Like Cats & Dogs | H. S.

4

"Okay..." He starts, after checking his record was intact, "Would you like to tell me what you and your dog are doing here?"

"Look, all I know is that I rented this house for spring break." You say, taking a piece of paper out of your pocket, giving it to him, "See? I had to fill out this whole questionnaire. I went for a bit, and I come back and find you here, drinking my wine. I picked it up on my way here."

"Oh, I thought it was a gift from the rental company." He says and you huff. He looks at your paper and grabs a similar one, "I filled out the same questionnaire."

"Starting today..." You notice.

"Yep."

"Well... Obviously there's been some sort of mistake." You say.

"Yeah, but I don't know how. It was a very personal questionnaire, they seemed to have every detail covered. I mean, 'favourite colour', 'favourite food', 'favourite movie'..." Harry reads some of the questions.

"What did you answer for food?"

"Italian."

"Me too."

"Favourite movie?" He asks.

"Casablanca."

"Me too..."

"Well, maybe they thought we were the same person?" You suggest.

"Same reservation and cancelled the other one?" He concludes and you nod.

"y/n y/l/n."

"I'm sorry?"

"If we're gonna be stuck in the same boat, we'd better know each other's names. I'm y/n y/l/n." You clarify.

"Oh, right. Harry, Harry Styles." He shakes your hand.

"Well Harry Styles, it appears we have ourselves a problem."

"I'll go email the company and see what they say." He offers and you nod.

---

"They just got back to us." Harry informs when his computer beeps with a new email, and you approach him after feeding Frank, "'We will look into the matter and get back to you'."

"There we go, problem solved."

"That's a little optimistic."

"I'm an optimistic person."

"That's not what I mean, it's just, this is an automated response message. They probably didn't even read my email." He looks at you.

"Maybe you should have been a little more personal. May I?" You point at his computer.

"Be my guest."

"Thanks... 'Hello, how are you? I'm loving the house you found for me here in South Heaven. Now, I don't want to bother or anything but I was wondering if you could help me with a little problem. You see, there's this man'..." You begin to type but he quickly takes the device away from you.

"You know, maybe just leave it as it is." Harry cuts you off.

"But I thought you wanted a reply."

"I do, but it's a psychological fact that people respond better to polite, short exchanges over the internet rather than long, drawn-out, weirdly chatty emails."

"And you're an expert on this?"

"I'm working towards my PhD in psychology right now."

"Oh really?" You smile funnily and he frowns.

"Really. I took this place to work in my dissertation."

"Hum."

"What do you do? Are you in school?" He asks.

"No, I graduated last year, B.A. in business."

"And now?"

"Now I'm here visiting my old college roommate and her husband."

"By yourself?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"You don't have a boyfriend or..."

"I've got Frank." You smile, glancing at the animal.

"Hum, speaking of, could you bring him somewhere else so I can bring Mozart out for his dinner?"

"Why can't you feed him somewhere else?"

He stifles a laugh, "Miss y/l/n... This is an awkward situation, for the both of us, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"And the only way we're going to get through this if we treat each other with respect, agreed?"

"Agreed." You chuckle.

"That includes respecting each other's pets. Agreed?" He raises an eyebrow and you sigh, rolling your eyes.

"Fine. Come on, Frank." You say to your dog, taking him upstairs.

"Thank you."

"Yeah yeah. Oh, and if we don't hear back from the rental company in an hour or so, you should probably start calling the hotels around town to find room."

"Good idea... Wait, what?"