Chances Taken

“Yeehaw! Look at that little doggie run!” Kris and I laughed as Geno was wanting to jog, but Jeffrey didn’t, he just plopped down and Geno was tugging for him to move.

“He’s runnin’ so fast I can’t even see him!” Kris teased and we laughed and then high fived as Geno flipped us off.

“I’m just gunna take him home,” Geno said and I whined.

“Aw come on, G, we’ll walk with you,” I said and Geno looked at me and then pointed to Jeffrey.

“He no run, he no walk, he plop,” Geno said and I giggled a little, “You go, I wait here for him to move.”

“Is he thirsty?” Kris asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

“He no do anything to be thirsty,” Geno said and I sighed, “Go ahead, I’ll see you later.”

“All right, sorry G,” Kris said and Geno nodded his head, “Come on Mags.”

I nodded my head and then looked down at Jazz, “Ready boy?”

Kris and Hulk had already started to job, but Jazz and I caught up easily. With one last wave to Geno, we were heading down the jogging path with Jazz and Hulk easily keeping up with us. I liked running with Kris, with or without the dogs, we seemed to always be in rhythm with each other, never having to wait for the other. I knew that he could run faster than me, his long legs just made him built for it, but he made to keep up with me.

We jogged for about five miles straight before we noticed the dogs starting to get tired. Kris and I headed over towards the area where dogs normally were and turned the fountain on so they both could get a drink.

“How you feeling?” Kris asked as I wiped the start of sweat off of my forehead.

“I’m feeling good, you?”

“Good,” he said and I smirked, “More?”

“Let’s go,” I said and Kris nodded his head and we looked down to see the dogs lying on the ground panting, “You’d think we wore them out.”

“I know right,” Kris laughed and I smiled towards him, I liked his laugh.

“Come on, Jazz,” I called as I saw a big tree by the pond and wanted to sit against it. Jazz pushed himself up and we walked over there. He plopped back down when I started to sit down. Kris followed me and then sat right down next to me, our bodies were touching and I tried not to blush. I’ve had a little crush on Kris ever since I came to the team, he was the first to kind of open up and accept me as a Penguin.

“It’s really nice out.”

“Yeah, but you can tell it’s turning into fall,” I said and Kris nodded his head, “Not a lot of people here.”

“It is the middle of the day on a work day,” he said and I nodded my head.

“It’s hard to remember what day it is with hockey,” I laughed and he smirked and nodded his head. I looked down towards Jazz, he yawned and then laid his head on my leg, “Are you tired boy? Did we tire you out?”

“Hulk is down for the count too,” Kris said as he rubbed his dog’s back and smiled.

“Guess we better head back,” I said and Kris nodded his head and stood up, turning his body and holding out his arm for me, “Thank you,” I smiled as I took his hand and Kris pulled me up, “Come on guys, we’ll walk this time.”

I stood up and wiped the dirt off my butt, I looked at Kris to see if he was ready, he was. Kris patted Hulk’s side and he picked his head up and groaned a little, “Come on buddy.”

I giggled and then watched as Hulk and Jazz both perked their heads up and sniffed the air. I freaked when Jazz just darted, his leash slipping from my hands, and Hulk was right behind him, “JAZZ!!!”

“HULK!!!”

Kris and I sprinted after their dogs, wondering where they got the sudden energy from. We called for our dogs in hopes that they would stop, but no such luck. They stuck to the path, the few people that were in the park jumped out of the way as the dogs and Kris and I charged past them.

“Where are they going?!” I yelled to Kris, my lungs started to hurt because of how fast and long I was running.

“I don’t know!” he yelled back and then called his dog.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled and then laughed a little when I saw them heading for the hotdog stand and then coming to a stop right in front of the cart, nearly knocking the poor owner over, “Jazz!” I breathed as I came to a halt and practically dove for the leash, “Bad dog!”

“Hulk, come on man,” Kris breathed as well, we were both out of breath.

“I think your dogs are hungry,” the owner of the hotdog cart said and I laughed a little.

“I guess so,” I said and looked down towards Jazz to see him sitting, staring up at the man, drool coming from his mouth and he whined a little, “I’ll take two plain, no bun.”

“All right, Miss,” he said and then I pulled out the money for the man while he placed to of the hotdogs on the plate and we traded.

“Keep the change,” I said, giving him a two dollar tip.

“Thanks,” he said and I pulled Jazz along, well I didn’t really have to pull him, he and Hulk both followed the smell.

“They ran and you’re feeding him?” Kris laughed and I shrugged my shoulders and handed him one of the hotdogs, “You didn’t need to.”

“Shut up, your dog’s hungry,” I said as I bent down, ripped the hotdog into pieces and started to give some to Jazz, “You’re one crazy pup, Jazz-man.”

Kris chuckled a little and mirrored my actions, “Well, they did get us closer to our cars,” he said and I looked straight ahead to see that we were where we needed to be.

“We just sprinted five miles?” I asked and Kris chuckled and nodded his head, “That’s one way to get a workout in, no wonder my lungs are hurting me.”

“Mine too,” Kris said and I smiled towards him, “You want to get coffee, there’s a shop at the end of the street that allow dogs to come in?”

“Sure,” I smiled and then stood up, throwing the plate away and patting my thigh so that Jazz would follow after me, “Oh, I think I wanna hold off on running for a while,” I groaned and heard Kris laugh.

“You and me both,” he said and I smiled, “I’ll have to bring treats with me or something when I take him here, or this will happen again.”

“I here ya,” I said as Kris and I walked out of the park and I followed him down the street towards the coffee shop. We sat outside under the covered patio, a waitress came over and took Kris and my coffee orders and said she’d bring bowls for our dogs, “I never saw this place.”

“Geno and I sometimes come here, even Staalsy.”

“Staalsy has a dog?” I asked and Kris smirked and nodded his head.

“A mutt that he adopted, Rusty,” Kris said and I laughed a little, “It’s more his girlfriend’s than his.”

“And the truth comes out!” I said and Kris laughed, “Where’d he adopt him?”

“Same place I got Hulk? Some charity event that the team did at the beginning of last season, Geno held to Pitbull pups, Sid had a lab or something. Cats and dogs mostly- Hell, Coach and Mario get in it too,” I laughed and shook my head, wishing that I was there for that, “We usually take them in the fall, so it should be coming up. Penguins and Paws, is what it’s called.”

“How many times have you done it?”

“Since I started with the Pens, something that we do every year, I’ve held cats and dogs. But when I got Hulk, I don’t know, I just really wanted him.”

“Nothing wrong with that, it’ll be interesting this year what I get if we do it,” I said and Kris smiled, “I’ll laugh if Mike gets a cat, he hates cats!”

“I’m sure we’ll do it, it’s usually in October,” Kris said and then the waitress came out giving us our coffees and then bending down to give the dogs their waters, being sure to bend down so that Kris could have a good view of down her shirt. I was thankful that he quickly turned his head, his eyes a little wide.

“If you need anything, just let me know,” the waitress said as she placed her hand on Kris’ shoulder and then walked away.

“Wow,” I laughed as I picked up my drink and took a sip of my coffee.

“Happens all the time.”

“Oh I know, I see it all the time when I’m with Mike, but still- Wow,” I said and he chuckled, took a sip of his coffee and looked down at Hulk to see he and Jazz drinking their water.

After we finished at the coffee shop, Kris and I walked back to the park and over towards our cars. I opened the backdoor and Jazz hopped right in, turned around and plopped on the backseat.

“I’ll see you tomorrow? You working out?” Kris asked from his car, three spots down.

“Yeah, I’ll be there, although, I don’t know if I’ll be running,” I laughed and Kris smiled, nodded his head and got in his car, “See ya, Mags.”

“Bye Kris!” I said and then got into my SUV.

On my way home, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened today if Jeffrey decided that he didn’t want to be at the park. I wondered what would have happened if Geno was with Kris and I the whole time. In a way, I was a little happy that Geno left Kris and I by ourselves, I had fun with him.

I pulled into my driveway, opened the garage door, pulled in and then got out, opening the backdoor so that Jazz could get out as well, “Did you have a good run boy?” I smiled towards him and then walked over towards the door in the garage and opened it, watching Jazz run into the house and right over to his bed in the living room, he plopped with a huff and I laughed and walked into the kitchen to get a drink, “Lilly! We’re home!” I called as I opened the fridge and then looked towards the stairs, “Not like you’re going to come anyways.”