Puppy Love Read online

  Adam hurried over to break up the fight and talk down the owners. While he was busy doing that, I stepped over to join Jamal and Rachel, who were standing together on the other side of the ring.

  “Glad you made it, Lauren,” Jamal said. “We thought you’d gotten tired of us.”

  His smile wasn’t as dazzling as Adam’s, but it was so friendly that I couldn’t help returning it. “Nope, just running late today,” I said. “So how are you guys? Do anything fun over the weekend?”

  “Not me,” Rachel said. “I had this big history paper due yesterday, so I mostly—Gizi! Quit that!”

  The vizsla puppy had just noticed that the brown-and-white mixed breed’s owner, a geeky-looking fourteen-year-old guy, had a loose shoelace. She pounced on it, and Rachel stepped over to help the guy detach himself, while the mixed-breed pup jumped around, barking and getting in the way.

  I was watching the action when Jamal leaned closer, nudging me with his shoulder. “So I caught a movie over the weekend,” he said. “The theater had a poster up for that new zombie flick. You heard about it?”

  “Sure!” My eyes lit up. “It looks excellent.”

  “Yeah.” He grinned. “So it opens this coming weekend, and I was thinking—hey!” Jamal yelped in surprise as Muckle suddenly noticed what was going on with Gizi and the other dog and raced over to join in. Unfortunately, the most direct route involved him darting right between Jamal’s legs.

  “Muckle!” I cried as he yanked me forward. It was amazing the amount of g-force a small puppy could exert. I felt the leash slip out of my hand, but not before I also felt my body collide with Jamal’s.

  “Whoa!” he exclaimed, catching me by the shoulders. “You okay?”

  I looked up at him. His face was very close as he looked back, his expression serious for once.

  “Um, I’m fine,” I said, backing away.

  At least that was what I meant to do. Except that by now, Ozzy was dashing back and forth, trying to join in the play session going on nearby, and I tripped over him.

  “Oof!” I grunted as I plowed into Jamal’s chest. Again.

  He laughed softly as he staggered backward, almost crashing into the barrier around the ring. “We have to stop meeting this way,” he quipped.

  I noticed that this time we’d somehow ended up with one of his arms wrapped around my waist. And he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to release me.

  “I’m really sorry,” I mumbled, my face flaming.

  His arm squeezed gently. I suddenly became aware that his other hand was resting on my upper arm. For one giddy moment, it felt as if we were slow dancing.

  Then Adam hurried toward us. “Everything okay over here?” he asked, his blue eyes flicking from the tangle of puppies over by Rachel to the tangle of, well, me and Jamal. Was it my imagination, or did he look startled—and maybe a little perturbed?

  “No. I mean yes.” I shoved back from Jamal, who immediately let go of me and stepped back as well. “I mean, we’re fine. The puppies—the leashes—we just—”

  “Lauren tripped and fell on me,” Jamal told the instructor with a smile. “But I think I’ll survive.”

  Adam nodded and stepped over to help disentangle the puppies. He grabbed Muckle’s leash and led him over to me.

  “Here you go, Lauren,” he said without quite meeting my eye. “And listen—do you have a moment after class? I want to talk to you about something.”

  “S-sure,” I stammered, suddenly going so numb I could barely hang on to the leash. “No problem.”

  “Good.” He nodded, then stepped into the center of the ring to resume class.

  I barely heard a word he said for the rest of the hour. Muckle really must have been learning something, because somehow we managed to get through the class without embarrassing ourselves again, even though I wasn’t particularly effective as a handler. I was vaguely aware of Jamal and Rachel speaking to me now and then, but I couldn’t do much more than nod in response.

  Finally class was over. Every thought in my mind had coalesced into one giant question, pulsing like a neon sign—what did Adam want to talk to me about?

  You know those movies where someone has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, telling him opposite things? Well, I had that. Only it wasn’t an angel and a devil talking to me. It was happy, optimistic Muckle on one shoulder, yapping that Adam had come to his senses and realized I was the girl of his dreams, and that after class he was planning to ask me to run away to Ireland with him to live happily ever after.

  On the other shoulder was my sister Britt, who’d always been a pessimist. Or a realist, as she called it. She kept sniping that I’d been an idiot on Sunday, that Adam had figured out what I was up to and wanted to tell me I was such a blithering moron that he wasn’t going to let me take his class anymore.

  The girl with the hound buttonholed Adam on her way out of the ring, babbling at him about whatever problems she and her puppy were having. After that, the pug girl hurried over to thank him for saving her pup from the scary Chihuahua.

  As I was waiting, Jamal and Rachel came over. “Walk you out?” Jamal asked in his affable way.

  I shot a look at Adam. “Um, Adam wanted to talk to me,” I reminded him. Hadn’t he heard? He’d been standing right there. “I’d better see what he wants. You guys don’t have to wait.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Jamal hesitated, but finally tossed me one more smile and then headed out after Rachel.

  It seemed to take forever for the other students to finish yapping at Adam. But finally the last of them disappeared, and we were alone.

  He walked over to me. “Thanks for waiting,” he said to Muckle. Well, okay, he was probably talking to me. But his gaze was trained on Muckle, who was lying stretched out on the cool tile floor at my feet.

  “Sure,” I said, trying for an easy, casual tone and probably failing miserably. “What’s up?”

  He wet his lips, then glanced at the ceiling. “It’s no big deal,” he mumbled, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain. “It’s just, the training session on Sunday was fun, but I—that is, when I saw your friend Robert yesterday—I mean, I guess I just . . .”

  I stared at him. What in the world was he talking about? When and where had he seen Robert—and why in the world hadn’t Robert told me?

  Adam’s next words made me forget all that. “So I was wondering if you’d like to, you know, go out sometime?” His eyes finally flicked down to meet mine. “Like, on a date?”

  “Really?” I blurted out. Yeah, I know—not exactly the coolest of responses. But I couldn’t help it.

  He nodded. “There’s this big agility competition over in East Carrelton on Saturday afternoon—I was going to head over there right after class with my dogs,” he said, his words coming out so fast I could hardly take them in. “I was thinking maybe you’d want to come cheer us on? You know—since you’re interested in agility anyway. I mean, it would be cool to have someone there. It can be tough to juggle both dogs sometimes, and well, I could use—anyway, then maybe we could grab something to eat afterward or something.”

  His gaze had wandered ceilingward again while he was talking, but now he shot me an uncertain look. I couldn’t believe it. Was he actually nervous about asking me out? That was so unexpected—and so sweet—that I almost laughed out loud.

  “Yeah,” I said instead. “I mean sure, that sounds like fun. I’d love to.”

  “Great, great.” He looked relieved. “Okay, then. I guess I’ll see you Saturday?”

  I shivered. “I’ll see you Saturday.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  A weird week

  Robert was examining a package of goldfish flakes in the aquarium aisle when I almost bowled him over with a big, surprise hug. “You’ll never believe what just happened!” I cried as Muckle leaped around our legs, barking happily.

  Yanking his right arm free of my grip, Robert tossed the fish food back on the shelf. “You won the lottery? Cool. Then you ca
n pay me back for these puppy classes.”

  “Very funny.” I let go of him and stepped back. “Actually, this is way better than the lottery. Adam just asked me out!”

  I grinned, waiting for him to freak out. Actually, I was sort of wishing I’d made him go outside before telling him. What if Adam heard his whoops of triumph?

  But no—this news couldn’t wait. Anyway, Robert wasn’t whooping. He wasn’t making any noise at all, actually. A frown crept across his face as he stared at me.

  “Oh,” he said after a moment. “Yeah, I thought that might happen.”

  I blinked. “You don’t seem very happy about it.” Suddenly I remembered that Adam had mentioned Robert’s name, and I belatedly put two and two together. “Wait—you didn’t, like, tell him to ask me, did you? Is that what he was talking about? Oh man, you did, didn’t you?”

  Robert held up his hands. “Down, girl,” he said. “I admit it, okay? That was my errand yesterday. I stopped over here after I dropped you off and hung around until after Adam was finished with his training class.”

  “So you did tell him to ask me out?” I cried. “Oh, man—talk about humiliating!” Suddenly an even worse thought occurred to me. “Wait—you didn’t, like, pay him to do it, did you?”

  “No! Of course not.” He looked insulted. “I didn’t even tell him to do it. All I did was explain what happened on Sunday. Let him know he missed his cue.”

  “Oh, man,” I moaned again.

  “No, listen.” Robert grabbed my arm. “It’s cool. He actually felt bad about the misunderstanding. I think he already thought you were cute.”

  “Really?” I was still humiliated. But now I was intrigued, too. “Okay, I wish you’d told me you were planning to talk to him.” I paused, thinking about that. “Hold on—scratch that. Never mind. If I’d known, I never would have let you do it.”

  His mouth twisted. “No kidding.”

  “Anyway, I guess the important thing is, it worked.” I shivered as I remembered how sweet and shy Adam had been when he’d asked me out. “Thanks, pal.”

  “Anytime, buddy.” Robert hesitated, twisting his leather elbow patch between his fingers. “But listen, after talking to Adam yesterday, I’m not sure about him.”

  I grabbed a plastic fish-tank plant out of Muckle’s mouth. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’m not sure he’s such a dream guy after all.” Robert shrugged. “Yeah, the accent’s cool, and there’s no denying he’s easy on the eyes. But I’m starting to think that’s all he’s got going.”

  “Huh?” I straightened up and frowned. “You’re crazy. Adam’s awesome. Even the dogs think so.”

  “That’s the thing.” Robert glanced down at Muckle, who was staring longingly at the fish plant I’d returned to the shelf. “The guy seems pretty hyper focused on the whole dog thing. Like, to the point he doesn’t seem to have much interest in anything else.”

  “So he has a passion,” I retorted. “I like that in a guy.”

  Robert still looked troubled. “But does he really have time for a relationship? Is he even interested in one? You’re too good to play second fiddle to a bunch of mutts, Lauren.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be melodramatic.”

  “No, I’m serious.” Robert frowned at me. “It’s not like you’re some hopeless case who has to take the first guy who shows interest. Lots of guys think you’re cute.”

  “That’s news to me,” I shot back. “Name one. And my dad doesn’t count.”

  “What about Jamal?” Robert raised an eyebrow. “It’s pretty blazing obvious he’s got the hots for you.”

  “What?” I could feel my face going pink. “Jamal? He’s cool, but we’re just friends.”

  The eyebrow arched higher. “Does Jamal know that?”

  “Shut up.” I couldn’t think of a better retort. Why was Robert talking about Jamal when Adam had just asked me out? “I thought you were supposed to be my best friend,” I added irritably.

  “I am your best friend.”

  “Then act like it. You should be happy for me right now, okay? Especially since you’re the one who helped make it happen.”

  “Yeah.” He was frowning again. “Yippee me.”

  Muckle was nosing at the fake kelp again, which seemed like our cue to get out of there. “Come on,” I said. “I think Muckle’s ready for a walk. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  “What do you think?” I held up a pair of cute patterned leggings. “These and a tunic top, maybe? Too casual, or just casual enough?”

  Robert shrugged, barely looking up. He was sprawled on my bed, flipping through one of my mom’s old-lady fashion mags.

  I stuck the leggings back in the closet, then yanked Muckle away from my shoe rack. “Don’t eat those,” I told the puppy sternly. “I haven’t decided which ones to wear on Saturday yet.” Shooting a look over my shoulder, I added, “And somebody isn’t being much help.”

  That made Robert look up. “Oh, you wanted my advice?” he said tartly. “That’s funny. I thought you were ignoring that this week.”

  I sighed. Things had been tense since our chat the previous afternoon. That was Robert for you—he was a talented sulker when the mood struck him. I was trying to be patient and ignore his attitude, but it was getting old. Why did he have to get in a snit now, when I really could have used his advice?

  “Fine,” I said. “Then maybe I’ll just borrow Mom’s favorite plaid slacks.” I sneaked a peek over to gauge Robert’s reaction. If that offense to fashion didn’t snap him out of it, nothing would.

  Just then my phone buzzed. Fishing it out of my pocket, I saw that the call was coming from a number I didn’t recognize. I almost didn’t answer, but then I wondered if it could be Adam.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “Lauren? Hi, it’s Jamal.”

  I stiffened. “Jamal?” How had he found out my number? It was unlisted. “Um, hi. What’s up?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Robert sit up abruptly. He stared at me, his eyes glittering with interest.

  “Not much,” Jamal said. “Uh, except I was wondering—that is, if you’re not doing anything on Saturday after class, I thought maybe we could check out that zombie movie.”

  I swallowed hard. Robert was leaning forward, as if trying to hear the other end of the conversation. I clutched the phone tightly.

  “Oh,” I said. “Um, that would be fun, except I can’t. I already have plans for Saturday after class. Sorry.”

  “Oh, okay.” Jamal sounded disappointed. “Maybe some other time, huh? See you in class.”

  “Yeah. See you.” I hung up and glared at Robert. “How did Jamal get my number?” I demanded.

  He frowned. “Why’d you say no? I know you’re dying to see that stupid monster movie.”

  “It’s a zombie movie. And so not the point,” I snapped. “Seriously, did you tell Jamal to ask me out?”

  “Absolutely not.” He shrugged. “Okay, I might have encouraged him a little. But he was already thinking about it all on his own.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him. Sensing my growing fury, Muckle crouched down and whined.

  “I can’t believe this!” I cried. “You knew I was already going out with Adam on Saturday! All you did was force me to hurt Jamal’s feelings. What if he’s so hurt he doesn’t even want to be friends anymore?”

  “So again—why’d you say no?” Robert wasn’t backing down. “Jamal’s a much better prospect than Mr. Self-Absorbed Woof-Woof Man.”

  I gritted my teeth. “That’s for me to decide! How dare you meddle in my love life?”

  “If I didn’t meddle, you wouldn’t even have a love life,” he countered. “Anyway, I’m just trying to fix my previous mistake. I never should have talked to Adam about you.”

  “So that’s what this is about?” Suddenly I gasped as another thought popped into my mind. “Wait—so you decided Adam wasn’t good enough for me after you had your little pr
ivate chitchat with him, huh? Is that what this is really about?”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “Maybe you liked what you saw even better face-to-face,” I spat out. “Maybe you’re trying to sabotage me so you can go for Adam yourself!”

  “What? Are you serious? You can’t—I wouldn’t—why would I even—how could you—,” he sputtered, his face going beet red. He jumped off the bed and stomped toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” I demanded.

  “Anywhere but here,” he snapped back. The door slammed, and he was gone.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Friends

  Robert and I still hadn’t made up by the time school ended on Friday. Not only was I being forced to take the bus to and from school, but I’d also never felt more lonely. Oh, sure, I had a few other friends at County Day—girls who usually invited me to their parties, who I sat with at lunch whenever Robert was absent or in detention, and who I sometimes paired up with for projects and stuff.

  But it wasn’t the same. Robert and I argued all the time, of course. But our fights normally never lasted more than a day or so. We were just too close for that.

  Or were we? The longer things went on, the more I wondered what would happen if we never made up. After all, Robert had ditched “BFFs” before, hadn’t he? For the first time, I wondered what had become of all those anonymous blondes he’d mentioned when we’d first met.

  I stared out the bus window all the way home on Friday afternoon, so worried that I barely even noticed the stale-corn-chips-and-feet smell of the bus. When I let myself into the house, Muckle was his usual hyper self. Miraculously, he hadn’t chewed up or peed on anything that day—at least nothing Mom had noticed.

  “What do you know—maybe there’s hope for the little fur ball yet,” she said, shooting Muckle the closest thing to a smile she’d ever given him as he leaped around, expressing his joy at my arrival. “Let’s keep up the good work, Lauren, okay?”

  “Will do, Mom.” I kept a slightly worried eye on the gleeful puppy, remembering his reaction to Adam’s arrival the other day. “Come on, Muckle,” I said, grabbing him with one hand and his leash with the other. “Let’s go out.”