Damn I need a girlfriend. Ryan thought as he walked to school.

What happened this morning was not okay.

He had a wet dream. Which is definitely a sign that you're either fourteen, or that you're not having enough sex. But that could have been dismissed, if he hadn't had one whilst Kitty was lying on his crotch.

Coming on your cat: definitely not a healthy situation. So, girlfriend time.

Ryan decided he’d go get Lilah tonight. She seemed nice enough, and she certainly looked the part. So maybe, if he really tried, he could fall in love with her. If Tasha was right (and she almost always was) Lilah already really liked him, so there you go, relationship halfway fixed.

OK. So if he’d go for it, that would probably mean that nothing sexual would happen tonight, right? A girlfriend would probably not sleep with her boyfriend on the first night… That's what makes it different from a one-night-stand.

Shame though. He decided he’d clean the house just in case. Make it girl-visit worthy.

He had never had a girl over, except Tasha of course. He preferred his one-night stands to be at the girls’ place, so he could leave afterwards.

Ryan wondered if he should do something special, besides cleaning up and buying something to drink.

Breakfast! He couldn’t just give the girl a banana the next morning, now could he?

He should also get something nice for Kitty. He seemed to have really startled the little guy with his nastiness this morning. Kitty had hidden under the couch the entire time he was home. He definitely had to make it up to the guy.

Ryan hurried to his class for the math test. It was the only thing that really mattered today, so Ryan decided that he’d give it his everything, and afterwards celebrate with ice-cream and ditch all his afternoon classes.

As he took his place behind his desk, he started to clear his mind from all the unnecessary baggage. He tried to empty his head of everything real, so the imaginary numbers would finally sink in place. He still didn’t fully grasp the matter, but he practiced a shitload using them. And if he didn’t think about them not existing, he could probably apply them correctly. He certainly hoped so.

The test took him the better part of two hours. It was hard, but he had a good feeling when he turned the test in. B-minus, he guessed. That was good enough.

After he left the classroom, he stretched and jumped up-and-down for a bit to get the blood flowing. Then he walked to the convenience store and got lunch, dinner, chicken hearts for Kitty and, just to be sure, scented candles, breakfast for two and a bottle of red wine.

**

As Ryan got in view of his house, he noticed a black car standing in front of it. A guy in a suit was idly sitting behind the wheel. Another, scawny looking guy in a black hoodie was running up to the car, clutching a baseball bat.

The car drove off as the guy in the hoodie slammed the baseball bat against the side of the car.

Ryan looked at the driver of the car, slightly shocked by the whole thing. The driver looked back at Ryan. He did not look frightened at all. So why was he driving away, while his car got bashed?

As the car drove off, Ryan looked at the guy in the hoodie. He stared back for a second, then ran off in the opposite direction.

What a strange scene Ryan thought. Maybe he should report it to the police? But what would he report? He didn’t know either guy, nor had he remembered the licence plate on the car.

Nah, whatever. He thought as he put his key in the lock.

As Ryan tried turning the key, he realised his front door wasn’t locked. He always locked the door when he went out.

He went inside slowly, half-expecting his house to be turned upside-down. It wasn’t though. His TV, sound system, and X-box were accounted for. He had his lap-top and phone in his bag, and Ryan didn’t own anything else of value.

His acoustic guitar was lying on the couch. Now THAT was weird. He didn’t really play anymore. The last time he touched it, he still lived with his mother. Ryan had only kept it just in case he’d get bored, and wanted to start again someday. He picked it up, and put it back on the wall.

Someone HAD been in his house.

Ryan shivered and called Kitty. No sound. Ryan looked under the couch to see if his Kitty was still sitting there being traumatized, but found it empty. He called Kitty again. Nothing.

“Someone came into my house, played guitar and kitnapped my Kitty!” he yelled out loud. He ran outside screaming “Kitty! Kitty!” hoping he was wrong and the cat would come running.

In the bushes around the block he found a baseball bat.

Ryan picked it up and realised it was his. His initials RP were scratched into the handle. He remembered doing that as soon as he got it. Realisation dawned on Ryan that his burglar had to have been the guy with the baseball bat.

Ryan dropped the bat.

Shit, that thing had to be dusted for prints of course!

He hoped he hadn’t fucked up the guys fingerprints on the handle, and carefully picked the bat up again by the other end. He tried to remember what the guy looked like, but didn’t get any further than: white guy, black hoodie and baggy pants. That wasn’t much to go on.

“Think better!” he scolded himself. He had to track this guy down and save his Kitty!

He thought about the scene again, trying his utmost to remember as many details as possible. Then he realised the guy hadn’t been carrying anything but the bat.

He didn’t have Kitty.