Puppy Love
by bg
Charlie, the guy Howie sat
next to in Cultural Anthropology class had told him to "get a dog, man. The
ladies fucking flock to a guy with a dog. Seriously, there’s no better
chick magnet. You should definitely get a dog."
And, although Howie wasn’t really interested in being a chick magnet, he had
to admit that Charlie probably had a point. Howie been alone and single for so
long that he figured it couldn’t hurt, and even if it didn’t help his love
life, at least he wouldn’t be coming home to an empty apartment every day.
The next day, Howie took a drive to the local ASPCA and came home with a
pamphlet on dog care, a 45 lb. bag of dog food, a canister of tennis balls,
and Kaylee - a 3 year old, 25 lb. bundle of love and energy in the shape of a
beagle, that had tried to crawl into his lap the minute he saw her in the
kennel.
Sure enough, Howie had many people, mostly women, approach him as he walked
Kaylee every morning on his daily venture to pick up the paper and a caramel
macchiato, and always taking some time to watch the beautiful brown-haired,
blue-eyed man who sat in the back corner of the patio, reading a book and
drinking an extra large tea.
On his walk one morning, Howie bent over to tie his shoe and the leash slipped
from his fingers. Before he could grab it, Kaylee continued without him,
running across the road and towards the café.
Sighing in relief that she had made it safely across the road, Howie inwardly
gasped when he saw that Kaylee had run right over to the back corner and had
planted herself firmly in front of the beautiful man that Howie watched every
day and had rolled over onto her back, exposing her round little belly for him
to scratch.
As he crossed the road, Howie was preparing himself to be totally mortified,
until he saw that the young man was now sitting cross-legged, Indian-style on
the ground, scratching Kaylee’s tummy and laughing as she squirmed around in
an attempt to find the best position.
"Umm..." Howie began, embarrassed and captivated and blushing furiously. "I’m
really sorry about that."
The young man smiled up at him, the sun reflecting off his face, making his
features glow.
"Not at all," he replied, extending his hand up to Howie.
Reaching down, Howie pulled the young man off the ground, helping him stand
and regain his balance.
"I’m JC," the young man introduced himself. "I see the two of you here every
morning about this time, don’t I?"
Howie nodded, "I’m Howie, that troublemaker there is Kaylee."
"Would you like to sit down?" JC asked, motioning to the table.
Howie thought of his British history class that was starting in less than an
hour, and about how he had to take Kaylee back to the apartment, and get his
books, and pick up a set of case studies from his econometrics lab. Then, he
saw Kaylee nuzzling at JC’s hand, poking her little nose under the rainbow
bracelet he was wearing around his wrist.
"I’d love to," Howie replied, grinning from ear to ear.
[Rush Delivery, or Any Excuse To Send For The Messenger] * saabira