The Tale of the Blue Cat and the Purple Cat

The cute, light blue cat left her house wearing one of her usual pink dresses. Not that there was any other colour she'd wear. Everything she owned was pink – literally everything. And she always told people she wished her fur was pink, too.

As usual, she skipped her way to Nook's to check if there was anything new that interested her. It was raining that morning, but she didn't care. Always in a cheerful mood, Rosie happily pulled out her umbrella, which was rounded on the edges so that it loosely resembled a flower and was white and covered in pink ribbons.

As she neared Nook's Cranny, she saw Bob, another cat resident, on his way out of the shop. He held a mint coloured umbrella.

"Hiya, Bob, silly!" She called, waving franticly with both hands, including the one that was holding her umbrella. She waved so fast that her umbrella fell out of her hand and dropped onto the wet grass below her. She quickly picked it up before looking back up at Bob, who was smiling and walking towards her.

"That looks like something I'd do, pthhhpth." Bob said with a laugh. "Are you off to Nook's?" Rosie went to Nook's Cranny at around the same time every day, so ever since they ran into each other the same way a few days ago, Bob secretly started going to Nook's at that time every day in hopes of seeing Rosie.

"Yup," Rosie said happily.

"Hey, Rosie, you really like pink stuff, right, pthhhpth?" Bob asked, as if he didn't know the answer. But everyone in town knew how obsessed Rosie was with pink.

"Yeah, love it!" Rosie exclaimed.

"Well, yesterday, when you were hanging out with Dora at the Roost and I was also at the Roost, I overheard you mention you've almost collected the whole Lovely furniture series…"

"Uh-huh! I'm just missing the Lovely Bed. I can't wait until I finally get it. It'll look so much cuter than the bed I've been using!"

"Well, uh… you don't really have to wait anymore." Bob said, blushing. He pulled an item leaf out of his bag.

Rosie gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"

Bob smiled. "It just happened to be at Nook's today," That was a lie. "So I bought it for you, pthhhpth. You know, in case someone else bought it before you got to Nook's." Rosie didn't know it, but Bob had gone to a lot more trouble to get it for her. As soon as he heard her say she was missing one piece of the set, he ran to Nook's and asked that Nook order for the Lovely Bed to come in stock, and even pain extra bells for a rush delivery so he could give it to Rosie as soon as he could.

And why did he do that? Why did he go to all that trouble just to make her happy? He just didn't know. Well, he did know, I the back of his mind. Part of him always knew the reason he wants to make her happy. He just wouldn't admit it.

"Aww, thank you, Bob, silly!" Rosie said excitedly. Caught in the moment and excited, Rosie happily leaned forwards and gave Bob a quick kiss on the cheek. Afterwards, she giggled happily. Then, realising what she'd done, she giggled nervously, hoping Bob wouldn't think differently of her because of what she'd done.

Rosie didn't know it, but what she'd done had made Bob a heck of a lot more nervous than she was. He blushed nervously and stared at her. It was strange. Usually Bob acted, happy, excited and confident. Even when he was doing something dumb or silly, he was always confident about it. Things like this shouldn't make him blush. So why did they?

Because of her, a voice in his head was thinking. It's because she's so lovely that I never know what to do or say around her. But another thought pushed those thoughts away. Don't be stupid, Bob. I'm just an idiot, why would she like me? She only did that just now because she was excited about the furniture, that's all.

Bob didn't know it, but Rosie was having similar thoughts. Rosie, you silly! If you do that again, he might think I like him. But… I do like him. Of course I like him. He's sweet and cute and funny and amazing. But I can't tell him I like him. That would ruin our friendship. Oh, no, what if I've already ruined our friendship?

It was strange that Rosie was having these thoughts. Any other time, she was happy, but around Bob, it was like she was a completely different cat.

It was Rosie who came out of her thoughts and back to reality first. "Oh… oh, yes. Thank you for the Lovely Bed. It was so nice of you to get it so no one else would take it."

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah," Bob blushed at her thanks. "You're uh… quite welcome."

"Hang on a sec, I'll get you the bells to cover it," Rosie said, reaching into her bag. "How much was it?"

"What? Oh, no. You don't need to do that. This is my gift to you." Bob said. He took her paw in his two paws and pressed the Lovely Bed item leaf into her paw before letting go.

"Are you sure? Wasn't it expensive?" Rosie asked.

"No, no. I insist." Bob said. "Think of it as, uh… as congratulations on finding all of the other pieces of the set. That must have been hard. How many pieces are in the set?"

Rosie giggled. "I lost count ages ago. I've been collecting them for so long..."

"And now you've got them all." Bob said. He looked at her smiling face, wondering if he should ask her what he'd been wanting to ask her for a long time.

Go on, Bob, he thought. Just ask her. But what if she says no? Or what if it ruins our friendship? What if she doesn't think of me that way?

"So uh… I'm gonna head to Nook's now and see if there's anything else there I want, silly." Rosie said.

"Oh, okay. See you around then, pthhhpth." Bob said.

"Bye-bye!" Rosie cheered, and skipped happily towards Nook's Cranny.

You idiot, Bob! Why didn't you ask her? You missed your chance! He thought to himself. I should ask her, though. I will ask her. I'll do it today.

Knock, knock. Dora the mouse opened the door to see Bob there.

"Bob? What are you doing here, squeaky?" Dora asked her unexpected visitor.

"Dora, you're friends with Rosie, pthhhpth. Do you know what kind of flowers she likes the best?" Bob asked.

"Hmm… I know she likes tulips, because that's what she has the most of in her garden, squeaky." Dora said. "But colour-wise, well… we all know she loves pink things, which is a shame, should you be planning to grow pink flowers, because I heard they're a very uncommon colour. Why do you ask, anyway? Are you planning on giving her some flowers, squeaky?"

"Well… can you keep a secret?"

"I knew it!"

"Shh! Do you know where I can get some pink tulips, pthhhpth?" Bob asked.

"Well, even though she likes them, I'm not sure you should use tulips, squeaky. I mean, she already has a lot of them. Why not get her something she doesn't have?"

"Like what, pthhhpth?"

"Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me a bunch of pink carnations, but I don't want them. I'm not that good at looking after flowers, squeaky. I've been meaning to get rid of them. Why not give her them?"

"Great idea, pthhhpth!"

The happy blue feline was now perched on her new bed, reading the latest issue of Ms. Nintendique magazine. This issue was a light blue colour with a picture of Gracie on the front and the name 'Ms. Nintendique' written in bright, yellow writing. Her reading was interrupted by a knock on the door. She ran over to answer it, but found no one at the door.

And then she saw it. Sitting on the doorstep next to her feet was a bouquet of pretty, pink carnations with a note attached to the wrapping. Smiling, Rosie picked them up and took them inside, closing the door.

Unknown to the light blue cat, another cat leapt for joy as he watched her smile and take the flowers inside while he hid around the side of her house. Part of him was happy, while the other part of him was calling himself a coward for not asking her what he wanted to ask her in person. Nevertheless, he was still excited for the night that was to come.

Meanwhile, Rosie sat back down on her bed and read the note. It said:

Dear Rosie,

These are for you, because I think you're amazing and you deserve them.

Would you like to have dinner together tonight?

Meet me at the Pierview Diner at 6:30.

– Bob.

After reading the note, Rosie silently stood up, looked to her wardrobe and yelled: "OMIGOD I NEED SOMETHING TO WEAR!"

Rosie nervously walked the Pierview Diner at 6:30 wearing another pink dress, this one a light pink colour freckled with small white dots. She had taken the stem off of one of the pink carnations and attached it to a hairclip which she used to put it next to her left ear. She smiled when she was Bob in front of the door, who waved when he saw her. Rosie blushed and waved back.

Instead of the silly clothes he usually wore, such as the purple-with-pink-flowers-on-it shirt he was wearing earlier that day, Bob now wore a white button-down shirt with a dark purple jacket.

"Hi," He said once she was by his side.

"Hi," Rosie repeated, not knowing what to say. Why am I like this? She wondered. Why do I only get like this when I'm around him?

"Shall we go in, pthhhpth?" Bob asked, taking her paw. Rosie nodded and looked down at their paws nervously.

The two were led to a booth by a waitress, a black rabbit named Claire. When they got to the booth, Bob stood to the side, allowing Rosie to take the seat by the window. Bob sat down next to her. Claire gave them menus. Bob looked at his menu for a few minutes, before putting it down. Seeing that Rosie was also done looking, he called Claire back over.

"Are you ready to order?" Claire asked.

"Yes, I'll have the Spaghetti Bolognese," Bob said, before looking to Rosie.

"I'll have the tomato soup." Rosie said. Claire wrote down their order and headed off. After she was gone Rosie looked to Bob. "Thank you for the flowers, silly." Rosie said with a smile. "They were really pretty."

"Nah, they weren't as pretty as you, pthhhpth." Bob said, returning her smile. This made her blush, her pink cheeks conspicuous next to her blue fur. "I like what you did with that one, it's so creative." He said, pointing to the carnation next to her ear.

"I only took the stem off one. The rest are in a vase. They look great, I love them."

"Your dinner," Claire was back at the table with the food they'd ordered. Claire put down their plates and left. The two of them picked up their utensils and began eating.

Rosie, a girl who could be immature at times and was aware that she did childish things sometimes, was now being cautious not to slurp her soup, like she tends to do. Just, eat the soup, she thought. Don't slurp it… don't slurp it… don't…

Sluuuuurp! That wasn't Rosie making that noise. She looked to her side to see Bob with a nervous smile.

"Uh… hehe. Sorry, I… sometimes slurp my spaghetti." Bob said nervously.

"Don't worry, I do that too," Rosie said with a giggle. "Look," She ate another spoonful of her soup and purposely slurped it off the spoon. Slurp! Bob giggled too.

"We're more alike than I thought," He said. He then ate some more of his spaghetti, slurping it again. Rosie giggled, a lot more than before this time. "What?" Bob asked when she didn't stop giggling after about a minute.

"You have spaghetti sauce all over your face," She said.

"Oh, really, pthhhpth?" Bob said playfully. He grabbed some of his spaghetti in his paw, forgetting about the mess it would make, and plopped it onto her head. I spread sauce over her face as it fell off her head. "Well so do you!" Bob giggled.

"My fur!" Rosie exclaimed. She giggled again, laughing so much. She then scooped up some soup with her spoon and tipped it onto Bob's head, giggling in the process. "There," She said in a cure voice. "Now you're a purple and red cat." Bob picked up some spaghetti and put it on her face, putting orange spaghetti sauce all over her face.

"Well, you're a blue and orange cat," He said. The two exploded into giggles.

"Yeah, I'm definitely having a bath when I get home. Look at me, silly, I'm a mess!" Rosie exclaimed. But from the look on her face, Bob could tell she wasn't angry about it.

"I feel sorry for whoever has to clean our table, pthhhpth," Bob said. There was tomato soup and bits of spaghetti spread around their table. Rosie was now looking out the window beside her, her head in her paws. Bob noticed this and realised she was staring at the stars.

"Aren't the stars pretty tonight?" Bob asked. Rosie sighed and nodded. Then it flashed before both their eyes. A shooting star flew across the night sky.

"Omigod, Bob, did you see that? A shooting star?" Rosie exclaimed, looking back at Bob.

"Make a wish," Bob said.

"O... Okay…" She said.

She closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her paws so that no one could see what she was going to say. Then she said something so quietly that Bob couldn't hear it. He only knew that she had spoken because he could see her chin move below her paws. She then removed her paws and opened her eyes to look at Bob.

"What did you wish?" Bob asked.

"I… I wished that you'd kiss me." Rosie whispered.

"Well, they say if you tell you wish, it won't come true…" Bob began to say. Rosie looked down sadly. "Good thing I don't believe in those things," Bob said.

He then put his paw under her chin, tilted her head up slightly, and kissed her gently. When she realised what he was doing, she kissed him back happily until they had to stop for air, and he slowly broke away.

"Wow," She said. "I guess wishes really do come true." Bob nodded.

"I'm glad I could make your wish come true," He said, causing her to smile and blush.

"Well, it seems we're done eating, so… shall we go, silly?" She asked. He nodded.

The two paid for their food and left the diner. Bob then walked Rosie home, hand in hand.

"This was so fun, silly!" Rosie said happily as they reached her door.

"We should do that again, pthhhpth," Bob said.

"Which part? The food fighting part or the kissing part?" Rosie asked with a giggle.

"Both were fun, but of course I'd prefer the do that second one," Bob replied. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Rosie echoed. Then Bob leaned forward and gave her a quick, but sweet, kiss on the cheek. She smiled. Then he giggled.

"Your fur tastes like spaghetti," He said. She playfully slapped him.

"Oh, silly, and you can talk, soup-head!" The two burst into giggles. Bob slowly let go of her hand.

"Well, bye," He said.

"Bye," She said with a wave. He waved as he walked off towards his house with a smile. Rosie then went inside her house and collapsed on her bed giggling at the amazing night she'd just had.