Hey y'all! I'm back, and not with a story that was made up on a bought of inspiration at one in the morning! Isn't it weird how life works some times? I still feel dead inside, because I didn't fall asleep until four last night, but that's fine, who needs sleep anyway? I'm pretty sure that is a myth made up by doctors, like how vitamins are healthy and how "going in the sun is healthy for you." Doctors, am I right?

Anyway, here be the story. Patented TheNewWolfBrigade "didn't proofread this before posting" is in effect here. I hope y'all enjoy the second part of my story. I'm trying to build up the characters a bit, so this one is a bit longer then the first chapter. Again, appreciate all criticism that you guys and gals may have, good or bad. I'll stop rambling now, enjoy learning more about Husk and Fen!

Café Husky
Chapter 2

Sorry for the cliffhanger last time! My body and brain decided it no longer wanted to be creative at four in the morning, so I am picking up exactly where I left off!

Instead of beating around the bush, you decide that it would be better to try and ask him straight up what’s up. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s got you all beat up?” You see Husk tense up a bit from the question, clearly a little uneasy with telling a complete stranger anything about his life, but after a moment of contemplation, you see him sigh and put his head in his paws, seeing no problem in telling this random person he just met about his life.

Husk picks his head up and looks straight at you, you still see some hesitation in his eyes, but he continues on, “I guess it can’t hurt to tell you, you did buy me a friendship muffin, after all.” He says this while holding up his muffin wrapper, and giving you a teasing smile, clearly still unsure about this whole thing, but still he continues on.

“I guess the first thing I should tell you is that I’m still living with my parents, ” he looks at you, maybe looking for judgement in your eyes, but once he sees that you literally couldn’t care any less, he continues, “they are extremely supportive of me, and they would do anything to help me along, so I grew accustomed to living with them.”

Seeing a gap in his explanation, you chime in, leaning over the table a little, “It doesn’t sound like you have much to sulk about,” poking him in his stomach, having fun teasing this husky, he slaps your paw away, and when you look at his face, you see he is now blushing at your sudden contact… looks like he is easy to tease too, “I wouldn’t know anything about that, my parents got me out of the house as soon as possible, so I went out into the working world and got myself an apartment to live in.”

He has a look of sadness on his face for a moment, but after a moment, his mood lightens a bit, “Well, I’m sorry to hear that, I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t had my parents to guide me along the way, they’ve been in my corner for as long as I can remember, and have supported me through almost everything, minus one little thing…” he whispers that last part, seeming to be lost in thought for a moment, before he remembers that he was talking to you, and he perks right back up, “Oh, sorry about that, I got lost in my thoughts for a moment, it happens on occasion!” He seems to be trying to distract you, but you see right through his ruse, and you begin to wonder what secrets this Husk fellow must have.

You decide it would be best to ignore that for now though, and try to get the conversation back on track, “It’s no problem! Everybody has those lapses in concentration, so it’s no biggie!” you wave your paws, trying to calm him down, “So why is it that living with your parents is making you upset? It doesn’t seem like that is enough to make you sad, unless they are both extremely flirty, then I might understand a little bit.” You smile at him, and he just looks at you skeptically, as if accusing you of being the flirty one, with all of your amazing icebreakers and bribery muffins.

Husk balls up his muffin wrapper, which he then proceeds to chuck at you, which you expertly take straight to the chest, unaffected by his weaponized trash, “Yeah, you wouldn’t think it would be that bad, but even with the flirtatiousness of the two of them, you get used to that after a while.” He says that while smiling, obviously reminiscing on past memories, most likely with his parents, “But something happened recently that has really put some strain on our relationship, and they gave me a few options…” He seems to be looking away from you now, unwilling to look you in your eyes, and you can see why, because tears are welling up in his eyes, obviously upset by everything that must be occurring in his life.

Seeing how uneasy this has made him, you decide to speak up, speaking in a softer tone, trying to calm him down, “Hey, Husk,” you snap your fingers to grab his attention, and once you see his attention is on you again, you continue, “it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me right now, if this is too hard to talk about, we can talk about something else, anything to get your mind off of this thing that has you so worried.” Your talk seems to have calmed him down a little, and you see him wipe one of his paws across his eyes, before he looks back at you, seeming to have himself a little bit more together.

It takes Husk a moment longer to compose himself before he speaks again, seeming to be a little better now, “Thanks Fen, I really appreciate that, I was never any good at making friends, so I appreciate you being here to listen to me ramble, it really makes me feel better.” He wipes his eyes one more time, and once he looks at you again, you can see his smile is back, and he seems to be back to his normal self again, before he continues to talk, “This whole debacle happened right before I came to the café, so I guess I’m not that ready to talk about it yet, I’m sorry you had to see that.” He smiles sheepishly at you, looking a little embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

You shake your head, mostly to reassure him that everything was fine, “It’s perfectly fine, if I knew that the event in question was so recent, I wouldn’t have bothered you about it, I know that there needs to be some sort of waiting period for stuff like this before you can confidently talk about it, and you are definitely not past that period yet, so you don’t have to tell me if you are not comfortable sharing.” You brought his paws that were sitting on the table into yours, squeezing them between yours, trying to alleviate some of the stress and pain he must be feeling, before letting them rest back on the table. You notice that his tail is wagging behind him, and when you look back up, you see him absolutely beaming from your touch. You stare into each other’s eyes for a while, both of you completely mesmerized the colors, before you decide to ask him about his eyes.

“So, I notice that you have two distinct eye colors. What’s that about? I’ve heard about animals that have different colored eyes, but your eyes seem to stick out to me. I think it’s called hetero… something or other…” This shocks him back to reality, looking away quickly, obviously embarrassed over the fact that he was staring at you for an extremely long time, not that you really minded, because you could stare into his eyes for hours.

Husk slowly looks back up at you as he starts to talk, “Y…yeah, it’s called heterochromia, and a lot of different animals are born with it, and it can be pretty rare in huskies. My parents don’t have it, but I’m sure they wish they did, with how cool it looks!” He is finally able to look at you again, and he blinks multiple times to prove his point. “I inherited my brown eye from my dad, and I inherited my blue eye from my mom. I’ve had it all my life, and I think it makes furs more willing to talk to me, considering how captivating they are!” As he says this, he stares at you for a moment, to both prove his point, and to leave you completely speechless because of his newfound confidence. You clutch your necklace, trying to calm yourself down.

You compose yourself quickly, before you speak up, “Y…Yeah, they can be pretty enticing, I know they caught my attention…” You both continue to stare into each other’s eyes for a while, before a buzzing from his phone brings you both back to Furth. When you look at his phone, you see that it is a call from his Mom. He apologizes to you, quickly picking up his phone, and promptly answering it. He stands to start pacing while he talks to his mom on the phone, and you can’t help but notice the height difference between the both of you, with him standing at what must be 5’10”, which isn’t too terribly tall, but standing at a measly 5’5”, anyone can look tall compared to you.

Husk returns to the table with you, seeming to have hung up with his mom, before talking with you again, “Hey, I’m sorry about this, but I got to go. My parents want to talk with me, and I have to go back there eventually, so I might as well go get this over with.” He chuckles nervously, obviously not wanting to stop talking to you, just to go deal with his parents, and what must be a weird conversation between the three of them, even if you don’t know entirely what is going on.

Seeing how nervous he is, you try to alleviate some of his worries, if only a little bit, “Hey, it’s totally fine. I know stuff between you guys must be weird right now, so go take care of that, and if you think about it… if we exchange phone numbers, then you can contact me whenever if you are feeling down, or just need someone to talk too.” You decide to put on the most pitiful face you can, to try and coax him into giving you his number, but you must look pretty stupid, because all he does is laugh at you.

“Ok, fine, I guess I can’t really argue with a face like that.” Husk says, and after you exchange numbers, he starts to get up to leave, and you decide that maybe now would be a good time for you to leave too. Husk turns back to you quickly, and as you look up at him, you can’t help but feel slightly intimidated. You see some hesitation in his eyes, before he quickly envelops you in a hug, wrapping his arms around you, holding you tight, before he starts talking again, “Hey, Fen… thanks for listening to me today. I really needed someone to talk to it seems, and you and your muffin were just what I needed.” You hug him back, holding him tight, not really wanting this hug to come to an end, but you know that you had to release him to his family someday, so you slowly retract, backing away to a respective distance, one that makes him know that you totally haven’t been smitten with him.

You clutch your necklace again, and you know you are blushing, but you really don’t care if he sees. You look into his eyes again before you speak up again, “It’s no problem, and you have my number now, so if you want to communicate, I’m just a text or phone call away from you.” You let go of your necklace, finally having composed yourself enough to speak again, “And, despite everything, I still had a great time talking to you, so if you ever wanted to meet up again, I would be perfectly fine with that.” You look at Husk, and you see that he is ecstatic upon hearing that. You seemed to have done a good job cheering him up, it seems.

“Yes, I would love that too! But I’ve dilly-dallied for way too long, so I have to jet. See you later Fen!” As you wave goodbye to him, he quickly leaves you alone in the café, leaving you alone once more. As you start to head out the café, you can’t help but think about this weird day, and everything that has transpired through it. As you head back to your apartment, you think about Husk and his life, and what all must be going through his head right now.