Puppy Love

Part 3

The uneasy feeling in your stomach only worsened as the day progressed. Wednesdays were always busy, loaded with classes from early morning into the late afternoon. It didn't really help that the stress of your ex-boyfriend's leering ways and harsh attitude had a hold on you, and you were unsure of how to go about it.

Once he'd hung up on you, you had no choice but to continue getting ready. The day really flew by, and everywhere you looked, you kept an eye out for Shawn. You thought you'd seen him at least four times between your house and campus, but you were certain it was just a figment of your hyper-worrisome imagination. You soon concluded that you had things figured out.

How would Greg even see you again? He couldn't possibly know if you'd been with Shawn or not. You were single, anyway. What was he going to do, ask Shawn if he was dating you? Shawn would say no, because that's the truth. Greg held no power over you, and you owed him nothing.

You convinced yourself that there wasn't anything to worry about.

Once Thursday morning rolled around, you planned on meeting Shawn outside and telling him everything, just in case. You waited patiently by the window in your little running outfit, perking up once the husky puppy entered your field of vision. Half a second later, you realized it wasn't Shawn walking her, but some other guy. He was bigger than Shawn and had longer hair, but he was definitely walking Shawn's dog.

"Excuse me!" you called, opening your front door and stepping outside with Chloe.

The guy looked in your direction, questioning if you were talking to him.

"Yeah, you," you said, taking a few steps in his direction. "Where's Shawn?"

"Umm, do I know you?" he asked, avoiding your question.

"Oh, I'm a friend of Shawn's from puppy classes. He, he uh, he walks by my house every morning and I was hoping to talk to him," you trailed off, squinting at the bright morning sun.

"You're the girl from puppy classes?" he asked, face lighting up as he made sense of the situation. "Well, looks like you're shit out of luck. He's rehearsing," the man spoke, shoving a hand into his pocket.

"Oh, for the thing tonight," you nodded, making sense of the situation.

"Yeah, he's uh, he's nervous," he spoke, tugging a bit on Geoff's leash as she tried to continue on her walk.

"Doesn't he do this, like, a few nights a week?" you questioned, wondering if he always got up at the crack of dawn to rehearse.

"Yeah, but this time's different. You're coming," he said, quickly shrugging a little to play off that he had just let that slip. You smirked, looking up at the sky.

"You're a friend of his?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm Geoff," he said, holding out a hand for you to shake. You laughed, releasing his hand and pointing from the dog to him.

"Like, Geoff Geoff?"

"Oh, yeah," he giggled. "Shawn claimed he could outdrink me a few weeks back. He, uh, well, turns out he couldn't," he said, causing you to laugh.

"I hope this isn't too much to ask, but do you think you could have him call me? I need to talk to him about something," you requested, causing Geoff, the human, to pull his phone out of his pocket to add you as a contact. You typed your number in, along with your name followed by two puppy emojis.

"Thanks," you said, handing it back to him as he leaned down to scratch behind Chloe's ear. He soon stood, giving you an awkward nod.

You turned on your heel, heading back in the direction of your front door. "Will you be there tonight? With Shawn's, uh, band?" you asked, raising an eyebrow. He laughed, shaking his head.