Cursed Cat Chapter 4: The date or Cat's crate
Cursed Cat Chapter 4: The date or Cat’s crateAfter realizing my compromising predicament, the most logical step and my first instinct was to talk it out. Having no less than 5 best friends that I considered family one would think that would be easy… but when one of those people is you boyfriend, one is the guy you have a crush on, and another is the girlfriend of the guy you have a crush on….. that limits your options a little bit. That left Robin who has the emotional intelligence of a shovel and would either ignore what I have to say….. or worse try to help and of course Starfire. Starfire was of course the obvious choice, she would listen and be as understanding as anyone could be, but I knew that after she heard me out and did her best to empathize, she would point out every reason I was crazy, why I shouldn’t do it, and how incredibly wrong I was. Quite frankly, I didn’t feel like getting balled out by anyone or told things I already knew, so I went with a different approach. Looking back, I should have listened to Starfire, no matter what she would have said……. And Beastboy the more I think about it…. It was a few months ago, me, Raven, and Beastboy were sitting in the rec room talking about fate. I forget what we had been doing before, or how we even got to that conversation….. I do remember having fun though. I was making great points that any prediction for the future is flawed as all a person would have to do is be two inches to the left or ten seconds late to completely avoid whatever fate they have been given. Beastboy was making the points that destiny was ultimately predetermined, but also a matter of choice by the person. I being a former villain pointed out that I beat destiny, to which he responded that what miracles were. Raven seemed to perk up at this for some reason. But the thing he said that stuck out to me, that I ultimately should have listen to was “One often meets his destiny on the road he chooses to avoid it.” I know he stole that from something, but if I had listened, I wouldn’t be so cold right now. I sprayed four squirts, two on each side of my neck as the smell of lavender filled my nostrils. I smiled to myself as I knew my problem and how to fix it. The thing was I was idealizing Beastboy to much, he’s wasn’t a sexy, witty, waffle making masseur, and I had to stop thinking about him that way. So I figured, the best way to that was to go on a date with him…… hear me out. Some of the strongest attractions you feel are right before a date and right before the first kiss, but it’s almost always downhill after those, you can have a great first date and end on a good kiss but you both know this is the last date you to will have together. On the other hand you can have one of those dates where everything goes wrong and neither of you care just because you’re with that other person, that’s how Rob and Star were, from what I gather that was how BB and Rae started out……. Though that might have been because they were sneaking around a lot when they first started….. but still I figured one date would be the reality check I needed and I could put this whole thing behind me. The problem was I couldn’t just ask him out…… for a number of reasons…. so I went with the next best thing, a double date with just the four of us. While the paradox still stands, a bad date is a good a way as any to kill any inkling of a future relationship. The way I see it Beastboy will spend all night fawning over Raven and Cyborg will spend all night fawning me, the perfect cure to get-over-a-guyitis. Or they’ll just both act like complete dorks, making Raven and I roll our eyes together and wonder how we fell in love with our idiots. Whatever works. The main issue is keeping Beastboy under the “thinks and treats me like Raven” spell especially with Raven there. I had to keep him like that or I’d rationalize the date as false and try again, so I took precations. In addition to the perfume I had ‘borrowed’ one of Raven’s outfits, an indigo conservative lowcut shirt and blue jeans. Hopefully it would be enough for him to not only see me as Raven, but to continue to during the course of the evening. Though I should probably make sure it works baseline. Jinx walked out of the bathroom and made her way to Beastboy’s room. She knocked three times and waited with her hands held together. Within seconds the door opened to reveal the Changling. He wore a light black leather jacket over a satin undershirt with his signature belt clasping faded black jeans. Jinx was further taken a back, finally noticing how good looking Beastboy was. Beastboy’s eyes were predilated as he wore his infectious grin. “Hey J.” he greeted her.‘The perfume still works’ Jinx though internally smiling. “Hey Beastboy.” She replied, “I just um…. Was making sure you were ready for tonight.” “I’m always ready.” Beastboy replied. ‘I can see that’ Jinx though slyly giving him the once over. “I just don’t know if I’m ready.” Jinx stated presenting herself ‘Moment of truth’ she thought. “You look lovely.” Beastboy replied with a genuine smile and a sparkle in his eye. Jinx’s heart fluttered in her chest, she tried to keep it under wraps but she couldn’t help it. “Really?” she asked. “Yeah,” Beastboy replied, “Cyborg will love it.” Jinx almost instantly deflated, “Yeah Cyborg…..” She replied. I remember thinking in that moment, that if Beastboy could somehow incorporate his ability to raise people up before slamming them down into our fights, more villains would lose their ability to walk, not just Adonis. At some point Raven walked in wearing a plain black shirt, a flowing indigo blue jacket in place of her cloak and gray jean shorts with a large Jem belt buckle. Jinx could see Beastboy’s eyes light up and dilate at the sight of her. They kissed as Jinx noticed Beastboy smiling against Raven’s lips. ‘This is the point’ Jinx thought to herself, biting back the knot in her stomach.It was in that moment that I realized something,Whenever Starfire, Raven, and I hung out together or went anywhere, Starfire insisted that we were sisters and would introduce us as such. Raven found it a little annoying, but I kinda of liked it, one of the reasons being that it annoyed Raven. Anytime Starfire introduced us there was that knowing look from the retail person where they knew what she meant, but there was that one time I’ll never forget. Starfire had gone to some specialty shop to get something she wouldn’t tell us about, so Raven and I had walked into a clothing store. The manager greeted us and since Starfire wasn’t there I went ahead and introduced us as sisters. I could tell from his face and how he acted for the rest of the trip that he 100% believed that we were biological sisters. Though we’ve had our disagreements, in that moment and after I’ve truly felt that we were sisters and while Raven would never admit it, I knew she felt the same way.The realization came that while I had considered us sisters, the characterization hadn’t gone any further. Starfire was obviously the oldest sister of the bunch but neither of us felt like the older person of the two of us. It was in that moment that I realized…. I was the younger sister. It was weird but I felt like a complete and utter freshman who has to hang out with her junior sister with her junior boyfriend whose she’s been dating since middle school. And I was the pathetic freshman girl who overcompensates by dating a senior, right down to borrowing her big sister’s clothes to impress a guy with a car.If Raven noticed that Jinx had borrowed her clothes, she didn’t say anything as the gang of three made their way to the garage where Cyborg stood waiting for them, looking as he always did. Jinx walked up and stood on her toes, pulling her boyfriend into a kiss. Jinx noticed that Cyborg seemed taken aback and disinterested despite kissing back and breaking early. I had looked over at Beastboy and Raven, how he got the door for her, how she tried and failed to hide her soft smile and then over at Cyborg who was tense about a bunch of teens getting in the car he had been working in all day. It was a bad sign that I remembered the 3 main rules of high school, always bring a water bottle and headphones to class, make friends with your teachers, and that senior doesn’t love you. Begrudgingly Jinx got into the car. Jinx rode shotgun in the car next to Cyborg, while Beastboy and Raven sat in the back and held a conversation. Jinx turned the radio up high enough to be store music and listened to classic rock the entire trip. Every time she turned to Cyborg and tried to talk her words caught in her throat, not that she had many to begin with. It was weird for her to just not be able to talk to her boyfriend and not being able to think of anything to say. She was usually so comfortable around him, but he honestly just looked so imposing. They arrived at Casa Adobe and made their way inside. The four of them piled into a booth as the waitress brought out chips and salsa and took their drink order. As they were repeat customers they decided to just go ahead and order their dinner. Beastboy ordered a sweet tea, a Cheese Quesada and a Vege Quesada with rice and beans, Raven ordered the El Pollo and a sweet tea, Cyborg ordered the Grande Fajita Nachos mixed and a cola, and Jinx ordered a water and a shredded beef chimichanga. Raven and Beastboy continued their conversation from the car while Cyborg dove into the chips, leaving Jinx literally trapped in the booth with nothing to say or do. Cyborg then got up to go to the bathroom and literally freed Jinx to the point where she felt she could talk. She listened into the conversation at the other end of the booth. “I’m telling you Beastboy, there is a literal group of people devoted to predicting how the world will end and how to prevent it…… An international governmentally funded and run program I might add and the guys that say that robots raising up to destroy humanity like Demon with a glass hand are the literal laughing stock of that group. And in this group the popular guys are Meteor, Supervolcano, and Pandemic.” Raven stated. “Are you sure you’re not thinking Dinosaurs?” Beastboy asked incredulous. “Same problems.” Raven replied, “Plus disease is really low for Dinosaurs, like two percent.” “Be that as it may,” Beastboy began, “EMPs.” “What about them?” Raven asked. “An EMP going off over any country would shut down the power grid and any car built after 1970.” “I don’t think that year is right.” Raven stated, “I’m sure it isn’t.” Beastboy replied. “But even so every tool anyone would use to fix the power grind runs on electricity, which is incredibly short sighted and the equivalent of trying to plug a surge protector into itself.” “You would know from experience?” Raven asked giving a devilish grin and raised eyebrow. “Perhaps.” Beastboy slyly smiled back. “I think you’re both wrong.” Jinx said finally chiming in, the couple turned to her curious. “It’s not going to machines that end the world, It will be complete human error.” “Like I said, short sightedness.” Beastboy said triumphantly.“Let her finish.” Raven replied. “As I was saying, the world won’t end from some systematic or unsystematic system, it will be from some guy or girl trying to save or destroy it.” Jinx said. “We’re kind of in the business of making sure that doesn’t happen.” Raven replied. “No, we stop the mad scientist from reshaping it to fit some twisted vision. What happens afterwards?” Jinx inquired. “What do you mean?” Beastboy asked. “I’m saying in the 1940’s America introduced the world to the nuclear bomb trying to save the country and end the war, now nuclear war could wipe us all out.” Jinx stated. “There are precautions to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Raven replied. “Still, the point stands, humanity will always have some big goal or dream to reinvent itself but will ultimately find some way to screw it up.” Jinx concluded. “Be careful what you wish for.” Raven stated, “Exactly.” Jinx replied. “That’s really interesting.” Beastboy said as he reached across the booth and took a sip of Cyborgs drink. Jinx looked at him incredulously, “I won’t tell if you won’t.” Beastboy said with a smirk and a wink. Jinx raised her hands in mock surrender, “Secrets safe with me.” She replied. “Well if your taking some of his I’ll take some of yours.” Raven said taking a sip of Beastboy’s iced tea. Jinx thought of completing the cycle by taking a sip of Raven’s tea, but knew she wouldn’t be able to do so convincingly as she preferred pink lemonade. It did of course remind her of her plan. “Hey, would you guys like to play a game?” Jinx asked the couple. “I’m game.” Beastboy replied. “What did you have in mind?” Raven asked. “It’s called last two people on earth.” Jinx began, “Of the people at this table, 2 of us are the last two people on earth, no laws, no rules, practically no consequences, what would you do?” Jinx made a devilish grin at the couple, “I bet for you guys a part would be “repopulate”” she did finger quotes, “the earth.” “Actually, if that happens, we wouldn’t have kids.” Raven replied without missing a beat.Jinx was taken aback by this. “Yeah, if we had any kids they would grow up virtually alone and we’d basically be sentencing them to die alone.” Beastboy added. Jinx blinked several times. “You guys have talked about this.” She said as more a statement then a question. “Yeah, just something that came up.” Beastboy said. “So…….. what would you do?” Jinx asked now more curious.“First assuming that there’s no immediate fires, disasters, and all animals are released from zoos and other private collections we’d travel the world, see what there is to see.” Beastboy started.“Spend a few nights in some of the best cities, explore the culture, the landmarks,” Raven began to add.“Kiss and take our picture in front of every landmark on the planet.” Beastboy continued.“Gather books” Raven looked at Beastboy “and other souvenirs from all over the world.”“And every night cook her something special from wherever we are.” Beastboy turned to Raven, “You’re going to love Singapore.”“Then, after a few years of that we would gather up all the knowledge of mankind, put it in some safe place for the next millennium.”“The Library of Infinity.” Beastboy chimed in.“Yes,” Raven agreed, “Then we’d live out our golden years together.” Raven finished giving Beastboy a warm smile that he returned.It was safe to say that Jinx had not expected this, but still required answers all the same. “So what about you and me?” She said pointing at Raven, “I’m sure we’d have some crazy end of the world adventures.” “More like me following you around making sure you don’t die in a car crash or jumping headfirst into a giant pool of gold coins.” Raven replied with a sly smile. “I would not dive head first.” Jinx said defending herself. “……. I’d probably just slide down a big pile of them.” She admitted looking down. “But come on you and I would have some fun, champaine, cake, a whole world of possibilities.” “Again, more like, me making sure you don’t drink yourself to death or do something too stupid while you’re drunk.” Raven replied taking a drink of Beastboy’s sweet tea. Jinx was about to say something when Raven added, “ But in all fairness, I do think the two of us would have a ton of fun and if I lost my idiot,” she turned affectionately to Beastboy, “You’d be the friend who gets me through it.” Raven raised her glass as Beastboy reached and grabbed Cyborg’s drink. “To Jinx.” Raven said, “To Jinx” the rest chorused as Beastboy downed the rest of Cyborg’s cola. Jinx didn’t even question it. “So Beastboy, we’ve covered me and Raven, and you and Raven, what about the two of us.” Jinx said as she tried to seductively sip her water. “You’d fall hopelessly in love with me.” Beastboy responded.Jinx tried to keep calm as she choked on her water. After quickly regaining her composer she asked, “What makes you say that?” “Well I figure, at first the both of us would be in denial, calling trying to get in contact with anyone we could.” Beastboy started his tangent, “ When that fails we both go into mourning, you over Cyborg, me over Raven, then we would just walk together in the ruins of the city, when we get hungry, we’ll eat, when we get tired, we’ll sleep, and eventually we’ll make our way to some dance club. We’ll turn the music on just cause and you’ll get sick of being sad and start dancing, of course I can’t let you dance alone, then we dance until we forget about being sad, then just have some fun, you and me.” Beastboy said, giving Jinx a sly but warm smile. ‘Now’s my chance’ Jinx thought, Jinx shot him ‘the look’, the look that had unnerved heros and villains alike, the one that never failed the turn the green teen into a deer in headlights, “And how exactly would I fall hopelessly in love with you?” she stated. Beastboy returned her look with one of his own, “By me being myself and you being yourself.” Jinx was floored, somewhere between cocky charm and genuine compassion Beastboy had found a look that blasted through hers and caused Jinx to melt.“So, we spend our nights dancing and our days doing whatever fun thing we can think of. Eventually you’ll fall head over heels for your dance partner and chef, but we agree to just have fun and not worry about all the extra stuff. Then we just live out our lives.” Beastboy continued unaware of his effect on the girl across from him. He then caught a side eye from Raven. “But I would of course spend those first hundred days or so crying out for my lost love.” “Sure, you would.” Raven replied in playful doubt. “I’m serious,” Beastboy said, “I’d cry my eyes out, “Why cruel fate?!?” Beastboy cried reaching out to his girlfriend, “Why did you take her from me?!?” He wrapped his arms around her, “I love this girl.” He began to nuzzle her neck, “I love her! I love her! I love her! I love her! I love her!” he continued to mumble as he started to kiss Raven’s neck. “Gar…. Stop it!” Raven bit back chuckles as her boyfriend continued his on slot of kisses to her neck. “Man, I just can’t leave you two, alone can I?” Cyborg said as he returned to the booth, trapping Jinx inside once more. He glanced down at his now empty glass, “Did one of you drink my soda?” he asked. “Nope.” Everyone replied shaking their heads. “Uh-huh.” Cyborg said shaking his head. “So, what were you guys talking about?” “Well we were playing a game where we two people at the table are the last two people on earth….” Raven began. “And you two were giving your answer right now.” Cyborg interrupted. “And we’ve done all pars except those involving you.” Raven continued ignoring him. “Alright, sounds fun.” Cyborg said nodding his head. “Sooo….” Jinx started, “What would you do if you and I were the last two people on earth?” “That’s easy, we find a mansion, move into it, I trick it out with my sweet robotics, then we retire, and I shower you with the finest robes, wines, and jewelry.” Cyborg said as he tried to drink his soda before remembering it was empty. I don’t remember much else from the dinner. Our food came and the waitress refilled our drinks and Cyborg continued the game with Beastboy and Raven. There were arguments between Cyborg and Raven regarding whether to use books or computer technology to preserve the knowledge of mankind and another argument between Beastboy and Cyborg on who would reach the high score on the most games when they decide to play every video game ever created, but I really wasn’t paying attention.It was weird, but I felt, insulted by how Cyborg and Raven had guessed what I had wanted. Cyborg had listed off impersonal stuff and I felt insulted that he had just assumed I’d want nothing outside of jewels and nice clothes. Raven just assumed I’d be reckless and go on some grand path of destruction just for the fun of it. In truth, Cyborg only saw me as a trophy and Raven saw me as a burden. In fact all of the team still saw me as a villain, despite me proving myself Robin wouldn’t be surprised if I turned back to villainy, Raven sees me as the little sister who would throw her life away if she’s not careful, Cyborg thinks if I’m not happy I’ll turn back to villainy, and even Starfire, makes sure that I have all I need so that I’m never tempted. I’d love to tell all of them that even if things just didn’t work out, I’m not just going to go back to being a villain. Honestly I don’t think I ever will, even if I don’t cut it as a hero, I’m never going back and I’d appreciate being treated as such.What was weirder, is that Beastboy was the one exception. Sure, he called me a Succubus who always had some evil plan, but when it got down to it, he was the only one who believed that I was a good person. To him, the evilest thing I could do was mess with him, which his best friend did all the time. I truly believe, even now in this dumpster that he would be the only one truly shocked if I became a villain again. Plus his fantasy was the only one that treated me like a person, someone who would be sad to see her family gone, and he was the only one who would try to make me feel better. The night wore on as the others ate and debated the pros and cons of the world ending. Jinx more or less poked at her food but it surprising just didn’t have any taste. She felt trapped, not just by the metal behemoth literally locking her into the booth, but in the moment. She couldn’t focus enough to listen, couldn’t add to the conversation, couldn’t just sit there and drink her water. She felt like screaming even though she was sure no one would hear her. Is this how Raven felt all the time? How was she ever happy? Jinx looked up and saw that the answer was right in front of her. Beastboy was cutting a chunk out of his Cheese Quesada and feeding Raven with his fork and Raven was doing the same with her cheesy rice. Jinx wanted so badly to ask for a bite of that Quesada, but knew she couldn’t, not with Cyborg beside her. Everyone finished their meals, but nobody felt like leaving yet, at least nobody except Jinx, but she wasn’t about to say anything. Cyborg went ahead and paid the bill, adding a juicy tip and ordering take home Nachos. Everyone kept talking while Jinx played a game with herself counting the number of refills everyone else got as she mindlessly tapped her take- home container. When everyone was done-done they headed to the car and everyone but Jinx piled in. Jinx clasped the handle. In all honesty she felt like just walking home, but knew it would take hours if not days to reach the tower. Begrudgingly Jinx got into the car. “You ok?” Cyborg asked as she got in. “Yeah,” Jinx breathed barely audible. The car whirred and speed off. It was so strange, the car had always been a fun place for Jinx. It was her Iron Chariot she rode into battle and on late night adventures. Conquests of villains, donuts, fires, and blueberry pie, all began and ended with the car. She used to still her head out the window, howling with the wind as the night sky raced past her. But Cyborg had asked her more than once to stop and what was once her Iron Chariot now felt like a prison bus. Trapped, silenced, robbed of anything that reminds you that you’re human, just going through the pain of existing. Jinx glanced in the rear view mirror and saw that Raven was asleep on Beastboy’s shoulder with Beastboy have his arm around her and a soft smile. Jinx had earned a few scowls from the green teen making fun of that image, but she had always been happy for them. Except for now, where she wanted more than anything to be in her position, or at the very least asleep. She looked over at Cyborg, one hand on the steering wheel, the other just at his side. Jinx wished she could take it, but her hands felt like lead. All she could do was lean and press her head against the window and try to forget where she was.
howler4444
Add Media
Style