Circles ━ Evan Buckley

003: PUPPY LOVE

CHAPTER THREE: PUPPY LOVE
song of the chapter: so hot you're hurting my feelings, caroline polachek

Athena and Bobby's parties are famous.

Athena is the most gracious hostess with the mostest, and Bobby's skill and expertise in the kitchen and in crowd control compliment her perfectly. Every time they decided that they'll be hosting a gathering at their gorgeous home, you'd be stupid to miss it.

Even if it makes Indiana stupid, she wishes that she had just stayed home.

She loves her family, and she loves the extended family that they bring with them. They make for a funny bunch, what with Athena and Bobby, who bring Athena's biological and Bobby's honorary work children. Then there's Jasmine and her younger sister Rosalie, who is never far from May's side at these gatherings, hooked on the feeling they get from one another from the minute they met four months ago.

This is the first time that Indiana is meeting everyone, though. Somehow, every time Bobby's firehouse children are at these gatherings, Indiana is absent. They don't happen as often as anyone would like, and Indiana spends 90% of her free time nowadays training her dog not to tear up the mail as it comes through the door and preparing class work for her students.

So, now that the school year has drawn to a close for the fall break and Indiana is finally able to free herself up from any and all responsibilities for a few hours, she thought that coming here would be the perfect way to let loose.

Indiana thought wrong.

She crosses through the threshold of the house with Clover at her side, still on the leash until she has gotten to know everyone properly enough to not jump on them. The first thing she notices is the noise, booming music coming from the backyard and raucous laughter filtering into the quiet parts.

She feels at ease until she spots Athena standing at the bottom of the staircase, looking like a woman on a mission that Indiana wants nothing to do with.

"Hello, sweet girl," Athena coos, her attention on Clover from the get go, no mind paid to the dogs owner. "Oh, you are just as sweet as your mommy said, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are."

Indiana watches with a gooey feeling in her stomach as Clover licks all over Athena's face, her tiny German Shepherd body barely the height of Athena's knees so that the older woman has to kneel down almost completely to receive the affection.

They haven't met yet, Clover and Athena. Indiana has taken special care to make sure that Clover was fully potty trained, non-destructive (mostly) and good in large crowds before she dared take her around anyone she knew would revel in the presence of her four month old puppy.

But, with an unfathomable amount of time and money later, Indiana is finally comfortable enough in her ability to control Clover and bring her to meet everyone. Everyone except Jasmine, because god knows Indiana couldn't keep Jasmine away if she tried.

Now, as Athena stands up to hug Indiana in greeting, the reality of the situation kicks in. She can see outside from up here, and there looks to be at least twenty people in attendance already, and Indiana starts to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.

"They've all been briefed about the situation," Athena tells her, like she can hear the gears turning in her cousins head. "I told them all that she's still very little, and that they need to let her approach them when she's ready."