Albert wakes up thinking of Denis.
He decided to shake this thought away and go greet the dogs he's currently taking care of.
He only has two right now, since the other two he had were recently adopted. There's Willow the Pitbull, and a little black chihuahua named Socks. No one's sure where socks came from, or why he's named socks. A few months ago, he walked onto Albert's porch one day, and he confirmed with the vet that despite having a name tag, they couldn't find his actual home.
Albert walks into the living room where he's greeted by Socks, eagerly wagging his tail. Willow is kept in his backyard. She's actually quite the peaceful dog, just hates living completely indoors.
"Hey socks." Albert says, picking up the dog to pet him as he sits on the couch. He has off today, since the arcade job is only a part-time thing. He lets the Denis thought re-enter his mind. He didn't have any dreams about him, but who knows what'll happen between the two of them.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it." He says to Socks. Of course, Socks can't understand what he's saying, but tilts his head in curiosity anyways. "Well, I got other things to worry about." He sets socks down from his lap and opens the sliding door to his backyard, letting Willow in. Socks runs to greet her.
"Alright, let's get you guys breakfast." He closes the sliding door, grabs two food bowls and fills them with some wet and dry food. The two dogs patiently wait before he sets the bowls down. Albert gives them a treat for waiting, and sets the food down.
He gets a call from Denis, and instantly answers his phone.
"Hey Denis!" Albert greets.
"Hey Albert!" Denis says. "It's pretty slow here at the shop, but I'm still stuck here until 12."
"Well that sucks." Albert replies.
"What's going on with you?" Denis asks.
"Not much, I just woke up and fed the dogs."
"That's cool. So you don't have anything else happening today?" Denis asks.
"Well, today I have off. Why do you ask?" Albert wonders.
"Well, this bowling alley opened up a couple towns over, and I've been dying to go with someone. Would you like to go with me?" Denis asks.
"Sure, I'd love to!" Albert says, although he's a bit nervous having to put his not very perfect bowling skills on display.
"Okay, I'll text you the address. I gotta go now cuz I just saw my client's car pull up. It's about 30 minutes away, so we can meet up there at about 12:30. Does that sound good to you?" Denis asks.
"Yeah, that works. See you there!" Albert says as he hangs up the phone. Albert didn't really want to hang up the phone, but he'll see Denis later today anyways.
Not much happens in Albert's day except for some much needed cleaning up around the house. Soon enough, the time comes to leave and Denis sends him a text:
"Just got off work, I'll be heading there now 😁"
Albert gets in his car, and enters the location in Google maps. He pulls out of his driveway and follows the directions provided by the robotic voice. It takes him through a shortcut, where many torn down and abandoned buildings sit on the side of the road.
Stonetor had a tornado rip through it about 25 years ago. That's why there's so many different places and businesses you wouldn't expect to see in a small town, like an arcade and an entire vet clinic. About half the town is still run down and damaged from the tornado because so many people left that the city couldn't afford to fix it.
YOU ARE READING
Stonetor, Canada.
RomanceThe story follows the perspective of Albert Aretz, who currently works two jobs. His main passion is to foster dogs with his friends, since Stonetor has a major stray problem... but he has to work at an arcade part-time to make ends meet and to coll...
