The next day was Sophia’s first day off, and it was so nice to see her still sleeping beside me when my eyes finally opened. I smiled as I got up to prepare breakfast, remembering we’d have the entire day together for the first time. My goal was not to wake her, but rustling around the kitchen definitely did. She threw her arms around my waist from behind with a breathy good morning. She had such simple way of making me feel loved and appreciated it. I wanted to return the favor, but again, I didn’t feel like the moment was right.
As we ate, we discussed potential activities to commemorate our first day alone together. Everything I suggested required us getting dressed and leaving the house. But to my surprise, she requested to stay home, put her hair up, and wear sweats. I guess we had done a lot of socializing that week. It didn’t bother me one bit, but she wasn’t as outgoing and social as me, so I agree to a cozy day in because any time spent with Sophia was time well spent.
She gasped as a random thought came to mind.
“The dog! We could adopt our dog today!”
“Oh right!”
We were supposed to do that yesterday, but my impromptu trip to Mama’s house derailed that plan. After breakfast, we got dressed and went to the adoption website.
“See anyone you like?” I asked.
“All of them?”
“HA! Nice try.”
We had trouble narrowing down our choices and had the agent bring the three puppies we liked the most. Hopefully, interacting with them would help make the decision easier. But as soon as she opened the crate, those little guys ran out and completely ruined our ability to make sound decisions. They were all so cute and had distinct personalities. How could we choose?
I thought I liked the one with the spots the best, but he wouldn’t stop barking and was annoyingly loud. The adoption lady kept yelling at him, and I could have sworn I saw him giving her the evil eye.
Sophia and I both liked the brown one, so he was a definite yes.
But there was something about the gray one. I couldn’t let the adoption lady take her away. She kept following me around; even she knew we were meant for each other! Our original plan was to adopt one dog, but I was incapable of choosing between the two. Luckily, it took zero convincing for Sophia to agree to adopt them both, so we became parents of two adorable fur babies.
Their names were Kooper and Rosie. I wondered if they knew each other from the adoption center because they took to each other like dye in melted wax. We watched them play happily together for a few minutes and knew we had made the right decision to get them both. Training and raising two puppies would be tough, but at least they would have each other, and Sophia and I wouldn’t have to constantly entertain them.
After watching them play for a bit, we bought feeders, beds, and toys like the responsible dog parents we were. Once everything was set up, we looked around and felt pretty good about this new journey we embarked. Sophia got on the computer to work on her exam prep, and I sat next to her for moral support, scrolling Social Bunny.
“Can you believe we adopted two dogs?” Sophia asked.
I snorted.
“We’re crazy.”
“How big do you think they’ll get?”
“Hopefully not too big. This house is pretty small, even for the two of us.”
I hoped she wasn’t offended by that, seeing as I never told her how I felt about the house. I was stating a fact, not expressing disgust. But she agreed and said she’d been thinking about moving ever since I arrived, and the only reason she lived there was because of the cheap rent. She continued that train of thought, but I couldn’t hear her over my own thoughts. I’d been trying for two days to keep my feelings inside while I waited for the right time to express them. But I felt something like a volcano building up pressure inside me, and I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to.
“I love you,” I shouted.
She gasped and clutched at her heart.
“Tell me again.”
“I love you.”
In what looked like one movement, she went from sitting at the desk to sitting in my lap and kissing me like the world would end tomorrow. Clothes began flying, and before I knew it, we were in Sixam again.
We laid there in a catatonic state for a few moments, panting, sweating profusely, wondering how our bodies could handle so much pleasure. If the woohoo kept getting exponentially better like it had been, I wasn’t sure if I could survive this relationship, heh. Sweet Watcher!
Eventually, I came back to life and got up to see about the ruckus in the other room. I saw what looked like a huge puddle of pee on the rug. But when Kooper ran inside and shook himself dry—creating yet another puddle—I exhaled in relief that it was only water from the rain. Our life with those two was going to be action-packed. I could feel it. But I loved those little boogers already and wouldn’t have it any other way.
