Dog Days

2 ~ sandwich

"KARA, WOULD YOU BREED YOUR DOG WITH MAX?"

Mila, you will pay for this.

As the woman in front of me stared at me stunned, I bit my inner cheeks not to cringe at my own words and kept a soft smile plastered on my face to convince her about my sincerity. The phone inside my right pocket weighed with guilt in my gut. Dear God, please let me never ever cross paths with Kara again.

When Kara took her sweet time, it gave me the chance to peek at my watch. I was already five minutes late to work, and if we kept staring at each other like this, I'd never make it to my appointment. As Kara parted her lips, anticipation clenched in my gut. Please say no. Please.

"I have to think," Kara said. Evidently, the poor girl was trying not to break my heart. Would it hurt her if I admitted that this was my sister's doing, and I had to fulfill her wish because this was a thing going on for years between us?

Mila and I dared each other to do stupid things — like spin the bottle without a bottle and truth. Since I was away from home after fourteen, it was our way to connect with each other. We also recorded proofs each time. If one of us failed, they would do whatever the other person wanted. However, it never happened up to this point.

If I told Kara about this, it would clear the first impression of me in her head. "It's not a decision I should make, anyway," she added, rubbing her neck. "It's Daisy's call."

I looked down at our dogs, who were looking at each other with tongues out. They didn't seem to have a problem with it. I tightened the leash of Max, in fact, to stop him from sniffing her dog. He didn't help me at all.

With her head ducked down and her coffee-stained t-shirt, Kara looked worn out. When she sighed with a look in my direction, as if she was using the last bit of her energy, I wanted to know more about her. How could someone as young as her be that tired? Was she tired because of her finals? Did she fight with her boyfriend?

I wanted to tell her that this was only the beginning — life treats us less tender as it goes. But, also, you learn from falling, falling again, and again. At the first fall, you bleed, you cry — but after the umpteenth, you start to get numb to it.

You don't try to heal your scars when you've got lots of them — instead, you own them.

The scariest is, the more you fall the more you become indifferent to the pain it induces.

I cleared my throat to change the subject. "I'm running late for work." The first accurate statement I'd made in the last five minutes. You're going well, Austin. "It was nice meeting you and Daisy."

If I surprised her, she didn't show it. When I extended my hand out, she shook it without hesitation this time. It wasn't hard to guess that she internally celebrated her riddance of me and this madness. "Yeah." She beamed a smile. It was the first time she smiled at me since we met, and I couldn't help but note she should have smiled more often. "It was nice."