Anxiety Attack

Chapter 37

Eli's P.O.V

My parents were literally the most stupid people in the world.

Honestly, I walked into my house with a dog, mind you, and they barely blinked an eye. How thick can you get?

Ace was settled on my bed, deciding that that was his instead of the one I bought for him. We surveyed each other, each refusing to back down.

"Look, little man," I said. "I had her first."

Ace cocked his head.

"She's mine," I continued. "And I'm not about to let a little puppy get between that, understood?"

Ace put his head on his paws.

"Glad we made that clear," I said dryly.

Heading downstairs, I went into the kitchen and grabbed enough food to last me through the night so I didn't have to face my parents. "Mom, Dad, I got a dog!" I called as I went back up the stairs.

As I figured, no response came. I sighed. Opening my door I shut it and flopped down. Ace crawled over and settled on my stomach. He was warm and small and I found myself drifting off to sleep.

...

I woke up to the night. Stretching and yawning, I glanced at my clock to see that it was midnight and the house was silent. Ace whined and pawed at my arm, and I realized that he had been the one to wake me up.

"What's up?" I asked sleepily then mentally slapped myself as I realized that I was talking to a dog.

Ace whined again and turned in a circle.

"Okay, okay, m'up," I said, stretching as I stood up.

Deciding that since Ace was in fact a puppy, I went downstairs, making sure he followed me. I tiptoed across the kitchen tiles before unlocking the back door and sliding it open. Ace slipped out and I closed the door, watching him as he bounded towards the grass. As soon as he hit it, he raised his leg and peed.

I opened the door. "Ace, here boy," I called.

He came bounding back and I locked the door behind him before going back upstairs, yawning.

...

Ace was a little shit, let me tell you that. He woke me up every hour or so to go outside or something, and I was severely suffering from lack of sleep. I held my phone in my hands, glancing at the blank black screen. I wanted to call Fin, but I knew that it was late and if I woke her up she'd probably murder me or something.

Suddenly my phone rang and the screen illuminated. I cursed and dropped it in shock before scrambling to answer it and shut up the loud ringtone.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Fin whispered.

"Hey," I answered. "What are you doing up at this fine hour?"

"Talking to you," Fin answered, still whispering. "What about you?"

I let out a sigh. "Ace is keeping me up. He has to pee like very two hours."

"Oh," Fin said, suddenly sounding concerned. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," I yawned, the sound emanating through the phone's speaker. "I'm putting Ace out."

"Go to bed," Finley told me. "You sound exhausted."

"No," I protested. "I want to talk to you."

Finley said cheekily, "Then talk to me."

"What do you think I'm doing?" I teased. "Can I ask you something?" my tone turned serious.