Cat People

Vinny and Everything After….

The loud speaker said she had three minutes to make the train. She ran down the stairs, and as she was about to jump onto the train, the doors closed.

She swears she saw the conductor laughing at her; he was most certainly on a power trip. He saw her running as fast as she could in her pencil skirt and three-inch heels and thought “finance hoe,” not public defender on her way back from court. He was offering a public service, giving the Wall Street crowd a hard time, or so she believed he believed. His smirk was etched in her mind.

She took a deep breath and threw in her earbuds. Tired, hangry, she tried distract herself, bouncing along to her random Spotify subway playlist, attempting to remain unaware of her surroundings but hyper-aware that she was sweating heavily on a subway platform that was slowly filling up.

Vinny was heading straight for her, but she was blissfully unaware, staring at the tracks in front of her, mouthing the words to a vintage Taylor Swift. When he tapped her on the shoulder, she jumped and grabbed her pepper spray. He put his hands in the air, laughing, “You’re safe, I swear.”

She removed her earbuds, struggling to smile at him, contemplating whether she should have accidentally used that pepper spray. “How are the cats?” she sneered. The conductor’s ongoing curse, she said to herself.

He was instantly amused, in part because she was clearly disinterested. “They’re great. You should come over and visit Muffin and Cowboy.”

Freshman year, years before she noticed him, she told a dorm friendship circle that she could never love a cat person. She couldn’t keep a cat person in her life for any length of time. “Cats are sneaky and manipulative.” Vinny spoke up, curious to better understand this strong sentiment, “And this determination is based on….?” “Look, they just creep me out. I’m not a cat person. I don’t believe that I could have a future with a cat person.” In the middle of the circle, Vinny told her that he found this observation and conclusion to be both naïve and immature. But he never brought it up again, he never told her that he had a deep love of cats, and he seemed to understand that was where she stood on this subject.

The second he adopted the cats, over a year deep into their relationship, he sent her a clear message. It worked. They broke up less than a month later, unable to be in the same room, shattering their college friend group. “I’m good. Thanks for the invite.”

“Speaking of invitations, I heard your 25^th was at a karaoke bar. Big party?”

“Yes. Huge.”

“Remember the night we went to that club in Brooklyn to do karaoke? We must’ve sung 15 songs that night.” She didn’t respond. Of course, she remembered the night. She remembered grabbing his jacket, grabbing Sarah, and going outside to take a breath, to tell Sarah that she never realized how cute he was. Three years of living down the hall from him in various dorms and apartments, and she never considered him as anything more than a friendly. Yes, they ran in the same circles, they chatted, but they weren’t best buds or close confidantes. That night she saw something different. And everyone else could tell by the way she gazed up at him, standing closer and closer during every rendition of every song, from Champagne Problems to Livin’ on a Prayer. They all had the pictures to prove it.

“My Partiful never arrived.” She just laughed.

“I know it’s been a while, but I heard you wanted to be surrounded by people from every corner of your life. The whole gang was there, right? And people came from out of town for this one?” He must have heard from Ivan who heard from Jessica who came in from D.C. with Elissa, Elisa, and Alana. Their group of college friends expectedly went in different directions, making it easier for her to maintain friendships she thought would evaporate after their not so happy ending. Ivan and Jessica won’t last, she muttered under her breath, knowing that would further tether their tenuous connections.

“Yes,” she continued providing one-word answers, as he was clearly digging. The subway couldn’t arrive fast enough. And as he followed her onto the train, she couldn’t reach 59^th Street fast enough. She should have taken it in stride, but she resented his ease and affability, just as she resented the conductor’s smirk. She wanted him to be just the tiniest bit uncomfortable around her, anxious about seeing her, but Vinny was unscathed and unperturbed by her dismissive nature.

“Whelp, bye,” she’d bring a book with her from now on. Maybe those people she wanted to never see again wouldn’t accost her if they saw her engrossed in an intensive study of humankind.

The DMs

“Great running into you the other day. I still have the pictures posted.” It had been at least a month since she ran into Vinny. And at least three weeks since she thought about their dismal interaction. And six years since those pictures were posted.

She wouldn’t engage. She never commented when he responded to one of her posts. When they ended up on a five-year reunion Zoom mid-pandemic, she avoided direct conversation, speaking over him, joking around with the other ten people in the Zoom room. Twitching slightly, but staying silent, when someone innocently asked if anyone in the room had hooked up.

She walked in circles around her apartment. She should have gone for a run, but she was waiting for Val. They had a movie night planned, and Andrea was coming over with sushi.

When Val texted that she was running late, she had to leave, to distract herself. She threw on her Harvard Med sweatshirt, to manage the cool September air, and jumped into the elevator as the door was about to close.

“Thanks.” She instantly noticed the boy, the man, with bright green eyes wearing the same sweatshirt.

“Did you apply or attend?” he asked, somewhat jokingly.

“College boyfriend applied. I don’t like blood.” She half-smiled, trying not to look too dingy. “What about you?”

“Ex-girlfriend attends. I wouldn’t have patience for patients.”

They walked out of the elevator together, still bantering, somehow making it four blocks before she asked his name and where he was headed. Sid was on his way to McSorley’s to grab beers with college friends. “Where are you going?”

“Fresh air before my roommate comes home.”

“I can slide into your DMs on Instagram, or you can give me your number now,” Sid was demure, charming, and had great taste in sweatshirts.

“Are you a cat person or a dog person?” she asked before offering up her contact information. “I mean, I can search you on Instagram and find out, or I can just ask that question.” She tried to be equally as charming, but she could see that her retort sort of fell flat.

He looked confused, but he laughed. “I’d have to say that I’m more of a cat person.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to string you along. I’m a dog person. We’ll never work out Sid, but it was really nice meeting you.” She started jogging west, intending to loop around Central Park before making it home for sushi and a movie.

Her head was cleared, and the minor distraction with Sid weirdly energized her. She’d see him in the elevator a few more times over the next year, but they’d pretend not to know each other. That was fine. Their minuscule interaction empowered her that day. She forgot about Vinny’s DM…for many years.

The Grapevine

She stood online waiting for her turn to enter the bakery.

She used to walk past those lines, wondering what caused the hype, shaking her head and telling herself that she’d never waste her time waiting in lines for cookies, cakes, and coffee.

Never turned out to be about a year.

She met Carl when she was on a date with Blond Rob, her final attempt at Hinge. But for Rob’s adorable pup and his suggestion that they get gelato, their date was not even a friend connection. They entered Anita Gelato, and as Rob regaled her with stories about his last marathon; she found herself staring at the cute guy ordering in front of them.

It was the way he spoke to the gelato barista, she later told Elissa. That, and he had the best smile. By the time Rob ordered his gelato - a fruit flavor, an instant turn off for a chocoholic - by the time he started the story of his first marathon, she was deep in conversation with Carl. By the time she finished her gelato, she planned to meet Carl the next afternoon at Caffe Arrone.

They spoke for hours, but she couldn’t recall most of the conversation. Other than that he told her that he found standing on lines to get into the best bakeries, coffee houses, restaurants, events…an essential part of life in New York City. He said that the best people watching experiences took place on those lines. Truly something I never felt the need to do, she thought to herself.

But somehow, she ended up standing on those lines, next to Carl. In the heat, in the dead of winter, they would wait for Win Son, Caffe Panna, Hani’s….

On every line, they came up with backstories for the other people standing around them. There was the super skinny girl waiting on the bakery line. “There’s no way she’s buying herself a slice of cake. She’s bringing something to a friend for her birthday,” they determined. There was the couple whom they believed was about to get engaged. And the pregnant woman, they were betting she was having a boy but were too afraid to ask. They determined that one man was standing on line simply to pick up women. “Could definitely be better than Hinge, remember how we met?” Carl reminded her.

And she was good until she ended up on the line for Madison Squares.

“I never imagined I’d find you on a line this long,” Vinny chuckled. She looked around to see if he could possibly, hopefully, be speaking to any other person. “Hi, I’m Vinny,” he held out his hand to Carl.

“The cat guy,” she deadpanned. Carl nodded while introducing himself.

“Still a problem for you? So, apparently you heard about me? Want to see pictures of Muffy?” he laughed. “Ivan mentioned that you were dating someone new.” She shot Carl a look, and he determined it would be safest to smile and nod.

I thought Ivan and Jessica would be long over by now, she muttered to herself. “Love that grapevine.” Even years later, she remained uninterested in engaging.

“Whelp, I’m sure you’re busy.” She was uncomfortably abrupt.

“I guess you can convince her to do anything besides hanging with cats,” he directed his snark at Carl. “Where did that come from, again? What trauma caused that reaction to fluffy house pets?”

“Mice could be fluffy house pets too.” She responded in her typical Vinny-chilly tone. Carl laughed.

Everyone had a thing. Alana broke up with a guy because he wore Hokas to her office holiday party. She dated a six-foot tall guy who didn’t like his girlfriends to wear high heels. Andrea refused to date anyone without great teeth and an aspirational hair line. She shouldn’t have to further justify her lack of a connection with cat people. Vinny shook his head, still waiting for an answer.

But she owed him no further explanation. She could leave him hanging on this one. Forever.

If you enjoyed my short story, please check out my children’s books - Shipwrecked on Fudgepop Island and Only Pizza.