Puppy Love

Standing in Joe’s room we all just stared at each other, not sure what to do. Joe may have been spaced out about that dreamy taco he sucked down for lunch yesterday, but I was just trying to absorb the shock. Who would steal puppies?

“Do we call the cops?” Joe asked finally breaking the silence.

“What and say someone took our puppies?” I yelled back. “No Joe that’s stupid. It’s not a real emergency.”

Scowling at me Joe stood up from the edge of his bed and walked over to his dresser where he began to change shirts. “I was just trying to help; you didn’t have to be so rude. I was gonna help you, but after that, no lil bro.”

Sighing I stumbled over to where he stood, his right hand ruffling the back side of his head. “Joe I’m sorry, I’m just stressed.” I said to him as he sprayed his old spice deodorant. “Will you please help me? Des is already mad at me for what I did, losing the pups aren’t gonna help.” I gave him my best puppy dog expression I could when he turned to face me.

“Nick, you fail at that face.” He said laughing, his prescribed glasses sliding to the edge of his nose. “And yeah, I’ll help you so you can win your women back.” His left hang swung down and doubled me over, his right hand moved furiously back and forth in my curls.

“No noogies!” I shouted at him. “We need to find the puppies now. After dark it’s almost impossible to find missing dogs.” I told him as I raced out of his room and to the stairs.

Grabbing his hoodie he followed down the stairs with his cell phone in hand. “Nick, that’s people. I’m sure if we call Des she can bring Layla, we’ll bring Elvis, and together they can track down the scent. No need to get your boxers in a bunch.”

That was actually good idea. Jogging to the box where the pups where housed I took the blanket and grabbed Elvis’s leash before clipping it to his collar and putting him into the back seat of that car. The whole ride there Elvis was pacing. He was continuously looking from both windows, barking and whining.

Joe had called Des and told her to bring Layla, there was an emergency and he would explain it when we got to her house. Arriving we could see her waiting on the driveway with Layla already on her leash. Opening the back passenger door to let Elvis out, he shot out of there and ran up to Layla where they began barking and whining.

“What happened?!” Des exclaimed at the dog’s behavior. “Nick!”

Walking up to her I pushed my hands out in front of me, hoping I would be able to hold her back if she suddenly charged at me for my careless mistake. “Someone stole the pups.” I said bluntly.

At that moment Layla growled as Des’s face scrunched together and she glared at me and
Joe. “How could you be so stupid and leave them unintended? Those were pure breed dogs you guys! People want them, but they won’t pay the price!”

“Well Joe was home, he was supposed to look after them.” I said quickly.

“I was asleep!”” Joe countered. “You should’ve locked the door.”

Joe and I bickered for a little while longer before Des cut us off. “Oh shut up! Nick, you shouldn’t have thrown him under the bus, also you could’ve locked the door you idiot. And Joe, you shouldn’t be such a deep sleeper.”

“Hey! I’m not that deep of a sleeper.” Joe said as he got a hold of Elvis. “I remember Destiny came in and asked me where Nick was.”

Desiree had been trying to get Layla’s leash. She had almost gotten it to, but when Joe motioned Miley Junior’s name her head snapped around so fast I thought it would’ve broken.

“Do you think she did it?” She asked walking closer to us, her blue eyes shifting between me and Joe.

I shrugged. “She could’ve. She had the motives.”

Joe was piling in Layla and Elvis into the back seat as Desiree and I weighed the chances
Destiny would actually steal puppies. She never liked dogs. She considered them ‘Flee bags’ or ‘Humping machines’ since she was attacked by a horny three year old Great Dane when she was younger.

“It wouldn’t hurt to check her house right?” Joe asked us as he closed the door and got into the driver’s seat.

“Yeah you’re right; we should go by just in case.” Des said walking towards the car. “Hopefully they’ll be outside and we can just steal them back.”

No that’s more like it. Feisty. I followed behind her and shut the passenger door with one hand. “My car, I get passenger if not driver.” I told her smugly.

Crossing her arms at her chest and leaning on one side of her hips she rolled her eyes. “But the dogs are taking up all the space.”

“One of you could either sit in the back and get stepped and sat on by dogs, I wouldn’t recommend that,” Joe said “Or you could share the passenger seat.”

Glaring at me she spoke “I hope your hips aren’t as big as your 2008 curls.” She slid into the car, as close to Joe as she could.

I slid after her and buckled our seat belt as best as I could. In the end she was basically sitting on my lap, my hands holding her by her sides so she wouldn’t fall off from the sharp turns. Next stop: Destiny's house.