PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XVIII Part III

Before anyone could do anything else, Sparky dashed up to Brownie, instinctively grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to shake her awake. "Brownie? Are you okay?" he asked, jostling the bandages on her head loose.

"Ah! Stop, I'm fine!" Brownie exclaimed, worming her way out of Sparky's grip and pushing herself up, the blanket still in paw. Brownie looked far more flustered than hurt, her cheeks swelling red with embarrassment as she went about tightening the bandages keeping her ears covered and folded close to her head. "Ow ow ow ow!" she muttered, wincing in pain as she messed around with the flimsy things.

"H-Here, let me help," Sparky offered, grabbing a loose end of the spiralling cloth.

Surprisingly, Brownie didn't stop him, just crossing her arms and frowning with her eyes shut as she waited for him to be done. Her mild pouting was undone as she opened her eyes and briefly caught the gaze of Olive, who seemed relieved that the corgi was alright.

"Hey Olly! I got blankets!" Brownie said, waving the singular, purple-clothed blanket around to show it off. She smiled smugly, trying to ignore what had just happened.

"There, you're good to go," Sparky said, tying off a bit of the bandage and lifting a stray piece out from over Brownie's forehead before deeming his work complete and taking a step away from the corgi.

"Are you okay?" Olive asked, peeling their paws away from covering their muzzle but still holding them up nervously.

"Pfft, yeah, I'm doing great, actually. That didn't even hurt," she said, rolling her eyes. "I want to know more about you guys. You all still sulking, or you ready to have some fun!?"

"Oh man, that's right! This is a sleepover!" Rover exclaimed, burying his paws in the pockets of his letterman jacket and adopting a more neutral expression, which is to say, smiling without his mouth hanging open in joy.

"O-Oh yeah!" Olive said, beginning to wag their tail slowly. "We can do everything p-people do in sleepovers!"

"Like braid each other's hair?" Brownie said excitedly, pumping either fist in the air.

"And watching movies?" Sparky suggested.

"Ooh! Or playing video games!" Rover said, a devious expression growing on his face. "I'll bring over some racing games I have, you guys will never beat me, heh!"

Olive piped up, getting swept up in the conversation, "Oh- we could do 'spin the bottle'!"

The three dog's heads snapped towards Olive's direction, surprised at the suggestion.

Rover, who was closest to the dog, put his arms on his hips as he looked away from Olive, blushing. "Jeez Olive, I didn't take you for that kind of dog," he said, letting loose a chuckle.

"Well... uh... if you really want to, I guess we can do that?" Sparky said, looking highly uncomfortable and scratching the side of his head nervously.

Brownie, bemused, put her paws on her hips and stared Olive down. The mutt was looking perturbed at everyone's reaction, sweat beading down their face. "W-What?" they asked.

"Olly, do you know what spin the bottle is?" Brownie asked, her eyes narrowed at the dog.

Olive hummed, looking towards Brownie. They put their paws on their lap and sat there with their poker face for as long as possible before an anxious tear welled up in their eyes, and they raised their paws to their face in embarrassment. "N-No I don't, b-but I just heard dogs do it at sleepovers and I thought it might be fun? I'm s-s-sorry, I didn't mean to say anything stupid," they whined, taking the reaction far too seriously.