Smile for the Camera (Harry Styles x OC)

Take Two

"Oh, my gosh! Millie!" I look back at the crate sitting on the counter and the eager but sleepy pup inside with drooping eyes. I rush out into the car park, but Smiles is gone.

I go back in and see Peter standing there with his hands on his hips. "He forgot the dog, didn't he?"

"Yup."

"Well, he'll realize his mistake sooner or later. He can pick her up tomorrow morning," Peter yawns and puts a hand on my back. "Nothing more we can do now, Gale. Carter and Mary are coming in for the open adoptions tonight, and we're closing up here in a few minutes. Millie will be fine in one of the kennels overnight."

It's still pretty early in the afternoon, but we close early on Mondays because our clinic isn't just for treating animals that need emergency care. There's a kennel connected to our building. There are more exclusive rooms for recovering patients that are quieter and better suited to the injured animals, and then there's the general kennel for stray animals brought our way. This is London after all, there are an abundance of stray animals on the streets that get brought into our clinic so often that two decades ago, the owner just added a kennel onto the building for the animals brought in. Now, every Monday afternoon, we devote our time to getting those animals adopted. There are still a few doctors in the building if there's an absolute emergency walk-in, but we can't take appointments, and even if we wanted to get Smiles back here, his contact information isn't listed because Millie is registered under Gemma Styles.

And Millie would be fine in the kennels if they weren't absolutely full. It's almost winter, people feel the worst for stray animals out in the cold, so they bring them here which we don't mind when they're not taking space away from our recently treated patients.

"No, we don't have any room in the kennels, Peter, or I would have suggested leaving her here for a few days anyway. She should be able to recover at home just fine, but you know normally we would have kept her for a while just to make sure she starts healing normally," I explain, sighing. "She's either going to have to sleep in that tiny crate, or come home with one of us."

Peter reaches a few fingers through the bars so Millie can sniff him. "I'd take her, but my wife might kill me if I bring home another animal. What about you? You seem to know the owner, and you're amazing with animals."

I can't help but imagine taking Millie home and then inviting Smiles over to come get her later. I would call him and probably laugh at his absentmindedness for leaving her here. Millie's also a good dog, she wouldn't cause any trouble in my apartment and I don't have any pets to contend with. I'd love to take her!

Too bad my apartment has a no pets allowed policy. That did give me an idea though. I reach into my pocket and pull out the slip of paper with Smiles' number on it.

"Hey...Smiles?" I ask tentatively once I typed the number into my phone. I'd consider the possibility that he'd given me a fake number. Everything about him had seemed too honest, and I can't help but feel he has an ulterior motive.

His honey-like voice soothes my anxieties when he responds, "Daisy. I was expecting a call from you eventually, but not so soon. Did you miss me?"

"Ha-ha. Dream on, glitter boy," I shoot back with an eyeroll.

"Ouch. Words hurt, beautiful temptress. I'm fragile." At that, I laugh outloud.

"My apologies, sweet little duckling."

"That's better. Now, did you have another reason for calling or did you actually miss the dulcet tones of my melodic voice?" After that, there's a series of honks and other road percussion and I'm reminded of the issue at hand.