Saving Elliot ©2015 Sydney Wray

Chapter 10-Snoopy

"Oh, shut up. You're going to love this." Hailey grinned, pulling me toward the doors of the Animal Rescue.

I still hadn't told her there was never a dog, and never will be a dog. But, to her, my dog was dead or still wandering the streets.

As soon as we entered inside, she went straight to a metal door and held it open. "C'mon!"

I sighed, grabbing the door from her and immediately entering a barking room.

Dogs of all sizes wagged their tails from their separate cages on the ground. The room was fairly large, which leads me to wonder about the amount of helpless dogs found on the streets of Las Angelas.

I heard her gasp, kneeling down to a pug who had it's face squished into the bars, trying to get to Hailey.

I smiled, and stuck my hands in my suit pants pocket while I watched Hailey pet the small pug over the fence.

But soon, she moved on and down a couple cages.

"So, do you want a big or small dog?" She asked, turning to me. I refrained myself from sighing in her beauty. She was just so pretty.

"I don't want a dog." I laughed through lightly.

"Yeah, well you're getting one." She said, which made me chuckle.

"How about this one?" She said, putting her hand over the fence to pet a white poodle.

"Why can't we just go to breeder, if you really want me to get a dog?" I asked over the barking, ignoring the poodle's cute face.

"Because these dogs are forgotten, and don't have a home." She said, not turning around and rubbing the poodle's cheek. Something about her words, sounded like they had some meaning behind it. But before I could analyze more into it, she moved onto the next row of dogs around the bend.

"Elliot." She said, glancing at me with a grin.

"What?"

"I think I found your dog."

She looked at the cage next to her, which held a five month old Golden Retreiver. The yellow dog's brown eyes bored into mine, asking for a rub on the head. The dog didn't even glance at Hailey, which the last ones had. This one seemed to have a fixture on me; it's tale wagged excitedly as his tongue flopped out of its mouth.

I took a step forward, blinking and kneeling down to the sign on the cage. It was a boy, and his name was Snoopy. He had just gotten in a few days ago, and was still a very young dog.

I cautiously held out a hand, and Snoopy began to lick it vigorously. I scratched behind his ear, and his back leg cocked out and started to kick as a low sigh erupted from his throat.

"I think we've found our match." Hailey said.

I stopped, realizing there was no way I could get a dog and looked at Hailey. "We're not getting this dog."

[***]

"I can't believe this." I mumbled, as Snoopy pulled on the blue leash to get to the Limo.

Hailey grinned beside me. "I can."

I had bought him a blue collar, matching his leash, and a small name tag I would soon engrave to his name.

Damion's front window rolled down, and he stared at the dog.

I bit my lip. "So, this is Snoopy."

He shook his head, laughing to himself. "Put him in the backseat."

I nodded, opening the door and letting Snoopy hop in. He immediately made himself comfortable, lying in a snuggly ball on the seat.

Damion opened his door and made it to Hailey's side before she could protest. For some reason, she hated attention like that and liked doing things independently. And he knew it.

He opened the door for her, and she slid in so she was facing Snoopy and I.

Soon, we were rolling out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

"I'm sorry about last night." I said. "My father.."

She looked at me. "No big deal."

I scooted over to her, and her eyes slightly widened as I did so, though I didn't know why. Snoopy eyed me, and followed me to drop his body next to me. Hailey laughed shortly.

I looked at her. "But it was a big deal. He was rude, and you don't deserve that."

Hailey smiled and joked, "He is a hard ass. I understand your liking to him."

I snorted. "Oh yeah. Our relationship definitely deserves the father-son award of the year."

Suddenly, we both heard heavy snoring and Snoopy's head lolled onto my lap-along with his outstretched legs. My suit was going to be dirty after this.

"Looks like you've got a new friend."

I laughingly shook my head at her. "I can't believe you."

She laughed and shrugged.