finally procured.

'Noted', he said and followed me in.

The lights were all off which meant that Neena had once again fallen asleep so as I traced my arm around the wall searching for the switch, my feet happened to press against something furry.

'Oh my gosh, Neena! Would you please pick up your cushions?!', I exclaimed and picked up the stray cushion which seemed to be unusually heavy and warm?

My free hand found the switch and once they were on, I found myself with a rather furry looking thing cradled in my arm which turned to look at me with shiny green eyes to produce a confused 'Meow'

'Does your friend own live cat-shaped cushions?', asked Ethan.

I screamed and dropped the black cat as I backed up against the wall and watched it run into Neena's room.

'What on earth?!', yelled Neena as she came out of her room.

'THERE'S A CAT IN OUR APARTMENT!', I exclaimed.

'Oh you've met Salem', she replied and went back into her room to get the feline.

'Who's Salem?!', I asked bewildered in her calm manner.

'Our cat! Isn't he cute?', she cooed as she cradled it.

'We have a black cat named Salem?!', I shrieked.

'Well we have a mouse, so we might as well have a cat', she said as if it were the most obvious reason.

'Then why not get a dog to chase the cat?', I asked blankly.

'Isn't that too much?', she asked.

'Ya think?!', I exclaimed still not able to process what had happened.

'Where did you get it from? And if I might ask, why is Salem an adult cat?', asked Ethan who seemed to be enjoying the whole spectacle.

'Well technically, I didn't buy him' she laughed uneasily and Salem jumped out of her hands to come up to me but I glared at him which hardly seemed to have an impact because my leg became his scratching pole.

'What it appeared out of thin air?', I scoffed.

'More like across the hall'

'YOU STOLE FROM CRAZY CAT LADY?!', I asked horrified.

'She had so many! She wouldn't even notice! Isn't that right Salem?', she cooed and the cat meowed back in response.

'Neena, you will return that cat right now',

'Oh the rat ate your chapstick'

'You will return it after it eats the rat'