By The Way, I Like You | Stephen x Reader

Chapter Seven

He stared at me, wearing a brown leather jacket with a dark shirt, jeans contrasting perfectly. His hair was a little messy, but it went with the look in a way that there wasn't a right way to describe it. My breath hitched slightly, almost as if the sight of him was as breathtaking as a guy wearing a suit who was taking me to prom.

Whatever moment that was there instantly was gone.

Stephen averted his eyes towards Snow and his eyes lit up, even though they met a few seconds prior. She instantly left me to visit each of them once we got to the house. In fact, she wouldn't let me take the leash off of her before she went running around. He seemed to notice the leash and bent down to take it off of her, petting her in the process.

Suddenly, a leash was coming flying towards my face. My reflexes needed to move faster than what they did because it hit me in the face. Quickly grabbing it, you could hear Stephen chuckling to himself. Looking at him, he says, "keep your dog off of the leash when in the house. Don't need it causing chaos in here by knocking everyone down."

It was hard to tell if he was being serious or not. Sighing, my body moves towards the coat hangers near the door and hangs it up on one of them. Taking my coat as well, my hands hung it over the knob with the leash on it. My fingers go for my shoes and reach for the end of the laces, untying and loosening them enough for my feet to slide out.

Turning back around, all three of the guys were looking at my dog, Stephen being the only one petting her. Hosuh looks over at me and smiles. "Your dog's really pretty."

My lips tug into a small smile in return. "Thanks. Her name's Snow. I rescued her a few years ago." Walking over to the couch, my body sits down. The flexible leather bends underneath my body weight, supporting me so I don't go crashing through the frame.

Daniel looks over at me, his mouth was slightly agape. "Where did you rescue her at?" Dan asks with a questioning look on his face. Snow's head instantly turns towards me, a happy grin on her face. It's like she knew we were talking about her. Walking away from Stephen, she comes over to me and places her head on my lap. My hand rests on her head and softly pets her while reliving the day I took her into my own care.

Each of their eyes landed on me, waiting for me to start the story. "Well, I was taking a walk in the woods behind my house and there were these old train tracks a couple of miles away. They're never used anymore, so I go down there to clear my head and take a breather. The scenery is beautiful, trees surrounding the tracks, almost as if it was a canopy secluding the tracks into their own world. While walking along them, I came up to the small bridge that crossed a wide river. Usually, I would walk back home after reaching that point, but there was a whimper coming from underneath the bridge.

"After hearing it, I instantly had to know what it was."

The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder the closer I got to it. Murky water rushed up to the shore in constant intervals. Up, down, up, down, the ripples continue to move. Once my body got near the bottom, my shoes started to sink into the sand. Ignoring the fact that they're gonna have to be cleaned after this, my head continues to look around for the noise.

A high-pitched whine comes from around one of the posts that hold the bridge up.

Turning towards the noise, my eyes try to spot the animal that made the sound. Carefully, my body moved forward towards it, curious and slightly frightened. Fear of the unknown, as some would call it. When the post came closer, the whimpering got louder. Once I was finally close enough, that's when my eyes landed on her.

At the time, her fur was matted and was not white in the slightest. She was covered in mud, shaking from the cool weather we had in late September. She was curled up in a ball, her head laying on the concrete base. Her ears were lowered and her eyes looked like they were losing the light in them. When she turned her head towards me, she was completely frightened. Even so, she continued to whimper. My heart lurched forward, knowing that some human being left this poor dog alone in the wild. Who would do that?