Magnetic

Chapter Eighteen

There was only one downside to owning Belle, and I probably should've thought about that earlier.

I had never owned a pet before—not even a measly goldfish that you get from the carnival that dies before you're even able to bring it home.

We had lived in an apartment that didn't allow pets of any kind. I probably could've snuck a goldfish to mine, but that was never the type of pet that appealed to me. I always wanted a dog.

Even if we hadn't lived in the apartment, chances were I still wouldn't have been able to have a pet. My mother was allergic to any animal with fur. Neither of my parents were fans of fish or lizards, so there really was nothing left. A litter of cats lived in the bushes by my apartment building and I'd always play with them, careful to wash my hands immediately after so my mother would be okay.

Fortunately for me, Brady's family owned four dogs--two huge german shepherds, a yappy little yorkie, and a lazy jack russell--so he knew almost everything about owning one that you would ever need to know.

After school, he'd drive to my house and give me little tips on how to tell if she needed to be let out, fed, bathed, and played with as he would eat food that I had prepared in advance.

"She's got too much energy right now. Go play fetch with her or something to tire her out," he told me through a mouthful of chocolate mousse cake. He had requested it the day before, and because I was a good friend, I obliged. He looked so relaxed on the recliner, a smile plastered on his face.

"What if I don't have enough energy?" I was laying face down on the couch, completely drained of every bit of energy in my body after a terrible pop-test in physics class. My teacher was completely dead to me.

"Then she'll just chew on stuff. Like your new sneakers." He nodded towards where Belle was gnawing on my brand new athletic shoes.

Having a dog was much more exhausting than I ever thought. But, somehow, I enjoyed almost every minute of it. Almost.

Except for this one, as I chased Belle around my living room, trying to make her drop my slobber-covered shoe while Brady chuckled as he shoveled in copious amounts of chocolate cake. "Belle!"

Belle was obviously having a ball as she panted loudly and wagged her tail rapidly, bouncing around the coffee table and behind chairs and couches.

"If my hands weren't full, I'd be recording this to post on every social media site there is." He lifted up his hands--a fork in one, and a bowl in the other--and let out his contagious laugh.

"If your hands weren't full, I'd be expecting you to have helped me," I said as I victoriously lifted up one hand over the coffee table, the shoe clutched between my fingers. "Got it."

Brady laughed some more and cut himself a third slice of cake. "Looks like you're finally getting the hang of having a dog."

"Not even close." I sighed and slipped my shoes on so Belle couldn't take them again. She laid down on her back and played with the shoelaces. "I think I've got a lot more to learn."

In the two and a half weeks that I'd had Belle, she had been taught her name and how to sit, stay, and lay down on command. All of that, of course, had been Brady's doing.

He claimed that I had a natural connection with dogs, because Belle always bounded behind me as I walked, as if she was having the best time of her life. She had seemed to like me almost instantly, like that dog I had caught at the veterinarian office when I went there with Brady to pick up Tike. But I couldn't get her to listen to me at all, only sitting and staying for Brady. It seemed like it was he who had the natural connection with dogs.