How to Stay Afloat

~7: Where She Introduces Him to Spartacus~

CHAPTER 7:

Where She Introduces Him to Spartacus

~~**~~

"You're sure your roommates won't mind?" Archer asked as we climbed the stairs which led to my apartment.

"They won't," I assured him. "Nelly's in her second year of nursing school so she's probably in class right now, when she does come home she just stays in her room and studies, and Adrian works the night shift at the gas station so he's probably asleep right now."

I took out my keys from my bag pack and unlocked the door.

Our three-bedroom apartment wasn't much to look at but Nelly, Adrian, and I had done whatever we could to make it feel more like home. We'd painted the walls a soft blue and found a matching rug to go in the living room. Nelly had managed to get a decent brown leather sofa from a yard sale that sat in front of Adrian's flat-screen TV.

"You want something to drink?" I asked Archer as I flicked on the lights.

"I'm good." He responded.

I bit my lip as I looked at him. Archer seemed to eat up all the space in the living room, he made my small apartment look impossibly smaller. He was so tall that he'd probably be able to touch the ceiling if he jumped. He looked completely out of place in my apartment. 

"What the actual-" Archer's freaked-out voice made me jump.

"What's wrong?" I hurried towards him. In a quick move, he put an arm out in front of me to protect me from whatever he'd seen.

My heart thudded wildly in my chest.

He stared unblinking ahead.

"What the hell is that?"

My eyes followed his gaze and finally made contact with the object of his terror. My shoulders sagged in relief.

"Oh my God you almost gave me a heart attack Archer!" I said as I stepped out from behind him.

"That's just Spartacus," I told him.

"Spartacus?" Archer echoed still sounding skeptical.

"Yes, Spartacus," I told him pointedly. "My cat."

"That thing is not a cat." Archer hissed.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I went to stand protectively in front of the feline. "Don't be mean. You'll hurt his feelings."

I bent over and made kissing noises as I pet Spartacus's head affectionately.

"Fallon. Cats aren't supposed to be that big." Archer said cautiously like he seriously thought my cat would attack him any second. 

I laughed as I kissed the top of Spartacus's head, the sound of his loud purr filled the apartment.

"He's a Maine Coon, they're supposed to be the largest domestic cat breed."

Spartacus was over a foot tall and weighed more than seven kilos. He was missing his right eye and half of his right ear was gone too. I suppose he was a bit unnerving to look at, at first, most people had the same reaction to Spartacus as Archer but I knew he was just a big sweetheart who just wanted to be loved.

"I found him last year, he was just a kitten. Someone had run over him with their bike and left him to die beside a dumpster." I couldn't keep my voice from trembling with anger. "He had to undergo three different surgeries. The vet said that he probably wouldn't make it." My lips lifted into a soft smile as I ran a hand through Spartacus's soft fur, "But he did because he's a fighter. That's why I named him Spartacus."