Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

“Hey! You have a cat?” Noah abruptly cut me off, changing the subject as he hurried up the steps to crouch in front of the screen door. “Uh … yeah … well”—I scratched at the back of my head—“I guess, kind of.” “You guess?” Ray asked, amused. “How do you not know if you own a cat?” “He kinda adopted me,” I replied sheepishly. “I brought him in about a week ago after finding him out here when it was snowing, and he just sorta decided not to leave.” She smiled, and my stomach stumbled over itself, mid-somersault. “He’s cute,” she said, never diverting her gaze from mine. “He’s a good guy,” I replied, unsure in the moment if I was still talking about the cat or not. “What’s his name?” Noah asked, letting the kitten sniff his fingers through the screen. “Uh … I’m calling him Eleven for now.” Ray hummed contemplatively, and I raised an inquisitive brow. “The guy with the interesting name would call his cat something equally interesting,” she said, studying me with the most curious glint in her eyes. “Guess I like to, uh … keep things interesting,” I replied awkwardly, followed by a chuckle that was just as, if not more, awkward. What the hell is going on? Are we … flirting? It’d been a while since I had flirted with anyone. Hell, it had been a while since I’d had much contact with the opposite sex at all, particularly one seemingly in my age bracket. One who was beautiful, wearing a smattering of freckles across her nose and a sweater as soft-looking as her hair. But the kid had...