Island Vibes

10. milo

Noah turned away from me before I could really protest, his hand still holding mine tight. He started leading me back into the house, so I assumed we were going to stop in the kitchen to fix me up a cup of the punch in exchange for the wine like we sort-of-but-not-really agreed, but instead we continued on until he was leading me upstairs.

We stopped outside a door that had a piece of A4 paper taped to it with NO ENTRY scrawled on it in thick black marker. The handwriting was familiar from the little note that had been stuck in my welcoming bouquet of flowers. Noah turned to raise a finger to his lips, shushing me before he knocked twice.

When there was no response, he tentatively opened the door and heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he said, kicking the door open wider. A rush of warm air hit us both, the window in the room cracked open, and I realised I needed to invest in one of those little electronic fans. "I was beyond sure there were gonna be people banging in here," Noah chuckled.

I paused, thinking about that for a second, mildly grossed out but mostly confused. "Why would we have to be quiet if there were people having sex in here?"

"Oh, nah, that was because I hoped there weren't, and Milo's probably trying to sleep," he explained, nodding his head towards the corner of the room, where a tiny little kitten was curled up on a beaten-up armchair. There was a blanket swirled up messily underneath him, almost overwhelming him. His little face peeked out from amongst the patchwork squares. My heart grew three sizes just taking in the sight. He was even smaller than he looked in the pictures.

"Callie, Milo," Noah said, introducing us and chuckling to himself as he reversed it. "Milo, Callie. She won't bite," he said to the cat, lowering his voice as if I wouldn't hear.

I rolled my eyes and then scanned the room. This had to be Noah's bedroom – it was kind of a mess, kind of cute. Just like the guy himself.

The posters on the wall were scrappy and torn around the edges, all of them for films and bands I didn't quite recognise. His desk was stacked high with messy papers, but there was a space carved out for his laptop and an oddly neat terrarium. His chair had a plaid shirt hanging from the back of it, and the whole room smelled like a weird mix of cinnamon and citronella. Not bad, but definitely kind of peculiar.

I perched myself on the edge of his bed to get a better look at Milo.

"I wish he wasn't asleep," Noah said, his voice low even though we realistically weren't about to wake the cat up. If Milo could sleep through the ambient party noise, he could sleep through our chatter. "He's even cuter when he's awake."

I smiled down at the tiny kitten, raising a hand cautiously and glancing at Noah for approval. He nodded, and I reached out to gently stroke a fingertip between Milo's ears, trying to be delicate enough to still not wake him up.

Noah sat behind me on the bed, the springs shifting with his weight as he then hoisted himself backwards to have his back against the wall and his legs almost straight out across the bed in front of him. He sighed and when I peeked back at him, he had his head tipped back, looking up at the ceiling dramatically.

"Don't tell me you're an emotional drunk," I teased, groaning and putting my attention back on Milo. "I make a terrible shoulder to cry on, and I didn't prepare for this. I just wanted to hang out with a cute kitten."

Noah, luckily, laughed. "I know," he admitted. "I was just thinking about everything. I did kinda spring this whole thing on you, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. You could meet some new people, have a few drinks, hang out with a cute kitten and a cute employee," he chuckled.

"Hey," I warned, shooting him a look back from over my shoulder. He held his hands up in surrender and apology.

"Sorry, sorry," he grinned, but I kind of wished he wasn't sorry. I just couldn't handle all the flirting while his girlfriend was still very much his girlfriend. Then I started to feel really uncomfortable: was she here? I didn't want to meet her at all, let alone while I was sat with her boyfriend on his bed, cooing with him at his newly-adopted pet. "Like I said, it seemed like a good idea. A good trick," he smiled, notes of regret in his expression.

"Who said it wasn't?" I asked, smirking back at him. Noah seemed to brighten at that, but I was quickly distracted, suppressing a reflexive twitch when Milo seemed to come to life under my fingertips. He stretched out a little, and then batted at my hand gently, nuzzling into it curiously afterwards. "I made a new friend," I said, grinning down at the cat.

Unfortunately, Milo didn't stay put for very long. Now awake, he darted down from the chair and skirted between my legs, hiding under the bed for a moment and then clawing at the dangling threads of Noah's throw blanket.

Noah groaned and tried to pull the blanket back up to safety on the bed, but to no avail as Milo's claws really dug into the weave of the fabric. "He's cute, but he's ruining my stuff," he complained.

"I like him," I said, mostly to annoy Noah.

"You would," he laughed, giving up on the blanket and shuffling himself off the bed. "C'mere, champ," he said, putting a hand out in offering to the kitten. After a few moments of nothing, he gave up with a huff and shrugged. "Alright, so Milo lives under the bed now, and my blanket is going to be ripped to shreds by the time this party's over."

"You know what would make you feel better about that?" I asked, the grin on my face and the glint in my eyes making the answer obvious.

"Alcohol?"

"Alcohol."