Philophobia: A GerIta story

Chapter 3: Ludwig

I look at the Kroger, taking a deep breath before unbuckling my seatbelt and opening the car door. I grab Alaric's leash, letting him cross from the passenger seat to the drivers. We get out of the car, close the door, and cautiously walk towards the store, looking around for any potential threat.

I make sure to call ahead every time, wanting to spend as little as possible time around people. Alaric and I walk into the store, me gripping his leash tighter when I see all the people.

Alaric nudges me forward, a silent 'you can do it'. Together, Alaric leading the way, we walk towards the pick up area. The person at the counter looks harmless. Chinese girl, maybe 17, who is smiling and nodding happily at the brunette in front of her.

I get behind the other girl, tapping my hand on my leg as I wait. Alaric sits next to my leg, touching it to calm me down. Over the years he's learned so much from my body movement, sometimes I think he can sense my emotions.

The brunette leaves, and I step up. The Chinese girl, the name tag reads 'Mei', smiles at me.

"I-I'm here to pick up," I stutter out, and she nods, "name?" I scratch my arm. "Beilschmidt," I tell her. She presses a few buttons in her machine, smiling at me brightly when she's done.

"Okay! Your order isn't ready quite yet, we're getting the last few things, so you can look around for the next 20 minutes or so okay?" I nod, disappointed that they weren't already done so I could leave.

Alaric lead me towards the bakery area, the only place in the store I like going to because I love baking. Baking is one of the five ways I escape.

1. Baking
2. Disney movies
3. Reading
4. Writing
5. My dogs

I used to run and work out, but stopped doing it as much 4 years ago.

I notice a brunet boy looking at the cakes, gently touching the glass and frowning. I see a large dog by his side, the words 'seeing eye dog' on her vest.

Slowly, with a lot of caution, I walk up to him. "H-Hello." He jumps at my voice, as do it at the sudden movement. He calms down, blinking in confusion. "Are you talking to me?" He asks, "um, yes?" It's silent for a moment, then he giggles. "You sounds cute, may I ask your name?" I don't say anything for a moment, then decide this boy is no harm.

"Ludwig," I say, and he smiles, "my name is Feliciano! Nice to meet you Ludwig." He puts his hand on the dog, "this is Noodle, as you can guess she's my seeing eye dog." I smile softly at the name.

'How adorable.'

"This is Alaric, he's my psychiatric service dog." He gasps, eyes widening. "You have one too? A service dog?" His voice sounds excited. "Noodle actually counts as a psychiatric service dog as well! You see, I sadly have a few disorders that cause problems in my life, so I need someone to keep me going, meaning Noodle took some classes so she can help me more!"

I come to the realize that, as I observe Feliciano, this is probably the most I've talk to someone other than Matthew or Gilbert in 2 years.

He frowns. "You're still there right?" He asks, and I nod. "O-Oh yes! Just thinking about something..." he makes a small 'hm' sound, turning back to the glass.

"I'm really sorry, but can I ask your age? If you don't mind, I ask everyone because my brother warns me about people too much older than me," he stops for a moment, "n-not that you sound older than me or anything!"

"I'm, um, 22." I regret saying it right after, but his face lights up. "I'm 23! When's your birthday?" He asks, smiling. I blush lightly, looking away, not believing I was actually giving this much information to a stranger.