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He was right next to that tree I could sweat it. Next thing I knew he was gone! My dog of 4 years just vanished, again! He probably ran off to the park again. I would always find him right by the swing set, like he was waiting for someone to show up or he had just watched them leave.
I walked to the park but stopped when I heard a voice. Peeking around from the slide I saw a boy who looked to be around my age just sitting in a swing talking to my dog. Now I knew I had two options. I could either 1 wait it out till he leaves and let him have his therapy session with my dog or 2 go over and introduce myself and maybe even make a friend.
I chose 2. Walking over I cleared my throat and tried to make some noise so I didn't startle the boy. He looked up at me a sort of perplexed look on his face before he asked "Can I help you?" He seemed sort of sad to have been interrupted, maybe I should have stuck with 1.
"Yeah um I have a quick question for you. Do you mind if I sit down first?" I asked nodding my head towards the swing next to him. "Uhm go ahead." I flashed a smile while sitting down before continuing. "You wouldn't happen to be the reason my dog keeps running off to this same place every time would you?" I tried to be nice about it but I guess a bit of bitterness came out. "Oh I'm so sorry I didn't realize this was your dog. Listen I can leave if you want so you can take him home. I really am sorry." He sort of stuttered his way through, obviously embarrassed, and began to stand up ready to walk away. I grabbed his wrist trying to get him to stay, the grab wasn't necessary per say, more of an instinct. "I don't mind really! You can talk to him as much as you want. I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound rude." He looked at me and then at his wrist and I let go immediately so he could sit back down.
"What's his name?" His eyes fixed on the dogs, they were mesmerized with each other. "Merlin." The sound of my dogs name made his head shoot straight up to me and coincidentally so did the boys. "Merlin?" He was asking as if he didn't hear me correctly, it was a peculiar name though. "Yes Merlin. You know like King Arthur and the knights of the round table, the great wizard Merlin who helped Arthur become king. I'm very into Arthurian literature so the name seemed fit." I looked at Merlin and gave him a little scratch behind the ears and a smile and I could hear the boy next to me just laugh. "What?" I asked. "Is his name really that funny to you?" I looked at the laughing boy and finally looked him over fully. His hair was unkempt and shaggy, he had a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt, his glasses looked like they had seen better days, and although it was chilly outside he had on just a t-shirt and jeans. He must have noticed me staring because the laughing stopped and his expression grew serious before he turned back to Merlin.
"I didn't mean to offend you. Merlin is a great name for a dog." He seemed sincere. "Thank you." I replied finally drawn out of my trance he had put me in. "Um if I might ask, what were you talking to Merlin about?" "Oh you know, life stuff. He looks like my godfathers old dog, before he died." I looked down at my watch and finally noticed the time, if I didn't leave soon I was going to be super late. "Oh I'm so sorry about that." I pulled out a pen and a gun wrapper and wrote my number on it. "Uhm here-" "Harry." "Yes uhm here Harry. I have to go but you can call me anytime if you need someone to talk to or if you want to see Merlin instead of waiting for him here all the time." I smiled and he took he wrapper, sticking it in his pocket as I stood up. "Thank you I will. Uh-" "Y/N." "Yes thank you Y/N I will definitely take you up on that offer." I smiled and hooked the leash back onto Merlin's collar. "I'll see you around Harry." "Yeah, see you around Y/N."
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Harry ended up calling me later that night. He said he had a nightmare and really needed to talk to someone and maybe even see Merlin to calm down. I gave him my address and he came over, still in his pajamas, sad down and just held Merlin like he was about to die. After he had calmed down me and Harry had talked and got to know each other better. After a little while Harry had asked me out and we started dating soon after. It was only 6 months after that he proposed, he said that he knew and he had no second thoughts about any of it. We had plans for a nice family wedding but something just felt right and we eloped without telling anyone. Harry introduced me to his world and all his family and friends, life was great and all was well. We got another dog, Lily, she and Merlin got along quite well. Well enough to where Lily and Merlin became parents before Harry and I.
It's funny how everything started with a lost puppy.
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I wrote this so fast I just had so much inspiration after that last update so I wanted to say thank you to those who commented!! It meant a lot to me and it put me back in the writing mood. I currently have three other chapters that I'm working on now and I am just so happy to be back in the swing of things. So if there's anyone else reading this and would like to request something or vote on a story idea please do so it helps me so much and gives me so much joy that you all actually like what I'm writing. So thank you all for everything.
