“What… what do you mean?" My breathing began to pick up. "Mom, what happened to Charlie? Is he…”
“No, he is alive, but...” she took a deep breath, “he… he fell down, outside. He's—”
I didn’t hear a word she said after ‘outside,’. I raced to the door to see him lying in the back yard. There, I found him just laying there, occasionally wincing in pain.
“Come on, boy,” I urged, giving him a nudge with my foot, “you have to get up. Get up for me.”
He looked at me, whimpered a few times and tried to stand as he always did. However, unable to do so, he plopped back down to the floor. There, I could see that his back leg muscles were swollen as he sat in an awkward position with his feet under his belly that couldn’t have been comfortable.
“Button,” mom said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I was already crying, trying to act strong. “So… um.. he’s… he sure l… looks li…like he slipped. Sil…silly doggied.”
Mom gave a weak chuckle.
“So,” I asked, palms shaking, “What… um… What now?”
She sighed. “I couldn’t get him a vet appointment till tomorrow. So I figure we should put him in the garage with some old blankets for him to lay on so he can… Go if he needs to. After that, maybe they’ll be a way to help him, but…”
“I know.”
She looked worriedly at me. “Yes, but… you do?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but.. but I…”
She pulled me into a hug. “I know, son, I know.”
*****
Once we had moved Charlie into the garage, we spent most of the evening talking about what would happen next. Mom went over the details about how vet bills worked, questioned how, even if he could get surgery, would it be worth it if he’d only lived a few more months. And a lot of other hard realities of the situation. Throughout it all, I just nodded.
While I was happy Charlie hadn’t died, a part of me wondered if this was worse. Because now, I couldn’t deal with the fact that he died because he hadn’t died yet. making it worse, I knew he still was going to die soon.
“It’s something you’ll have to think about when you live on you own and…” she paused and watched me play with my food. “Button!”
“What?” I snapped back to reality. “Oh, yeah, cost of pets, got it.”
She sighed. “I understand, but, for all you know, he could be better tomorrow.”
I groaned. “What’s the point? Maybe… maybe just putting him down would be better… easier.”
She gasped. “Button!” She took a moment. “I… Yes, it might be, but don’t forget, you have him now, and that’s what matters.”
I clicked my tongue. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s alright to feel this way.”
I nodded, smiled and ate the rest of my dinner in silence.
Once I was done and began to walk away, mom asked, “If you want, I can get an air mattress set up in the garage so you can be with him.”
My eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes,” she smiled, “I know he wouldn’t mind the company.”
I raced forward and threw my arms around her neck. “Thanks, mom, you’re the best.” I snickered. “You just saved me the trouble of sneaking out when you fell asleep.”
She hugged back. “I figured you would.”
We shared a laugh and then got everything set outside after changing out the sheets Charlie had already used. By then, we had set up a nice little corner where I could connect my Joyboy’s charger to a wall and where I could lay next to Charlie and make sure that no waste of his seeped into the mattress.
“Right,” mom said looking things over, “you sure you’ll be okay?”
I slowly nodded. “Yeah, mom.”
“Need anything else?” She began to fidget. “Maybe we could bring the TV down, set up your game station, I’m sure we could also—”
“Mom!” As tempting as that all sounded, I didn’t want to push my luck and have her freaking out anymore.
“Right! In any case,” she kissed me on my forehead, “call me if you need anything.” She then rubbed Charlie’s head. “And you be good too, you hear.”
He grinned and licked her face.
She pulled away and we all laughed as she went, “Blah.” Then she said, “Goodnight, Button.”
“Goodnight, mom, I love you.”
She said she loved me too, and closed the door to the garage.
Of course, I didn’t go to bed right away. As soon as she was gone, I hopped off the air mattress to lay next to Charlie, spending most of the night playing with him and texting my friend’s about happened. They all gave their condolences and asked if I was online—to which I explained why I couldn’t play TF tonight—with Rumble, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon asking if I wanted either of them to come over.
I politely told Sweetie Belle and Rumble that I was fine, but I joked around with Silver Spoon texting, ‘Sure, we can share the air mattress, should fit us both :p.’
It was the last text I sent before I started to get tired. With no more responses from any of them, I decided to call it a night with one last text saying, ‘thanks for the support, guys, see you tomorrow.’
“Well,” I said to Charlie, “big day tomorrow, huh?”
Despite the pain, he wagged his tail and smiled at me.
“Yeah, we sure have been through a lot, huh?” I tried not to think too hard on what would happen next, opting instead to think about having him here next to me right now. “Well, goodni—”
There was a tapping sound, followed by Charlie’s bark.
“Shush, quiet,” I told him, thinking it was nothing.
However, when it happened again, this time with a voice whispering `Button´ through the garage walls, I jumped up and slowly made my way to the side door. Once I stepped outside, I saw Silver Spoon, dressed in pajamas, carrying a small pack, about to knock on the garage again.
“Silver?” I replied.
“Geez,” she jumped back and looked at me. “You scared me.”
I blinked. “I scared you! What are you doing here?”
She walked towards me. “Well, didn’t you say I could come over if I wanted?”
My eye began to twitch. “What! I… Wait, you took that seriously?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Well, yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
I rubbed my head. “Well, I figured the tongue icon would have hinted at that.”
She straightened her glasses. “Well, I…” She bit her lip as the reality of the situation sank in. “Oh… Sorry, I don’t have to stay if you don’t want me too.”
I thought of at first to say just that—it would be trouble if my mom knew—however, looking at her staring away from me, her beautiful eyes looking sad and depressed, “You know… since you’re here…” I felt my face heating up, “If you really want to, that is.”
She looked up and beamed. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
I chuckled nervously and lead her in. “Right, shall we?”
She giggled and took my hand, “Lead the way, oh prince of mine.”
I rolled my eyes at her while blushing as we made our way into my little set up.
“No gamebox?” she questioned.
“Nope, didn’t want to overdo it. Charlie, hush, it’s Silver Spoon.”
He began to bark and attempted to stand up.
“Hey, hey,” I walked up to him and rubbed his head, “it’s alright, silly boy, she’s my guest. Which, speaking of, you… Oh!” I looked at her already sitting on the air mattress. ”Um, you got a sleeping bag, or, I can go get my own or—”
“Didn’t you say there was room for… two.” Her eyes widened. “Ah, right.”
I nervously chuckled. “Oh... I mean, yeah, we could both easily fit on it, but I could—”
She held up her hand. “Hey, if you want to… I’d be okay with it. Besides, I guess I thought you’d be up for it coming over.” She smirked at me. “Of course, provide we just cuddle all night, with no funny business.”
I flushed. “What? I wouldn’t! Besides, I’m asexual, or demisexual… Not that I think you’re not hot enough to do anything with you. Oh, wait, I mean—”
“Oh shut up,” she said playfully and grabbed my hand, pulling me forward.
However—as it goes—she pulled a little too hard, catching me off balance. Thus, I stumbled forward and was only able to react fast enough to land on top of Silver Spoon without crushing her. Leaving us chest to chest, nose to nose, laughing at the love cliché we had just pulled off.
I didn’t let the humor last long though, my lips meeting hers, hers meeting mine, we kissed for about ten minutes, tongues and all. The only time we stopped was when Charlie whimpered for attention.
“Right,” I said, pushing up, and sitting on the mattress. Once Silver Spoon got up to sit next to me we both scooted over to rub Charlie’s ear.
“You scared?” she asked me. "About if... You know?
I sighed. “A little… okay, a lot. But why wouldn’t I be? Charlie and I have been through everything together.” I rubbed his chin. “He’s always been there for me when things got rough. Every day, no matter how bad of mood I was in, he was there, wagging his tail, wanting to go for a walk, to make me happy.” I pulled one of my hands away from my dog to my girlfriend. “At least, I don’t have to worry about being alone anymore.”
Silver Spoon nuzzled my chest. “You can count on that. Like I said, it was hard when I lost my own pet a couple of years ago.”
I began to wiggle my toes. “Is it… Painful, when it happens?”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, opting instead to let me enjoy the warmth of her body. “Well, yes. It’s like a pain you can’t fix with a bandage or stitches. It’s not something you can just get over. At first, all you can do is cry, curse yourself, and wonder if you could have done more.” She used one of her hands to caress my shoulder. “Then, after some time , you’re over it. You still feel sad, and it may take a while for things to feel natural around the house again. But things do get better. Especially when you have someone to cry with. In my case, for all their flaws, my old friends, but mostly Dia. Sure, she acted though and, in front of everyone told me to ‘grow up,’ but when no one was looking, she hugged me and allowed me to cry.”
I smiled while I freed a hand to rub Charlie’s head. “I still can’t picture a world without him. Though, who knows, maybe he just needs some painkillers and I can keep him a little while longer.”
“Maybe,” Silver Spoon said with a yawn.
“Ready for bed?” I teased. “Though, if you really don’t—”
Before I could protest, she flipped me onto my back, pulled the cover over both of us and wrapped me into a hug.
Charlie protested at the excitement, but a quick rub of his head put him at ease. I then moved my hand away from him and wrapped it around Silver Spoon’s waist.
“I guess disagreeing would be foolish at this point?”
She giggled, kissed me, and wrapped her arms around me. “That’s a good boyfriend.”
I stuck out my tongue, then pulled her in, resting my head on her shoulder. “Hey, Silver?”
“Yeah?”
I nuzzled into her, holding her tight. “Thanks.”
“No problem, not the first time I have snuck out.”
I pulled back to look her in the eye. “Well, yeah, for this, but also for wanting to be my girlfriend. Still seems crazy, doesn’t it?”
She chuckled. “Yeah, it still kind of does.”
I adjusted our snuggling position. “Yeah, the princess and the geek.”
She moaned. “I was thinking more because I have such a kindhearted as well as handsome boyfriend." She sighed. "Sometimes, I still think this is all too good to be true. I mean, why would I deserve it?”
Smiling weakly, I lifted up her chin. “Hey, you do. Though, it’s just like me thinking I don’t deserve someone as pretty as you.” She blushed. “Someone I… I… well, I…”
Her eyes began to widen.
Flustered, I lessened my grip on her chin.
One of her hands pressed itself against my face. “It’s okay, I love you too, Button.”
I blinked several times. “Really?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I love you.”
Smiling wide, I put a hand on her beautiful neck, and said, “I love you too, Silver Spoon.”
She then coughed and raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t some trick to get me to start stripping, is it?” If to make her point she began to grind her hips against mine.
I hadn’t noticed since it rarely happened, but my pants had began to feel tight. “What… no!” I tried to pull my bottom half away from her. “I would never… Wait a minute, you said it first!”
She began to laugh hysterically and used her legs to pull me back into a tight hug. “Only because I knew you were too nervous.”
We laughed, till our laughs became awkward as we realized the position we were in.
“Silver.”
“Button.”
We said at the same time.
“So,” I asked, “am I supposed to go first, or you? I’m still not sure how this works.”
She clicked her tongue. “Oh stop it.” Her face turned beat red as she looked away from me. “If you were… You know, I never thought I’d say it, but…” She looked up at me lovingly, “we don’t have to do anything else tonight. Personally, I wouldn’t mind waiting. I know something like,” she looked beneath us, “that may not be your thing, but just know, I don’t care.”
I could tell she did want it, so I said. “Thanks, but,” I placed a hand on her hip. “Believe me, I’d rather not.” I looked into her beautiful eyes. “But just know, while it’s not something I’d like to do all the time, for you, I’d do anything to make you happy.”
She smiled and leaned her face close to mine. “Thanks, Button.”
I leaned in closer.
We kissed.
*****
I woke the next morning with what at first I thought was Charlie in a spooning position cuddled up to me. A little shift of my hand towards Silver Spoon’s chest confirmed to me what I should have already know. Sometime in the night she must have shifted position so her back was towards me while I held her (fully clothed) stomach and lower chest (which I kept there upon realizing my predicament).
Still, with a smile, I carefully squeezed upon the girl I love, as my chest holding hand slipped behind me to give Charlie a good morning pat on the head. At first, I felt nothing and began to feel around more hoping to find him. However, when I made no contact I slipped free of Silver Spoon's body to look at the spot where he had laid the night before, only to see him not there.
“Charlie?” I cried, causing Silver Spoon to stir.
“Wha… what is it?” she asked.
“Charlie! He’s—”
We snapped our attention to the door that lead to the backyard, where Charlie bounded in, tail wagging, panting happily.
“Charlie!” I cried as he leapt towards me, placing his head in my lap.
“Sure is a pleasant surprise,” mom said, right behind him.
I smiled. “It sure is.” I continued to stroke and hug him before my brain clicked. I shot up, Silver Spoon behind me, as I looked from mom to Silver Spoon, back at my mother, then back to my girlfriend.
“So, um, Silver Spoon,” mom said, arms crossed while hiding a smirk, “care for some breakfast since you’re here?”