Lesson 89- It’s not nice to leave people out when you do something fun.

“Can I help you get all the cat stuff set up? We still have a bit of time before we need to open up the bar, particularly if we both get it ready.” She pleads. I shrug.
“Sure, why not?” I agree easily. I notice Torin’s small smile fall from his face and immediately regret my quick decision. Was he planning to help with it? I mean he WAS the one who bought everything.
“You’re helping too, right Tori?” I prompt him, not wanting him to just back away out of politeness. He hesitates and I elbow Laura who looks confused.
“Torin can help us get it all set up too, right? The more the merrier!” I say cheerfully. Laura gives an awkward nod and a forced smile. Torin might be a little socially inept but he’s familiar enough with the look of discomfort on her face to know that she doesn’t really want him helping. Sure enough, he shakes his head and excuses himself.
“I’ll just leave you guys to it.” He mutters and backs away, heading to his office.
“You know, we don’t really have THAT much time and I don’t want to rush. Maybe we can just open a few and you can help me with the rest after Tori. Oh, and I don’t want Crash to eat the packaging or anything, so here.” I walk straight over and drop Crash straight into Torin’s hand as he automatically reaches out to take him. Crash looks so tiny and is literally just sitting in Torin’s open palm.
“Uh…” Torin looks confused.
“Take him to your office with you, I’ll come get him in a couple minutes. Laura, just pick a bag and we can sort through it. I’ll go through the rest with Tori later.” I explain. She nods happily, seeming pleased that I’m not going to try to push her into hanging out with Torin. I really don’t understand why she’s so afraid. As far as I can tell, he has never done anything bad to her. But whatever, I can’t force her to enjoy his company the same way I do, and even though I know he wants to get along with everyone, is it wrong that a small part of me enjoys being special enough to be his only proper friend?

Laura and I sort through a bag which seems to be filled with cat toys. SO many cat toys. There are sort little mice in various colours, a rainbow ball with a bell in it, one of those weird feather things that people wave in front of cats and even an actual laser pointer. Did the pet store have a laser pointer or did he actually go out of his way to find one? Laura and I carefully remove all the packaging and shove it back in the bag. While we do, I finally take the chance to update her on our strange guest from this morning.
“So, just before closing someone came in looking for you. She said she was a witch.” I tell her. Laura freezes and gives an awkward laugh.
“Oh, really? What did she look like?” She asks, the question is natural enough, but her tone is a little more high pitched than usual.
“Uh, middle aged, dark hair, dressed like she should be working in some office?” I offer, watching Laura closely for a reaction. She looks pale, then again she’s usually fairly pale. I could be imagining it.
“Oh, yeah, I’m not sure who that might be. What did you tell her?” She asks, her voice more controlled and normal this time.
“Nothing really. I played the oblivious human and said I had no idea who you are or even how to tell if someone is a witch. She asked me to call if I DID see you and I explained that I’m trapped here and have no phone. She seemed pissed but she left after that.” I explain. Laura nods.
“That makes sense, thanks for not telling weird strangers about me.” She winks at me and smiles, but it just still seems a little forced to me. Still… That’s her business. If she doesn’t want to tell me about the woman she doesn’t HAVE to. Damn it. Having to respect people’s right to privacy is the absolute worst.

Once we’ve finished unpacking the cat toys, Laura and I get the bar ready. Technically I don’t have to help. My actual ‘work hours’ don’t start until later since Laura takes the quieter beginning of the night, I take the end of the night and we both work the busy middle part. But there’s only so much time I can spend sitting around here, and it feels weird to just relax when other people are working. I’ll TECHNICALLY work for the beginning of the night, but in reality I’ll basically just be out here socialising. Torin arrives to unlock the door and I’m amused to see he has Crash literally perched on his shoulder, his tiny claws hooked into Torin’s shirt. Seriously, how can anyone be scared of this guy? He’s walking around babysitting a stray kitten for me and is even letting it slowly destroy his clothes. I expect Torin to put Crash out in the back area now that the bar is open, but instead he carefully places him on the ground and lets him explore the room. Apparently Crash is a bar cat now. Torin glances at the door, and seeing we don’t have customers yet, he dashes out back and returns with the large box I noticed earlier. I still have no idea what’s in it. I’m even more confused when Torin drops it next to his usual seat at the bar, kneels down and tears it open. I skip over to see what’s inside and lean over the bar to look properly. I still have no idea what it is.
“What is that?” I ask curiously. Torin looks up at me from where he’s kneeling.
“It’s supposed to be a climbing thing for cats. It has three little ledges and then a sort of hammock thing. Apparently cats like to climb so these are good for them. It has scratching stuff on the ledges too for his claws.” He explains, a hint of excitement in his voice.
“Oooh cool! Where are you planning to put it?” I wonder. Torin just points at the small section of empty wall to the side of the bar. Basically it’s right beside where he usually sits. I grin, I didn’t expect him to bring all the cat stuff out here too. But now that I think about it, it makes sense. Torin isn’t one to do things by halves.
“I think that’s a great idea.” I tell him honestly with a bright smile. I watch as he carefully hangs the little shelves and hammock on the wall. They might be a bit hard for Crash to climb right now, but I doubt it will take long for him to get the hang of it. Laura has started serving customers, but they’re slow to approach the bar tonight because they’re all being waylaid by Crash and are determined to give him all the love he deserves before getting their drinks. I DO find it funny that Torin doesn’t actually use a hammer to put up the wall mounts for the cat stuff, he just uses his hand and pushes the nails straight into the wall. Okay, so he’s strong enough to do that. It’s not new, but it reminds me of those old superhero movies where some guy with super strength does stuff like that. I bet he would be baffled to hear me compare him to a superhero. But that’s the vibes it’s giving off. Once the shelves and hammock are securely in place, which Torin carefully tests by taking several bottles of scotch and stacking them on the little shelves, he catches Crash who WAS surrounded by customers. At least until Torin approached and they kind of scattered to their tables. He plops the kitten straight into the hammock. Crash seems confused at first, then curious. But it’s been a big day for the little fella, so eventually though he just curls up in the little hammock and falls asleep.