Scömìche One-Shots

Animal Shelter

"I have a plan," I tell her, watching her excited eyes light up.

"What is it?" She eagerly asks, obviously dying to know.

"So you know how April first is coming up?" I hint. She nods, as if urging me to continue. "Well," I begin, "there's this thing some people are doing. What you do is you tell your crush your true feelings. If they like you, you're good, if they don't, it's just a joke." A grin sweeps across her face and she starts bouncing in her seat.

"Holy shit. Calm the fuck down." I chuckle at her, her barely hiding her excitement.

"I knew it!" She exclaims as she jumps up and stands in front of me. "I told you from day one you two would end up together! You'll start dating and then get married and adopt children and it'll all be because of me!" She babbles on.

"Kirstie!" I shush her. She falls back onto the bed, trying to contain the giggle fit that begins to bubble up. It's true, we did meet because of her. She works at a no-kill animal shelter just outside of Dallas. She managed to get me a part-time shift there. I'm obsessed with animals. It doesn't sound like the girly me everyone knows, but it's true.

One time, this guy came into the shelter. He was looking for a dog, and ended up determined to leave with a cat. I smiled, thinking back to the day.

---

'Ding!'

"Mitch, someone's at the door. Can you get that?' Martha asked. I was in the back with her, checking Bruce's papers to make sure they were accurate. We had just got him sent in, so we were required to check everything before making him available for adoption.

"Sure." I make my way out of the room and through the heavy door. I walk to the counter and look ahead to see the reason for the door's ring. My face softened from its usual tense and focused look as I looked over the guy who just walked in. He shyly walked to the counter and smiled.

"Hi there! Are you hoping to adopt today?" I chirpily say the rehearsed line.

"Uh, yeah. I just moved here from Brenham. I was planning to adopt a small dog, maybe a Dachshund or a Terrier," he replies. I nod.

"Well, we ju-" I was quickly cut off.

"Mitch? We need you." Kirstie quickly walks through the door.

"What's wrong?" I ask, worried something might've happened to one of the cats. Only now, I realize that she's carrying Nova, our fluffy Black Cat.

"Nothing's really wrong, but Joshua couldn't come in today. We need someone to help me care for the kittens," as soon as she finishes her sentence, I hear a barely audible 'awe' from the guy who walked in earlier. "Oh, who's this?" Kirstie's gaze shifts from me to the other guy.

"Oh, this is who walked in a second ago," I look to him. "Do you want to wait here? You can come if you want."

"I guess I'll come," he smiles. Holy shit look at that perfect smi- Wait, no, Mitch. Focus.

I return the smile, turning back to Kirstie.

"Alright. We'll be there in a minute." Kirstie nods and walks out the door. I get the keys that are hung on a lanyard from below the counter and make my way out the door after her, Mr. Hottie following closely behind.