A Library Romance

Chapter 6: Petco

I follow her directions, but it kills me. Me and surprises have a love-hate relationship. I love the idea of mystery and the unknown, but hate the patience I have to have in order to find out. After about ten minutes of driving, we end up in the parking lot of Petco.

"Petco?" I say, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I like to volunteer here, but I can't do it very often. Taking the bus can get expensive," she says. I can't imagine bus fare being something labeled as expensive, but I don't know her situation.

"Well, I can bring you whenever you want, I don't mind," I say.

"I'll think about it, but thanks. I don't want to feel like a liability or anything," she says.

"You won't, I promise. Besides, this will be fun, which is probably why you like to do it, right?" I ask. She nods.

"Well, that and because I've never had a pet of my own. My parents don't like animals," she says. Does she live with her parents? Maybe they don't get along and that's why she's at the library all the time. We head inside, and the cashier at the front of the store waves at us.

"Hi Lily! It's been a long time since we've seen you! The bearded dragons need feeding, if you want to start there?" the girl asks. Lily nods and leads me over to the reptile section. I already know where it is, considering it's where I got my bearded dragon and where I go frequently for the supplies I need to take care of him, but I don't tell her this—it's cute for her to drag me around.

"I love bearded dragons. They're so cute. Can I hold them and you put the food into their bowls? It'll be easiest," she asks.

"Sure. But hey you know, I actually have a bearded dragon myself," I tell her. Her eyes light up.

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah, his name is Draco, like Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. He's about half grown," I tell her.

"You're so lucky. I really like them, but I like all animals, honestly," she says. The bearded dragons cling to her when she picks them up, and I pour in the juvenile dragon food. She pets them for a moment, and then sets them back into their tanks, looking at them sadly. She would probably adopt every animal here, if she could.

"You can come over sometime and meet him. I'm sure he'd love someone else to play with him and hold him," I tell her. She looks excited, but shrugs it off, trying to look laid back.

"Yeah, maybe. I'll think about it," she says.

"You've got a lot to think about," I tease.

"I just always say that because I don't want to make promises for anything I might change my mind about, you know?" she asks. I nod.

"I get it. Saying that is much better than promises, I agree. I've had promises broken too many times. I wish they would have told me maybe, too," I say. She frowns.

"I'm sorry. Past girlfriends?" she asks.

"How did you know?" I ask, laughing. She shrugs.

"Just an intuition. But let's move on, the kitties probably want to be let out of their kennels for playtime," she says.

"You get to play with the cats? That's awesome," I say, following her over to the pet adoption area. They keep their shelter rescues there, and use their business to promote adoptions. If my parents weren't allergic, I'd probably have a cat or a dog, too, but pet hair makes their faces break out horribly, so a bearded dragon was the next best thing.

"You like cats?" she asks.

"Yeah, I like all animals too, but maybe not as much as you," I say as she lets the cats out. There's about six of them, and they all rush towards her like she's got catnip in her pockets, meowing happily. She giggles and chooses a black one to pick up and hug.