Take It to Heart

The following morning, I was back at Oliver’s flat. And by back, I meant I was standing outside the door with my purse held close, his key in one hand and his post in the other. I had been outside of the door for a couple minutes dreading the entrance. I could already hear Oskar yapping from the inside. He was probably running in circles, jumping around the furniture, and mucking up anything left on the ground. Yesterday had been bad, seeing as the little dog managed to slobber all over my boots and hook a tooth into the hem of my coat, leaving a tear. Today I wouldn’t have Oliver to enforce the no jumping rule. I was on my own with this stupid, stupid dog. I finally understood my mum’s point of view.

I stuck the key in the door, twisted the handle, and hurried inside. Oliver said I would need to be fast to get in, or else Oskar would dart out the door and I would have to catch him. I would rather look foolish rushing into the room than rushing after a dog. Oskar faced me and continued to bark from the kitchen area. We stared at each other for a moment before he sprinted at me and started to jump at my calves. I purposely didn’t wear tights today so he couldn’t rip holes in them.

“Down, Oskar,” I warned.

I waved a couple of Oliver’s envelopes at him, hoping to scare him off. Instead, he bit at one of the letters and captured it. Before I had a chance to respond and grab it back, he turned and bolted off into the kitchen again.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I ran after him and dropped my purse, key, and the rest of the mail onto the coffee table.

My boots slipped a little when I ran onto the slick tile of the kitchen. Oskar was shaking his head back and forth, the letter whipping around in the air. It slowly started to tear around his teeth. “Drop it, Oskar,” I said firmly. “Drop the letter.”

He paused and cocked his head to the side. I inched closer and kneeled down. I played the capture in my mind several times; all I needed to do was lunge and grab him. The closer I got, the more he backed up. He started to snarl at me and grind his teeth together. When I finally made my move and jumped forward, he bent his head down, placed a paw on the letter, and ripped it in half. I grabbed him, holding him out like he was rotten, and stared at half the letter in his mouth. By this point, he was wagging his tail and trying to lick me. What was left of the letter fell out of his mouth to the ground.

“What the hell am I going to do with you?” I muttered. I kept my grip on him firm and looked around for a place to put him down. Down the hall of the flat, a door was opened into the bathroom. I walked towards it with Oskar still held out awkwardly. I shoved him into the bathroom and quickly pulled the door shut.

I returned the kitchen and started to pick up the pieces of paper and set them on a paper towel. Not even ten minutes into this whole dog sitting thing and I didn’t know if I could take anymore. I backed up against one of the counters and brushed against something slick, knocking whatever it was off the side of the counter. I cursed under my breath and turned around. Now littered across the kitchen floor were several photographs. I bent at the waist, ignoring the growing sounds from the bathroom, and started to pick up all of the pictures.

There were seven of the glossy photos. I laid them out on the counter and became a bit snoopy. They were from different places. Most were parties or from this flat. They all also had Oliver and a girl I’d never seen before. She was thin with that kind of messy, brown hair that was pretty, and big eyes. Her smile was wide in each picture. She must have been Oliver’s girlfriend, seeing as they were holding hands or his arm was around her in almost every image. I don’t know why I was surprised to see him with a girl. Obviously, he knew how to put charm on when he wanted to, and obviously he could get a girl who looked like a model, but it was still odd to see him over a period of time with the same person. Of course, I didn’t know him at all, he just gave off the vibe of wanting to be a free spirit. What do I know though?

I stacked the photos together again and pushed them to the far corner of the counter where they couldn’t be knocked off again. Once they were in place, I was brought back to reality. Oskar whined from the bathroom and scratched the wooden door. At first, the noise only annoyed me. Then, I started to feel bad for locking him in the bathroom. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to keep him prisoner, but I didn’t want to chase him around the flat either.

After debating in my mind, I found myself back at the bathroom door. Oskar was whining still, lightly scratching the wood. I instantly felt bad for locking him inside. I held my breath and opened the door. Inside, Oskar was sitting close to the door. He blinked up at me a couple of times but stayed still. A feeling of relief waved over me. “Well, c’mon, I’ll walk you.”

He followed me quietly back to the living room. Next to the door was a coat rack, which had a leash and dog bags hung from it. I grabbed them both and clipped the leash onto Oskar’s collar. We still weren’t on good terms, but as long as he cooperated it’d be okay. I had never taken a dog on a walk before. He seemed to lead me instead of the other way around. He wasn’t big enough to pull me, but heavy enough to sit in one spot and no be tugged in another direction. It was like a game that I didn’t want to play. There was a small park near by where I let him do his business before walking back to the flat.

Once we hit the threshold and I unhooked him, Oskar darted off down the hallway. I leaned my head back and let out a sigh before following him. I cooed his name a couple of times before approaching the flat’s bedroom. I didn’t actually want to go inside. I felt like it would be a huge invasion of Oliver’s privacy. I didn’t know him well at all, so I definitely didn’t want to go into his bedroom. After a couple minutes though, I gave in and went to retrieve the dog.

The bedroom was unorganized, but clean. There was an open suitcase in the corner with clothes spewing out of it and random boxes strewn around the room. I assumed the bed had been made before he left, but now that Oskar was seated in the middle of it, the blankets were crumpled and moved.

“I’m really losing my patience for you,” I told the dog and approached the bed. He scooted closer to the pillows, continuing the game.

I took another step and walked into one of the boxes around the room. I looked down at it. The top was open, revealing random picture frames and clothing. It didn’t look like Oliver’s. Curiosity got the better of me and I bent at the waist and grabbed out one of the frames. The photo inside was of Oliver, Tom, and two girls, one of them was the same from the photos in the kitchen. I could only guess that his girlfriend was moving in with him, which would explain the random boxes.

My phone started to go off in my pocket, starling me, followed by Oskar barking at the noise. I dropped the frame into the box and pulled out my phone. Oliver had texted me. It was obviously a sign I should get out of his bedroom.

“How’s it going with the mutt?”

I was quick to reply. “He’s already destroyed your post.”

I didn’t mention that Oskar was now hiding between his pillows. I didn’t think it was necessary information that I had to crawl across the bed to grab Oskar, and then, with Oskar in one hand, flatten out the down comforter. I shut the door behind me for good measure and carried Oskar out into the living room.

Oliver told me it would be okay to leave Oskar overnight as long I left the balcony door open, because there was one of those potty training mats for dogs outside. But when the time came to leave him, he calmed down again like he had in the bathroom and looked up at me with big eyes. I chewed on my lip and told myself he could manage by himself until tomorrow. And then Oliver would be back the day after that and he wasn’t my worry anymore.

My phone went off again. “Probably should have warned bout that. He’ll grow on you. x.”

He was mental, obviously. I didn’t bother with a reply yet. Instead, I grabbed my bag and scooped up Oskar on my way out the door.

The only thing that made me feel worse than potentially leaving Oskar at the flat was when my cat scratched at him upon arrival at my house. Cosmo hissed and went to hide under the couch after I brought Oskar home. He looked up at me stunned after the incident. I couldn’t blame him. I thought the house was empty as I herded him upstairs and towards my room. I could never have that luxury though.

“What is that?” Naomi asked, appearing out of the bathroom. I was so close to being in my room already.

Oskar instantly ran over to her and started to sniff her shoes. He ended up jumping onto her leg and humping her. Horrified, she took a couple steps back and tried to shimmy away. “Sorry,” I said and darted forward, grabbing him. “This is Oskar. I’m watching him for a, erm, friend.”

“Dianne is going to go mental,” she commented, glaring at the dog. Of course my mum would freak. She was just pointing out the obvious now.

I hugged Oskar closer to me. He wasn’t squirming anymore, but he wasn’t growing on me either. “Could you not say anything? I’m going to keep him in my room until morning when I take him back.”

Naomi placed her hands on her hips. I hated how young she made me feel. Even though it was only a year difference, I always felt like more. I think it’s because her hair and make up was always done and she had the attitude of a business woman. “As long as he doesn’t get near me again, I won’t mention anything.”

I nodded, muttered thanks, and walked into my room. This was such a bad idea to bring him hear. I took out my phone and replied to Oliver. “Grow on me? More like hump on my stepsister. Nice try.”

“I’ll make it up to you.”

That evening, Anna came over to my house. Oskar “greeted” her the same was he greeted Noami and then jumped back onto my bed. “You’ve to be kidding,” Anna said, sitting in my desk chair. “You bought a dog?”

“No, I didn’t buy him, he belongs to a friend of mine,” I said, pausing before the word friend again. “I’m supposed to be dog sitting.”

“What friend?”

“The same that gave me those shirts the other day.”

“When did he go from being an acquaintance to a friend?” she asked, remembering the term I’d used previously.

Anna remembered everything it seemed like. That’s why, over the course of our friendship, I’d become better and better at lying. She’d remember each lie or excuse, which meant I had to as well. I guess I shouldn’t even be lying to my best mate in the first place, but sometimes it’s necessary.

“When he asked me to look after his dog,” I replied. “Look, it doesn’t really matter. We don’t know each other all that well. I just didn’t want to leave the dog at his flat.”

“He gave you a key to his flat, and you don’t know each other all that well?”

I rolled my eyes and lay back on my bed. Oskar positioned himself near my knees, his head propped up on my leg. Okay, so he was growing on me. Whatever. “I know, it’s weird.”

“Do you have the hots for this bloke? Is he fit? Does he make your knickers—”

“Anna!” I stopped her, my face flushing. I had never even thought about Oliver like that, and I didn’t think I wanted to either. “No, he does nothing to my knickers. He’s attractive, but I don’t have the hots for him. Plus, he’s got himself a live in girlfriend who looks like a model.”

The rest of the weekend seemed to fly by after that. Oskar was a handful, or bipolar. He’d be fine one moment and then hyper and hysterical the next. I ended up leaving him at Oliver’s the following night after nearly being caught by my mum as I was smuggling him out of the house. I was back at his flat the morning Oliver was supposed to be back. I had already walked and fed the dog and was getting ready to leave when he came through the front door. We hadn’t talked since I last messaged him. I figured he’d gotten busy.

It took him a moment to notice I was inside. He walked in looking tired and threw his bag on the floor. Oskar ran up to him and circled his feet. Oliver picked him up and squeezed him before noticing me near the kitchen.

“Hey Rose,” he greeted, letting the dog down. “He wasn’t too much was he?”

I shrugged. “Not after I got used to him.”

He smiled and rubbed the back of his tattooed neck. He was dressed in a pea coat and tight jeans. I had no idea how he was as skinny as he was. His hair was messy under a Drop Dead beanie and his cheeks were tinted pink from the weather outside. It became awkward fast.

“I should probably get goin’ though, I’ll see you ‘round Oliver,” I said and grabbed my purse of the counter.

“Do you need a lift?” He asked. Oskar was still at his feet but he was ignoring him. “I didn’t notice you car outside.”

He was right. Anna dropped me off on her way to work. She hadn’t been thrilled that she had to go out of her way, but as my designated best friend, she was also my designated ride when it was below zero outside. “Yeah, that’d be great. Cheers.”

“There’s a party tomorrow night, if you’re interested in goin’,” Oliver said when we were almost to my house. He hadn’t needed directions this time, which left an odd silence between us until now. He continued, “it’s at my mate Matt’s place. You should go.”

I hadn’t done anything fun, like a party, in the last couple of months. I’d been too preoccupied with school. Then again, this would be a party with loads of people I didn’t know, aside from Oliver’s brother I assumed. We pulled up to my house and he was still waiting for an answer. “Uh, I’ll let you know in the mornin’.”

I opened the car door and got out, shutting it softly. Noami, again, was the only one home. “Who was that?” she asked when I walked in. So now, not only was she a bitchy stepsister, she was a spy also.

“What’s it to you?” I spat back. I walked past her and into the kitchen. My mum had something in the oven already and the table set.

“Finally got a boyfriend and you’re embarrassed of him, are you?” Naomi nagged while grabbing an apple out of the fridge.

My face flushed for no particular reason and I turned away from the cupboard to her. “Sod off and mind your own business. You wouldn’t know anything about boyfriends, since you’ll open your leg—”

“Rose, Naomi, you two home?”

I shut my mouth instantly as my mum walked in through the back door. She had the post in her hands and laid it out on the counter. When she turned to the two of us, her face twisted into a sour expression. She could tell we’d just been fighting, but she wouldn’t mention it. She’d just give us that look, the one that tells you to get over yourself and get along, and carry on with her business.

Naomi stayed in the kitchen after I marched out past her. This house was becoming the biggest annoyance in my life, which is probably why I texted Oliver wondering if he would pick me up tomorrow evening.