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Luca pulled me closer, kissing the top of my head. “What can I do to help you be more comfortable?”
“I wish I knew.”
I screamed when one of the cats jumped onto the couch nest and onto my foot. Nicky’s little gray cat looked completely unfazed, continuing his march up the blankets and onto my lap. The pack’s black-and-brown kitty followed a moment later. I wasn’t used to having animals in my space. They were nice when they curled up on my lap, but my heart was still recovering from something touching me out of nowhere in the dark. One cat wedged itself between Luca and me, and another was on my chest, purring away while Luca scratched behind his ear.
I was half-asleep by the time we finished our movie. Luca closed the laptop and set it aside, the two of us snuggling down with the cats.
I slept fitfully in the new space, waking with a jolt every time one of the cats moved, and waking Luca when I had to get up to pee so he could make sure I wasn’t eaten by shadow monsters. It felt ridiculous. I wasn’t normally afraid of the dark, but the giant newness of this place was getting under my skin.
The next night Luca had to work at the bakery and I was left to my own devices. I closed every curtain and turned on every light on the main floor, burying myself under the blankets to try to erase the feeling of exposure.
My heart kicked into overdrive when I startled at the sound of him coming home. I wasn’t sure I had even slept.
He came straight into the nest and gathered me up. “Are you okay? You look a little rough.”
“I feel rough. I’m not sleeping very well here.”
“We could ask Sidney and Allie to stay over instead?”
“I’ll adjust,” I promised. “Besides, the pack asked me to do it. For now, can we get some sleep?”
“Do you mind if I turn off some of the lights?”
“You do whatever you want as long as you climb back in here with me.”
The curtains blocked a lot of light and I snuggled myself under the blankets before Luca turned off the last one. Once he was in with me, I curled into a ball in his arms, fingers clinging to his shirt.
Luca’s scent was a lot stronger beneath the blankets. I pressed my nose to him, inhaling until my instincts chilled out, confident the nest would smell enough like him that I would be able to get through the next night he was working. I passed out immediately, waking up to my alarm to get ready to go to the club.
I sat up groggily, totally disoriented. It was dark inside and out. I fumbled around for my phone and used it to light my way to smack on a handful of light switches.
“Luca, I have to get ready for work.”
He checked the time on his phone once he’d unburied it. “Do you have time to eat before you go?”
“Probably not.” I grabbed a granola bar out of the pantry. I couldn’t eat too much before performing or I was likely to hurl on stage. “Do you work tonight?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Okay. How am I getting back in here?”
“I’ll feed the cats before I head to the bakery, and either I can pick you up once I’m done why my shift, or you can let me know when you want to come back and I can meet you at the gate.”
“Sure. I’ll probably go back to my place for some nest time. I’ll set my alarm and we can both come back at the end of your shift. I’m not gonna leave you with all of the chores.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m not. But I agreed to help the pack and I’m going to.”
My shift went by in a blur. I skipped clients, having zero energy to even think about it, and I only took one turn on the stage. No point in performing if I wasn’t going to be doing my best. The patrons paid too much for mediocrity.
I collapsed into my nest afterward and slept like the dead until my alarm scared the shit out of me. I grabbed a couple of my nest pieces to take over with me, hoping they would help keep me settled.
Luca met me at the gate, and after a chat with the guard, I was able to follow him through. He helped me bring in some of my nest supplies and made me some stovetop hot chocolate with milk and real chocolate melted into it, parking me on the counter.
“The only way to get comfortable with this place is to start treating it like home,” he’d said when I asked why.
We made a simple pasta dinner out of supplies in the pantry and Luca put on my favorite music, filling the quiet with the familiar.
