Forced to have the Player's Kid (Book One of The Great Age Plague Series)

Chapter Ten

"Um, excuse me?" I asked, my mouth falling open in shock. But for once the shock wasn't unpleasant or angry-- instead a flurry of butterflies travelled up my stomach because 1. puppy! and 2. no one had ever offered to buy me such a wonderful gift. At least not any boys.

"You heard me," he said with a flash of bright white teeth "Puppies may not be as cute as cats-- I am a cat person, by the way-- but at least they act like little children. It can give us some practice for baby-rearing. What do you say?"

I stared at him blankly, my mind buzzing like a phone set on vibrate as it was flooded with too many text messages. First and most importantly, he was a cat person, just like me. Second of all-- WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT US REARING A BABY? I looked down at my hands, twidling my fingers, trying to buy time to process if he was serious, if he really wanted to raise the baby with me or did he just have a slip of tongue. Wow, I wasn't even pregnant yet and I was still worried about this whole mess. I took a deep breath, attempting to bring back my focus to now. I could file that for later and write about it in my journal before bed. I sighed in relief.

"Sure, my mom won't mind," I said plainly. And it was true-- my mother would be thrilled to have something else to focus on besides me when I was away at school. At this Josh gave a down right heart melting boyish grin and started to speed down the street toward the animal shelter I knew all too well.

"You know," I said at a lame attempt to make conversation "I volunteer here." We were now outside the animal shelter, a blue and white building filled to the brim with lost pets. After the plague, a flood of pets stormed the animal shelter, all brought by children and teens who couldn't care for their parents and grandparents animals. As a result, some of the remaining animal lovers took over the shelter, which was now run by a few kids from my church that dropped out of school. They survived off of donations made by the churches as well as the remaining adults in the town. Even though my mom and I were tight on money, she still made a donation in my name on my birthday last year. On top of that, teens with an influx of inheritance came by to buy companions to live in their apartments with them, so the shelter got a decent amount of bussiness. I ran into them often as I volunteered every Sunday.

"That's cool," said Josh, and I thought he would leave it at that. Instead, he turned to me "Which do you like working with, the cats or the dogs?" I smiled despite myself. He was just being so nice-- it was weird but also really wonderful. I blushed a little, looking out the window at the dilapidated roof crumbling onto the front porch.

"The cats. I have a cat named Lilac, actually, but I also love puppies too," I said, in fear of offending him "I really like the tiny ones. The poof balls." To my shock, Josh actaully laughed out loud at this and shook his head.

"Well I'll keep that in mind," he said with a smoldering look. At this point he whipped around, exited the car, and swiftly opened the door for me before I could even grab the handle. He held a hand out and helped me out of the car. My heart was pumping.

As soon as we entered the building, I was greeted with the familiar sound of barking dogs as well as the smell of disinfectant and animal food. Standing behind the counter was the son of the town's late vet who ran the shelter-- his name was Jared. Jared was a punk rock guy who was obsessed with screamo and dark poetry, but suprisingly enough he had a soft spot of newborn kittens. Every time a mother cat gave birth he volunteered to keep an eye on the kittens and sleep over at the shelter. He and I shared a mutual love of cats, poems, and shyness, and we often regarded each other in a quiet familiarity. He nodded at me and smiled as I entered with Josh. Jared, unlike Josh, was paired with his girlfriend Lindsey, and he seemed to recognize the positive aspects of Josh taking me to the shelter. I waved and smiled at him.

"Hi, welcome to the animal shelter, are you looking to adopt of volunteer? Hi Adira," said Jared. Josh gave him an up-down look, as if sizing Jared up, and glared at him for greeting me. Yeesh, someone is competitive. I rolled my eyes and sighed as Josh explained that we were here to adopt and that "the cost really didn't matter" to him. Suddenly I was rememberin why I hated him. Seriously, who could possibly be mean to someone as nice as Jared who gives up his entire life to take care of baby kittens?