Puppy Love

Untitled Part 1

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It had been four days, and Dinah was still acting as elusive as that first evening. She spent almost all her time in the apartment locked up in her room, avoiding Lauren's probing questions and panicking when Lauren tried to get into her room to vacuum on Friday evening. The green eyed girl had no idea what she had done to make Dinah act this way, and had resigned herself to just waiting it out and hoping for Dinah to return to her normal, energetic self.

Waking up early on Saturday morning with her bladder set to burst, Lauren groggily made her way out of her bedroom, stumbling down the hall as best she could in the dark towards the bathroom. Flicking the light switch on, she recoiled as her eyes burned at the sudden stimulation. She quickly finished her business in the bathroom and left, making her way back down the hall to the bed she could almost hear calling her name. Shuffling past Dinah's room, she heard a scratching and quiet yelping that made her stop in her tracks. Pausing , she listened closely to the sound coming from within the bedroom – knowing Dinah had a history of sleep talking, she wasn't too worried, but the persistent scratching sound that came with it concerned her a little. Moving over to the doorway, she knocked lightly and called out.

"Dinah?"

The scratching became more frantic at this and Lauren knocked again before slowly turning the doorknob and pushing the door open to some resistance. Struggling to see in the dark, Lauren felt her heart stop for a moment when something soft and furry pressed up against her leg, causing her to cry out in alarm. Clutching her hand to her chest, Lauren caught her breath while fumbling around for the hall light switch. Light spilled into Dinah's room from the hallway, confirming Lauren's suspicions.

A dog.

There was a dog in front of her, wagging its tail frantically at her as it struggled to contain its excitement at its perceived friend. In her shock, Lauren forgot for a moment that Dinah was there at all, but the other girls voice cut through her haze after a moment.

"Ralph? Is that you?"

Does she not realise there is a dog in her room? Whose dog is it? Why is it here? A thousand questions rattled though Lauren's head as she stared incredulously at her best friend, so taken aback that she didn't even notice how cute the taller girl looked with her sleep mussed hair and squinty eyes.

"Dinah?" She managed to croak out after an extended silence. "Why is there a dog in here?"

This seemed to wake Dinah up instantly, rubbing her eyes to clear the sleep from them and sitting up straight in bed, a guilty expression on her face.

"Oh my god, Lauren. I'm sorry – I was gonna tell you eventually, I swear. It's just he was so cute and alone and-" Dinah rambled until Lauren put a hand up and interrupted her.

"Dinah! Stop. You're not making any sense. Start again. Whose dog is this?" The puppy, despite Lauren's complete lack of reaction, was pressing his head into her leg and licking her hand in an attempt to get her attention.

Dinah paused for a moment, swallowing loudly before speaking again, considerably more composed than previously. "Well, the thing is... it's ours. I guess. I mean, I don't know who he actually belongs to. But me and Ally found him abandoned near the park and we didn't wanna leave him at the pound, who knows what would happen to him. So... I brought him home. If that's okay with you, I mean. I know I didn't ask you, I'm sorry, but I was trying to think of the right way to ask. Is this okay?"

Lauren knew she should say no, that their 900 sq ft apartment was no place to be raising a dog, especially not in New York, and that neither of them really had the time or the experience to raise him properly, but she took one look at the scene in front of her and knew she was going to say yes. Dinah was still wrapped up in blankets, and the puppy (having given up on any hope for affection from Lauren) had jumped up and was curled up in Dinah's lap, the two of them such a cute pair that Lauren just sighed deeply and accepted her fate.