The Human Pet

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

            Sophie spent the whole evening skittishly avoiding the two other humans. She knew she was making herself seem scared and antisocial, but she couldn’t imagine standing in front of two naked men carrying out a conversation about this strange new world. She would rather it remain a mystery than to have that particular discussion. So she spent the whole time clinging to Dominic’s shirt, pants, arm… really anything she could hold onto without getting in his way and that would keep him between her and the other humans. She was so grateful that he had let her keep his giant shirt and boxers on, and she felt bad for annoying and disappointing him so much in repayment.

            When Dominic closed the door behind the final guest, he studiously ignored her as he walked back into the kitchen to wash up the dishes and clear everything away. She knew she could have tried to be a little more social with the humans, or even with Dominic’s friends, but she had felt so intimidated. She was short even by human standards, so to be surrounded by naked men and people over eight feet tall, she just didn’t know how to get around her apprehension. But now she wished she had tried harder, because it seemed as though Dominic wasn’t so happy with her.

            She decided she should try to make amends, and since she couldn’t communicate with him that well yet, she would try to help him with the dishes. She picked up a towel off the counter and started drying the dishes he had already washed. After a few moments of silence, she decided to test the waters and see how mad he still was.

            “Dominic?” she asked hesitantly.

            “Zia.” He said sharply, with a small nod in her direction.

            Well, he clearly wasn’t over her awful behavior this evening.

            “Dominic?” She asked and held the towel up in his face, trying to get him to talk to her, to tell her what things were called, really anything to get him to loosen up. He was her only friend in this world, and she couldn’t afford for him to hate her.

            When he didn’t respond to her, she held the towel up to him and pointed to it, asking, “Shirt?”

            “No, Zia, not a shirt. That’s a towel.” He said gruffly, but with an amused smirk on his face, so she figured he must be loosening up.

            “Towel.” She said experimentally.

            She then held up the plate she had been drying and held it up to him saying, “That’s a…” She trailed off the question, hoping he would fill in the blank.

            Dominic was frustrated with Zia for being so rude to his guests this evening. She had spent the whole evening clinging to him and avoiding everyone else. His friends had been curious about his new little human, and now they felt sorry for him after meeting her. They thought she was a shy little thing that would never be able to thrive in their world. Dominic knew that a lot of humans died shortly after being taken from their Terra-Earth, because some just couldn’t adjust properly. But Zia was adjusting remarkably well. She made attempts to communicate with him every chance she got, but his friends all thought she was going to wither away and die because of her behavior tonight.

            When she began helping him with the dishes though, he couldn’t help but forgive her behavior a little bit. She was doing her best to please him, and he should have thought about how overwhelming his sometimes-rowdy friends would be to a little human like her.