So I have finally gotten around to adding the next... scene I guess you could say to my story. Sorry it took so long to get out, it took multiple visits to Starbucks to right this one and I kept getting distracted by finding new material to read while writing this.

I'm also looking at coming up with a better title for the story and names for the chapter, Coffee Shop was just suppose to be a place holder and I used it since I started writing this in a coffee shop and the first scene/chapter is in one

*PLEASE tell me what you think, whether it's boring, too long/short, not enough action/drama, or if there is something you dislike or whatever. You can do it anonymously at http://iwontbyte.tumblr.com/ask so be as honest and brutal as you want :D

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The rays of the sun filter through the blinds bathing the room in an orange glow. Slowly, the sun begins to creep over my body gently warming me up. I make the unfortunate mistake of rolling over and a beam lands across my face. I groan as I roll back over trying to ignore the fact that I was waking up. It is useless really, but I lie there with my eyes closed for another half hour or so before I lazily get out of bed. Feeling a little stiff I stand up and stretch giving my tail a few wags to wake it up and rolling my head around my shoulders to work out the kinks, a big yawn escapes my muzzle. Sluggishly I make my way to the bathroom, my bushy tail dragging behind me. Another yawn stops me in the hall and I stretch my arms out again and try to perk my ears up. I give the spot on my side a good scratch and make my way into the bathroom. I always have a bad case of bed fur when I wake up and huff at the shaggy black wolf wearing purple boxers in the mirror as I head towards the toilet.

Brushing in the morning, to me, is like a cup of hot coffee or a shower for others. Something about the brush dragging through my fur sets my skin a tingle and has a soothing effect on me. I leisurely brush my fur down so I don't look like a wild mutt, paying special attention to my tail and well it's not like I have anywhere to be in a hurry right now. Every canine has a weak spot or two, it is that location that when scratched you are at the mercy of the scratcher. My favorite spot is at the base of my ears, especially my left one. Normally, it doesn't work if you scratch yourself, I don't know why but it's just not the same, but I found that using my brush can be almost as good. I am not in any hurry this morning so I have time for a good long brushing and to indulge in a little pleasure. Luckily, no one was home to see me because once I stroked over that spot a couple of times my tongue was lolling out the side of my muzzle. I settle into a nice rhythm brushing around the base of my ear, lifting my head up and tilting it to the side. The ceiling starts to fade as I focus on the wonderful sensation and my eyes start to roll back. Every now and then I brush against the grain and a shiver is sent down my spine. I close my eyes and just lose myself for what seems like an eternity, in what is really only a couple of minutes, but time seems to slow the faster I brush. I start panting and whining a little, my lower jaw quivers as I start brushing from different angles. My paw is shaking causing a vibrating effect as I continue stroking, my other paw gripping the side of the bed and my toes curling from the exquisite feeling coursing through me. Another couple more minutes past, I start to tire so I give one last long and slow stroke firmly over the base of my left ear. The bristles of the brush dragging through my fur pulling them along and pressing against my skin, the feeling so intense I moan as I pass over that special spot. I flop down on the edge of my bed and lie there for a while enjoying the high I was riding, my paws aching slightly as I realize how tightly they were curled.

Now with that out of the way I can get on with the rest of my day. What do I have to do today? I think as I head to the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal. That question always comes to my mind in the morning, being jobless affords you lots of time that you can sort of lose track of what you need to accomplish that day. Nothing really important crosses my mind as I sit at the island in the middle of the kitchen with my cereal, still only wearing my purple boxers. Let's see. Aside from applying to a couple more jobs I don't really have anything to do right now. I have to meet Charlotte at the mall but that is not for a few hours. I sift through the mail and papers left on the island and I finish my breakfast and see a handwritten note. Being jobless and living with your parents for free means you have lots of time to do chores around the house and my parents like to take full advantage of that. Fortunately, the list is fairly short with only three items written on it: laundry, vacuum, and trash. It shouldn't take me long to finish this so and I set about doing the chores assigned for the day.

"Hey Charlotte!" I say waving as the black panther approaches me. She's wearing some bright pink top with a white jacket and a pair of tight jeans that shows off her figure. She flicks her ears in my direction as she sees me, the hoop earrings in her ears swaying about like her silky black tail behind her. She seems so flashy compared to me. I like to keep things simple, a nice pair of blue jeans, a simple green shirt with some yellow graphic, and a plain black jacket.

"I'm surprised to see you her before me, I would have thought you would be running late after oversleeping" she gives me a toothy grin showing off her gleaming white teeth.

"Being jobless affords one lots of time to be on time."

"Oh, and what was your excuse during college. You were jobless then and still managed to be late to your classes."

"Hey, I did have a job and those were morning classes" I huff and give an irritated ear flick at her.

"You mean that IT student work job you had, where they let you come in and leave anytime you wanted. And since when is three in the afternoon considered morning?"

She just loves to tease me, even when we were in college. Charlotte is a communication art major. We met in our freshman year when she came into the IT department because she had trouble connecting her MacBook to the internet. I had just gotten the student worker position in the department so I was stuck doing a lot of the grunt work which included handling clueless students with their simple computer problems. While working on her computer I noticed the icon of an online game that I like to play. When I asked her if she really played this game she seemed a bit shy and reluctant to admit that she does. When I told her what server I play in she looked at me with surprise and said she does too. After I helped her with connecting to the school's network I asked her if she wanted to catch lunch later, to talk about the game and stuff. She said yes and from there on we became friends and she introduced me to a lot of my other friends also. Now that I look back on it, she must have thought I was totally hitting on her asking her to lunch like that and all. Was I really that naïve, am I still?

"Still is for me" I say as I stick out my tongue at her. "Anyways want to walk around the mall for awhile until Rick gets here. What time is he suppose to come?"

"He said he'd meet us here at six after he gets of work and it's only five right now so we've got some time to kill."

"I'm sure you can kill more than that with your shopping" I tease giving her a toothy grin and pulling my ears back. She just huffs as she walks past, lashing her tail at me as we walk down the large hallway of the mall.

We stop at a few shops that she just walks around knowing she can only afford to window shop at places like these. She pulls me into a department store next to browse for a "couple of things" as she puts it, so I prepare myself to spend the rest of the time waiting for Rick in here. We stop at the shoe department first. Most furs don't wear shoes choosing to just go barepaw with clear rubber soles to protect their pawpads unless the weather or any activities call for it. I only have a few pairs that I wear if it's raining or I go out on a long run. Girls though see them as another accessory they can wear and like to have several pairs. Nothing she sees catches her eye so we move on to the next stop where she spends nearly half an hour just picking at things to try on before we are at the dressing rooms.

"So how does this look?" she asks giving me a little twirl so I can get a good look at everything.

"It looks nice I guess. I don't know why you keep asking me though, I'm probably the last person you'd want an opinion from on fashion."

"Because I need to make sure other people think it looks good on me. And it may come as a surprise to you, but girls like it when you tell them you look pretty."

She pops back into the dressing room to try on another outfit and I go to grab a few things off the racks nearby. I throw a purple scarf around me, put on a pair of aviator sunglasses, a big yellow sunhat, and grab her purse and throw it over my shoulder.

"How about this?" she says opening the door.

"Darling, you look fabulous!" I exclaim in a feminine voice.

Her ears perk at the sight of my and she snickers, "You're stupid."

"No baby, I'm glamorous!" I tell her as I strut around exaggerating my movements, hips swing, tail flapping from side to side, and my free arm flailing about.

"Okay, okay. Just one more outfit."

That means like five more in actuality I tell myself as I throw my accessories into the return bin and sit back down with her purse. Fortunately for me Charlotte's cell phone goes off and I answer it. I call out to Charlotte in the dressing room and tell her that Rick is parking so we should get going. We leave the department store with me only carrying one large bag and head towards the restaurant we are suppose to meet Rick at.

Rick is standing by the door to Friday's waving at us, his curly tail mimicking the gesture of his arm, in his black workout shorts and a black hoodie that has the logo of the gym he works at plastered on the front. He calls out to us to get our attention in the off chance we don't see him and we wave back in reply. When we get close enough he hugs Charlotte as she begins to nuzzle the side of his muzzle affectionately. Rick is one of my friends from home that I've known since high school.  We first started hanging out in a photography class when we were partnered up and he kept asking to use my camera because it was better than his. We later joined the photography club together, not many people see this athletic hunky husky as a major photo geek. While I went to college he first started at a community college pursing a physical training certificate and then later got accepted into a college to complete a kinesiology degree which seems to be some fancy name for a degree in athletic and physical training. Don't let it fool you though; he is far from being a dumb jock. I would hang out with him whenever I went back home to visit and sometimes he would make the trip up to see me at my college, especially more often during my junior and senior year. That's because I introduced him to Charlotte who took to him like a smitten kitten. After they became steady, Rick had told me how much of a fool I am for passing up such a great opportunity. Apparently Charlotte had a bit of a crush on me after we became friends but I was too naïve to pick up on the subtle, and not so subtle, hints she kept dropping.

"What, I don't get a hello?" I say theatrically pouting with my ears splayed out.

"Oh" he says pulling away from Charlotte to face me, being a head taller I have to look up at him "Hello Tay." He pats my head and ruffles my fur a little, getting dangerously close to my weak spot.

Charlotte chuckles at our antics, "Okay boys, let's go in. I'm starving."

 As we enter, the smell of food overpowers the smell of all the different furs in the restaurant and I realize how hungry I am when my mouth starts to water. The hostess, a tall mare, shows us to a booth next to the windows and passes out the menus telling us that our waiter will be with us soon. I take a seat next to the window and set down Charlotte's bags next to me as Rick and her sit on the other side. I look over the menu and start to sniff the atmosphere to see if I can't get a whiff of anything good in particular.

"Smell anything good?" Rick asks giving a few sniffs himself.

"Someone has a good smelling burger and I smell a mouth watering fish."

"Guys stop that" Charlotte says giving Rick a soft whack on the muzzle, "it's embarrassing. Canines."

I return to looking back at my menu as Charlotte sighs and shakes her head at us. I'm looking at their two for ten options when I notice Rick taking off his hoodie over the edge of my menu. He's wearing a tight blue workout shirt that seems to bring out the muscle definition on his upper body. He is not bulky, but years of cross country and working out definitely show in how cut he looks in that shirt. Man, he looks good. I wished I looked like that. I thought, feeling a little... jealous. Rick is always inviting me to his job to workout, maybe I should go more often. I'm interrupted by the waiter, an enthusiastic brown bear that puts on a friendly smile and a cheerful voice as he introduces himself and asks to take our order.

I go against my better judgment and order a burger with the Oreo cake dessert and the mango mai tai to drink. Rick and Charlotte opt for a salad starter instead and order chicken entrees along with tea and water.

"You know you should really cut back on that stuff. All of that is not really good for your body" Rick informs me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But it looks and smells so good. Plus I keep active enough to stay healthy."

"Sure but you could look like this if you make better choices and take Rick up on his offer" Charlotte says as she leans over onto Rick's shoulder and rubs his washboard abs.

Rick leans his head back and closes his eyes as Charlotte continues swooning over him. "You better be careful" I warn her as she looks up and giggles at the sight of Rick, whose tongue tip is sticking out the side of his muzzle. One of Rick's weak spots is on the right side of his lower torso.

"She's right though, you should really come by my office at the gym. I can set you up on a great diet and we can work out together."

I give the offer another thought as I scratch the side of my muzzle. Rick always gives me good advice and helps me on many occasions. He is the one that really helped out of my depressive state by literally dragging me out of it and forcing me to get out and socialize.

"You can't really give me an excuse. It is not like you have anything better to do."

"You might even have people chasing after you if you workout with Rick more often" Charlotte adds.

"I have plenty of important things I do during the day like laundry and making sure the television works" I say, flicking my wrist and ears snootily.

"Oh, well heaven forbid you miss a show" Rick says mocking my snooty demeanor.

"Besides, I have plenty of people flocking over me. Why jus the other day" I cut myself off as I recount what happened at Starbucks.

"Oh!" they both exclaim, ears perking up as they turn their full attention to me.

"Do tell" Charlotte says wanting to get the latest gossip on my otherwise boring existence.

"Please, you, flirt. I can't see that happening, let alone you even recognizing someone is interested in you."

"Stop teasing him Rick, I want to hear what happened. I need more gossip for work."

"It's nothing really. I was just talking to this otter girl at Starbucks is all." My tale is cut short by the arrival of our drinks and their salads.

I take a sip of my mai tai which is fabulous. I really love these types of drinks, the sweetness and fruity flavors do a great job of masking any alcohol and mango is one of my favorite flavors. I take a few more sips and enjoy my drink, my tail wagging happily between my legs, while they munch on their salads.

Rick snaps me out of my daze by starting the conversation back up. "So how can you tell if she was even hitting on you? You're pretty clueless about these things."

"Well, she was pretty nice and friendly to me."

"They are to everyone, it is their job to be" Rick retorts.

Was she really just doing her job when she was being nice and friendly to me? But she gave me that free drinks didn't she, isn't that a sign that she liked me. Maybe she was just after a nice tip, which I didn't leave."Well she did give me a couple of free drink, and we did hold paws for a bit when she handed it to me."

"Oh really, I'm not sure I would call that holding paws. Besides, haven't you been going there very often this past month? You've become a regular and they always give treats to frequent visitors don't they?" Rick counters in between bites of his salad.

"She did ask for my name, and before you say anything else. Yes, they do that but she has never asked me before."

"Anything else? All that could seem like flirting when she could just be really friendly." Charlotte chimed.

I take a sip of my drink again and let the mango flavor wash over my tongue as I think about the otter girl. Was there anything else, maybe I was just imagining she was flirting with me. It is not like I can think of past experiences to compare it to. WAIT! "Well she did comment on how beautiful she thought my eyes were so that means she must have been checking me out" I say.

"Well, well. She is right, they are beautiful. I've told you that before when we first met and I was checking you out" Charlotte pauses for a second seeming to contemplate something. "Why did you notice her flirting with you but not me?" Charlotte eyes me down, ears perking forward as if she was stalking her prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

I feel like I'm stuck in a corner. "Well... Uh..." Is all that I manage to say my ears starting to droop.

Luckily, Rick saves me. "Okay, okay. So she seems to be hitting on you. What's her name? Did you make any moves?" My ears perk at his first question and then immediately go back as I realize I didn't even get her name. Rick notices my reaction, "Come on, you mean you passed up a perfect opportunity again?"

 I take another sip of my drink to give myself sometime to think. "Well I didn't get her name but I did flirt back a bit, I even managed to make her laugh." I neglect to tell them that she was actually laughing at me after bumping into that big friendly  looking tiger dude... I think I'll opt out of telling them that embarrassing part of the day.

"Ow! So what did you say to her?" Charlotte asks leaning in closer, pushing her empty salad plate aside. I once again find myself as her prey, waiting to get the juicy details from me, her ears point at me and her tail gently tapping my ankle under the table.

"It's nothing really." My cheeks growing warmer from being put on the spot. Even Rick is now leaning his elbows on the table and propping his head up in his paws. Charlotte begins to tap my ankle faster with her tail, signaling me to go on with my fail. "I just told her that if she keeps giving me free drinks I'm going to have to repay her by taking her out."

"Look at you! Mr. Smooth over here putting the moves on a girl he doesn't even know her name." Rick's teasing does nothing but embarrass me more as I blush under my dark fur.

The waiter comes just in time to rip the spotlight off of me. He passes out our food and he barely has time to take his hand away from my plate before I'm grabbing at the burger. The smell is hypnotizing to me as I feel my mouth watering. I waste no time taking a huge bite out of the burger, it is juicy and tender, the lettuce and tomatoes add a nice crisp to the mix, and the spicy sauce tops it all off. I was starving it seems as I take another big bite before I set the burger back down on my plate to see Rick and Charlotte just now beginning to nibble at their chicken.

I take a sip of my drink to help clear my mouth before I speak. "So enough about me, how have you guys been doing? Anything exciting happen at work Charlotte?" The rest of the dinner is consumed about the interesting events happening at Charlotte's job at the TV station and some funny stories about the gym goers at Rick's job.

As we are getting up and leaving the restaurant, Rick asks what my plans are for the weekend. "You are going with me and Oscar to the park for our hiking and photo trip right?"

"Is that this weekend? I already told Nick and Mark that I would go with them to pick up that new RPG videogame that is coming out."

"Oh come on, you should come with us and explore the real world instead of some virtual one. You could use the exercise" Charlotte lectures me as she jabs a finger at my stomach.

"I might be able to. I'll talk to Oscar and see." I say as I swat away another jab from Charlotte coming my way.

"Alright but you are not weaseling your way out of coming to the gym tomorrow. I'll come get you if I have to."

"But, my Starbucks" I say as I give my best pouty puppy dog face.

"Can wait until after the workout" Rick says sternly as if he were my father. "I'll see you then, and I can't wait" he says with a menacing grin across his muzzle and walks to where he parked with Charlotte, who says a good bye to me too.

What did I get myself into? I walk back towards my car on the other end of the mall trying to figure out why I had agreed to take Rick up on his offer.