Chapter 15: You're Welcome

She didn't like it.

"Cassandra Grace Parker!"

I flinch and Zeus and Pickles cower behind me while Blue stays sitting by my side, seemingly unafraid.

Cole dropped me and Aaron off first, and then went to Gracie's house.

"I sent you out for one dog, one, and you come back with three! Three dogs!"

"I'm sorry, Mom, I thought it would be okay. I didn't know you would be upset."

That's a lie. That's a whole ass lie right there.

I knew she would be upset. But, if I tell her that, it becomes a problem not because I did it, but because I did it knowing she wouldn't want me to.

And that would be worse than this.

"You didn't know," she yells. "You didn't know?"

"Mandy," Dad says in an attempt to calm Mom down, pulling her to sit on the couch.

"Don't you Mandy me," she snaps, but I know she's calming down because she sits down next to him. "Your daughter brought three dogs into our house, and the only thing you have to say is Mandy?"

"Amanda, you need to calm down. It's not that bad. Yes, she has three dogs, which is kind of bad, but all you need to do is make her get a job and pay for them."

My eyes widen. "But-"

Dad shoots me a look that screams shut up, and I wisely listen.

Mom visibly loses some of her steam. "But, three dogs, Bart. Three."

"We'll figure it out," he says softly while rubbing her back. "We always have."

Mom smiles at him. "Bart, guess what?"

"What, honey?" He leans in closer to her and I watch, in absolute disgust, as he looks at her lips and she does the same.

"I love you."

He smiles at her words and she smiles back.

What is this, a romance novel?

"I love you, too."

Their lips brush against each other and I break.

"Nope, no no, no, I refuse to watch this." They leap apart and stare at me in shock and it's obvious that they forgot that I was here. "Take it somewhere else."

Mom rolls her eyes while Dad nutters under his breath.

"One more school year."

"Dad!" I glare at him.

"What?"

I smirk at him, my glare falling away. "You only want me gone so you can bang Mom like you used to."

I watch in amusement as their faces pale.

"H-how did you-"

"I heard you when I was, like, fifteen."

Mom's face heats up and Dad is confused.

"You weren't exactly being quiet," I add. "If you know what I mean." I wiggle my eyebrows at them.

Mom stands up. "I am not discussing my sex life with my daughter. It's not happening."

Dad follows her out of the room. "Just think, Mandy, one more school year."

I hear a slap, followed by a very defensive, "I'm just saying."

I snort quietly and turn to the three dogs, who are all quietly staring up at me.

"Well," I say, putting my hands on my hips. "Wasn't that interesting."

Pickles barks at me and Zeus's tongue lolls out. Blue's eyes seem to be filled with amusement, almost as if she understood what happened.

I shake my head with a laugh. "Let's go, guys."

I head up my stairs and the three scramble in front of me.

They all stand eagerly at my door, waiting for me to open it, and as soon as I do the three of them immediately run to my bed and jump on it, sprawling themselves out, completely covering the entire surface area.

"Guys, no. Your beds are over there." I point to the three doggy beds I have set up by the side of my bed.

None of them move, instead content to stare at me.

I look into Blue's eyes.

Pushover, her face screams.

I sigh. When it comes to dogs that's, the tiniest bit, true.

Pickles perks up and leaps down from the bed, barking at my balcony door, causing Zeus to follow. Blue stays on my bed.

She's so... quiet, and reserved.

And like Snow.

It hurts a little bit, to see Snow but know it's not her.

Scratching against my glass door causes me to look over at Pickles and Zeus.

When I see Aaron making silly faces at them, I laugh.

"Heel," I say, walking over to them.

Zeus immediately stops and comes to stand by my feet, and I hear Blue get down from the bed and she comes to my other side.

But Pickles keeps scratching, obviously excited.

"Pickles," I call. "Heel."

He looks at me before resuming the barking and scratching.

I sigh. Puppies, man.

A bark from my side causes me to look down at Blue, who's staring up at me, a question in her eyes.

"Um... go for it?"

She immediately stands up from her sitting position and walks over to Pickles.

She picks him up by the scruff on his neck and walks back to me with him in her mouth.

She places Pickles down on the ground next to me and sits next to him.

"Heel," I say when he stands up to go run to the door.

Blue grabs him again and places him down next to me.

I wait a couple seconds, and he moves to get up again.

"Heel, Pickles."

He looks up at me, frustrated.

"Pickles," I say warningly.

He huffs and places his rump back down on the floor.

He understood the gist of what was expected of him this time, and I know that it's going to take a while to get him to fully understand the rest of the stuff he needs to do, but I grin at him and crouch down on the floor to pet him. "Good boy, Pickles. Good boy."

His tongue lolls out of his mouth and he rolls over for a belly rub.

I give in and he starts wiggling in delight.

I look up at Zeus, and decide to praise him too, just because I need him to associate praise with following commands.

An untrained puppy is hard to handle but an untrained fully grown dog is worse.

To me, anyway.

I stop petting Pickles and show Zeus some love.

I move on to Blue, who is patiently waiting.

Unlike the other two, she seems perfectly content with just my arms around her.

She gives my cheek a slight lick, and I smile at her, scratching behind her ear.

Her bright blue eyes close as she leans into me.

A knock startles me and I look up at my balcony door to see Aaron with a smile on his face.

Hey, Cassie, he mouths.

I roll my eyes and move to open the door.

"You're an idiot," I tell him.

He shrugs, brushing it off, and flicks my nose.

"Ow," I whine as I step aside to let him in my room. "Stop doing that."

Zeus runs up to Aaron and places his paws on Aaron's stomach, barking up at him, while Pickles runs and jumps around Aaron's feet, also barking up at Aaron.

Blue calmly walks over to him and sits in front of him, tilting her head.

He smiles down at her. "Hello, there. Aren't you a cute one."

A huff escapes Blue and she stands up to walk back to my bed without a backwards glance at Aaron.

I stifle a laugh as Aaron pouts.

"I don't think she likes you," I say, my voice filled with amusement.

"She will," he shrugs. "Eventually, I'll be her favorite person."

I scoff. "Yeah, right."

"It's inevitable, Cassie." He crosses his arms across his chest and smirks at me, causing something low in my stomach to tug. "Everyone ends up falling in love with me. It's because I'm such a lovable person."

I scoff again and shake my head. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm great," he corrects.

I start to roll my eyes but catch myself and stop, blinking furiously.

"Hey, look," Aaron exclaims in excitement, looking down at the two dogs by his feet. "She's learning."

He looks up to see the scowl on my face and laughs.

"You're welcome, Cassie."

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "I don't recall thanking you for anything."

"I know," he says, his eyes glimmering in amusement as he comes closer to me, causing Pickles and Zeus to trail after him. "But you will."

"And why will I be thanking you?" I ask, with my eyebrows raised.

He smiles cheekily. "You'll see."

Well, that's not creepy at all.

He walks towards my bed and starts to climb on, which causes Blue to huff and she jumps off the bed.

She pads over to one of the dog beds and spins in a circle before laying down and placing her head on her paws.

"Good girl, Blue," I say, and she gives a bark. "Yeah, I don't like him either."

"Hey," Aaron whines. "I'm still here, you know."

I nod at him. "I'm well aware."

He glares at me, but I can see the amusement swimming around in his eyes. "You're so mean, Cassie."

"And you're so stupid, Brewer," I mock.

He leaps off the bed and I throw my door open to race down the hallway and down the stairs.

I can hear his footsteps behind me, as well as three sets of running dog pawsteps.

I basically throw myself down the stairs and pause at the foot of them, eyes searching frantically for an exit.

I hear him start to descend the stairs and I run to the other side of the couch and stand behind it, waiting for him.

He comes into view and stops, taking in my position behind the couch, and Pickles, Zeus, and Blue all come tumbling down the stairs, running between me and Aaron and barking their heads off.

Aaron takes a step to his left, and I take a step towards mine.

He fakes left and then shoots right, but I caught what he was going to do, so I shoot to my right, away from him.

The dogs are still barking, excited that we're playing a game.

"Cassandra!" My father's voice comes from the kitchen and it's getting louder and, soon enough, he appears.

I look at him from the corner of my eye, keeping most of my attention on Aaron, making sure he doesn't try anything.

"Yeah, Dad?"

He takes in Aaron's stance across from me and grins. He walks across the living room to give Aaron a clap on the back. Pickles, Zeus, and Blue all run to him, barking at him.

"Aaron," he exclaims excitedly. "Nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too, sir," Aaron says as he holds his hand out for a handshake.

"It's okay, son, we've already done that once, no need to do it again."

Aaron shrugs. "Okay, sir."

My dad lets out a hearty laugh. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"School, and then homework I guess."

"Do you want to come over and watch the game with me?"

"Dad," I gasp, offended. "I thought I was watching the game with you."

"What's one more person?"

I think my dad is in love with Aaron.

"I need to ask my parents," Aaron says. "But I don't see why not."

"Now we're talking."

Blue comes to stand by me and licks my hand. I look down at her and ruffle her ears.

"Oh, Cass," Dad says as I turn away.

"Yes, Dad?"

"You need to get your dogs under control. Take them for a walk, go to the park. I don't care what you do, so long as they're quiet. Your mother is–" he cuts off, glances at Aaron, and changes what he was going to say. "I don't think the house barking nonstop is going to convince her to let you keep all three dogs." He looks down at the Pickles and Zeus swarming around his feet and smiles with affection. "No matter how cute they are."

I nod, holding in my groan. "Okay, Dad. I'm gonna go change, and then I'll take the three of them out somewhere."

"I'll go with her," Aaron chimes in. "You never know what could happen, Cassie." He shoots me a grin and Dad smiles.

"There," he says. "Problem solved." He takes a deep breath and yells, "Mandy, Cass is taking the dogs out with Aaron."

"Aaron's here?" comes Mom's excited shriek.

She calmly walks around the corner and rushes towards Aaron. "Look at you," she gushes, pinching his cheeks. "So adorable. And being so helpful by keeping an eye on Cass. You're such a good kid, Aaron."

"He's not a dog, Mom," I say, rolling my eyes.

"You're just jealous, Cassie," Aaron shoots at me.

Mom's squeal causes me to jump and Zeus and Pickles run to hide behind me, the both of them obviously scared of the noise that left Mom's mouth.

"Damn, Mandy, why didn't we think of that one?"

Mom drags Dad out of the room and up the stairs, whispering excitedly.

My eyes snap back to Aaron, and I want to ask him if he knows why my parents love him so much, but that's an awkward question to ask, so, guess who's not asking it.

"Are you actually coming with me?" I ask him instead. "You don't have to."

"You bet I'm coming with you. I can't have you getting kidnapped or anything. I don't think your dad would let me watch football with him if you went missing."

I scowl at him.

Football is something Dad and I do; it's like our thing.

I'm not sure how I feel about Aaron intruding on it.

Zeus whines, and Pickles joins in, while Blue stares at me, her eyes seeming to tell me that they all need to go outside.

"Well," I say. "Might as well get going."

Zeus throws his head back in a howl and Pickles barks excitedly.

Blue gets up and sits in front of the door, patiently waiting, and Zeus and Pickles rush to follow her.

"Are you sure you can handle them, Cassie? Three dogs is a lot of work, especially all at once."

"Don't worry, Aaron," I say cockily. "I got this."