Thankfully he spent most of his time out working, so while he was gone I would often find myself forgetting he even existed. I was living essentially the same as I had when I was in my own place, but I was woefully reminded that I am a cat now whenever my owner would return from work and scoop me up into a hug.

Since I have the patience of a saint from years of getting pestered by my little sisters while I was drawing at home, I managed to avoid snapping at him.

The first night he got back at around midnight. I saved my progress with the comic and set my tablet aside just before he ran over to me.

“Are you tired?” he asked while nuzzling his face all over me.

“No,” I answered, rubbing my eyes because they were strained from looking at a screen all day.

“Okay, good! Then, do you think we could watch that movie you mentioned yesterday?”

“Oh, yeah. No problem. I’ll get my laptop.” Part of me would have rathered just shooing him away and continuing with my art, but since I was the one that suggested we watch it together, I felt obligated to follow through. “Hey, do you want to drink while we watch? We didn’t manage to drink much at the bar.”

I may be a cat, but he’s clearly a dog: I could see his ears perk up like I’d just offered to take him for a walk.

Duke excitedly agreed and told me to take whatever I wanted from his alcohol cupboard while he got changed.

He returned almost immediately in what I imagine were his comfy clothes. He had a grey long sleeve v-neck shirt that was a size too big but still gripped him just right with each tiny flex of his arms. He also had pyjama bottoms which, for some reason, I couldn’t have even begun to picture him wearing if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.

“What, we having a sleep-over now?” I chuckled. “Hold up: I’ll get changed, too. You pour the drinks.” I found myself having a surprisingly good time. I put on my lounge pants and the only hoodie I owned, to match his comfy vibe.

When I re-entered the living room I saw that, instead of pouring the drinks like I asked, he was just staring very hard at the bottles.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering if I’d made a mistake by bringing his one bottle of whiskey instead of the Vodka. He looked very embarrassed when he turned to face me.

“I, uh… I don’t know how you take it, so I didn’t want to do it wrong. Do you like ice? Or do you drink it straight? Or, uh… well, I don’t know how to make cocktails.”

I half laughed and half sighed, walking over and patting his chest. I filled my glass half with whiskey and half with ginger beer, then did the same for him. “I don’t really care, as long as it’s alcoholic,” I told him. He took a sip with a smile.

We sat on the floor, with my laptop on the coffee table. He dragged me onto his lap and rested his chin on my shoulder while we watched. 

We finished the bottle before we finished the movie, so I fixed us both drinks of vodka and orange juice.

I wasn’t sure what type of drunk he’d be, but I would have put my money on him being super emotional. Actually, he seemed to just be a more intense version of his usual self. That is to say, he was very handsy and affectionate.

Because it’s one of my favourite movies, I was too engrossed to mind his wandering hands and occasional whispers of adoration, but I made sure to get his attention when the funny parts were happening so he would focus. I felt a surge of pride when he would also laugh at them. I didn’t expect our senses of humour to match up, and it was probably mostly because of the alcohol, but when we were laughing together it felt really nice.

There's a small section of the movie where one of the main character's reveals that she has family ties to mobsters, which I’d totally forgotten about but Duke really enjoyed.

When the movie finished I turned my body around so I was facing him fully and grabbed his hands, raising them into the air. “Good movie, right?” I asked, my tone not really expressing my feelings correctly since it came out as flatly as usual.

“So good!” he gushed, pushing his arms further into the air, and because his arms are longer than mine that just pulled my torso up with them so I fell on top of him and we toppled over.

He looked up at me with big “kiss me” eyes, but I was drunk enough to ignore him and just go with my own wants.

“I want food,” I announced, rolling away from him and snatching my phone from the settee where I had left it earlier. While he struggled like a turtle to get up from his back, I checked my phone to find the nearest 24hour McDonalds from his place. 

The moment that I saw there was one only a ten minute walk away, the rest of our night was sealed.

“We’re getting McDonalds!” I resolved, holding my hand out to help him sit up. He gasped quietly and clapped his hands to his cheeks.

“Really?” he whispered excitedly. I nodded and told him to get his shoes on.

"Wait, wait, I'm out of cigarettes," I said when I picked up the empty pack.

"There's a shoe box in the… the uh… that thing," he said hazily, pointing to the cupboards under one of the bookshelves in the living room. "There's cigs in there," he added while I retrieved the shoe box. Inside were two duty free cartons of our brand of cigarettes. I took a pack out to bring with us.

I put my wallet and both of our phones in my pockets, since his pyjamas didn't have any, and then we excitedly rushed out. I don't think he even locked the door.

It was the first time I left his place entirely on foot, so instead of going to the parking garage we walked through a foyer on the ground level. Since we were both pissed out of our minds, we were struggling to pretend we were sober while walking out the doors. But, obviously, two guys in pyjamas who are falling over each other and trying not to laugh aren't going to look sober no matter how much they try.

Once on the street I got my phone out again to follow the directions, and told Duke to hold my arm so he wouldn't get lost.

I think at one point he stopped to piss in some alleyway, and I stared at him the whole time. If memory serves, I shouted encouragement while he aimed to pee into an empty bottle that was on the floor a couple metres away. I don't know if he managed it but I cheered on regardless.

The alleged ten minute walk turned into half an hour or more of drunken stumbles and chats. He tried to pick me up when I fell over a rock but I wasn't having it. I actually tried to pick him up instead and that went about as well as one would imagine.

"Don't laugh!" I ordered after picking myself off the floor.

"I didn't!" he assured me, but was obviously smiling. "You're so cute!" he shouted. "Let me hold you."

"You haven't earned it," I scoffed, striding off. He chased after me and spun me around into a kiss. "You're so annoying," I whined, my cheeks fully flushed, when I finally tore away from him. I lit up a cigarette. "You think you can get your way just cause you're a good kisser? Think again." I crossed my arms angrily and continued to puff away with no hands.

He took the cigarette from my lips and kissed me again, taking in the smoke I’d inhaled and breathing it out himself when he released me. There was a huge smile on his face. "You think I'm a good kisser?" he giggled.

I glared at him and scoffed. "What of it?"

"I'm so happy!"

He somehow managed to talk me into letting him give me a piggyback after that, and he jogged along to my directions until we got to the McDonald's.

It was then that I realised my terrible mistake. It was a drive-through only.

"Where's Frank when you need him?" I whined, kicking some rubbish on the floor towards a bin to vent my frustration.

"Shit, wait, let's call him!" Duke suggested. Thinking that, in that moment at least, he was a fucking genius, I handed him his phone. We both winced at the bright light of the screen at first and then he managed, with some effort, to call his brother. "Frank! Where aaaaare you?" he whined. "We need the car! Yes, now! The road - the one - that road with the… Soot, what are those called?"

"Trees."

"The road with the trees, you know with one, come on, of course you do. Get over here!" And with that very clear and detailed message, he hung up.

Frank drove up a few minutes later, understandably annoyed, to find us both sat on the pavement throwing rocks at parked cars. Duke jumped to his feet when he spotted his brother, then wobbled a bit before rushing over to him with open arms. "You came!" Duke began happily before Frank flung his arm around to get him in a choke hold. The older man was aggressively giving the younger a nuggie for a full minute, against much protest, before he looked at me.

"Are you serious, Duke? You called me out for this?" Frank asked with a tight smile and clenched teeth.

"You're not calling him "Boss" anymore?" I asked as I walked over quite casually.

"If this was a call from my boss, then I’d quit. Obviously this was from my idiot brother." He tightened his grip on Duke a bit. "I had to leave my girlfriend in the middle of date-night for this."

"Well you better get her a milkshake then, at least," I reasoned, then tapped his arm so he would let go of Duke, who fell gasping to the ground. "Actually, wait, girls like fries, too. Get her lots."

I gave Duke a hardy slap on the back while laughing at him and trying to haul him into the car. He was laughing just as much. Frank was not impressed.