Slipping into the unknown

Duke

Walking over to Beebo's apartment, Frank had his arm curled over my shoulders. I could tell we were going to remain friends for a long time. In the short time I've known him for, I felt myself become attached to him. His arm around my shoulder felt as if it belonged there.

When standing in front of the door, he let his arm slip off of my shoulders and stand behind me slightly. Odd. Maybe he doesn't know them. I thought to myself about any reasonable excuse of why his arm was no longer keeping we warm.

As the door swung open, Pete immediately embraced me in a tight hug.
"Oh my gosh! We are keeping him forever. We may allow you to visit but that will be decided in the future!", All while talking, he smiled greatly and giggled; continuing to squeeze the life out of me.

We slowly pulled apart from each other both chuckling. Hearing a while from the living room Pete turned around and the three of us saw something that would be engraved into our minds forever. Brendon was on his hand and knees, a dog toy in his mouth, and playin tug-of-war with Duke. The two of them were growling at each other playfully until Brendon gave up.

Letting go of the toy and the resistance, he fell onto his back. Upon his defeat he played dead; lying on the floor motionless. Duke immediately dropped the toy that he won and started whining. He jumped on top of Beebo and started licking his face. He looked over to where the three of us stood, and continued to jump on Bren's chest while whining extremely loud.

Beebo, tired of being rude to Duke, suddenly gasped for air and tried to hug him. Watching this affair go on, Duke jumped from his chest, running over to where I stood. He crawled between my legs; sitting and looking up at me while whining. I could tell he felt scared and swept him up in my arms, cradling him comfortingly.

Bren stood up from the floor, acting grumpy. "Come on Duke, really? You leave me for-", once realizing he was in my arms, his eyes widened and he chuckled nervously. "Cassie! Oh hey um... how much of that did you see?".

"Enough to know I'm jealous now." I watched him while talking, making sure he could see my eye roll. He blushed immediately and sheepishly walked to the door.

Once reaching he door, his eyes widened while looking over my shoulder. I suddenly realized, that Frank was still standing there during all of this.

To break the awkward tension, I decided to speak."So guys... uhm this is Frank. Frank, Bren and Pete. Bren and Pete, Frank.", I spoke awkwardly, gesturing between them when saying their names.

I turned to face Frank and said while bouncing Duke slightly in my arms. "And this little fella is Duke. He is my baby; my one and only; the great love of my lifetime."

Hearing his name, his head perked up. Seeing everyone was watching him, he shyly buried his head into my chest. The four of us all cooed at that.

Looking at up at Frank to see some sort of reaction, I saw adoration in his eyes. Only, he wasn't looking at Duke like I thought he was;
he was looking at me. Trying to play it off cool, he spoke. Although I could hear a hint of embarrassment in there.

"He is so precious. No doubt he'll soon be the size of precious too. Can I pet him?". He asked so excitedly with a wide smile and I couldn't say no.

"Of course. You said you're going to be watching this little floof for me on Wednesday's so you should get acquainted."

With that, he slowly stepped closer to me, not wanting to startle the little thing. Duke turned his head in shock, seeing a tattooed hand reach out to him. Never having seen a tattooed hand before, his eyes widened; so large that his mouth opened a bit when he did that.

Once Frank started petting his head, Duke relaxed into my arms, similar to the way he gets when he's tired.