I Fell for Her...

Chapter 14

The next morning was an awkward one. It was mostly cloudy with a small percentage of sunshine. Chase and Skye found themselves spoon cuddling and quickly separated, not remembering that it was Skye's idea in the first place. After a few seconds of obvious awkward glances, the events of last night caught up with Chase and avoided eye contact. But the question still needed to be answered:

Did Skye like the German Shepherd back?

After a brief minute of silence, the cockapoo spoke up.

"Morning."

The German Shepherd looked at her. "Oh, Morning. Did you sleep well?" He asked her, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Yeah." She answered quietly.

Then she remembered everything that happened last night. Chase's question ran through her head as she began to process from her watching Chase and getting scratched in the face to apologizing to the German Shepherd. She got up and peeked her head out of the tent. She could see the cloudy atmosphere and the empty environment standing before her.

"That's strange." She said to herself as she pulled herself out of the tent and surveyed the area.

"What?" Chase asked, following the cockapoo out of the tent.

"It's like the weather knows how I'm feeling." She replied.

"So you're feeling cloudy?"

"Well, not cloudy, but...dull and unhappy."

"Why?"

Skye tried to speak but couldn't say a word. She was really worn out by this one week vacation. Chase wanted to make the cockapoo smile again but didn't know how.

"Skye?"

"Yeah?"

"About last night, I-"

"I know, I'm sorry too." The cockapoo replied dreary.

This caught Chase off guard. "That's not what I was going to say."

Skye grew perplexed. "What were you going to say?"

Chase swallowed. "About last night, when I told you that I...liked you, I was wondering what you were gonna say. I was hoping you could tell me?" The German Shepherd asked nervously.

Skye looked at him and slowly looked at the ground. "I'm...I'm still shaken up a bit by last night. You'll have to give me some time to think about it." She said slowly, stealing some nervous glances at the German Shepherd.

"Yeah. Sure thing." He said awkwardly. Then the two pups shared an awkward silence.

"I'm gonna go for a walk."

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll be back before you know it." She told him reassuringly as she started to walk towards the walking path.

Chase watched as Skye began to disappear down the trail and started to have his own doubts.

"She's bound to say 'no', I just know it." He said to himself as he slowly made his way back into the tent. Skye, however, was having her own thoughts.

"I can't date him, I just...can't." She said to herself as she began to walk glumly down the path.

"After all we've been through; the prank, the war, the feud, and now this. I can't just pretend that everything's fine and go around with him by his side. The other pups will grow suspicious about it and find out that we have something going on. The risk isn't worth it. Ryder would probably disown us and we would have to live on our own. I just can't let it happen." She said to herself as she came to a stop.

Just then, she heard an inner voice call out to her.

'You like him, don't you?'

Skye was taken aback by this. "Huh? Who's there?"

'Why, it's me; the voice inside your head. Now tell me, don't you like him?'

"Well-"

'Don't you?'

Skye was about to snap at herself but stopped and sighed. "Yes, I do like him."

'Well, there's your answer. Go and tell him that you like him back.'

"But I-I-I can't."

'Why's that?'

"I-it's just not right!" She stammered. "We can't just fall for each other right after all the disputes we've had over the years! Everyone will laugh at us!"

'So? What if they do? Let them laugh. It's nobody's business who you love but yours.'

"You don't understand! It wasn't like this before! We were like nothing like we were five days ago!"

'Everyone's opinions change all the time. That includes you and your crush. You both hated each other but now you don't. Why not give it a try?'

"It would be much better if you would shut up about it!"

'But didn't you tell him that you would think about giving him a try?'

"I did but...I'm not sure anymore."

'Are you?'

Skye stopped in her tracks and gave a deep breath.

"I don't know yet, maybe?"

'I'll take that as a 'yes'.'

"That's not what I meant!"

'Oh how I can't stand to see such oblivion. He clearly wants you to run into his open arms and smother you with all the never-ending love he can give out. Why can't you see that?'

"Because he never was like that before! This is new for him! Well, not new, but it's been a while since he felt that way. Not since Lexi broke his heart."

'So? Lexi's long gone and there's no one in this world that can take Chase by the paw and show him what it's like to know what a good time feels like but you.'

"Why are you doing this to me and why do you care?!"

'It's because I know what your heart wants. Your heart wants that handsome German Shepherd that made your heart skip a beat ever since this week started. He's already made it clear that he likes you. Why are you rejecting what your heart is trying to say? The best thing for you to do, is simply oblige and let the rest fall into place. I promise you won't regret it.'

"Promise?"

'Promise.'

Skye closed her eyes and hesitated before running back to the campsite. Slowly but surely, she found the tent coming into view. She slowed down as she approached the tent and peeked her head in. She found Chase sitting in the middle of the tent looking down but his mood lit up once he saw Skye. Before Chase could say a word, Skye happily wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you." she said.

"For what?" The German Shepherd questioned.

"For being the best thing that has ever happened to me." She beamed. Chase smiled warmly as he wrapped his arms around the cockapoo.