I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

I carried the final box into the elevator and waited as the door closed and the small space hummed and shuddered.

The apartment was in a luxury apartment building, recently built about two blocks off one of the underground rail stops. It wa the kind of apartment people leaped at when it came available: inexpensive, nice, safe neighborhood, and maybe most of all the rest of the major city was easily accessible.

How Alisha found it and procured it within two days, I wouldn’t understand. She probably knew the owner somehow. I just hoped there wasn’t too much sketchy business happening that could affect Sophia. I hobbled to her unit and managed to nudge the door open with a foot, finally taking the last few steps in before letting the box thunk to the floor and released a breath.

“Thank you, thank you,” Sophia said and finished rummaging through a box of extremely basic cooking supplies. Like me she had spent a semester in a college dorm so she had some of the necessities for living on her own, though looking around, the room felt extremely barren still.

“It’s a nice place,” I sighed and sat down on the box I’d just set down. It was full of text books so it barely even dented from my weight.

“Isn't it too nice for three hundred dollars?” she asked.

I hesitated to answer.

“Alisha probably owns the building,” I explained. “And yeah it's nice but…” the apartment was also pretty small. Or maybe my sense of ‘big’ vs ‘small’ living spaces had been warped by the sizable house Alisha lived in.

But it was basically a bedroom, tiny bathroom and kitchenette with couch and TV next to it. It was clean and modern and not cobbled together.

But most importantly it was very quiet.

No one was waiting to commentate on anyone's choices or lifestyle. There were no floor boards creaking or feet stomping along.

Just us and the silence.

I stood and stretched my legs a bit trying to get blood flowing back into them.

“Do you think this is necessary?” Sophia asked. “It seems a bit superfluous.”

I took a deep breath. “From what I know about Alisha her family was… difficult to deal with at the best of times. So I'm sure when she got away from them she noticed what kind of difference that made. But she also won't force you to do this. If you feel like it doesn't mean anything to you you can move back in with Mom and Dad.”

She nodded. “I guess. It just feels selfish.”

I swallowed. “Is it so bad to be a little selfish sometimes?” I asked.

“I guess not.” Sophia deflated a little bit. “Thanks for helping me move in.”

“It was no problem.” We were both silent for a moment, a bit awkward with this part of things. “I should go make sure Alisha’s okay,” I said finally. “She’s been going through some stuff.”

“I felt like maybe something had happened,” she agreed. “She looked exhausted.”

“She’s just… processing,” I explained and shouldered my purse a little more comfortably. “I’ll see you later,” I reassured her and left her still quizzical. I headed down to the elevator, then down to the parking lot. Lili was leaning against Matteo’s car, waiting more patiently than I was used to seeing her. She even opened the door for me when I was close enough and silently took drivers seat and started the drive back to the office.

This was Alisha’s first day back to working, and while she had been advised against working in the office, it was still arguably a lot less strenuous on her than doing the rounds every day, and those related activities so her doctor had conceded it was reasonable as long as she did actually stay in the office or at home and not put extra tasks on herself.

I hadn’t yet seen what her office was like or seen her since she went in this morning but I was worried she was going to snap straight back into overworking herself.

Lili drove us to an office building across the street from the monitoring center. It was taller than the surrounding buildings, at least ten or fifteen stories and felt more… office-like with a wide lobby connected to a parking garage (where Lili parked and let me out) and a security checkpoint I was casually waved through with Lili.

It was also a bit spiffier than the monitoring center. The potted plants were thriving and rather than fluorescent rectangles for lighting, there were almost mini chandeliers with soft LEDs.

It was a much more pleasant atmosphere than I expected, made to impress wealthy people. Whoever Alisha considered ‘investors.’

Lili guided me into the elevators, and we went up to the twelfth and topmost floor before going back out again.

My posture tightened instinctively because this was definitely Alisha’s people. I recognized most of them from that banquet. Alek and Joseph both had their own desks and were grumbling together about some vehicles.

Lili took a seat on a couch and as I stood confused and lost she pointed to a door on the far side of the room. It was closed and the window was tinted, which was enough to tell me that was Alisha’s space.

I approached, realizing halfway across the room that the voices had stopped and people were watching me.

My stomach was starting to twist up again, feeling monitored and judged all at once but I didn’t look around, instead deciding to ignore it and got to the door and knocked gently.

The sound was much louder in the quiet than I expected.

“Come in,” came Alisha’s voice, muffled through the wood.

I slipped in, sliding between the door and frame as quickly and quietly as I could before shutting it behind me.

My shoulders dropped a few inches as I put space between me and the people out there.

“Kitten,” Alisha greeted softly.

She was exhausted already from her posture to the way she said my name.

I approached her desk and carefully arranged myself on one of the opposing chairs.

“I didn’t expect you to have a full executive setup,” I commented.

She still had her phone in hand and took a second to finish typing a message before she looked up.

“What did you expect?” she asked.

“I was picturing an office cubicle for some reason,” I explained. Then snorted a little because that was ridiculous.

She gave me a little smile, amused more at me than that thought though.

“Why don’t you work here normally?” I asked.

“It didn’t exist a week ago,” she stated. “This was Tye’s doing despite my opinions on excessive luxury office spaces.”

“I see,” I settled against the chair a little more. It was very plush and comfy. “It’s nice though.”

She sighed. “It is,” she agreed.

“So… how have you been handling the collecting and meetings and everything?” I asked.

“Tye’s been having Matteo do the rounds as needed and any meetings have been moved to here,” she explained. “So now I don’t really need to leave this office.”

“That’s probably better for you.”

She went still for a long moment, examining the surface of the desk intently.

“People will always know where I am,” she said finally. “And I don’t like that.”

That clicked. This was more anxiety-inducing for her, even if it was less strenuous physically.

“I see,” I agreed.

“I have a couple more meetings today then we can go home if you want. Or Lili could drive you home now,” she told me.

“I can hang out here… Is there a breakroom or something?”

She turned her focus back to me fully. “Not really but there shouldn’t be any issue if you stay in my office.” She gestured over to the more open space on the other side of the room where some couches were next to a Koffee Machine, the kind with the little disposable cups. I immediately understood Tye had made this her personal breakroom and expected people to treat it as such. I suspected the door just a little beyond that went to a private bathroom.

I ended up getting settled in on the couch, curling up with my legs under me and scrolled on my phone as Alisha alternated between being on her own phone and having a couple fairly casual meetings with people. The things discussed were very simple check-ins around numbers and margins so there wasn’t much she needed to hide. All of the illicit context had already been stripped away.

Even so I felt observed; not directly but enough that I was aware that they were aware of me and vice versa.

Alisha didn't even acknowledge that I was present though, even getting impatient when one of her meeting people was distracted and not fully paying attention to her words.

Finally when her last appointment was finished and the door had shut behind the man she leaned back in her chair.

Her sigh filled the room for a long moment as she let herself deflate.

“It didn't sound too bad,” I commented and stood up to stretch before going over to her chair.

“It wasn't terrible,” she agreed. “But I am over this today.”

I leaned against her, feeling the chair tip a little from the extra weight. “Let's go home,” I offered.

She nodded, still worn out and stood, gathering a few of her things.

I followed her out into the main room and found that Alek was gone and Joseph was on hold with someone.

Alisha only gave him an acknowledging dip of her head which he returned.

Then we were back on the way home.

I felt a little more settled as the Escapade felt more like her office than her office did and with Matteo driving, I didn't worry as much about being as small as possible.

“Did Sophia like the apartment?” Alisha asked.

“I think so,” I told her.

“Good. We should keep in touch with her.”

I agreed.