"God, please, stop licking me your breath smells horrible." Nick complained as the stray cat we had found gave him wet kisses all over his face. I'd wrapped him in an old blanket that I'd found and now it poked it's little head out of the gray fabric.

I'd volunteered to drive us to an animal clinic I found on Google, it was inside a pet store fifteen minutes away. We were almost there and the orange fur ball was none the wiser. When I saw it sitting in my living room, my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

Not only was it malnourished, but it looked like it had been attacked. By other stray cats or dogs, humans, I'm not sure. And it's little nubby tail made me want to cry. I don't cry.

"Maya," Nick groaned. "His breath smells like tuna and garbage, I think I'm going to be sick." He held him away from his body turning his face away.

"Please, try not to throw up, we're almost there." And if he throws up this is his car and I'm not cleaning it up.

I pulled into the parking spot in front of the pet store, and as soon as I parked Nick handed him over.

I took him from him. "Stop being such a baby," I told him. Then I got a whiff of the rancid smell he was talking about, and I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from getting sick.

"See, I told you."

I dropped my hand. "He can't help it." I tried to hold my breath until we got inside not breathing through my nose to avoid the smell, and not breathing through my mouth to avoid getting sick.

"Hi, welcome to the Paws Animal Clinic! How can I help you?" The peppy nurse said from behind the counter.

"This cat wandered into my apartment, and it's really skinny and has all these scratches I'm worried they might be infected." The cat looked up at me like it knew we were talking about him.

"Let's see," she said gesturing for us to follow her back into a room.

Nick and I followed her back into a small room with a large padded table in the center. Containers of supplies and treats lined the wall. She gestured for me to put him on the table as she put on some blue rubber gloves.

Gently, I set it on the table, where it padded around reluctantly. I handed Nick the blanket. I was thankful that he came with me.

"Hi, cutie," the woman smiled down at him. It sniffed at her glove covered hands as she tried to examine it. I'm guessing he didn't like it very much because he quickly turned his head away. She checked the large scratches and his missing tail.

"Well, if I had to guess he's about six months old," she said. "And these scratches do seem to be close to infection."

I knew it.

"It's hard to determine where he got them from, but it's a good thing you found him."

"More like he found us," Nick said from behind me.

She smiled. "They have a way of doing that don't they. But he's going to need some shots and care for these cuts. Are you planning to adopt him?"

I looked down at his orange and white body with his clumps of dirt and missing tail. And his big eyes pulled at my heart, he came over and rubbed his small head against my hands that rested in the edge of the table. I couldn't say no.

"Yes," I said after a minute. "Yes, we'll adopt him." I don't know where the we came from, but Nick didn't rush to correct me.

"Great, he does need some health things but would you like to get him groomed as well?"

Nick took this time to jump in. "Yes! And if you could do something about his breath while you're doing that, that would be great."

She laughed. "We sure can. I'll go get the paperwork started for you."

We stood in the exam room while we waited for her to bring us back the paperwork. I sighed "What did I just do?"

"You adopted a cat," Nick told me. "Or we adopted a cat."

I looked up at him. "I couldn't say no. Look at his cute little face." He had stretched on the table his head resting on his paws. "I couldn't let him go to a shelter. What if no one adopted him?"

He ran his hands up and down my foreheads. "It's okay. Now we'll take care of him."

I let out a deep breath. The nurse came back in with the paperwork.

"You can wait in the waiting room and fill them out. This may take a long time, so if you want to shop while you wait you're welcome to. Do you have any other cats at home?"

"No." I've never had a pet before. I don't know the first thing about taking care of an animal.

"Okay." She pulled another sheet of paper from the pile and handed it to Nick. "I suggest you pick up these things."

I looked at the long list of supplies that Nick held. What have I gotten myself into?

"Goodbye, we'll be back," I said scratching the cat, my cat, behind his ears. He seems to like it when I do that. Nick and I went outside of the exam room and back into the small waiting room. Nick and I sat down to fill out the paperwork. I began signing the papers when it came to the blank to list your pet's name.

"Shit," I said. "We didn't name him."

"Well, we'll do it now." Nick thought for a second. "We should name him Nubs you know because he doesn't have a tail."

I looked at him with my mouth open in shock. "Remind me not to ask you to name anything ever again."

"What's wrong with what I said?" he asked truly clueless. "I like that name."

"If you think if you had a missing eye and had to wear a eye patch, Patches would be a suitable name for you?"

"Of course not," he said.

"So why would we name him Nubs to remind him of his missing tail," I said. "We should name him Charlie."

"Charlie, why?"

"Because that's what he looks like his name should be," I said simply.

"I still like the name Nubs," he said.

I let out a breath. It didn't look like he was going to let this ugly name go. "This is what we'll do." I began writing on the form. "Charlie will be his first name and Nubs will be his middle name."

Once I was finished writing I handed the form to him. "There."

"Charlie Nubs Ainsworth-Scott," he read on the form. He smiled. "I like that."

"Good, because that's his name now and we can't change it."

He nodded. "Okay."

I finished signing what I had to, and handed the finished paperwork to the woman sitting behind the desk.

"Do you want to go shop for his things?" I asked going back up to Nick.

"Sure."

The clinic was separated from the store by a set of double doors. With the grooming and shots, Charlie wouldn't be done for awhile. I waited for Nick at the front of the store, while he grabbed us a shopping cart.

Nick rode in on the shopping cart.

"Can I see the list, please?" I asked.

"Since you said please," he said handing me the list.

"Don't be a brat." I took the list from him. "We need to get cat food."

He gestured in front of him. "Lead the way." We picked up his basic necessities, cat food, kitty litter, a bed that Nick hit me with, a food dish and bowl. We stood in front of a wide selection of collars.

"Should we get him the green bowtie or the blue bowtie?" I asked holding up two collars with different colored bow ties on the front.

"The blue one," said Nick leaning on the handle of the full cart.

I put the green one back on the shelf. This was going to look so cute on him.

"We should get these for him." Nick stopped in front of the toy section and began throwing things in the cart. I stopped him before he could put one of each item in the cart.

"I think you've gotten enough toys. We adopted one cat, not five."

"But what if he gets bored with them?"

"Then we'll give him a cardboard box. Cats love those."

"That's no fun."

"He would enjoy it." I'm sure he would. Everyone's seen those videos of the cats playing with random objects.

He frowned putting down the extra toys. But his discontent was short lived when we rounded the corner and he spotted the pet's stores assortment of cat trees. It was like a jungle gym but for cats.

"Maya, we have to get it!" He exclaimed.

"Nick," I started patiently. They were massive one of them was almost as tall as me. "We have enough things."

He begged. "Oh, please, I'll put back some of the toys. Charlie will love this I just know he will."

"But where would I put it?"

"In the living room of course," he said logically. He jutted out his bottom lip. "Please, Maya."

I hate that he's so cute. "Fine, but get the smallest one."

"Yes!" He cheered grabbing the smallest cat tree they had and wedging it underneath the cart.

"But that's it we're not buying anything else," I said putting my foot down.

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded.

Remind me to never take him shopping anywhere again. Finished, we headed towards the cash register with our overly full cart.

As we were checking out, I noticed some pet treats by the cash register. They looked like human cookies with sprinkles and different color frosting. I should get some for Charlie.

"Can I get a few of these?" I asked the guy behind the counter.

"Sure how many?" He asked.

"Just five or six," I told him.

"I thought we weren't buying anything else," said Nick a knowing look on his face.

"This counts as food," I said trying to rationalize the impulsive purchase. "He needs food."

"Sure."

It came time for us to pay, and that's when we hit a snag.

"I'll pay," we said in unison to one another.

For a moment we just stared at each other with our debit cards out.

"I'm going to set my card on the counter and I'm going to pay for it," Nick explained, placing his card on the counter slowly.

"No," I said snatching it off the counter. "I'll pay." I handed my card to the cashier. "Hurry before he throws a tantrum."

I heard him scoff behind me. "I've never thrown a tantrum a day in my life."

As the cashier ran my card. Nick whispered in my ear. "I don't mind paying for it."

"I know you don't," I responded. "But you shouldn't have to. You've already spent so much money fixing my car."

"It hasn't been that much."

I looked up at him. He couldn't even meet my eyes. "Liar. I can pay for this." This was going over the strict budget I kept for myself, but it'd be worth it to know that Charlie was safe and cared for.

"At least let me pay for his exams and grooming," he pleaded. "We both adopted him remember?"

The cashier handed me my receipt and debit card. "Thank you," I said to him before turning back to Nick.

Determined, he said, "You know what on second thought I am going to pay for it, because he's my Nub too. And if I want to pay for it I can."

I looked at him dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say, so I said, "I don't like when you call him that."

He smirked. "You'll get over it. Can I have my card back?"

I handed him his card without a word. "Don't be mad," he said as we went back to the clinic.

"I'm not mad," I said. It just caught me off guard.

"You look mad."

"I always look mad." At least, that's what Tasha tells me. "I guess, I'm just used to doing everything my own way." I felt like a brat even admitting that. "It's just pushing me out of my comfort zone a little bit."

Nick is constantly pushing me out of my emotional comfort zone. He stepped towards me making my heart thud in my chest. Did I mention he also makes me nervous? Because he does.

Reaching out to hold my hands, he said, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't." Liar. "It's not a big deal, you can pay for it if you want."

"You'll tell me if I ever make you mad or uncomfortable," he asked me.

I nodded. "Yes, I will."

He pecked me on the lips. "Good."

"Ms. Scott." The nurse from earlier came out of the exam room smiling. "I have someone that wants to see you."

Charlie rested in her arms, and he didn't even look like the same cat. His orange and white fur was not clean and trimmed, and his cuts were bandaged. Now that he'd gotten a haircut I could truly see how thin he was, it made my stomach hurt, but it was okay we'd fatten him up a little.

"We had to give him a light sedative," she explained. "So he might have a lot of energy in the next few hours."

I took him from her. He blinked his tired brown eyes at me before resting into the crook of my arm. My heart melted in my chest, he's so cute.

"I see you found everything that you needed," she said looking at our cart.

I looked up from Charlie's sleeping face. "We got a little carried away."

She chuckled, "Many first time pet owners do. He's just a baby so he'll enjoy the toys."

"Told you," Nick said from the counter.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said ignoring him. I was too focused on cuddling the cat in my arms to pay attention to him. The nurse went on to tell me about his ointments and the flea and tick medicine he needs to take.

"Can you drive?" I asked Nick. "I want to hold him."

He scratched underneath Charlie's chin. "Yes." He bent down and sniffed him. "He smells a lot better now."

"I'm already obsessed with him," I admitted.

Nick smiled. "I'm glad he found us."

"Me too."