James looked up at Nicola, who was considerably larger than him given their differing body types, and spoke in the same squeaky voice he had involuntarily used earlier.
“..... you’re still mad at me, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she replied bluntly.
Silence followed for what felt like hours, until James broke it out of sheer desperation for the awkwardness to end.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to look. Honestly. I wanted to try and tell you it was me, but I couldn’t, and-”
“But you looked anyway,” Nicola huffed, about to jump down from the table. However, desperate to patch things up with her, James finished his sentence.
“And you looked beautiful.”
Nicola stopped, relaxing her body and sitting back down, while Silas groaned audibly from the floor. Nicola turned around, about to open her mouth to speak, but James continued.
“And I’m sorry. I know that’s not a good excuse. It’s not an excuse at all. But..... I just, I know it was wrong. And I’m sorry. And I don’t want us to be hostile to one another over that anymore. We already got separated once since we got into that shop. I don’t want it to happen again. Right now, you’re the only person who I can fully rely on to know what it’s like to be me in this situation..... maybe not the mouse part, but you know what I’m saying. You’re my friend, and you’re one of the only people that made working at that job back in London worth it. You have every right to be angry at me. But please don’t shut me out. I don’t want us to be enemies. Please.”
Nicola looked at James for a small bit, then smiled. “You sounded ridiculous saying all that in a mouse voice.”
James was about to give up, when Nicola continued. “But that was still very sweet. And..... yeah. I’d like it if we could..... move on from..... that. I think me being a cat and you being a mouse, at least right now, are two much bigger problems that won’t be remedied by a cold shoulder.”
James nodded, and reached his paw out through the cage. “We’re good?”, he asked. Nicola places her paw gently on his. “We’re good.” Silas, as par for the course, could be heard faking gagging below them. The two, however, were too happy at remedying their relationship to care.