Forever and Always | JJ Maybank

Chapter 28.

“What one do you want?” JJ asks, looking in the gate of puppies. We have been looking for the perfect dog for around 10 minutes.

“This one is so cute,” I say pointing to the black lab in the corner.

“Awe, that one is cute, I think we should get them,” JJ says. I lean over the gate and let the puppy sniff my hand. The puppy stands up and walks towards my other hand. I pick them up and hold them. We walk over to the counter. 

“Hi,” The man says.

“Hello, we would like to get this puppy,” I say.

“Okay! He is a black lab mixed with a german shepherd.” The man says.

“Okay, does he have a name?” I ask.

“Nope! Is this your first time owning a dog?” He asks.

“No, I had one when I was a kid,” I said.

“Okay,” The man says. We pay him for the puppy and go back out to the truck. I put him on my lap as JJ starts the truck.

“What should we name him?” I ask, taking in the dog's appearance. He was black and had a white w on his chest. He had dark brown eyes and was just the cutest.

“I think we should name him Shadow,” JJ says, reaching his hand over and petting the dog.

“Oh my god! Yes that’s perfect,” I say, looking at JJ. He kisses my forehead and starts driving away from the adoption center.
“Wanna go to the pet store?” JJ asks.

“Well obviously,” I say. 

“What all do we need?” JJ asks.

“I’ll message you everything,” I say.

“Okay,” He says, hopping out of the truck. We decided that it would be better for me to sit in the car with Shadow, well he ran in to get stuff. I pull my phone out and text him a list of things. Around 30 minutes later he runs back out to the truck with a couple of bags. He gets in the truck and sits the bags in the backseat.

“I think I got everything,” JJ says.

“Thank you,” I say, dragging out the ‘u’.

“Your welcome, babe,” JJ says, looking down at the sleeping puppy.

“Are we gonna go show the pogues Shadow?” I ask JJ.

“Yea,” JJ says, as we drive toward the chateau. When we arrive at the chateau Sarah and Kies cars are already in the driveway.

“Perfect, everyone is here,” I say as JJ parks the truck. “Did you get a leash?”

“Yea,” JJ says, reaching into the back and grabbing a black leash and a blue collar out. I put the collar on him and JJ hooks up the leash. He turns around again grabbing food and water bowls and wet food.

“You might as well take in everything,” I say, laughing at the way he’s trying to hold everything.

“You’re prolly right,” He chuckles. He grabs the bags and we get out of the truck. I hid Shadow under my shirt as we walk inside. No one was in the living room.

“Where are they?” I ask. We hear laughter coming from the backyard. “Nevermind.” We walk out to the back where everyone was. John B and Sarah were in the hammock and Kie and Pope were sitting on the picnic table by the hammock. 

“Oh hi guys!” Kie says, looking at us. 

“Hey!” I say, sitting down on the top of the table.

“What do you have?” Pope asks, eyeing my shirt. Everyone looks at me and I pull the small puppy out from underneath my shirt. 

“Oh my god!’ Sarah squeals, getting up and walking over to me.

“He’s so cute,” Kie says, leaning over and petting Shadow.

“Where did you get him?” Pope asks.

“We bought him,” JJ says, sitting down next to me.

“You guys bought a dog?” John B asks. 

“No, we're borrowing it,” I say sarcastically. John B rolls his eyes and walks over to Shadow.

“What’s his name?” Sarah asks.

“Shadow,” I say.

“Awe I love it,” Sarah says.

“You guys wanna go to the beach?” John B asks. All of us respond with ‘yea,’ ‘sure,’ and ‘mhm.’

We get our swimsuits on and walk out to the twinkie piling in. Sarah and John B in the front and the rest of us in the back. Shadow sprawls his body across my lap. When we get to the beach JJ and I get out first running toward the water, Shadow following not far behind. When we reach the water JJ picks me up and throws me farther in. Shadow starts parking at JJ and jumping at his leg.

“He’s already protective over you,” JJ says when I come up from under the water.

“That’s a good thing,” I say. Shadow splashes around in the shallow water.

“Take his leash off,” I yell to Sarah who is petting Shadow.

“Okay!” She says, reaching for his collar and unhooking the leash. John B and Pope are just now walking into the water. JJ floats out deeper and I walk up to Shadow and Sarah.

“You look so hot right now,” Sarah says, looking at me.

“Girl look at you,” I say, with a laugh. I lean down and pet Shadow.

“Wanna try and take him out deeper in the water?” Sarah asks.

“Yea,” I say, picking Shadow up. We walk deeper into the water and I place his paws in the water. He starts kicking his legs, splashing Sarah and I. We start laughing at him.

“Should I lower him in?” I ask.

“Do it. If his head goes under we're both right here,” Sarah says. I lower the rest of his little body into the water and slowly move my hands away. He begins swimming right away.

“Awe, he’s so cute,” Pope says. Him and John B had just got out to where we were.

“Where Kie?” I ask.

“Um I don’t know actually,” Pope says, looking at John B.

“She was in the car the last time I saw her.” John B says.

“Should I go look for her?” I ask.

“Yea, I’m gonna come with you,” Sarah says.

“Okay, Pope, watch Shadow. Please don’t let him drown,” I say, walking towards the shore. When we get on the sand Sarah grabs 2 towels and hands me one. I wrap my body up and we walk to the twinkie. When we’re almost to the van I hear giggling coming out of Kies mouth. I put my finger up to my mouth telling Sarah to be quiet. We go to the back of the van and peak around the corner.

Authors note:
The description I gave about the dog is actually about my childhood dog that we just put down recently. I also thought it would be cool for them to have a dog. Thanks for 600 reads. <3