Love Me Or Hate Me

Love Me Or Hate Me [01-I]

I screamed.

No, that's the understatement of what I did. What I actually did was climb into a tree and held onto a branch for dear life as a huge dog that I'd never seen in my life barked and attempted to rip me to shreds. Maybe I did something wrong in a past life that I'm paying for now. I was probably being melodramatic, but this didn't even look like a dog; it looked like a big, white bear with slobber all over it's face!

When the dog-bear barked, I heard the door to my house open and my mom walked outside, a lot calmer than I was. “Duke, leave Isabelle alone.” As if the dog had known my mom all of it's life, he backed down and walked over to her; sticking his tongue out and licking her hand playfully. “Isabelle,” she looked up at me and shook her head, “please come down from the tree. You're panicking for no reason.”

Yeah, because I get attacked by baby bears everyday. Keeping my eye on the dog the entire time, I climbed down from the tree and walked cautiously into my house. My mom had her back to me, but I could see she had a huge grin on her face. “Next time tell me when I'm going to get mauled by a big animal, OK?”

“Learn to love him.” Turning around, her brown eyes bore into mine and she smiled. “He's going to be here for quite some time.” With that, she turned back around and continued cooking. I was going to question her, but it was better if I just went along with whatever she said. She was an odd mother, but it was better than having her uptight for no real reason.

Shrugging, I turned around and began my walk up to my room, but was stopped by her familiar voice. “Oh, one more thing, take a shower and dress nicely for dinner tonight. A friend of mine is coming over for dinner and I want you to meet someone.”

Our eyes held each others gaze for a few seconds, and then I spoke. “What friend?”

Running a hand through her curly brown hair, she shrugged. “Just a work colleague. We've known each other for years.” She pointed at the dog as if for proof. “He decided since I always talk about you, that he wants to meet you. There's no problem with that, is there?”

Shaking my head, I turned back around and walked up the stairs and down the narrow hallway to my room. Once the door was closed, I took off my uniform, placed it in the hamper and changed into a pair of pajamas. It wasn't much—just a pair of shorts and a tank top—but I was comfortable, and since I was at home, I really didn't care. Normally, I was completely covered by the uniform so no one at school could judge my body, but since looks aren't the only thing teenagers judge, I was labeled an outcast. Why? Because while all the girls walked around in the shortest khaki skirts they could find, I wore pants. While everyone else's shirts were skin tight, I kept mine a little bit loose—or a lot a bit. If there was one thing I hated was when guys stared at a girls chest; it's like... We're people, not toys.

I sighed; why am I even thinking about this?

Lying down on my bed, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on anything aside from reality, but when I heard a scratching noise on my door, I groaned. With as much strength as a lazy person could muster up, I walked over and opened the door to let the dog in. Once the door was open, he ran over to me and pinned me onto the floor; licking my face and leaving traces of his saliva all over my face and hair. I tried to push him off, but I'm almost certain the dog weighed almost ten times more than I did.

“Damn it, get off of me!” Listening almost instantly, he climbed off of my body and sat at my feet. As I wiped my face, I noticed that on his collar, there was an engraving on it. Curiosity got the best of me and I read it:

Duke Smith

That last name made me think, and before I knew it, I ran downstairs and confronted my mom. “Who's dog did you say this was?”

Smiling, she shrugged. “It was a surprise, but the dog is your fiancée's.”

My mouth fell open and I staggered backwards. “M-my what?!”

Still completely calm, she smiled even bigger. “Well, my friend and I thought it would be a good idea if you guys met, and since we're both the owners of big corporate companies-”

“-but what does that have to do with me? I'm seventeen! I haven't even been in a relationship before, let alone an engagement! Now you're telling me because of some stupid company, I have to get married to someone I don't even know?” Almost completely ignoring me, she placed a bowl of salad on the dining room table. Her moves were synchronized, and anyone who knew her would tell you that everything she did was out of pure OCD. Of course, that didn't mean anything right now—I wasn't getting married to someone. “Mom, call off the engagement-”

“-and risk the best opportunity for my company?” Shaking her head, she walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. Our resemblance was almost nonexistent. While I was a tan, dark hair teenage girl, she was a light skinned, almost red-head who's age almost never showed due to the “stress free” life she lived. Everything always went her way, and I guess she expected this to be just as simple. “Listen, Is, I'm doing this for you. Not to hurt you.”

Pulling away from her, I shook my head in disgust. “I'm not meeting anyone tonight.”

“You don't have a choice-”

“-my father would have given me a choice.” That must have hit a nerve in her because she looked away from me and proceeded with cooking her dinner for the night. I knew that talking about my father was taking it a step too far, but what did you want me to do? My father never made me do something I didn't want to do, but here my mom was offering my hand in marriage to a complete stranger. Maybe I'm being old fashioned, but that just didn't seem right to me.

Once I was in my room again, I noticed that Duke was sitting on my bed with his stomach in the air and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I smiled at him, but when I remembered who's dog he was, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of resentment.

The more I thought about it, the more I remembered that my mom never told me who my fiancée-to-be was. I tried to think about all the students in my school with the last name 'Smith', but my mind was so jumbled that I couldn't think of any. There was probably ten students with that last name alone, and if any of them were my future husband, I honestly think I'd cry. They're all players or ass holes—a mix that doesn't go all that well with me. I was a quiet, sit-at-home-and-read kind of nerd, and a player wouldn't really be a match made in Heaven.

Of course, it could be worse- No, it couldn't. I'd rather be engaged to Duke before I'd be engaged to anyone at my school. As if reading my mind, he barked in contentment and moved closer to me. “You're a really big dog, you know that?” Barking in response, he licked my hand and lied his head down on my lap; bringing a small smile to my face.

Had the circumstances been different—and he didn't try to attack me when I stepped onto my front lawn—I wouldn't have minded Duke being here. He was big, but from what I could see, he was pretty lazy. He didn't even try to follow me when I went back downstairs! This dog was just the as lazy as I was—if that was possible.

Looking to my left, I grabbed the picture of my father that was on my night stand and let out a sigh. “If anyone was lazy, it was you, Old Man.” I laughed to myself and put the picture back down. Right next to it was a clock, and I saw it was already four o'clock. As much as I didn't want to, I had to get ready for my mom's dinner in a few hours. What I said about my father was true; he wouldn't make me do something I didn't want to do, but he always had a way of guilting me into it without much effort. Even if he wasn't here, just knowing how he'd react made me just go with what my mom wanted. Did I want to marry this stranger? No, not at all, but I could at the very least meet them for her.

“No harm in meeting new people, right Duke?”

He barked again and I let out a sigh. I guess it's time to get ready.