miscellaneous thoughts ✔

Dragon's Excerpts {24} : One O'clock on the Dot

I glanced at the kitchen clock, making sure that the time was right. I grinned as the clock's hour hand struck one.

Just in time, I thought to myself as I raced to the front door and peered through its window. My grin widened as I rushed to the closet next to the door and grabbed my basketball.

I flung the door open, raced across my driveway, and proceeded to dribble the basketball. 

My eyes continually snuck glances at her, watching her every move from across the street, to ensure that she was headed my way. She was, of course, so I turned away and pretended that I had been shooting some hoops the whole time.

I heard her very light footsteps, coming closer and closer to where I was standing. She wasn't coming to me of course, she was simply walking her dog, but nonetheless she was heading towards me.

I heard her voice, calling to her dog and singing silly songs. She started stepping, creating a beat, changing it a few times, then gradually going back to the starting beat. I smiled as she almost tripped over her dog. She started laughing and blamed her dog for making her mess up the beat.

Her laugh was so pure, so innocent. She was finally nearing my driveway. I snuck a glance at her and saw her eyes widen as she noticed me. I quickly turned away and began shooting the basketball into the hoop.

I heard her soft voice, whispering to her dog. I snuck a glance at her, smiling at how gentle she was with him. "Come on old boy. You knew I'd have to put the leash on at some point. I promise I'll take it off once we get past the boy over there okay?"

She looked into his eyes, patted his little head, and put the leash on his collar. When he didn't resist, she smiled and said, "I'll give you a treat when we get back home. How does that sound?" Her dog looked up at her with blank eyes, but she matched his gaze with a smile.

She stood up and kept walking, her dog falling into step beside her. I knew why she put the leash on. She always walked with her dog off of the leash, only putting it on when she noticed people or other dogs were around.

I'd seen her have races with him, I'd seen her pick him up and pull him into her jacket when he was shivering, and I'd even figured out why she kept him off of his leash.

I had been sitting on my front porch in the shadows, waiting for her to come walking past, when I heard her voice. She had been singing some song when she suddenly said, "You know Bruno, I wish I didn't have to put this leash on you. I wouldn't have if my father hadn't been watching me leave the house to walk you."

She sighed sadly then said, "I trust you enough to know that you won't run far for no apparent reason and even if you do, I can still catch up to you. Besides, it's not such a big deal at night because hardly anyone is ever around."

"The only time I will put a leash on you is if my father or stepmom watch me leave the house to walk you, when we are heading to the vet, or when another dog or person is around. After that, I'll more than likely take it off unless I feel that they are still too close to let you go."

She sighed again and frowned, saying, "I honestly hate putting you on a leash. I mean, I sure wouldn't like to be pulled around on one. I hate having to tug you away by force. I just hate it." With that, she had turned around and walked back in the direction of her house.

I smiled at the flashback. It was nice seeing this caring side of her that I knew was there, but hadn't seen firsthand. She really cares about that dog, always treating him like he was her little brother or something.

She was now standing on the sidewalk, directly in front of my driveway, her head cocked to the side. She was staring at me with an expectant look, as if she was waiting for something. Oh! She must've asked me a question! I thought to myself, cursing myself for my dumbness.

"Um... I'm sorry, what was that?" I said, looking away in embarrassment. She smiled and said, "I said hi! Can I join you?" My head whipped around so fast it hurt my neck, but I paid it no mind. My eyes widened and I screamed, "What!?!"

She stepped back, taken aback from the tone of my voice, looking at me as if unsure of whether she should run or stay. I shook my head, mentally face-palming myself. Great first impression genius. I thought to myself, again cursing myself for being an idiot.

I sighed and said, "Sorry, you just caught me off guard is all. Join me in doing what?" She giggled and shook her head. She gestured to the ball in my hands and said, "In shooting some hoops silly." My eyes widened, my mind trying to comprehend what she just said.

She wants to join me in shooting hoops? Like, us, talking and playing together? Just us? Me and her? Her and me? I nodded my head fast and said, "Yes, of course!" I cringed at the overly excited tone in my voice, hoping she didn't notice.

I guess she didn't because she just nodded and wrapped her dog's leash under the shady tree in my yard and pet him while telling him they were taking a slight rest stop. I took this as my chance to look at her more closely than I ever could.

Her light brown hair was frizzy and fell to her shoulders, getting caught in the sunlight. She had on earrings that were hands held in a peace sign. She had on no makeup, which made me smile. She had a natural beauty that wouldn't let me take my eyes off her.

She had on her small, light brown glasses, which she pushed up even though they looked as if they were snug on her face. Her light brown skin glowed in the sunlight, little traces of sweat hanging off of it to keep her cool.

She was wearing a white shirt that said Bahamas on it with a big butterfly in the middle. My eyes widened as I realized that the big butterfly was made up of smaller butterflies. The shirt had just been plain white and black before, but now the butterflies were splashed with different colors.

One butterfly was red, while the other was yellow, and yet another was pink. It was one of those shirts that changed color when in sunlight. I looked down at the rest of her outfit. She had on some pink and black adidas pants, and purple, orange, and white socks on that reminded me of Dr. Seuss.

She was wearing white sneakers that had pink hello kitty shoelaces in them. I smiled, remembering how she had once told her dog that her mom had bought them for her. She had complained and said it was babyish, but still she kept the shoelaces in her shoes.

She stood up, walking over to me with a smile. She kept walking until we were an arm's length apart. I smiled at her and she looked down, a blush forming on her cheeks. My smile widened because I knew I had caused that blush.

She cleared her throat, looked up bravely, and holding my gaze, said, "So are you ready to shoot some hoops or what?" I smiled down at her and said, "Game on."

A/N

Pretty much unedited tbh