A new friend

She has been betrayed, not once, not twice, not three times. It wasn't countable anymore and every single time she held on to the fact that she loved him and forgave him. But this time it was just that bit too much and made her explode.

Now he finally left and Floor was alone. No matter how often she had read about it in books,  sawn it in movies, heard it from friends, she never believed that it could hurt so much. It felt like not just her heart but every piece of her soul and mind was broken.

She wasn't strong enough to go to work, she wasn't even able to cook for herself, which let her become weaker and weaker every week. Sure, Floor was eating something, but it seemed like her body wasn't able to keep it.

Friends came to visit her, to hold her while she was crying and bring her ice cream but soon nobody knew what else to do. Floor, once a strong woman, was just a shadow of herself.

Until one day her father remembered, remembered what had helped his daughter through her burn out. At that time, structure was the best tool to give her safety and a daily procedure. It wasn't supposed to be much, but it was meant to give her the feeling of getting things done back.

She needed it right now when everything seemed to break away from her. Floor used to have three dogs at this time but unfortunately, one of them died and the other two were so sad that they had to give them a new chance, a new beginning so they gave them to nearby friends.

Floor needed a dog again, she needed someone to hold on to, some fur to pet and mostly something that would force her to have a daily routine again. It would have to be fed, loved and taken out for walks every single day no matter in what mood she was.

With a quick decision, he led his daughter into the car without saying anything and drove to the near animal shelter. Just when they were about to go inside, he made her look in his eyes and said,

"Floor, you will go inside this animal shelter now and find a new friend. Don't ask why, don't even think too much about it, just do it. I promise you my help with everything so you don't have to struggle but you have to do that now."

He gently stroked his daughter's shoulder before getting in his car again to wait. Floor's mind was dizzy and wide awake at the same time.

She didn't really know what she was doing and why but she got inside the shelter and went straight to the big dogs. She had fallen in love with bulldogs but after all, it seemed not a good idea to look for one again. Big changes call for big reactions, she thought and walked along the caves.

Floor loved animals and it was hard to say no to a dog who was in a situation like this, but she could only take care of one, if she would be able to at all.

In the corner of her eyes, she noticed a slight movement and suddenly turned around to stare into the cave without any sign of a dog. Just when she was about to turn away again, she saw big brown eyes hiding in a crate in the middle of the room. Without having seen the dog, she knew it was the one. The one she wanted to carry home.

Quickly, she went back to the entrance to buy it but had to wait since another woman stood there and was talking with the employee.

"Yeah exactly this one. The brown Labrador with big brown eyes which is hiding in the box all the time. Great, where do I have to sign?"

Floor frowned, this was her Labrador, her new friend. All the things she had to let go overwhelmed her and she pushed the woman away and almost screamed,

"This is my Labrador, I'm gonna buy him and sign the paper."

The employee was very confused and tried to hold the two women apart but it didn't work. Floor wanted this and she would get it, no matter what. She was about to argue with both of them when her eyes looked into the woman's direction and suddenly her heart pounded not only for the dog but also because of the woman standing in front of her.

Floor lost herself in these blue eyes, sparkling like waves crashing onto the shore. Her heartbeat had to be audible to everybody. But she wasn't the only one, the other woman seemed to be just as affected as she was. 

"What, we... what are we going to do now?" Floor managed to ask, her voice still weak.

"Honestly, I don't know, we can't just share this dog like a pizza." The woman replied with an almost cheeky smile.

"Can I ask for your name?" Suddenly, Floor wanted to get to know her better. "Maybe we can share a pizza together sometime."

"Maybe... eh, I'm Simone, but what are we going to do now? I can't just leave it like that and let him stay in the shelter."

"Me too. We... we could share him if we lived together, right? Just for the time we don't know how to decide..." She glanced at her hopefully. "And I'm Floor by the way."

As soon as they had signed and paid everything, they got outside and Floor went to ask her dad to let her stay at their place. Maybe his idea wasn't too bad after all.