Izzy wakes up blurry and looks around. She feels the gentle breathing of Jacob under her head. She feels her insides are sore. She feels the warmth of Jacob's body. She looks at the clock: 6:23 pm. She nudges Jacob till he wakes up. “Hey, get up and take a shower with me,” she pyfully kisses him.

  “Yeah, I'll be there in a moment.” He looks around the room, piecing together his life. “Yeah. Yeah. Oh god, yeah, I'll be right there, Izzy. He sits up and watches her carry the three pairs of cum-stained panties to the bathroom and toss them into the pile of dirty undry.

  He watches her strip and step into the shower as he gets up to join her. He admires the scattering of freckles on her back. She is often self-conscious about them, but he loves them. When he rubs her back, he traces designs between them. His favorite is the & symbol under her left shoulder bde.

  She starts the water and steps in and waits for Jacob to join her. He kisses her, “I love you, Isabel,” and he wraps his arms around her. the water washing off the smell of the day's sexual escapades.

  Jacob grabs a bar of soap and begins washing every inch of her. Then Izzy takes a turn and washes him down. She notices he starts getting hard and takes a moment to thoroughly clean him. But not enough to make him cum, just enough to keep him on edge. She smirks to herself and squats down in front of him and washes out the st of the cane from inside her. Jacob feels a pang of embarrassment. But it soon passes.

  “Do you want to go get dinner?” She asks Jacob as she towels off.

  “Are you asking me out on a date?” he replies, enjoying their new closeness after feeling so distant for so long.

  “Yeah, my treat,” she says, going through her suitcase.

  She puts on a simple bck dress, sheer bck nylons with short 1-inch bck heels, and her hair up with hair sticks holding it in pce. She digs in her purse and pulls out the rarely used tube of lipstick and applies it.

  Meanwhile, Jacob does his best. He wears the closest thing he has to dress-up clothes. a pair of dress pants and a pin tan t-shirt. He also sticks with a pair of comfortable sneakers.

  “Were you serious about aliens earlier?” he asks from the bedroom. Still in turmoil over the new evolution of their retionship.

  “Yeah. You met Cat, didn't you? I know at first your brain just refuses to accept it. In my case he looked right at me, and I bluntly refused to see it.” She says, blotting her lipstick on a piece of paper towel. “My theory is that's why they don't seem to try to hide it. Just refuse to accept it anyway, she says, testing out a seductive smile. ‘Not bad, a little dark under the eyes today,’ she thinks.

  “But aliens, right?” he asks again. Putting his shoes on.

  “Well, ok, Cat is just not human. But there are aliens; I have met a few. And gods? I think there are gods too, or they cim to be gods? This is all new to me as well, she shakes her head. “Anyway, let's go eat.

  Jacob reties the shoe he has been trying to tie. the first time he bungled it trying to keep his head from exploding at the idea of aliens and gods.

  She takes his hand as they leave the room, and together they wander to the bar. The cat is sitting behind the bar when he sees Izzy; his face lights up, and he gives his trademark smile. “Yesss, Izzy, what can I get you two tonight? You should know it's taco night at the ranch”.

  His gaze drifts to Jacob, who is looking like he is about to hyperventite. He moves his gaze back to Izzy. “You finally told him I'm not human?”

  Izzy nods her head. The cat turns and looks at Jacob and smiles an impossibly wide smile, and his tail flicks up from behind the bar. The cat keeps smiling wider, showing his needle-like teeth.

  “What are you?” Jacob asks, looking at the teeth, then the eyes, then the tail; he starts to feel dizzy. ‘I had made so many assumptions; how could I have ever thought they were contacts?’ He looks away, and when he looks back, the cat looks mostly human again.

  “I am not human. And that is all you need to know, he says. “Now what can I do for the pair of you?”

  Izzy breaks in, "We need a quiet corner for a date night." The room is crowded, but everyone is giving them space in front of the bartender. He points at the corner. "I will send someone over to take your order in a few minutes."

  “Thanks, Cat,” she says with a wave.

  “You're most welcome, Izzy,” he says, swishing his tail. “If only she were a cat, he sighs wistfully and goes back to making drinks.

  The booth is simir to the one she was in this morning with Cane. They sit across from each other and go through the crudely printed menu. It's filled with 3 pages of tacos.

  “What are you getting?” he asks her. As he flips the pages over for the second time

  “I don't know; it all sounds fantastic,” she says, her stomach rumbling. ‘I hate ordering food; I never know what to get.’ Her eyes nd on the sampler ptter, 14 tacos, each unique. “Let’s do the sampler.

  “Sounds good, he says, looking at the drink menu, “and I want a paloma,” he says, unsure of what it is.

  “Ooh, make it two,” she says and rexes, the hard part of eating out done with.

  The fox-eared waitress swings by to take their order. Oh, you’re back,” she says before putting her hand to her lips.

  “Yes, I eat here often,” Izzy says, gring daggers at her.

  “Yes, that's what I meant. What can I get you?” She asks, ‘Shit, there goes my tip,’ she sighs mentally.

  “2 sampler ptters and 2 palomas,” Jacob says.

  “Coming right up,” the fox-eared girl says and leaves; she mouths “sorry” to Izzy as she goes.

  The cat watches from the bar. ‘Well, they seem to be in a better pce today.’ The order for food goes in; Cat pokes his head into the back kitchen, and the 12-armed monster that is the chief sits on his chair in the middle of the kitchen. food flying through the air and nding with millimeter precision. It's like a circus of one.