The Warrior of the Friend Zone and the Oblivious Huntress

Dogs are Man's Best Friend, NO MORE!

So there I was just saying a simple greeting to the other guys back in the dorm...

Yours Truly: Uh, hey, guys.

That was when Odie came up from his work desk, looking like he was ready to present something to the rest of them.

Odie: All set.

I was thoroughly confused by whatever it was that had happened within the last few hours. Then again, I had been at the movies, just chilling out and catching a flick.

Yours Truly: All set for what? What's up?

Jay came up to me, followed by Neil.

Jay: Come on. I'll tell you on the way.

I was still thoroughly confused.

Yours Truly: The way where?

It was then that I finally noticed what Odie had built; it was a dog collar with a tracking chip of some kind on its ID tag. Jay was the only one that spoke about it, though.

Jay: We'll meet you back at the dog pound after we get the girls.

Did I hear our leader right? Were we really taking Atlanta and Theresa to a dog pound, of all places, with Neil tagging along as some kind of third wheel, or rather fifth wheel since it probably would have qualified as a double date if it involved both the girls of our team?

Yours Truly: We're taking girls to a dog pound? How romantic!

Of course, I was being totally sarcastic when I called the dog pound a romantic place. There was absolutely little to nothing romantic about looking at sad, neglected dogs in cages, hoping to be adopted soon or face the back room. It also was definitely not the kind of place I had ever imagined I would go on my first date with Atlanta, or any other date with her.

On the way to get the girls from the mall, however, Jay just explained away about their true reason to suddenly bring the girls to the dog pound.

Yours Truly: So, that's why we're really bringing the girls to the dog pound. I guess I should've known this was all about our line of work instead of what I thought it was for. I'm sorry I got all accusatory.

Jay: No problem. It was just a small mistake.

I had to admit that I was a little disappointed that it would not be my first date with Atlanta, but I was also relieved that it was not going to be a date at the same time. I knew it sounded too weird to be true. I guess that my imagination just ran away with my heart.

As it turned out, Herry's granny's dog, a shih tzu that answered to the name of Pepe, ran away from her house and was recently put in quarantine with other dogs gone insanely wild at the very same dog pound to which we were bringing Atlanta and Theresa where we would meet back up with Herry and Odie afterwards.

Jay: By the way, Archie, what exactly did you think I meant by meeting up with Herry and Odie back at the dog pound after we got the girls?

With that one question, I suddenly knew that Jay was just not as willing as he sounded earlier to let go of the fact that I suddenly seemed to think differently about what he and Neil had gotten me for just before we would be bringing the girls to the dog pound. I decided to just play it off like I had already forgotten about it, myself, just like I was so desperate to.

Yours Truly: Uh, sorry, Jay. I already forgot what I thought we were taking Atlanta and Theresa to the dog pound for. You know how forgetful I can be.