"Um, excuse me?" I asked, my mouth falling open in shock. But for once the shock wasn't unpleasant or angry-- instead a flurry of butterflies travelled up my stomach because 1. puppy! and 2. no one had ever offered to buy me such a wonderful gift. At least not any boys.
"You heard me," he said with a flash of bright white teeth "Puppies may not be as cute as cats-- I am a cat person, by the way-- but at least they act like little children. It can give us some practice for baby-rearing. What do you say?"
I stared at him blankly, my mind buzzing like a phone set on vibrate as it was flooded with too many text messages. First and most importantly, he was a cat person, just like me. Second of all-- WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT US REARING A BABY? I looked down at my hands, twidling my fingers, trying to buy time to process if he was serious, if he really wanted to raise the baby with me or did he just have a slip of tongue. Wow, I wasn't even pregnant yet and I was still worried about this whole mess. I took a deep breath, attempting to bring back my focus to now. I could file that for later and write about it in my journal before bed. I sighed in relief.
"Sure, my mom won't mind," I said plainly. And it was true-- my mother would be thrilled to have something else to focus on besides me when I was away at school. At this Josh gave a down right heart melting boyish grin and started to speed down the street toward the animal shelter I knew all too well.
"You know," I said at a lame attempt to make conversation "I volunteer here." We were now outside the animal shelter, a blue and white building filled to the brim with lost pets. After the plague, a flood of pets stormed the animal shelter, all brought by children and teens who couldn't care for their parents and grandparents animals. As a result, some of the remaining animal lovers took over the shelter, which was now run by a few kids from my church that dropped out of school. They survived off of donations made by the churches as well as the remaining adults in the town. Even though my mom and I were tight on money, she still made a donation in my name on my birthday last year. On top of that, teens with an influx of inheritance came by to buy companions to live in their apartments with them, so the shelter got a decent amount of bussiness. I ran into them often as I volunteered every Sunday.
"That's cool," said Josh, and I thought he would leave it at that. Instead, he turned to me "Which do you like working with, the cats or the dogs?" I smiled despite myself. He was just being so nice-- it was weird but also really wonderful. I blushed a little, looking out the window at the dilapidated roof crumbling onto the front porch.
"The cats. I have a cat named Lilac, actually, but I also love puppies too," I said, in fear of offending him "I really like the tiny ones. The poof balls." To my shock, Josh actaully laughed out loud at this and shook his head.
"Well I'll keep that in mind," he said with a smoldering look. At this point he whipped around, exited the car, and swiftly opened the door for me before I could even grab the handle. He held a hand out and helped me out of the car. My heart was pumping.
As soon as we entered the building, I was greeted with the familiar sound of barking dogs as well as the smell of disinfectant and animal food. Standing behind the counter was the son of the town's late vet who ran the shelter-- his name was Jared. Jared was a punk rock guy who was obsessed with screamo and dark poetry, but suprisingly enough he had a soft spot of newborn kittens. Every time a mother cat gave birth he volunteered to keep an eye on the kittens and sleep over at the shelter. He and I shared a mutual love of cats, poems, and shyness, and we often regarded each other in a quiet familiarity. He nodded at me and smiled as I entered with Josh. Jared, unlike Josh, was paired with his girlfriend Lindsey, and he seemed to recognize the positive aspects of Josh taking me to the shelter. I waved and smiled at him.
"Hi, welcome to the animal shelter, are you looking to adopt of volunteer? Hi Adira," said Jared. Josh gave him an up-down look, as if sizing Jared up, and glared at him for greeting me. Yeesh, someone is competitive. I rolled my eyes and sighed as Josh explained that we were here to adopt and that "the cost really didn't matter" to him. Suddenly I was rememberin why I hated him. Seriously, who could possibly be mean to someone as nice as Jared who gives up his entire life to take care of baby kittens?
Jared, in his never ending maturity and patience, didn't say anything and led Josh and I behind the counter and to the left, leading to a room of barking dogs. We went to the very end of the room where I knew that the newborns and the litters of puppies stayed with their mamas. After this, Jared left us alone. Josh rolled his eyes and crossed him arms.
"Who the hell was that? Your ex boyfriend?" he asked, not meeting me eyes. I couldn't help but giggle at how ridculous he was being-- this only served to make him angrier. Josh sighed angrily, the air hissing out his nostrils like a bull.
"No stupid, I told you, I volunteer here. That's Jared. He's already made a baby with his girlfriend, calm down," I said. At this I felt no more time needed to be spent on the matter, so I bent down to look at the adorable puppies. First I saw a yorkie mix: a little scruffy brown thing with big eyes. I reached in the cage and looked under him; he was a boy. The cute puppy wiggled in my hands and I let him free, as he scurried off to his brothers and sisters. Next I saw a lab mix. The puppy was awkward with too big paws and big brown eyes. She lumbered over to me and sniffed my hand; but, not seeming too interested, she walked away to go eat. Then I saw him-- a white little puff ball of a Maltese mix being attacked by his fellow litter mates. The poor thing was the runt of the little and he whimpered in fear as the playful puppies nipped at his ears. Him! I wanted him! Rushing over, I rescued the puppy from his playful pack mates, and he nuzzled into my chest with a puppy sigh.
"Is this the lucky winner?" asked Josh, signficantly calmed down after I snipped at him. I kissed the top of the puppie's head and he snuggled into my chest further.
"I think so, what do you think? It's your puppy too, right?" at the last part my voice shrank, as I feared the response. Was Josh going to reject me again? Would this be the first of a long line of dissapointments? I figured if he wouldn't care for a puppy with me, there was no way in hell he would care for a baby with him. My heart picked up speed and the puppy noticed, lifting his tiny head to look up at me in wonder. Josh smiled, leaning over to eye the puppy. He stroked his head.
"Like I said, I'm a cat person. But this little guy looks like he needs some love," Josh said. I let out a literal sigh of relief. It wasn't a perfect answer, but it was a start. I stroked the puppie's ears.
"What should we name him?" I asked. Wow. To think I may be asking the exact same question to Josh in a few months, but about a human baby. I shivered. I couldn't even wrap my mind around the idea; yet, I never assumed that I would ever even be buying a puppy with Josh either. Life was funny that way.
Back in reality, Josh smiled and looked at his shoes. He played with his hair and kicked at the ground-- wait, did he seem shy?
"I'm horrible with names. My last fish was named Goldie," he said, causing us both to laugh. I looked at the puppy, noticing his big brown eyes and tiny pink tongue. Hmm.
"See, all the names I come up with will be nerdy allusions," I said. It was true. I already wanted to name our puppy King Arthur. Josh snorted.
"Of course they would be," he sneered. Same old Josh. I stuck my tongue out at him sassily.
"What about Ftizy? It's short for Fitzgerald, the author of the Great Gatsby," I explained. Josh rolled his eyes.
"I read the Great Gatsby, Adira. Everyone's read the Great Gatsby," he said. I glared at him. He didn't need to be so condescending.
"Sorry, I didn't know,"Â I whined, showing him that he was being overly sensitive. Josh didn't say anything for a moment, but then sighed and uncrossed his arms.
"Ftizy is cute though," he admitted "Sounds good to me. Ready to take off? I'll take you and Fitzy home so you can do homework or whatever. I mean, unless you want to go to a party with me." My mind froze. Did Josh just invite me to hang with his cool friends at a party? As horrifying as that sounded, it did sound tempting. I mean, I am so not a party person, but if Josh's friends grew to like me, maybe Josh wouldn't be so ashamed to be stuck with a nerd like me. Suddenly I remembered that Cally and I had a girl's night to find out if she was pregnant or not. I shook my head.
"Sorry, I promised Cally--"
"It's cool," Josh interuppted. His eyes turned dark and he lowered his head, leading me out the door.
"Come on, let's go fill out the paper work and get out of here," he said cooly. I shook my head. After such a wonderful date, he was going to ruin it by being moody all of a sudden. I sighed. How was I ever going to keep up with him?
A/N-- Thanks everyone for sticking with me the past week. Sorry for the late update, I hope it's worth the wait! Updating tomorrow around the same time, please like and comment, it means the world to me.