Puppy

New love, old love, and finding love in unexpected places.

Rays of sunlight pierced through the thin thread of the curtains, lighting the whole room up. Sleep had escaped me completely once I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the light. Even though I was awake now, I wasn’t ready to get up. My body felt exhausted, not from a late night or long day. I was simply tired.

I felt Brad move behind me. He had turned on to his side and swung his arm over my waist. His warm body temperature was uncomfortable under the thick duvet. I tried shifting over to the edge of the bed, his arm tightened around me.

How I wished I was different.

It’s been almost half a year since Brad and I have started to date. Nothing has changed. I hated the way I felt. It wasn’t fair to Brad. He’d done nothing but show me his affection. But I couldn’t reciprocate the same feelings back to him. I’ve tried. I’ve tried so hard. I just couldn’t be in love with him. It was all because of him.

A year ago, I was seeing someone else. He was perfect, I thought. Our relationship had only lasted four months. However, those had been the best months of my life. I felt that my spirits were up in the clouds. He was the first man I truly loved. He was my first everything. He treated me like any women should be treated, with respect, understanding and love, especially love. We had quickly grown closer together and just as quickly we shattered. I found out that he had already been seeing someone else for a year when we met. Brad knew of all this. From the start, I wanted him to know what he was getting himself into.

 

Once more I tried to get out of Brad’s reach, this time a little bit more roughly.

“Let’s sleep in a little longer. It’s Sunday,” his voice groggy from sleep.

I offered to make us breakfast, earning a smile. He opened his eyes and I smiled back. He leaned in to give me a kiss on my lips, and then rolled on top of me to deepen the kiss. I tried to put all my feelings into the kiss, the feelings that didn’t exist.

 

 

 

Milk. Check. Cereal. Check. App-

“Sorry,” the man that had backed into me said.

“Not a problem.” I turned around to see that it was him. My heart skipped a beat and began pounding in chest. Logan.

“Em,” he used my nickname. He looked surprised to see me. “I’m glad to see you.” He paused. “We need to talk.”

Talk about what?

He wanted to get back together! My whole body woke up at his words. I could jump to the moon from joy.

I bit my lips nervously. What about Brad? I couldn’t cheat on him. I couldn’t betray his loyalty. When I told Logan this, he said we’d go out as friends, catch up and see where things would go from there. I replied that I had to think about it.

I was walking home thinking about how Logan still smelled the same, spicy Hugo cologne. Then I heard what I thought was a soft whine. It came again more frequently. I looked around to see where the sound had come from. A puppy walked out slowly from behind a newspaper stand. Its fur was covered in dirt. Poor thing.

I brought the puppy back home with me. I cleaned him up and fed him leftovers. Some coaxing and he began to explore his new home without hesitation. I’d have to find him a proper home.

Logan kept calling and texting me throughout the week. I started to ignore them after the fifth time. It was all cockiness and how my current boyfriend couldn’t match up to him. Brad found out about these messages. He was upset I never told him. For weeks he wouldn’t talk to me. I tried to explain that nothing happened and I didn’t even reply to his messages. Brad wouldn’t listen. Instead, he stayed at a friend’s.

When he finally spoke to me after almost a month, he broke up with me. He was also tired of trying. My body relaxed and I was glad Brad would have a chance to find love. It was unfair of me to keep him by my side.

 

 

I came home after a tough day at work. I found puppy wagging his tail when I opened the door. A smiled broke out. He was the sweetest thing ever. Puppy jumped on me, waiting me to pet him. I bent down to his level and kissed the top of his head. He in turn licked my face and I giggled.

“I love you,” the three words left my lips naturally.

Author's Note

A short story I did for my creative writing class. It was supposed to be a 700 word limit. The final word count is 799.