Door To Door

Customer Type #9: The Ones Who Are Sceptical

"Hello, ma'am, I'm Hudson Ellis - I'm a representative of the charity Man's Best Friend. You may have heard of us?"

"Let me guess," the woman purses her lips, shifting her weight onto one leg and resting a hand on her hip. "You help dogs. And you want me to donate."

"Well, yes," Hudson agrees, trying his hardest not to smile.

She raises an eyebrow at his bluntness. "And why should I do that?"

This woman, thinks Hudson to himself, is too much like Piper for my tastes. And not half as attractive.

"Well, these are the types of dogs you'll be helping," Hudson already has a flyer ready, showing it to her. "And they'd really appreciate it."

"They're dogs."

"Dogs can show appreciation too," Hudson tells her, trying to keep the offended tone from glancing off his voice. "Haven't you ever seen a happy dog with its owner?"

The woman's eyes soften. Hudson congratulates himself on finding a chink in the metaphorical armour. "Well, yeah," she concedes in a far milder tone than before. 

"Well, maybe you should consider it," he suggests, holding out the flyer to her hesitantly. She stares at it for a moment, indecision flickering over her face, before bringing her fingers out to skim the glossy paper and taking it from Hudson's hand.

"I'm not making any promises," she warns.

"Of course," Hudson acknowledges with a nod and barely suppressed smile. "But thank you anyway, Miss."

☒

Hudson makes the decision to go back home for his lunch break when he realises his final customer isn't that far way from his apartment. To his surprise, Piper is lounging on her own couch in front of the television with a bowl of popcorn, hair down and wearing sweatpants and a baggy tee. 

This is ridiculous, Hudson thinks to himself, trying his best not to stare. No one should look that good in sweatpants. It shouldn't be legal. 

After some time, he figures he might as well say hi, and thuds on the window with his fist. Piper turns, caught off guard, then sees him, and the surprise in her expression only becomes more pronounced - she skids off the couch and lands hard on her backside, bowl of popcorn following suit. Miraculously, the majority of the popcorn has managed to stay intact (and in the bowl), although Hudson has a feeling Piper's pride has not. He watches her lower her head into her hands, and his stomach immediately plummets.

Oh shit. This is where she flips me off and files a restraining order. And decides to move apartments. Possibly apartment blocks.

It's a completely backwards way of thinking that both Hudson and Piper will later both come to renounce and laugh about for quite a long time afterwards, but at this moment in time, it seems very real to Hudson as he watches Piper slumped over a bowl of popcorn on her living room floor with her hands covering her face from view. 

Timidly, he moves forwards, tapping at the glass again, almost questioningly. Piper looks up.

Her whole body is vibrating with silent laughter.

Hudson sighs in relief.

A few moments pass, and she reaches for a pen and paper. YOU SCARED ME.

He grins. Sorry, he mouths, though he doubts he looks very sorry at all. Piper catching him off guard is a regular occurrence. Him catching Piper off guard, however, is an extremely rare event, and Hudson thinks it should be celebrated as such.