"It's gonna be ok, you'll see."
"Will he behave?"
"He will, I promise" Rúben says. "Ready?"
"No" I say.
"One... two... three" he says, opening his car's door, Urso getting out from it and starting to jump and run around him. "It's ok boy, calm down. We don't want to scare her, do we?"
"Woof, woof" the huge dog says, moving his tail like crazy.
"Come, he'll behave" Rúben says.
"Ok..." I say, slowly moving towards them.
"Urso... sit" he says while offering me his hand. I take it but hid behind him, the dog looking at me with a confused face. Or that's what it looks like. "Pet him."
"What?"
"Pet him. He won't bite you."
"Are you sure? Like, 100% sure?"
"I can't be 100% sure because he is an animal, but I'm 95% sure he won't bite you. C'mon. Just pat his head."
"Ok..."
"Woof!" Urso says the moment I touch him, making me jump and hide again behind Rúben.
"That was his way of saying hello. Do it again."
"Can't we just... go on that walk and avoid this part? There is no need for it."
"But there is. I want my dog and the girl I like to get along. Is that too much to ask?"
"I... Fine" I say, moving my hand again and touching Urso. He stays still, his tale still moving like crazy.
"See? Nothing bad has happened. I'm gonna go get his leash from the car, I'll leave you two alone."
"What? No!"
"He'll probably just follow me, don't worry."
But Urso doesn't follow him. He just gets up, looking at me.
"I'm not gonna touch again" I say to him.
"Woof!"
"I'm sorry, but I already have a big guy on my life, aka, your owner. I don't need another one."
"Woof, woof!"
"Don't look at me like that. The only puppy eyes that work on me come with a dimple."
"Getting to know each other?" Rúben asks with a smile when he comes back.
"Something like that."
"Here."
"I'm not walking him. He'll start running, and drag me behind."
"He won't, he is pretty chilled today. Take it" Rúben insists, giving me Urso's leash.
"If I die, know it'll be your fault."
"Ok" he laughs.
━━━━━━❃━━━━━━
"This feels nice, doesn't it?" Rúben says, kissing my head while his arm is around my shoulders, pulling me a bit closer to him.
"I'm alive, so I guess" I say while I watch Urso running ahead of us. After walking him on the leash for a bit, we let him be free to run and try to catch some squirrels. "But I still prefer cats over dogs."
"You'll end up loving each other, you'll see" he chuckles. "But I was talking about going out together and being normal. Even if it is far away from Bluebell so no one will see us."
"It does feels nice, yes."
"Maybe one day we'll be able to do it around town like normal couples do."
"One day, yes" I say, trying to smile. If it was up to Rúben, we would be going through town holding hands and not caring about anything or anyone. But I can't do that. Not only because of all the gossip and the fact that I am also seeing Mason. But also because I am still waiting for my uncle and Victoria to do something against me, and being seen with Rúben would definitely make them do it. And it would be bad. Pretty bad.
"What is that?" Rúben asks.
"What is what?"
"That. On your neck. Is it a lovebite?"
"What?" I chuckle, my hand instantly touching it.
"I don't do those things... Was it Mason?"
"Why would Mason be leaving lovebites on my neck?" I say with a nervous laugh. Shit, shit, shit.
"There are rumours in town about you being his new conquest because you spend a lot of time at the pub with him. And until very late."
"I'm just helping a friend, nothing else."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing else. Mason is just my friend." With benefits, I say to myself. "Are you jealous of him?"
"Of Mason? Never" he chuckles. "But what is that then?"
"I was trying new hairstyles with Lindsey, and I burnt my neck with the curling wand. Happy now?" I say, rolling my eyes. That, was a lie. Because it was a lovebite, and it had been Mason the one who did it after getting too excited the other night. But Rúben doesn't need to know that.
"I guess..."
"But since you mention Mason, what happened between you two to dislike each other so much?" I ask him. I need both versions to help me make up my mind.
"Nothing. He is an idiot."
"Oh, c'mon, Rúben. Something must have happened."
"Nothing happened."
"Rúben... Please" I say, pouting.
"Ok, fine. I can't say no to that face. We..." he starts, letting out a big sigh. "We used to play football at the same time but on rival teams. And things were always very intense when we played against each other. He was an attacker, and I was a defender. On one of those games, I may have tackled him too hard, making him fall on a weird position, and breaking his knee."
"Ouch, that must have been horrible" I say, acting as if I didn't know that already.
"It was. He was on so much pain... And he blames me for it. Says that I hit him on purpose to hurt him because a Chelsea scout was watching the game and I wanted to ruin his future. But that is not what happened. My tackle was a normal one, he just happened to fall badly."
"So I guess that's why he dislikes you. Because he blames you for what happened to him. But what about you? Why do you dislike him?"
"Because he also ruined my career as a football player. He and his friends started telling everyone that I was an aggressive player, that I had issues. The scouts heard those rumours, knew about what had happened with Mason's knee, and started ignoring me. He says I ruined his career, but he was the one who ruined mine."
"I'm sorry."
"It's ok, I'm over it now. But back then... Back then it hurt. A lot."
"But if you are over it... Why do you still dislike him? Did anything else happen?"
"Well..." Rúben says, running a hand through his hair. "You know that I'm a couple of years older than he is, right?"
"I do, yes."
"I started dating a girl he also liked on my last year here, and when I went to uni, he started sleeping with her."
"He what?" I say, raising my voice a little bit. Mason had not shared that information with me.
"She felt alone because I was only able to come one weekend each month, two if I was lucky, and he took advantage of it. But we fixed things over the summer, she stopped seeing him, and when she also left for uni we were dating again. No more cheating."
"I... I don't know what to say."
"Too much information?" Rúben chuckles.
"Definitely."
"Woof, woof" Urso says, running back towards us covered in mud.
"Urso, what the hell?"
"And that is why cats are better than dogs" I laugh. Though my brain is still thinking about everything Rúben just told me.