“Remind me again why we’re outside in the freezing cold?” Jane asked taking a sip of her coffee. We were walking outside on the outskirts of the mall after getting a quick bite to eat.
“So Snow can go potty. She knows better than to do that stuff inside.” Snow squatted to go pee as if to prove my point.
“You missed chorus today. Mrs.Miller is giving out solo parts for the Christmas show.” Jane said inquiring more than she was saying, and I knew exactly what it was. I had missed chorus though because it was my second period class and I had still been showing Leo around, our school wasn’t all that small.
“Jane you know I only sing in the shower.” It was true. I had horrible stage fright. The memory was starting to come back to me.
“Dad, will you make sure Owen stay with you?” I pleaded. I was ten and getting ready to sing on stage in front of a lot of people. Owen, I wanted to be the least of my worries, and normally he was the most.
With that I left my dad and brother and headed backstage. Tonight just had to be perfect, I’d been practicing for weeks. Even Rascal was starting to get annoyed with me.
“And now Holly Jones!” I hadn’t even been paying attention to Mr.Flambert’s introduction. One of the stage workers handed me a microphone and I hurried out onto the stage. I reached at my neck for my inspiration, my mother’s locket with a picture of her and I in it. My whole body went rigid, it wasn’t there. I lost it somewhere never to find it again! It was the only piece of my mother I really had.
I stood on the stage until my dad came up to carry me off. Only later did I find out that when I had taken a shower Owen had taken it to look at it, and I had forgotten to put it on in the first place.
“You’re making the face again.” Jane pointed out and I snapped back into the present.
“I’m not going to sing, end of story.” I shook my head no for emphasis as I reached my hand in my jacket to make sure the locket was still there. My heart remained beating, it was there.
“Well I’m guessing you already know because Leo and you are practically buddy-buddy now, but he asked me to go to the charity with him. I have to find a dress though. Kind of like a sundress, but winter style.” We had to dance with the older people and since it was there Christmas party they wanted us to be semi-formal.
“I have the perfect dress for you to wear. I’ll just have to dig it out of my closet. I’ve never worn it before so you don’t have to worry.”
“Thank you. How did you guys even get so close anyways?” I questioned wondering when they had approached each other. I leaned against a tree waiting for her reply.
“We have our science together. He asked me then. He’s actually pretty smart too. Definitely hot.” Jane said nodding her head.
“You have a boyfriend.” I stated.
“So I can still look at other guys.” All of a sudden I felt something fall on my head and then a cold wetness going down my neck. I reached on my head to feel snow fallen down from the tree.
“I am having such bad luck with snow.” I said groaning as I shook my head and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I checked my watch to realize I only had five minutes to get back inside and working.
“Time to go?” Jane questioned.
“Yeah.” I said hugging her and heading off into my own direction.
“Oh by the way!” I heard Jane call from farther away. I looked over my shoulder to see her standing by her car, my dad standing next to her. “You’re dad told me to look out for you.” My dad gave me a thumbs up sign and I quickly turned around and started walking as fast as I could towards work.
“You had a snowball fight without me?” Leo asked stopping me from going to get a wiener dog for a lady and her son to play with in one of the ‘Pet Play Rooms’.
“Yeah and you missed it. It was really intense, snowballs flying everywhere, we even hit an old lady.” I lied as I pushed past him. I wanted to do my job good because for one I needed the money, and two I needed to be a year older to work here, but the manager still hired me.
“Now that’s a joke.” Leo said following behind me. “You would never harm a fly.” Leo chuckled and waved his hand dismissively as he headed to take care of another customer. There was another thing Leo didn’t know about me. With a brother like Owen I could take on anything, but not an old lady with a snowball. He had me there.
I started making polite conversation with the lady whose son was playing with the wiener dog, when I heard an a younger boy talking to Leo. Some reason the way he talked made it seem like Leo and him were close.
“Hey Ed.” I looked over my shoulder to see Leo ruffling the boy’s blonde hair. Off to the side of the kid, looking at Leo, was an older woman, which I’m guessing was accompanying the little kid.
“Hey Leo. We just wanted to stop by and say hi. I got picked to go on errands-day.” The kid said with a big smile on his face.
“Good for you. You must’ve been a good boy!” Leo said congratulating the little kid. I wonder how they knew each other and what relationship they had with each other because this was not a normal shopper’s relationship with a worker. They knew each other somehow, but really it wasn’t any of my business so I stopped eavesdropping scolding myself for doing it in the first place.
“We have another dog at our house. How would we know if the two will work together?” The lady with the wiener dog asked.
“Well, this spunky little fellow gets along with everybody here. When you have other guests at your house and other animals does the other dog get along fine with them?” I questioned. Leo had prepped me for when questions like these came up.
“Oh yes, she’s perfectly well with all other animals.” The lady said a smile growing on her face.
“Then I’m sure they’ll do perfectly fine together. Does that mean you will be purchasing him?” I questioned. The puppy looked like it was having a lot of fun with the little boy, jumping on him and licking his face. It reminded me of Owen when he first got Rascal. They were the same way and now the two can‘t be pulled apart. I had a feeling the woman would be stopping by the store again sometime for getting some treats, or just plain being oddly pleased with the way things turn out.
“Yes, my son loves him and I promised him another puppy for Christmas. The other one is getting old and we’re afraid something might happen to her soon.” I nodded my head solemnly thankful that neither Rascal or Snow were old enough for it to be their time yet. I don’t know how I would go through that one. Even Snow has touched my heart already. I smiled as I looked down as the boy was already falling in love with the puppy. Now why couldn’t I find that with a guy?
