Tarantula (Part 2)

"The nest?"

Lyra nodded with enthusiasm as she pointed at the cats sleeping. 

"And this is supposed to help me with the circus stuff because…"

"Because of what Fiona said: If you struggle to keep a person in check, imagine having to do it with a big fella like this one" she said as she jumped and hugged a puma.

I tried to follow her into the nest, but to be honest, I was still a bit scared of them.

Apparently cats have to get used to you before they can trust you, but was it the same with these bigger cats?

"Is it really that hard for you to trust me?" she asked from behind me.

Unlike before, I was startled when she appeared in that spot. One moment she's hugging a puma and after I stop watching her she suddenly gets on my back. Seriously, how do they do it?

"Oh, were you lying to me?" she questioned while speaking in a teasing tone. "I thought that you didn't get startled by me."

"I mean, I thought you were one of the cats" I answered as I tried to keep a distance from her.

"Could this be considered 'cat-calling'? Isn't that shit ancient as fuck?" 

Lyra got closer with every step she took. For each centimeter that she approached me, I tried to get back and avoid her teasing.

"Well? Are you not gonna answer?" she asked before touching my forehead playfully.

Despite my efforts to maintain my neutral face, her teasing got to me. Since my body was nervous, the moment she touched me I tripped and fell back.

I braced myself for impact, but something soft received the impact. I opened my eyes to inspect what I fell on, and as soon as I saw it, I got paralyzed.

"I like that face you've got on you right now" Lyra laughed while emerging from behind the jaguar I landed on.

He woke up from his slumber as my head touched his stomach. When he opened his mouth and got closer to me, I thought I was done for, so I rolled away from him to avoid any conflict.

With a heavy breath, I prepared myself to flee from the nest, but when I checked on the jaguar, he went back to sleep while Lyra scratched his head.

"You look so tough with those eyes of yours, but even the kittens are braver than you." she laughed as she kissed the jaguar's snout. 

"Not my fault that I'm not used to sleeping with a big cat by my side."

"So you're saying that I'm to blame for your fear of cats?"

"I'm not scared of cats! It's just that the big ones are-"

As I raised my tone exponentially, Lyra leapt up and covered my mouth with her hand. With a hand gesture, she told me to lower my tone before pointing at the sleeping figures behind us.

I nodded in understanding and waited for her to remove her hand, but as time went by, we stood still in the same position. My breathing slowed down as my eyes locked with hers, and even though the only sounds that were around us were the cat's purrings and growls, it felt like we could only hear our heartbeats.

"Aren't you gonna take it out?"

"What?" I asked in confusion with my words muffled by her.

"My hand. You haven't even tried to move it away."

"I was waiting for you to do it."

"Why me? Isn't it bothering you."

My hands, which were completely still during my conversation with Lyra, managed to move up and hold her arm. Without any effort, I removed her hand from my mouth and spoke.

"It's not bothering me…"

"Why did you move it, then?"

"I did it so I could speak properly."

"Hmm… So you wouldn't mind if I did this?"

She got closer to me and pressed her hand against my mouth again. Even though I was still holding her arm, my body didn't present any opposition. 

I allowed my hands to fall down and let Lyra do whatever she wanted. With a playful smile, she took one of my hands and moved it to her back.

Before I made contact with her, a pile of mid-size felines grunted "what are you guys doing?"

At the sound of that voice, Lyra stopped her movements and moved beside me to stand still. As the pile of cats arose, she hit me with her elbow and told me to fix my posture.

"Glasgow, aren't you supposed to be in your classes with my daughter?" Bill said as lynxes, ocelots and other smaller cats played with each other at his feet. "Plus, where is the lynx cub that was with you this morning?"

My heart skipped a beat as I got reminded of him. Last time I saw it was before Lyra took me here, but where did we leave it?

"We kinda forgot to bring him along with us" lyra quickly responded.

Bill stretched out his body after waking up from his nap, and the sound of his bones cracking accompanied him. Then, in a calmed yet serious tone he put his hands on our shoulders and said "You better get him back here then. They're very rebellious at that age, so who knows where he might be?"

Lyra smiled and then pulled me out of the nest. "Don't worry, sir. We'll be back here with the cub ASAP" she shouted out before getting completely out of Bill's den.

We quickly ran to the place where FIona was teaching me earlier, hoping to find the little lynx there. However, as soon as we got there the only things that we saw were our footprints from when we left.

While we inspected the ground beneath us, trying to find any leads on where the lynx might've run off to, some heavy footsteps approached us.

"What are you guys doing?" Fiona asked as Mina walked up to us.

I looked away and hit Lyra with my foot, giving her the responsibility of telling Fiona what happened to the cub.

"Hey, Fiona…" she said awkwardly. "Remember that lynx that Glasgow was supposed to take care of?"

"You guys lost him, didn't you?" she sighed.

Lyra and I nodded at the girl's question.

"My dad's going to kill you."

Fiona ignored us and kept walking on top of her tigress. As we watched her getting away from us, Lyra hit me with her elbow again and whispered "It's your turn to do something."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you see? Fiona definitely likes you."

"Uhmm… No…?" 

"Yes, she does, you idiot!" she said before kicking my leg. "Now go after her and ask for her help."

"Wouldn't this be considered as taking advantage of her? Aren't girls supposed to support each other when one of you likes somebody?" I said as I walked behind Fiona.

"Don't think about that right now! Just do it! This is for the greater good!"

I walked up to Bill's daughter and touched the back of her tigress. Slowly, she turned around to see me, and looked at me with the same expression as Fiona did.

"Classes will resume tomorrow. I don't think dad will be happy after you guys lost the cub."

"This isn't about the classes, I was hoping that I could ask you a favor."

The girl separated her head from Mina's and straightened her posture. 

"I'm listening…"

"Alright… So… Would you help us to look for the lynx?"

She frowned at my question and let out a sigh. Then, with an annoyed tone she questioned what she would get in return.

"Anything you want. Just help us, please" I told her as I eased up my neutral face.

Fiona pondered about whether to do it or not, and after thinking it through for a minute, she gave me an answer.

"This is your problem, so you should be the one to fix it. However, I can give you a hint on where to look" she told me as she put up her hand. 

"Thank you, thank you…"

I sighed in relief as she agreed to help me. My hand moved to stretch hers, but as soon as she saw it, she withdrew it.

"I'll only help on the condition that you help me bathe the cats next week" the girl told me before putting her hand back in place. "Deal?"

I nodded and stretched her hand, thanking her for her help. Fiona looked at my face and blushed, withdrawing her hand and getting away slowly on her tigress as she tried to hide behind her hair. 

Just as Mina was walking away, Fiona turned around and yelled "Ask Aly! After my dad, she's the expert in lynxes!"

Out of nowhere, an elbow hit my arm as I watched Bill's daughter walking away. "Good job, Romeo," Lyra said with a smirk. "So, what did she say?"

I turned around and pointed my finger at the trapeze. "Fiona says that Aly should know something about the cub" I told her as I started to walk to the trapeze.

"Fuck, why didn't I think of that?" Lyra grunted before running beside me and pulling me from my arm. "Come on! Aly and Beanie are bound to know something about the cub's whereabouts!"

I allowed myself to be dragged by her. From time to time, I let out a little smile or laugh as I watched her enthusiastically pulling me.

Before we arrived at where Aly tended to be, Lyra stopped all of a sudden and our bodies collided. After recomposing from the crash, she turned around and while rubbing her head she asked "Do you have plans after this?"

I gave her a confused stare before telling her that since I didn't even have an act at the circus, my only plans were learning with Fiona.

Lyra smiled at my words and stood in front of me. Then, she got on her tip-toes and messed my hair up. "Do you want to do something with me after this, then? I'd really like you to stay at the circus, so I want to help you with whatever you have to do" she cooed as her usual playful smile played out.