2.23 Babysitter (2)

Chloe POV

“Chloe? Are you alright, lapachka?”

The room had grown silent as my tears ceased to fall. I was still curled up under the pool table, hiding from the rest of the world as Lenny babysat somewhere on the other side.

“I hate when you call me that,” I murmured. “What does that even mean?”

My voice sounded monotone and dead, even to me. I was starting to feel that numbing layer over everything inside of me, a self-preservation thing no doubt, so I didn’t break from everything I had been trying to bottle up inside.

“It’s just a term of endearment. Like when you call someone sweetie.”

“So it means sweetie?”

“Well, no. Not directly. It’s just the feeling of the term. It actually translates to, uh, little paw?”

“Like a dog’s foot?” That didn’t sound endearing at all.

“Like when you see cute little tracks on the ground, and think to yourself, awe, I bet a creature with cute little paws made those tracks.”

“Sounds like you have a foot fetish,” I murmured against my knees.

“Maybe,” he l