Dasmine: A Lion Love Story

Jasmine

It all started on a beautiful sunny day. I was casually strolling down main street after escaping from my owners backpack, when suddenly I saw it.

I had never seen neon lights look so beautiful, and the scents escaping from the building made my mouth water.

I took a deep sniff, my plastic nose catching none of the scent.

But hey, that's what imagination is for.

I mean, plastic noses aren't great, but when you spend most of your time in a backpack full of gum wrappers, textbooks, and gym shoes, you're glad your sniffer doesn't work properly.

I cautiously stepped off the curb, racing over to the other side of the road and into this mysterious building.

I jumped up into a booth, waiting for my waiter to come over.

The blonde woman quickly sashayed past me, completely ignoring the fact that I had my paw up, waiting to order.

"Excuse me!" I huffed indignantly.

I was not used to being ignored.

She whipped her head around, looking for where the voice was coming from.

"Down here!" I yelled, but to the waitress it came out as a squeak.

The woman looked down in surprise.

She had seen many things in her seventeen years of working here, but a stuffed lion waving around, waiting to order?

Never.

It was enough to make a girl faint.

Which is exactly what happened.

Jasmine hopped down, and prodded the waitress with a fork to see if she was dead.

Jasmine was never around humans much, and seeing one just fall over like that concerned her greatly.

I mean, if one fell on her, she'd be crushed!

And NO ONE wants to see a ball of fluff and fur in a restaurant.

Its bad for business.

So, Jasmine left, continuing her search for a good place to lunch.

After twenty minutes of walking, which equaled to being about half a block, Jasmine finally settled on a cute little diner.

Once again, she went inside, taking it upon herself to get a seat.

"What can I get for you?" A young man asked, not even looking up from his notepad.

"What's good?" She replied.

The young man shrugged.

"Honestly, this is my first day and I've never eaten here, so its your guess."

Jasmine stood up on the back of her booth, peering around at the other restaurant goers in search of someone who looked like they were enjoying their food.

Her eyes scanned around what seemed like the entire restaurant, before landing on a family eating a large circular dish.

"I'll have whatever that is." She pointed, practically drooling over the look of it.

"Cheese pizza? Alright, I'll be right back."

Jasmine picked up a crayon with her mouth, and began casually sketching while she waited.

Jasmine liked art, especially portraits.

Today, she decided to paint a self portrait, her specialty.

Currently she had thirty decorating her backpack.

When she was finally finished, she leaned back, satisfied with her large yellow blob.

"Perfect likeness." She smiled.

It was a good thing she had never seen a mirror.

After what seemed like eternity, her "pizza" came out, looking just as good as she though it would.

She ripped of a chunk of a slice, and with just that first bite, she was in love.

Taking a sip of her water, she looked back at the 21" pizza.

And ate the whole thing.

Opening her purse, she paid, leaving a tip for the waiter.

Just as she was about to leave, she noticed someone eating a pizza.

He had bright green hair, and seemed to be pretty much inhaling the entire thing.

She went over the table, seeing another plush lion at the table, not even touching his slice.

"You gonna eat that?" She asked.

He shook his head no, so she took that as an invitation to eat it.

"I'm Daniel." He said cheerfully, preening his mane.

"Arsgjdfuv." Jasmine smiled, sauce covering the fur on her face from her earlier meal.

"Pardon?" He asked politely.

Jasmine licked some sauce of her paw, holding it out to shake.

"Jasmine."

"Jasmine." He repeated thoughtfully, Mulling over the word.

"Why have I not seen you around before?" She asked, cleaning her face.

Jasmine may not have gotten out very often, but she did know all the plushies in the area.

"I'm just driving through."

"Oh." Jasmine pulled at her ear, unsure of what to say.

She wasn't much of a talker.

"Yeah, my owners just driving through." Daniel waved his hand at the green haired guy, who was sitting frozen, a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth, eyes wide as he took in the interaction between the two.

"Ah."

"We're on a road trip."

"Eh."

"Well I didn't think it was that bad of a thing." Daniel frowned.

"Ih."

"What?" Daniel was confused.

"Got more pizza?" Jasmine interrupted him.

"I'm afraid not." Daniel frowned.

Jeez, this girl was rude. He was simply trying to make polite conversation, and she was only interested in eating half the table.

"Oh." Jasmine was disappointed.

"Well, bye." She grinned, collecting her purse and leaping off the table.

Halfway to the door, she remembered something.

"I'm sorry. I believe I forgot something over here." Jasmine said, hunting around the cushions.

After a few minutes of her fruitless searching, Daniel was becoming irritated. "What did you forget?" He asked, sticking his paws in the cushions to search as well.

"Oh, just your phone number." She said smoothly.

And thus, a ship was born.