Things End, Deal With It

twenty seven

I wake up to Axl barking in my face. I sit up and rub a hand over my face. I reach over and check the time on my phone. 6:45

"You little shit." I laugh and stand up. I stretch out my arms and legs. I still have skinny jeans on, and they are so uncomfortable. "Come on, buddy. I'm guessing you have-" I stop mid-sentence when I spot a puddle of pee. "Axl," I groan. I get some paper towels from the kitchen and clean it up. When I go to throw the paper towels away, I find some poop. I shake my head and clean that up too. "When did you do this? Huh?" I ask Axl, and he tilts his head. Aw, puppy head tilts. "Well, let's go outside and see if you got anything else in ya." I take him to the backyard, and while he's sniffing around, I look around also. I look at the fence that has been started. It's just a simple metal fence.

Axl comes up the steps and onto the porch. "You done?" He barks, and we go back inside. We go upstairs to my room, and I change into gray joggers and a white t-shirt. I go into the bathroom, take off my make-up, and thoroughly wash my face. I pin my hair on top of my head and go back to my room. I lay down under the covers and pull it up to just over my waist. Axl starts scratching at the edge of the bed so I put him beside me. He's still wide awake and bouncing all over the bed. "Axl, baby." He doesn't stop so I just lay my head down on my pillow and try to go to sleep. Do you know how hard it is to sleep with a dog bouncing around on your bed? Pretty damn hard, but I eventually fall asleep. I send my mom a text message asking her to wake me up at nine that she'll get when she gets up. Hopefully she gets up before nine.

*

"Cheyenne, honey, wake up. It's nine fifteen." I open my eyes and sit up.

"Thanks, Mom." She exits my room, and I get out of bed. I plug in my phone and lay it on the stand. I go downstairs and help Mom make breakfast. After we eat, and I feed and give Axl fresh water who was downstairs, I go back upstairs to pack. I put my makeup in a black duffle bag, which is my volleyball bag, then a pair of skinny jeans which I'll put on before I go to the interview. I drop in a pair of black flats that I'll wear instead of my converse and zip up the bag. I put some deodrant on then slip it into the pocket of the bag. I change from my joggers into a pair of black running shorts and leave my white shirt on. I unplug my phone and the charger and put the charger in the bag. I take everything downstairs and check the time. 10:16

I take out the hairband which is holding up my hair and shake it out. I flip it over and pin it back up in a ponytail. I get Axl's tennis ball and take him outside. We play around until we both get too hot. When we get inside, I turn up the air conditioner. I grab my phone, fill up Axl's water bowl, and get myself some water. I sit down on the couch and turn on the TV. It's 11:20 so I have forty minutes to kill. I make sure I have everything in my bag then go back to watching TV. I watch Spongebob until Nash knocks on the door.

"Ready?" He grins as I open the door.

"Yeah. Let me just go tell Mom I'm leaving." He follows me into the house and shuts the door. I jog upstairs to Mom's room as Nash stays downstairs with Axl. I knock on her door then open it slightly. "Hey, Mom. Nash is here."

"Okay," she replies, spinning around in her desk chair.

"I'll text you if they say anything at the interview. I'll be home later. Love you."

"Alright. Have fun. Love you." She blows a kiss, and I smile.

"Can I bring Axl up here?"

"Aw, honey. Can't you take him with you?" She groans, and I laugh.

"I'll ask what we're doing." I go downstairs.

"Hey, Nash." I walk behind the couch and rest my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Where are we going today? Mom doesn't want Axl, but I didn't know if I could take him with us."

"Oh, uh, I just wanted it to be the two of us. I mean I know he's a dog and not a person, but I wanted it to just be us." He turns his head and kisses my forehead.

"It's fine. I'll have Cam watch him, yeah?" He nods.

"I love you."

"I love you." I kiss his nose and go back upstairs to tell Mom. She tells me goodbye once more, and I jog back down the steps. I gather up Axl's stuff and text Cam. He agrees to watch him and says he's super excited. "Oh, and Nash?" I say when we're walking out the door.

"Hmm?"

"I have an interview at like three. Can you take me to it?"

"Yeah, of course. Where's it at?"

"The new art shop in town."

"That's cool." I close the door behind us, and we put everything in the car. I put Axl on my lap in the front seat, and he's surprisingly calm the whole way to Cameron's.

"Aw, oh my gosh. He's so cute," Cam cooes, taking Axl from me. Axl wiggles out of his grip and starts barking. Cam puts him down, and he runs over to my foot. "Noooo, he hates me." Cam pouts.

"He just doesn't know you." I hand the container of dog food and Axl's toys to Cameron and smile. I unhook Axl's leash from his collar and give that to him also. "He'll use the bathroom outside. You'll know when he has to go. He might pee in here because he's never been here so just watch him. Sometimes he's super hyper and sometimes he's really sleepy so he'll go back and forth. Don't feed him too much, but feed him enough. He had breakfast earlier at the 9:30 so that should tell you when to feed him."

"Hey. I've got this. You know I had a dog." Cameron stops me by putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Just make sure you take care of him. He's my baby." I pick him up and kiss his head. He licks my cheek, and I put him back down. "I'm ready. Let's go." Nash wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Thanks for watching him. Bye."

"Bye." Axl tries to follow me out the door, but Cam scoops him off the floor. He starts whimpering, and I frown.

"Text me if anything goes wrong or you need anything," I call as Cameron closes the door.