Missed You

The Cat hadn't climbed her favorite tree in so long. It was the longest the Cat had ever gone without climbing that tree, and she didn't like it. She was away at a two-week-long professional development conference and had been dreaming about going back and climbing her tree from the very first night she arrived.

Climbing her tree was the funnest thing the Cat did (professional development conferences might be the least funnest thing the Cat did). The Cat never really did much in the tree. Just sat and watched and waited as the day went by. But boy did she love it.

The Tree also enjoyed their friendship with the Cat and missed her very much. Tree's don't typically have many friends since they don't really like to go anywhere, so it was a nice little surprise in the Tree's life when the Cat started hanging out so often.

The two would pretty much spend part of every day with each other and just watch the world go by. But, they never did much other than hang out. They didn't talk or play board games or watch Netflix or any of the other stuff that normal folks do when they hang out. Mostly, the Cat would find a nice branch on the Tree, settle in, and just chill for a while. The Tree enjoyed her company immensely. It was nice for the Tree to have something other than the weather to hang out with.

Since the two never really talked to each other the Tree had no idea why there was such an extended absence for the Cat. Hopefully, the Cat was okay and not hurt, but the Tree had a feeling the Cat was fine. The Tree would know if the Cat was hurt in any way because the Tree would definitely have had a feeling about it, and the Tree's feelings were usually pretty spot on.

The Tree knew that the Cat must be at some sort of professional development conference since that was the feeling the Tree had. The Tree thought that maybe when the Cat came back the two would talk about it, or maybe not. Professional development conferences aren't very interesting so that wouldn't be a good topic to start their first conversation off with.

The Cat hoped too that the Tree didn't feel abandoned. The Cat thought about telling the Tree about her trip or leaving a note or something before she left but the right opportunity never really presented itself, so she didn't.

When the Cat's train home got delayed she was pretty sad. The Cat had already spent so much time away from the Tree and didn't want to add more time to that. She had been away for too long already. What would the Tree think? The Cat started to second guess her friendship with the Tree. Hopefully, the Tree didn't think the Cat had abandoned them. That would make the Tree pretty sad and the Cat hated the thought of the Tree being sad.

The Tree kept a pretty stiff upper lip but when your friend is gone for a long time and you don't know why you can't help but wonder. The two had never even exchanged cell phone numbers since, again, that wasn't really their relationship. The two just enjoyed hanging out together and that was it.

When the Cat finally got home she threw her bags down in her house and ran outside. She was super excited to see the Tree but she couldn't help but feel a tinge of nervousness. How would the Tree react? Would the tree be happy to see the Cat? Would the Tree be pretty upset that the Cat left without telling them?

When the Tree saw the Cat rush outside that day they were so happy. The Tree knew that the Cat would come back one day, just knew it, and it came true. This day was one of the best days in the Tree's life.

The Cat jumped up into the tree and the Tree made sure that the Cat's favorite spot was all clean and shady and ready to sit in, just like the Cat liked it. The two wordlessly shared their hello's and then, as if compelled by something bigger, they had their very first conversation. The Tree spoke first:

"How was your time?"

"It was fine, nothing too special." The Cat replied, "How about yours?"

"Oh, same-same."

"Cool..." The Cat replied as the friends got settled back into their old routine.

"Missed you." The Cat said.

"I missed you too." The Tree replied.