© Sweetslover8 2014. It is illegal to copy and/or steal.
~Uploaded September 27th, 2014
A sound louder than a rocket at takeoff shook the inn. It might've been someone breaking in, or a C4 going off, and I would have preferred any of the two versus the reality. The reality...
"You're going to have to stay in bed, Dani. This fever and cold of yours isn't going to let up anytime soon." Mrs. Wells took the thermometer out of my mouth, along with a gross string of drool, and checked my temperature. She clicked her tongue. "Hmm..."
"How-" I hacked out a hairball and sneezed again. "How bad is it?" My throat felt like someone had sandpapered it in my sleep.
"Bad enough for you to have to stay in bed for a little while. Have you been getting enough sleep?", she inquired. Honestly? I hadn't been.
"I-I have been having trouble sleeping", I admitted sheepishly. "There's a lot on my mind these days."
Mrs. Wells gave me that wise older woman look. "I see. You know, jumbled up thoughts and emotions can have an effect on your health, Dani. You should talk about them to someone, write them down, just get them out of your head."
I nodded obediently. "Yes, Mrs. Wells." I coughed again, and this time I'm pretty sure I coughed out a lung and my liver. Maybe even a kidney. "I'll be sure to get some- Oww..." I curled myself into a fetal position as a sharp pain erupted along my lower stomach.
"Oh, you poor dear." Mrs. Wells stroked my arm comfortingly. "I'll get you some water and Tylenol. And after some rest you'll-"
"No", I protested as a tear raced down my cheek from the pain. "No Tylenol. No Advil. No nothing. I'll be fine."
"But you really should-"
"No!", I said more firmly. "I have a bad experience with taking medicine like that. I'd really rather just suffer through it." Memories of darkness, scorching pain and hot tears flashed through my mind.
Mrs. Wells looked unsure. "Alright then. I'll bring you something to eat and a hot water bottle. Would that be alright?"
I nodded weakly. "Yes, thank you." I groaned again and curled further into myself. Mrs. Wells gave a sympathetic smile and shut the bedroom door as she left.
Why did I have to be sick? So sick I couldn't even get out of bed without doubling over in pain? I tried to fall asleep, but my body just wouldn't have it. Whenever I'd come close to it, my head would start pounding, I'd start a whole triathlon of sneezing, or my cramps would decide to just kick me in the stomach like a soccer player at the World Cup.
Bzzt, bzzt. My phone vibrated against the bedside table and I felt too tired to answer the text. But when it persisted, I groaned loudly and snatched it from the surface.
Andie: Good morning :) I heard you weren't feeling well? Mrs. Wells told Mom. I'm in school today but I'll come by afterwards to see if you're any better. We can watch movies or something. Hope you're better soon! <3
Garrett: Hi Dani, I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Be sure to get plenty of rest. I'll check in later. :)
Nolan: I heard that you're sick. That seriously bites, but let me know if I can do anything for you. I'm at work all day, but I'll drop by later.
Brody: Hey, I heard from pretty much everyone that you're all but bedridden. Sorry to hear that, but you'll get better soon. I know it! Hang in there.
Dylan: Hey, I heard from the grapevine that you weren't feeling well. Do you need anything? Let me know.
I started to smile at the offer when the cramps started up again, flipping it into a pained frown. I replied to all of the text messages as fast as the pain could allow me.
I don't think you can do anything about a combined fever, cold, headache and monthly trauma. Thanks though. :), I replied to Dylan's text.
I thought that'd be the end of that, but a reply came a few seconds later.
Monthly trauma? o_O, he texted.
Ohhh, never mind. I get it.
I'll be over in a bit. Hang in tight.
You really don't need to do that, I texted back, but a reply never came.
What did come was a knock on the door a half hour later, followed by: "Did someone order sick people therapy?"
"Come in", I said hoarsely. The door opened, and light flooded into the otherwise dark room.
"God, how can you see anything in here? It's pitch black." I could vaguely make out Dylan walking towards the curtains that were edged with light.
"I'm a vampire", I said darkly. "I'm used to it."
"Yeah, and I'm a baboon's uncle." He threw the curtains open and a bright white light (no, not that bright white light) flooded the room.
"You said it, not me", I said after my eyes had adjusted to the harsh lighting. Dylan still had his coat on with a backpack in tow. He put it down on the floor and sat on the edge of my bed.
"How are you feeling?", he asked seriously as he patted my arm. His face was etched with worry, his eyebrows frowned down in a cute manner as those hazel eyes fixed on me. I failed to fight off the small shivers that ran through my body at the gesture, so passed it off for shivering from the cold instead. But that resulted in Dylan moving the blanket up some to cover me all the way to my chin. Yeah, that didn't work.
"Other than exhausted, cranky, bitchy and annoyed, I'm just peachy", I said with a bitter smile.
"I don't think I've ever heard you say the word "peachy" before", Dylan remarked as he started to dig through his bag. "You must really be sick to be using that word."
"Well excuse me if my Thesaurus-like abilities aren't in proper working condition at the moment", I said sarcastically. "What are you doing here, Dylan?"
Dylan sat up straight with a Kleenex box in hand. "I'm taking care of a friend when she's obviously having a shitty day. Duh." He set the tissues on my bedside table before going through the bag again. I almost laughed. "Besides, I owe you from when took care of me. Now it's my turn to play candy stripper."
"Striper", I said exasperatingly. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"I know it's striper, silly", he grinned. "I'm just saying it to bug you. Now where did I put it...?"
I moved closer to the edge of the bed to try to take a look into the backpack. "What did you bring?"
"Just your everyday sick person necessities. Real ginger ale, bunch of fruits, Tylenol for fever, pains and colds-"
"No Tylenol please. We have a rocky relationship. It makes me sick", I said when he gave me a questioning look.
"Okay, if you say so." He returned to fiddling about the bag. That was it? He wasn't even going to argue with me over it?
"You're not going to say anything else about it?", I prodded.
Dylan shook his head. "No. If it makes you sick, it makes you sick. You know what does agree with you and what doesn't. We'll just have to think up an alternative. Hot water bottle, right?" I nodded, surprised but grateful. "I'll go get it from Mrs. Wells. Be right back." Dylan left the room, taking his coat off as he went.
He returned a moment later with a red hot water bottle pack and handed it to me. "Here you go."
"Thanks." I accepted the bottle and pressed it against my lower belly to alleviate the pain. Within a couple minutes, it started working.
"There's also this." He took out a thermos from his bag and handed it to me along with a spoon. I raised my eyebrow at it as I sat up.
"What is it?", I asked as I twisted the cap open. A hand came over my eyes just as I pulled the lid off.
"I'm not telling you until you taste it."
"Now why does that sound familiar?" I brought the thermos and spoon closer to my mouth to reduce the chances of my spilling it all over me. I dissected the taste and the food's contents within seconds.
"Congee?" The hand removed itself from my eyes. "You made congee?"
"Uh, yeah... I actually made a big pot of it last night for today's lunch and when I heard you were sick, I thought, "Hey, why not? She made me some when I was sick."" He scratched his neck. "It's not too bad, is it?"
I took another spoonful of it. "It's not bad at all. It's good. You put the turkey and ginger in. And even shallots. Not bad, kid." I smiled as I ate more. "You found the recipe?"
"I actually tried making it on my own without any online or Mom-related help." He chuckled. "The first pot didn't turn out so well. At all. The rice was sticking to the sides of the pot and it took forever to clean it by hand since Mom didn't want "that monstrosity" ruining her dishwasher." I stifled a laugh. "The second try wasn't too bad, except it was too watery. This is my third pot of the stuff."
"Third time's the charm", I said. "Thanks, Dylan." I nodded to the backpack. "What else have you got?"
"Like I said, sick people necessities." He reached down and pulled out of his bag of tricks a laptop and spread DVD cases on the bed. "Well, sick Dylan necessities anyways." When I read the titles of the DVDs, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to groan.
"I can't believe it. You want to have the cartoon marathon now?" The titles consisted of "The Essential Bugs Bunny", which was a collection of Bugs Bunny cartoons, the Toy Story trilogy, Scooby-Doo mysteries, both Monsters Inc. and University, the three Madagascar and Ice Age movies and, of course, Despicable Me 1 and 2.
"Well you don't want to have it any other time since you're either working or too tired. Besides, I told myself I'd make you go through a marathon, and what better time then when you're sick? It's the perfect excuse!"
He seemed wayyy too giddy for this. Or maybe he just really wanted to watch cartoons. I think some demon of insanity possessed me when I said: "Sure, why not?"
Dylan grinned happily and I almost had a panic attack when he climbed onto my bed and made himself right at home. I didn't say anything as he opened his laptop, entered the password and asked, "So what do you want to watch first?"
"Uh..." I picked a random DVD. "Bugs Bunny, I guess?"
"An excellent choice." He opened the case and slid the first CD into the drive and waited for it to load. It seemed to take ages because in the meantime, I was too aware that a guy was on my bed at the same time as me. I didn't have a problem when he was sitting on the edge of it, but right next to me, his arm and leg pressed against mine, was a whole different ballpark.
"Come on", he urged me as he gestured to the thermos. "Eat up. You need your strength back." I nodded, still too flustered to say anything, and robotically ate my congee, drank ginger ale and watched cartoons like your typical sick person.
The first episode was "Elmer's Candid Camera", back when Bugs' name was Happy Rabbit and the characters were strangely shiny, bringing out the extra baldness of Elmer's head. But I guess that's 1940's animation for you.
I was a bit passive about the cartoons at first, because I honestly didn't see the appeal. It was just a TV animation. But between the admittedly comedic shows and Dylan's compassionate comments about the characters and Mel Blanc and Warner Brothers, I couldn't help but start liking them at least a bit.
Before I knew it, the final credits were rolling for the second DVD and I looked away, trying to blink the moisture back into my eyes.
"So?...", Dylan asked hopefully. "What did you think?"
I feigned indifference. "It was alright, I guess." I was planning on keeping the facade up for a little while longer, but Dylan's dropped jaw totally ruined it for me and I busted out laughing.
"You really enjoy messing with my head, don't you?", he huffed as he fell back against the pillows.
"It's not like you make it very hard", I retorted with a laugh.
Dylan winced. "Low blow." He grinned slowly. "It looks like you're feeling better already."
"Really?", I asked, my laughter ceasing. "How's my temperature?" He pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. Gulp.
"Still a little warm, but better than before. And you're making cracks about me again, so I'd say you're a lot better."
"Huh, I guess cartoons are a form of medicine."
"I knew it!", Dylan exclaimed as he pumped a fist into the air. "I've been trying to prove that to my mom for years but she never believes me. Now she has to since you're the proof of it." I rolled my eyes. "You should still get some rest though. Actual sleep."
"Yeah, I know." I let out a huge yawn and stretched my arms up. "What time is it anyways?"
Dylan checked the time on his laptop. "One in the afternoon."
I dropped my arms. "What, really? We watched cartoons for that long?"
"Well the two discs last about four hours in total, so yeah."
"You didn't eat lunch", I said. Dylan shrugged as he got off of my bed and started packing his things.
"That's fine. I'll grab something to eat when I leave." For some reason, that deflated my spirits a bit. "Now you should sleep." He turned to me and waited until I was lying down to tuck the blanket safely around me.
"Uh huh. Sleep. Sounds good..." My heavy eyes drifted shut and my body relaxed, the hours of worry, stress, cartoon-watching and sickness-suffering catching up to me. I felt a hand brush against my hair, stroking it, until I fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~
When I woke up again, it was dark. Come to think of it, it might've been the closed curtains in the room. But when I checked the clock on the nightstand, I saw that it was past six o'clock in the evening. I had slept for that long? I guess my body needed it then. I contemplated skipping dinner and going to sleep again, but my stomach had other ideas when it growled like a lion.
"Alright, alright, I get it", I muttered as I sat up without the wozzying effect to my content. "You're bored. So am I. I'll get us something to eat." I pushed myself out of bed, pulled on some fluffy socks from the drawer and stood up fully. My head was clearer now, my brain and eyesight less fuzzy, and I didn't feel like I was going to die of hypothermia, hyperthermia or head or menstrual pains.
I shuffled my way to the door just as a voice called out, "Dani? Are you awake?"
"I'm awake, Mrs. Wells", I called back. "I'm coming down for dinner." I reached the door, turned the knob and pulled the door open, only to be bombarded with- balloons?
"Surprise!" Once I got over the giant multicoloured ballons that looked like they belonged in a daycare play pen, I looked up and saw everyone standing there. Mrs. Wells, Andie and the guys, even Dylan, who had supposedly gone home. "Happy birthday, Dani!"
"You guys...", I said, almost too stunned to speak as I walked out of the room to receive bone-crushing hugs. That's right. Today is November 6th. My eighteenth birthday. "What-?"
"We noticed you've been feeling a bit down lately", Garrett started.
"So we wanted to make today better for you!", Andie said with a grin. "It is your birthday after all, even if you were sick."
That was true. Ever since Cassandra had shown up a week ago, I'd been feeling more insomniatic than usual. I'd lay down in bed for maybe ten minutes, then get up again and start doing anything but sleeping. I'd read, quote philosophers and scientists in my head, count sheep, watch cute puppy videos... I even took out a pencil and pad of paper and started drawing. As I may have mentioned before, I don't have a single artistic bone in my body.
Z still hadn't gotten back to me on the people I had told him to check up on. I knew next to nothing about the sperm donor other than him being just that. I knew Jack was coming for a visit soon, probably on his brother's birthday or Thanksgiving or Christmas. I had kept a careful eye on little Miss Richards myself.
Cassandra was living in the same house now as she did four months ago and the seventeen years prior to that, and she had already applied to colleges in the area, namely the one in Waterloo, where the rest of my friends were planning on attending. She liked reading in the solarium they had on their back porch and listening to popular boy band music. She was a volunteer at the animal shelter not far from Minnie's. She took leisurely jogs in the mornings, which made it hard for me to avoid her, even though what I really should be doing is getting closer. I didn't trust that girl any farther than I could throw her. Something about her, behind the smiles and glowing skin and enchanting laughter, was off. Way off. And I'd be damned if I didn't figure out what it was.
So far though, I hadn't found even a hair to work with as far as suspicions go other than my gut.
"Now come on!", Nolan insisted. "Mrs. Wells has supper for us downstairs and I'm starving!" I laughed and let myself be dragged down the hall, the staircase and down to the dining room.
The overwhelming amount of roast beef, fresh bread and other good looking stuff almost made me look twice. The sight of the abundant meal, the watering smell of it almost made me start drooling.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Wells", I said as I gave her a tight hug. "This looks amazing."
"Well I should hope so. I know I did my part right, but Dylan's part is questionable..." Mrs. Wells winked jokingly.
"You-you helped make supper?", I asked Dylan, who shoved his hands into his pockets while shrugging his shoulders.
"Yeah. I mean, it was either me or Garrett and I think you remember what happened the last time he tried to make food. I was just saving us all from disaster."
"Uh huh." I didn't believe him, and hoped my smile didn't give it away. "Well whatever the reason is, thank you. I'm sure it will be great", I grinned.
"You seem to be happier already", Andie noted as we all took our seats at the table.
"Do I?", I asked. Everyone else nodded. "Oh. Well then I guess your plan to cheer me up is working. Thanks everyone."
Dinner was filled with laughter and ridiculous tales, and unlike the first dinner I had been a part of when I got here, I didn't feel left out, alone, or on the outside looking in. I felt like I was a part of something important with these people. Amazing friends that looked out for one another and me. The thought had me grinning widely, and not just at the wild story Nolan was telling involving unicorns, a pencil sharpener and a waffle iron. Don't ask; I've learned to just roll with it.
As soon as we were done with the meal, the dishes were cleared and Mrs. Wells and the guys insisted I stay seated and let them do the cleaning since I was still a bit under the weather. Then Andie started talking to me secretly about what I was getting Dylan for his birthday.
"I honestly don't know", I told her. "I'm not good with birthday present shopping. I suck royally at it."
"I'm sure you'll find something", Andie insisted. "I'll even help you pick something out."
"Really?"
"Really. I'm his sister. I know what's going on inside his head about 85% of the time."
"What about the other 15%?", I asked.
"Hey, even I'm not psychic." Andie took a sip of her tea. "Guys are complicated pieces of machinery, you know."
"Agreed", I nodded. I looked towards the kitchen. "It's gotten awfully quiet in there. I wonder what-"
"Happy birthday, Dani..." The soft glow of candles could be seen atop of a cake being carried out around the corner of the kitchen and into full view. "Happy birthday, Dani..." Mrs. Wells set the cake down on the table in front of me. "Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday Dani. Whoo!"
Here everyone was, spending my real birthday with me, and all I could do was sit and stare at the cake as they told me to make a wish. It had seemed so long since the last time I had celebrated a birthday with anyone. My past three birthdays were always spent on the road, driving somewhere new, and weren't more than buying myself a little cupcake at some rundown gas station to celebrate it.
I managed to hold back the tears though. They had no idea how much this meant to me. I'd probably tell them at some point, but for now, I'd just blow out the damn candles. What to wish for though? I stared at the 1 and 8 candles atop the homemade cake and thought hard for a moment. It's not like wishes ever came true, but...
I wish that everyone I care about will always be safe from harm. Nothing for me. I don't deserve a wish. But they all deserve at least that much. I took a breath and blew out the candles, the flames extiguishing. Applause broke out around me and Mrs. Wells handed me a knife. I only stared at it.
"Go on. You're supposed to slice through the cake but not pull the knife out", Dylan explained patiently.
"Oh, right", I said dumbly. I shook my head. "I mean, I know that. It's just been a while since I've done it is all." Plus, the last time someone handed me a knife wasn't for something as innocent as cutting a cake. I pressed the blade of the knife into the cake, and continued until the blade reached the bottom. Then Dylan pulled the knife out and cut a slice for me.
"Birthday girl first", he grinned as he handed me the plate. I thanked him and waited for everyone else to be seated with their slices before taking a bite out of the cake.
"Wow", I said as the chocolate practically melted on my tongue. "This is really good. Who made it?"
"Garrett and I did", Andie proclaimed proudly.
"Amazingly, it's the only thing I can make that I won't burn to a crisp", Garrett said. "I don't know how that thing worked out in the end but I'm glad you like it." I smiled and finished the rest of the slice.
"An féidir linn é a dhéanamh anois?", someone said. I turned my head to Dylan. I was pretty sure it was him that had spoken.
"Níl go fóill. Dar leis ...", Andie replied with a stern look on her face. 'Not yet. Sheesh', she had said.
"Ach-" Andie cut her brother off with a firm look.
"Are you guys speaking... Irish Gaelic?", I asked in amazement.
"Yeah, our grandparents taught us a bit", Andie explained. "We speak to each other like that once in a while to practice."
"Okay... But Dylan, what were you asking to do?"
"What?"
"Just now when you were speaking", I clarified. "An féidir linn é a dhéanamh anois? 'Can we do it now?' Can you do what now?"
"You speak Gaelic?", Brody asked. "My mom's Irish and I still don't get half the stuff she says to my grandparents sometimes."
"And I don't recall Gaelic being on your list of spoken languages when you told me", Dylan said with a frown. "There was English, French, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian, but no Gaelic."
"I must've forgotten to mention it", I said sheepishly as I covered my slip up. "I don't know how. I love the language, but I never get to speak it."
"Oh, maybe you can try it with our grandparents the next time they visit!", Andie suggested with a grin. "I'm sure they'd be thrilled to meet someone who knows their native tongue."
I smiled. "I'd like that, Andie. That would be amazing. Now back to the subject at hand." I turned back to Dylan. "What were you asking to do?"
"Uh... Andie?" Dylan looked to his younger sister for help. She waved her hand dismissively.
"Whatever, Dyl. It's yours to give anyways." Dylan shot up from his seat and disappeared into another room for a long moment.
"What is he doing?", I asked. "He looked like he was about to explode with excitement. He's terrible at poker faces."
"You'll see", Nolan said with a hidden smile. "I haven't seen him this hyped up in ages."
Before I could ask what he meant by that, Dylan returned to the table. His earlier giddiness had lessened, but was now edged with a bit of nervousness. I turned in my seat to face him, expression pensive and curious.
"Dylan, what are you hiding?" I turned around in my seat and raised an eyebrow.
"It- Well, it's easier to show you. Come with me." He nodded his head for me to follow him, and amused, I followed. I heard chairs scraping against the floor, the others in pursuit as Dylan led me down the stairs to the basement.
"What's down here?", I asked as I patted my hand along the wall to find the light switch.
"Don't turn on the light." Dylan's hand took mine away from the light switch and grasped it firmly in his. Thank goodness it was dark...
"Okay? But seriously, what is it?", I smiled, my excitement barely contained. I was worse than a kid at Christmas.
"First, I need you to close your eyes." When I asked why, with a lot of suspicion, he answered, "It's a surprise."
"I'm not too crazy about surprises, you know", I said uneasily. "Haven't I mentioned that before?"
"You'll like this one", Dylan promised as he led me further down the stairs, guiding me with his hand. "Are your eyes closed?"
"Yep." I closed my eyes tightly, nervous, but anxious to know what the blond was up to.
I heard someone flip the light on, and it illuminated even through my eyelids. "Okay, you can open them now."
I did, slowly lifting my eyelids and giving them a minute to adjust to the sudden brightness. Immediately, I knew something was different in the basement than usual. The couches and bookshelves were still in the same place against the left wall, and so were the TV and coffee table. But the rug was slightly askew, and I found that to be extremely curious. Mrs. Wells always insisted the inn looked its best, and this most definitely did not qualify.
Dylan went down to his knees, facing the couch, and tugged down on my hand to join him. I did, and waited.
"It's okay." Dylan seemed to be talking to the couch. "Come here, sweetie. It's Dylan." He spoke in a gentle, coaxing voice, and his eyes never left the couch. Just when I was about to interrupt, and question his sanity yet again, a little head slowly peeked out from behind the couch.
"Oh my gosh." My hand went to my mouth as it gaped wide open, and the most adorable puppy I had ever seen edged closer to us.
"Isn't she beautiful?" She was, in fact. The fur on her small body was a gleaming white, with black around her eyes and ears, and baby doe brown eyes. Her movements as she approached us were hesitant, but she was soon nuzzling up to Dylan and licking his hand with affection. He made embarrassing baby sounds at the pup, then chuckled nervously. He picked up the puppy and placed her in front of me.
As I was still recovering from the surprise, my hand was brought to the puppy for me. She gave it a curious sniff, then licked it with her soft pink tongue. "Oh..." I brought my other hand to gently pet her fur, which was as cloud-soft as it looked.
It was another heartwarming moment before I finally managed to say, "You guys got me a puppy?"
"If you don't like her, blame Dylan. It was his idea." We all looked at Nolan. "What? I'm just covering my ass." Mrs. Wells gave him a flick on the head.
"Language, Nolan", she said sternly.
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry." He looked down at the floor and I smiled.
"Well I certainly don't hate her. She's adorable, and so shy. What breed is she?"
"She's a pitbull and labrador mix. A labrabull or something like that", Garrett said.
I picked up the pup and placed her in my lap. Her tail immediately went into overdrive, wagging so hard and furiously that her entire backside was moving along with it. I laughed and gave her a peck on her cold, wet nose. "She's perfect. Where did you get her?"
"She was at the animal shelter down on Main Street", Brody explained. The same animal shelter Cassandra worked at, no doubt. "They said they found her, practically a newborn, just outside of town with a broken leg and a bunch of nasty illnesses. The vet who works there found her and brought her in for treatment. Then bam! Three months later, she's good as new."
"She still has some problems walking though", Andie added as she pet the puppy. "But doctor says she'll recover just fine, and if there are any questions, to go see her anytime."
I nodded. "You guys... I don't know what to say." I really didn't, and I was hardly ever at a loss for words. Not even a little sarcastic remark came to mind as I stared down at probably the best birthday gift I had ever received. "Thank you. All of you. I'll take good care of her."
"Of course. She's in good hands." I lifted my head and smiled at Dylan in thanks. It was supposed to be brief, but I had a feeling it lasted longer than two seconds. "So, um, what're you going to name her?", he asked as he looked back to the puppy.
Ignoring my heated face, I forced myself to focus on the question. She'd need a good name, something original, not like Lucky or Spot or anything like that. Yes, I know those are mostly boy names, but I had never named anything in my life, especially when it would be a name they were stuck with.
The young pup was an excited little one once she had broken out of her shell. She kept insisting on exploring on her own, so I let her go smell the others. And when I looked in her eyes, I saw the bright and keen intelligence behind them. They were more brownish-red than anything else. You could practically see the energetic fire burning in their depths.
Fire...
"How about Ayden?", I suggested.
"'Little fire' in Irish", Dylan translated as he looked back at the excited little ball of fur. "What do you guys think?"
"Isn't Aiden a boy's name though?", Brody asked.
"It's gender neutral depending on how you spell it", I replied. "Like Dani. I'm spelling Ayden with a 'y'."
"Okay, it's your dog...", Brody said non-chalantly.
"Ignore him." Dylan rolled his eyes. "I think it's a great name. It suits her. Have we suddenly got a love for all things Irish?" He wagged his eyebrows in such a way that made me laugh and shove him aside, making him lose balance and fall flat on his rump.
"For your information, I always thought they were cool. And I've got some Irish blood in me too, you know."
"Really? I never would've guessed. Wilde doesn't sound Irish though." Another slip up? What the hell? First the Gaelic and now accidentally revealing that I was Irish? Ugh, I blamed it on the passing fever and cold.
"It isn't." I thought up of an excuse. "But everyone on my mom's side is Irish. Dad's is English. So I'm a mix." I nodded to the newly-named Ayden. "I'm a mutt just like her."
"You make it sound like a bad thing", Dylan said. "Don't you know that mutts are always more interesting than purebreds? I-I meant that in a good way. Did that come out wrong? Oh, that sounded so much better and less stupid in my head." He face-palmed himself as he continued his mutterings.
"Dylan." I pulled his hand away from his face and smiled right into his eyes. "It sounded fine out loud. I understand what you mean, so thank you. What gave you the idea to get me a puppy of all things?"
"Well, I remembered back when I was sick and you saw me and Hobo together and you said that dogs make great companions and how you always wanted one."
"And you never gave any of us clues as to what you wanted as a gift", Nolan said as he ruffled Ayden's fur. "We had to improvise."
"You guys want to know a little secret?", I asked aloud. They all turned to me curiously. "I wouldn't have cared if you had gotten me a gift card, or a new sweater, or even nothing at all." I didn't deserve them. "Don't get me wrong; Ayden is still the best gift in the world. But I'm happy spending time with you, just like this. As far as I'm concerned, when I'm with you guys, every day is my birthday." It was cheesy rom-com movie material and I knew it, but that was how I truly felt. Nothing could convince me otherwise.
"Oh, you're going to make me cry." Andie wiped at her eyes before giving me a tight hug. "You love your crazy, wacky friends that much?"
I laughed and couldn't fight down my smile that just seemed to come so naturally. "No." Everyone gave me a confused look. "It's like you said, Andie. I love my crazy, wacky and completely amazing family that much."
~~~~~~~~
And they all dissolved into a puddle of tears and joy around me. The end.
Yeah, no. We're not quite there yet. Still a while to go you guys, but I'll get you there... (Eventually, mwahahahaha!)
Ahem. *clears throat*
Alright, let's start this thing over.
Honestly, I think I need a bit more adorableness in my life. Can you tell by how much of it I'm pouring into this story? I can.
But seriously, a PUPPY!!! Who can resist a three month old puppy? I know I can't. And I may have accidentally on purpose described Dani's new puppy aka Ayden to be like how my dog looks in real life, which is basically like a giant Jack Russell Terrier. Penny is four years old and the most lovable thing on the face of this earth, I swear. So much that I just had to include a doppelganger in here somewhere.
Like with Hobo, the McCade's German Sheperd. My friend has a dog named that and it was the most original I had ever heard, so why not? Everyone else's dogs around here are all "Puppy" (I kid you not), or "Baby".
That's my dog-obssessed moment of the day over and done with.
As per usual, thank you all so much for reading my story. It means the multiverse to me (you know, instead of world) like you have absolutely no clue. So thank you, merci, gracias, danke, and go raibh maith agat.
That's English, French, Spanish, German and Irish Gaelic in case you were wondering. Unfortunately, I only speak the two... -_- But I'm working on learning Mandarin and I have Spanish as a class next semester so I can't wait for that!
So please vote and- Well you guys know the drill by now, right? But just as a gentle reminder: vote, comment, and fan! Following me would be awesome too! Adding Runaway to a reading list? Pure, unfiltered awesomeness.
Boy, this is getting long. Gonna wrap things up now.
~Jade :D
PS. I watched Frozen in my English class this week instead of reading some boring short story again. Best. Class. Ever!!!