I shoved my phone in my pocket just as the school bell rang and the flood of children began to pour from the doors.
My eyes scanned the sea of kids until they landed on the mop of brown curls and chubby cheeks of my brother.
He ran over to the bike racks where I was waiting and I gathered him in a hug.
"Happy birthday!" I squealed.
"Thanks!" He grinned.
He snatched his bike and we began to ride off in the direction of the house, but instead of turning left like we normally did, we turned right to go into town.
"Where are we going?" He called out, following behind me.
"You'll see!" I laughed back and directed us to the animal shelter.
The shelter was a small blue building hidden in some trees on the edge of downtown Haven Harbour. I had seen this building hundreds of times but had never been inside until earlier today.
Ender had a look of confusion the entire time we walked up the to door of the building until we walked up to the front desk and the lady smiled at me.
"Hi, we're here to adopt the Australian Shepard, I was here earlier." I smiled and then jumped as Ender yelled next to me.
"WE'RE GETTING A DOG?!" He screamed and grinned so wide it must have hurt.
"Yes!" I laughed. "Happy birthday, End." I leaned down as he hugged me tightly and I kissed his head.
"We're getting a dog! We're getting a dog!" He jumped and bounced up and down causing the receptionist and I to both laugh.
"Let's go see him." I ruffled Ender's hair and bounded down the hallway to the kennels.
We came up to a kennel midway down the hall that held the dog I had chosen, a two year old Australian Shepard that the shelter had found roaming around the streets when he was just a puppy. He weighed around 25 pounds and had the most beautiful blue eyes and black ears with gorgeous patches of brown, copper, and white fur.
I didn't know how he hadn't been adopted yet, but I was happy he was going to be ours.
The worker lady opened the kennel and the dog strolled out, Ender holding out his hand for it to sniff. Once the dog became familiar with his smell he began to lick on his hand causing Ender to squeal with laughter.
"I love him! Thank you, Car!" Ender began to play with the dog, scratching his ears and rubbing on his back, the dog loving every second of it, immediately I could tell they would be best friends.
Ender and the new dog played while I went to sign the paperwork to officially adopt him.
When I had signed off on everything the shelter gave us a leash to use to walk him and we waved goodbye as we left.
"Okay let's go get some stuff from the grocery store and then head home." I smiled at Ender who was still beaming.
Ender hooked the dogs leash around his bike handle and we rode slowly as he jogged alongside us.
In the store I had Ender and the dog wait outside while I ran in to get dog food, a few toys, and a red leather collar.
Outside Ender was crouched down on the pavement, scratching on the dog who was obviously in heaven with all of the attention.
"Have you thought of a name for him yet?" I asked as we rode back home, the dog trailing beside us.
"Not yet." Ender smiled.
When we got back I had Ender get two bowls from the cupboard for us to use as food and water bowls and filled them up, placing them along the wall in the kitchen where I wouldn't trip over them.
Next we put his collar on and hung the leash on the coat hook by the door.
"Bear." Ender said suddenly.
"What?" I quirked.
"I wanna name him Bear, he looks like a Bear." Ender nodded definitively.
"Okay then," I grinned, "Welcome to the family, Bear."
We decided to give Bear a bath and then play before dinner. Ender and Bear were rolling around on the living room floor while I cooked spaghetti for us to eat.
Bear laid under Ender's feet as we ate at the bar and I smiled, knowing I had made the right choice.
I was washing the dishes when my phone rang from the counter.
"It's Ashton!" Ender yelled and answered the FaceTime for me since my hands were covered in bubbles.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I heard Ashton yell through the phone.
"Thanks!" Ender called back. "I got a dog for my birthday! A real dog!"
I laughed when he said "a real dog".
"Let me see!" Ashton said enthusiastically.
"He's so cute!" Ashton said moments later. "What's his name?"
"Bear!" Ender beamed proudly.
"I can't wait to come meet him."
"How long till you come back?" Ender asked.
"Two weeks, bud."Ashton said and I dried off my hands to go over to the phone.
Two weeks. The first two had gone by fairly quickly, but with each passing day my entire being just ached for Ash to come back, and I was counting down the days until he got here.
"Okay, well Bear and I are ready to play with you. Maybe we can take him to the park?" Ender said chattily.
"Sounds like a plan!" Ashton replied. "That was pretty nice of your sister, huh?" I heard Ashton say, talking about getting Bear and I stopped, waiting to see what Ender said.
"Yeah, she's pretty great." Ender smiled and my heart filled with happiness.
"I am pretty great, aren't I?" I smirked, walking over and placing my hands on Ender's shoulders and placing a kiss on his cheek.
"Oh my god." He rolled his eyes and handed me over the phone, running off to get one of Bear's toys.
"Hey." I laughed and looked so see his bright face on the screen. Ashton was wearing a plain black tee shirt and his eyes were as shining as ever.
"Hey," He smiled, "So I'm guessing today went well." He chuckled at the end.
"It went great. I'll send you the video I took, his expression was priceless."
"I can't wait to watch." He grinned.
"I can't wait for you to come back." I mused.
"Me too baby, me too." Ashton smiled softly and then yawned.
He must have just got back from work and waited to call me before he went to sleep.
"Okay, well I'm going to get ready for bed and you should go sleep too." I said noticing his tiredness.
"Yeah, it was a long day." He shrugged.
"Okay well, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Talk to you then. Bye Ender!" He called out the last part, Ender yelled "bye" back and then we disconnected.
"Alright End, time for a shower and then bed." I instructed the little boy who was teaching Bear how to fetch.
"Okay." He scratched Bear behind the ears and then raced off to take a super fast shower.
Bear followed at my heels as I cleaned up around the house and climbed the stairs with me as I went to change into my pyjamas.
Ender was out of the shower almost as quickly as he got in and ran to his room with the towel around him so he could get on his pjs.
"Car, can Bear sleep in my room?" Ender slid into my room.
"Sure, bud." I smiled and he pumped his fist in the air.
"Let's go, Bear!" He called out to his new best friend and Bear followed him to his room, wagging his tail happily.
I went in a few minutes later to tuck in the duo and turn out the lights, falling asleep quickly after I laid myself to sleep.
I woke up at 5:30 the next morning (per usual) and took Bear from Ender's room to let him outside.
I stood out there with him to make sure he didn't wander off but he kept close, did his business in the patch of grass right next to the house and then waddled on over to me, licking my hand and nuzzling his face into my leg.
"What are you, part cat?" I asked him and his big blue doe eyes blinked at me before he began to sniff at my feet.
"Let's go inside, boy." I tugged gently on his collar and he followed me into the house.
I filled his food and water bowl and started the coffee maker for myself. Checking the time on the clock I knew I needed to wake up Ender and walked up to his room with my new little friend and bounced onto his bed.
"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" I said loudly and laughed as his eyes bugged open in surprise.
Bear leaped onto the bed and began to lick at Ender's face, spurring giggles and squeals from the boy.
"I'm up! I'm up!" He laughed and sat up so Bear would get off of him.
Ender got out of bed and I left so he could get dressed while I made a lovely breakfast of eggs and toast.
Dog and boy both ran down the stairs and ate breakfast while I hurried and changed into my typical shorts and tee shirt and scarfed down my food in record time.
Ender hooked Bear up to his leash while I grabbed Ender's backpack and headed outside to get my bike.
Ender soon followed and wrapped the hand loop of the leash around his bike handle and off we went to the school.
The second we rode up to the bike racks all of Ender's friends ran up to see the new addition to our family. Bear kind of backed away a little bit at all of the attention but once he had sniffed everyone's hand and studied them, he began to lick at their arms and wag his tail happily.
Trey and Reid had pushed themselves to the front of the circle to get a good look at Bear and to tell me they would be coming to Ender's birthday party on Saturday.
The bell rang signalling for class to start and all of the kids, including Ender, said goodbye to Bear and ran for the school doors so they wouldn't be late.
Like always I waited until Ender was inside before heading off.
"Come on Bear, let's go run some errands." I wrapped his leash around my bike handle and turned my bike around only to almost run into someone.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed and looked up to see a broad man with wide shoulders and a shaven head. Black sunglasses shaded his eyes from the sun and his over the top island printed shirt made me immediately label him as a tourist.
"It's alright." He waved with a slight smile and continued on his way. His accent was different, definitely not Australian, but British maybe?
I continued on my way with Bear alongside me and checked on my paint order at the hardware shop which had finally come in.
I set a time for them to deliver it later that day and continued on my way.
Deciding that a cup of coffee sounded nice I parked my bike at a bike rack next to a bench and walked across the street, Bear in tow, to the coffee shop.
I tied his leash to a lamp post outside so I could go in. It was a small town and I didn't have to worry about anything, plus I would be able to see him perfectly through the window.
Inside I went to the counter and ordered an Americano with cream and then moved to the side of the dark wooded counter to wait for my drink.
I glanced out the window and smiled as I saw Bear sitting calmly on the sidewalk, but what caught my attention was the familiar pattern reflected on the glass and I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see the man I had bumped into earlier behind me in line.
My order was called and I picked up my drink, giving the man a smile and wave before leaving and gathering Bear.
Bear and I continued our stroll around Mainstreet until it was time to go home before the paint arrived. We circled back to get my bike and then began to head back home.
When we got to the parking lot I noticed a black SUV with tinted windows that had passed me earlier, sitting in the lot. The engine was running and the window was down. It was the only car in the lot, but what surprised me was the person in the drivers seat had the window down and it was none other than the man I ran into earlier.
Quickly I rode by it, Bear jogging with me and heading up to the house, locking the door behind me, just in case.
It's just a coincidence I assured myself and waited until the delivery people arrived with my order.
After they dropped it off outside the shop I made myself a quick snack and then headed off again to get Ender from school.
The SUV was still there when I passed the lot and later on it passed me as I was going down a road.
I saw it again in the school lot as I was picking Ender up and then again when we got back home.
Extremely sceptical and somewhat scared I dialled Ashton's number.
"Hello." He chirped as he answered.
"I think someone's following me." I blurted out, trying to get out of ear shot of Ender.
"What?" Ashton asked.
"I think I'm being followed." I said again.
"What do you mean, who's following you?" He said, suddenly urgent in tone.
"I don't know, it's a man and he's bald and at first I though it was just a coincidence that I kept seeing him since it's a small town but now he's sitting in this black car in the lot above the house and it's making me really nervous." The words were flying from my mouth at a mile a minute.
"Woah woah woah, slow down." He said and I took a deep breath. "Just stay inside and call Ari to come over so it's not just you and Ender. Okay?"
"Okay." I gulped.
"It's all going to be okay, I promise. I bet he's already gone." He said consoling me.
"Yeah." I breathed.
"Text me when Ari gets there, okay?"
"Okay."
"Alright, bye." He said, sounding unsure whether he should hang up or not.
"Bye." I said quietly, hanging up the phone and texting Ari immediately. She replied quickly that she would be over in a few and felt a little relieved.
I made a mental note to myself that if he was still there when Ari arrived that I could call the police but I really hoped it didn't come to that.
God, I wished Ashton was here.
Ari arrived around fifteen minutes later, walking straight into the house using her key. Her hands were laded down with shopping bags and she slumped from their weight, placing them all on the sofa.
"Alright, we are creepy car free and I have stuff for you." She said getting straight to the point like normal.
"It was gone?" I asked.
"Yup!" She popped the p. "Now come here." She ushered me through my own kitchen to the rainbow of shopping bags.
"Okay so I did some cleaning out of my closet and I brought all of the clothes for you to go through before I take them to the resale shop on fifth." She instructed, grabbing a large pale blue bag on the end and thrusting it into my arms.
"Thanks." I laughed and began to go through it.
Ari had done this a few other times, and since we were the same size I usually found a few things I like. Our styles were completely different so I stuck to the simple shirts or sweaters that I could find rather than her more outlandish pieces.
So far I had found a nice grey cable knit sweater, some cute tops and even a few skirts.
The rest I decided was a little to risqué for me but Ari said to keep it in my closet in case I changed my mind so I ended up taking basically everything.
"So how's life with Ashton?" She asked as she folded down onto the sofa, a glass of iced tea in her hand.
"Good. He comes back in two weeks." I smiled as I sat down on the other end of the sofa.
"Exciting. So have you thought about what we talked about anymore since our phone call a while back?" She sipped at her drink.
"Yeah, I have a bit." I answered slowly.
"And...?" She pried at me.
"And I still don't know yet...I mean I just don't know if I love him. I mean yes it sucks when he's not here and I love being around him but I don't know if I'm in love with him." I sighed.
"You just need time to think it all through, and then you'll have that moment when you realise that you are or not. But it comes with time."
I opened my mouth to reply but was met with two sets of pounding feet rushing down the stairs.
"Car, can you make me a grilled cheese?" Ender asked, Bear jumping at his legs.
"Sure." I said getting up.
"Hey Ari!" Ender waved and went over to give her a hug.
"Hi End, who's your little friend there?" She asked, reaching down to scratch Bear's head.
"This is Bear. Carter got him for me for my birthday." He grinned.
"Aww, how cute!" She smiled at him. "So tell me about school!"
Ender and Ari talked while I made him dinner. I filled up Bear's food bowl too and his water bowl.
Ender, the growing boy he was, scarfed his food down in no time and I sent him up to shower and pick up his toys.
Ari decided to spend the night and went in the other room to call Jason while I cleaned up the kitchen mess and changed into some night clothes.
I was sitting on the sofa when Ari came back in from her call and sat down across from me.
"Ugh. I love Jason, I really do, but he can be so aggravating sometimes." She sighed.
"Uh oh, what did he do?" I folded my feet up under me to get more comfortable so I could listen.
"He forgot our date to go cake tasting together for the wedding tomorrow and booked a meeting so now he can't come." She whined.
"I bet you let him have it." I laughed.
"Yes I did." She rolled her eyes. "I've had this scheduled for weeks."
"Sorry, if you want, I can go with you." I suggested and she beamed.
"Oh would you Carter? I would love that, thank you." She leaned across to hug me.
"Sure, of course." I smiled.
"So tell me," She said after we had both sat back down, "What was your first fight with Ashton like?"
"We haven't really fought." I said after a moment.
"You haven't had a fight?"She asked wide eyed.
"No, I mean we had a little disagreement, if you could even call it that, when he left but that's it." I shrugged.
"That's so weird." She gaped. "Don't you find it weird that you don't fight?"
"Well shouldn't that be a good thing that we get along?" I asked confused. Why would I want to fight with my boyfriend?
"No you should get along of course, but a little arguing is healthy for a relationship. I once had a teacher who told me, if you don't fight every once in a while in a relationship, that means something is wrong. Now that doesn't mean something is wrong, but still it might be something to think about."
"Yeah." I said, becoming quiet as I slipped into thought.
Was this something I should be concerned about? If we never fought did that really mean something was wrong or would we just be a couple that never fought?
I didn't want to fight with him ever, and Ari pointing out the fact we never fought made me nervous.
The sound of my phone ringing snapped me out of my current state and go to grab it from the counter.
Of course, it was Ashton.
It was a FaceTime so I answered, sitting up straighter.
"Hey! Is everything all good?" Was the first thing he said. He practically radiated anxiety.
"Yeah everything's fine. He wasn't in the lot when Ari checked so we think he's gone." I answered and he seemed a little relieved.
"Sorry, just when you called it kinda freaked me out, especially since I'm not there." He frowned.
"I know, but just two more weeks." I gave him a cheeky grin in order to raise his spirits.
"Two more weeks." He smiled in agreement. "That's the weekend of Ender's first footie game, right?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"Okay, great! I think Calum might come with so he can watch, or do you think that will make End too nervous?"
I was about to answer when feet pounded upstairs and a loud voice screeched through the house.
"Is that Ashton?" Ender shouted and I looked up giving him a nod.
"Why don't you ask him yourself." I laughed and passed off the phone to Ender who bolted to my side.
"Hey mate!" Ashton greeted him. "How would you feel about Cal and I coming to your footie match?"
"Really?!" Ender gasped. "That would be so cool!" He shouted in my ear causing me to flinch away.
"Ender." I scolded him and he just rolled his eyes. Reaching back I smacked at his arm and he dropped the phone trying to dodge it.
"Seriously?" I called as he ran off upstairs and Ari burst into a fit of giggles beside me.
"What was that about?" Ashton laughed as I picked up my phone, thanking God for protective cases.
"He's being a brat." I sighed.
"Oh that kid gives me life!" Ari gasped for air between laughs and I shoved my foot into her thigh making her roll off the sofa and jog into the kitchen.
"Shut up." I laughed.
"I'm going to assume Ari is there." Ashton piped up and I looked back the phone.
"Yeah, we decided to have a girls night."
"That sounds like a fun night." He smiled at me and I wished I could reach through the screen to poke at his dimples.
"Yeah it will be fun."
"Hell yeah it will!" Ari shouted from the kitchen and my eyes widened as I gave Ashton a sheepish look.
Ashton laughed at my strange expression.
"Oh God, good luck Car."
"Thanks, I'll need it." I gave him another wide eyed look.
"Alright, well I'll let you get back to your girls night." He gave me a soft smile.
"Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye, Car."
I waved until it showed that he had ended the call before getting up.
Ari and I went to sleep shortly after that, using the trundle underneath my bed for her to sleep on.
The next morning we used her car to drive Ender to school and then go for the cake tasting at the bakery.
Bear had been left at home for the first time since we got him and I prayed that the house would not be in shambles when I returned.
The cake tasting lasted all throughout the afternoon and I was almost but not quite buzzed from the champagne they served us which was rare for me since I hardly ever drank alcohol.
Ari ordered me a coffee and we deliberated between lemon and red velvet for thirty minutes before deciding on red velvet.
She called Jason for approval which was granted along with many more apologies but she seemed to be over it.
Ari set a later appointment for the design which she made Jason swear on his life that he would be there and then we left to go get Ender.
When we arrived back at the house I kept my eyes peeled in the lot for any signs of the black suv but everything seemed to be normal and I decided to forget about it.
Ender and I said goodbye to Ari and walked down the dock to the house.
There was loud barking from behind the door when I began to unlock it and as I pushed it open Bear leaped forward to see who was there and then give us plenty of dog kisses and nudges as we walked through the door.
I sent Ender upstairs to do his homework while I compiled a list of things I would have to go purchase for Ender's party on Saturday.
I fell asleep that night after a phone call with a guilty Ashton who felt horrible for not being able to be at Ender's party.
Ender told him it was fine which seemed to relieve Ashton a little but I could tell he still felt bad about it.
After assuring him over and over that Ender wasn't mad at him, we said goodnight and I closed my eyes, thinking about just how lucky I was to have found Ashton.
--
I'm so sorry for the late update everyone! I had finals and family stuff but I have this chapter and the next chapter is almost finished.
It's my birthday tomorrow and I'm super excited haha
I hope you all had a merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and have a happy new year!
Much love xx -M