On My Own (disc.)

Stella the Husky, Drag Me Away (9)

LUKE

I wake up to see Stella laying next to me. I rub her head and smile at her as she lifts her head and barks, beginning to wag her tail.

"Hi, Stella," I say, stretching. Stella pokes at my hand, and I smile at her a little wider, poking her back and sit up. It's not bright in my room, and there's hardly any light coming through the curtains. I always woke up pretty early anyway, even on the weekends, like today.

I saw that it was about seven on the clock next to my bed, and surprised myself. I almost slept in.

Usually, I didn't like to wake up early because it was lonely, but now that I see that Stella is the same way, it can't be too bad, can it? Dogs are always fun.

Out of habit, I grab a pair of boxers and head towards the shower, and Stella follows me. She hops onto a space cleared off on the counter, and I shake my head. She must do this with Michael.

"What, you don't want to be lonely? Is that it?" She barks quietly. I grin. "Understandable. Don't look at me when I strip, though," I smile, but she seems to understand and turns her head away. Did Michael teach her to not look when he got into the shower?

I got in anyway, deciding I'd ask him later. I start humming, and Stella barks. I peek out at her.

"What?" She barks again. "You want me to sing? Talk to you?" She barks again, wagging her tail. I smile. "Alright."

It's a bit weird, knowing that only a dog is listening to me while I sing, but I normally sing in the shower anyway. Plus, Stella seems to get lonely pretty quick.

Out of irony, I start to sing All Time Low's "Stella," and she seems to know the tune because whenever her name pops up, she howls along with me. I giggle at her and shush her.

"Don't wake up Michael. Or Daryl." I say, and she stops howling. "Good girl, Stella,"

Once I get out, I tell Stella to turn around again, and she does. I pull up my boxers and scratch her behind her ears, and she turns back around. She hops down as I open the door with a towel in my hair, trotting out and back into my room.

I don't bother styling my hair very much, just shaking it out and lazily putting it up. It flopped over to the side and curled at the top, but I just shrugged and looked at Stella for approval. She barks twice, and I take that as a yes. I grin and put on a pair of sweatpants, walking out with Stella hot on my trail.

I find their cereal boxes and pour myself a bowl when I hear Stella whining. I look over at her and see her dishes are empty.

"Oh, um - where's your food, shit," I mumble to myself, opening the first cupboard I see. "Don't want you to starve now, do we? That would be bad. My only morning buddy has been starved to death." Stella barks, and I smile while looking in the other cupboards.

Eventually, I find her bag of food in the top left one, probably so she couldn't get at it whenever she wanted.

"There we are," I sigh, carefully pulling the bag down. She wags her tail when she sees the bag of food, and I pour it to where it's pretty much full of the little pellets and fill up her water bowl. "Now you won't starve."

I eat my cereal on one of the stools next to the half wall separating the living room and the kitchen as Stella eats her food. I let her snack on some of my cereal, though, and she appreciates it. I bet dog food gets boring after a while.

The stairs creak a little bit as someone comes down them, and I lean up from wiping the spilled water from Stella's bowl and hit the back of my head on the edge of the counter, cursing loudly.