Until I Fall Away

[Remle Boyd]

Remle sighed in relief as she stepped into the cool interior of her apartment and set her keys into the glass bowl by the door. She struggled to take off her shoes as the bundle in her arms squirmed a little. "Just a minute," she cooed before finally leaving her shoes behind and heading towards her bathroom. It was a small, intimate space with an old claw-foot tub and original sink with fixtures. Whoever had owned the apartment before her had kept the pipes and fixtures in good condition and had even updated the bathroom recently. Remle had just painted the walls blue to accent the white fixtures. She reached back with her foot and shut the door firmly behind her, finally letting the small dachshund in her arms down onto the floor. She was lucky that Ceasar and Kraken were so laid back about new things in their territory. She attributed it to the fact that they had both been adopted and tended to welcome newcomers into their territory.

After letting the animal down she walked over to start filling her tub and rooted around to find some baby shampoo she had obtained for some beauty tip she no longer remembered. "Let's get you clean okay Sweetie?" she asked as she added a bit of soap into the tub. She'd found said puppy on her way home, covered in mud and with no identification. Remle had been about to pass him by when a heart-wrenching whine made her immediately change her mind. While it was true that she was scared of large dogs, small ones were still very okay and she hated leaving strays. After she shut the water off in the tub she set about removing her own clothing because, while it was already dirty from holding the puppy, she didn't want anything scratched up in case he was skittish in the water. To that end she removed her shirt first, followed by her slacks and nylons before unhooking her bra. After dropping everything into a pile by the sink she fetched two large, fluffy towels and set the empty laundry basket on the toilet for later. She tossed the dog another smile before pulling her hair back into a sloppy bun.

Carefully, she lifted the small dog into the tub and picked up the baby shampoo so that she could start washing. Since he didn't seem to mind the water (and was in fact, staring up at her adoringly) she was able to let her mind wander about the day's events. Not surprisingly they immediately went to what had happened before she obtained what she was certain would become her newest pet.

As Remle had been grocery shopping earlier she had unexpectedly bumped into Dakota Hyde. She'd been thinking about the younger man almost non-stop since their initial meeting at the radio station and it worried her to no end. Specifically because her emotions were at war with each other. Either she daydreamed (impossible) romantic situations or every "fake" conversation ended with her and Dakota sniping at each other with vocabulary that Remle was shocked she knew. Needless to say that despite Dr. Nevillie having gotten her to a point where she knew an apology was the best path, when the time actually came, all she could do was stutter it out (sincerely) and be shocked when it was accepted and an apology was given to her in turn. She'd gaped at him like a fish, blushed a strange shade of crimson and ran off with a hasty goodbye. She'd been so embarrassed that she'd rushed through her grocery shopping and check out only to realize she'd forgotten half the things on her list. She'd had to go back and finish while attempting to avoid the possibility of running into Kota again.

She didn't know what to make of her feelings. Being angry and sarcastic was easier to deal with than romantic entanglement but it seemed as if her heart made the decision for her. The last time she'd been obsessed with a man had been her second boyfriend. She'd met him before class had started one day and they'd talked for quite awhile afterwards. Four months later and it was over when she happened upon him passionately snogging one of their other classmates. It wasn't the first time Remle had been called "cold" before but it was the first time anyone had also implied that the coldness had somehow migrated from her heart to her…lady bits. That had been at least three years ago and Remle was not at all interested in a repeat. But listen to her being so narcissistic! "Tsch....he wouldn't even date you anyway," she muttered with a decent amount of disgust and ignoring the ache that echoed through her chest.

She looked down at the dog in the tub and managed a small, sad smile. "Sorry Baby....it's no-," she stopped when she was about to lie to herself. It wasn't "nothing". "It's a boy," she sighed as she continued to gently massage the shampoo into the dogs skin so that she could rinse him off. She had apologized and so she could move on, besides she was more than ninety percent sure that Dakota hadn't even thought twice about her once she'd hurried away. He was happily moving on with his life knowing he didn't have to deal with her anymore. Somehow instead of making her angry or relieved it just made her sad. Why did she have to randomly crush on someone who wasn't going to date her anyway? Maybe she should schedule an appointment with Dr. Neville to work out her self-esteem issues. She sighed.

[Dakota Hyde]

The little Dachshund didn’t really know what to think, he hadn’t really expected Remle to bring him to her place. He had only wanted her to notice him when she almost passed by. Having felt pretty badly at the store when they apologized to each other, half of him had wanted to ask if she had liked the teddy bear and the necklace… Not having actually asked her had kind of hurt him, because he really wanted to know if she liked it, but wasn’t sure how she would respond to finding out he sent it to her. He was pretty sure the woman despised him enough, he didn’t want her to despise the gifts he sent her.

He had changed into a dog after his bump in with Remle because he had to clear his mind because he was thinking too much about the blonde… He found that incredibly chick flic like and it had to stop. (Not that he saw anything wrong with chick flics). So him seeing Rem and then her bringing him to her place was not something he had necessarily wanted. However he was not going to complain, really he was going to milk it as much as he could. When was he really going to have a chance like this?

The puppy’s eye widened when Remle stripped down to well her panties. That was not something he had expected, and he had to look down while she washed him because he felt indecent to stare at her. While he knew that Rem would just think he was afraid for keeping his head down, he was really just trying to respect her. Though she was making it very hard for him to be respectful...

Dakota looked up at her with his head tilted to the side the way all animals do when they were curious. Date? He barked at her, he? Who was he? Who was she talking about? It wouldn’t be him… No that would be something that would be kind of too good to be true. He really wasn’t sure what to think about this. He whined sympathetically, and licked a part of her arm that was not covered in soap. Though she was pretty wrong about him not thinking about her after them meeting at the store. He had thought about her, heck here he was seeing her 99% naked. However, Kota was still pretty sure she didn’t care about him either, considering if she could only be nice to him as a puppy… he didn’t see much going for him if he could only get love out of her as a puppy and not a human. Even though it felt incredibly good to hear her call him ‘baby, and sweetheart’. A part of him felt over protective of Remle though, he wanted to know everything about this boy she was crushing on, and if that boy didn’t think Rem was good enough for him, he wanted to bite his balls off.

[Remle Boyd]

Remle smiled as the dog yipped at her and licked her. "Good thing you didn't get soap, it tastes bad," she informed him as she finished rinsing him and checked him over to make sure that he was clean. "I met him at the radio station for an interview," she continued as she started draining the tub and went to fetch the fluffy towel and reached in to lift the puppy into the towel now resting in her lap. She sat on the floor as the tub drained and ran the soft cloth over his clean fur. "He said I was cute, no one ever says that, not when I'm sober anyway. It was unexpected. I don't like that, so...I might have been a huge bitch," she sighed as she rested her forehead on his damp fur and sighed, telling herself that she was not going to cry. "Guys don't date huge bitches by choice do they? Well maybe you would but your idea of a huge bitch is different from mine isn't it?" she joked flatly as she touched his damp nose with a well-manicured finger.



"Anyway...I apologized to him today when we met in the grocery store; but, you know...huge bitch here," she shrugged helplessly. "It's fine, I apologized, I move on, he doesn't think twice about me…same story, all the fucking time," she sighed as she wrapped the dog up and put him into the basket on the toilet where she could keep an eye on him as she showered. "Stay here baby," she ordered as she restarted the shower, rising the rest of the dirt out of the tub as she drew the curtain around the spray but left the pack part facing the toilet open so that she could keep an eye on the puppy. That done she wasted no time in stripping off the rest of her clothes before gathering the pile and taking it to her bedroom. She returned not a minute later to step into her steaming shower and practically melting into the hot spray. The shadows around the room seemed to agree with her as several slid from the walls onto the floor, pooling on the ground like some sort of giant, puddle. She stood there for a few moments rubbing the back of her neck with her hand, wishing (not for the first time) that there was someone here to rub it for her.


Her shower routine was quick and to the point. She washed her hair, and then ran conditioner through it. While it was setting she felt along her legs and remembered she had shaved yesterday and was okay for another day or so. She washed the conditioner out of her hair and then soaped up her sea sponge with her favorite soap (something earthy and clean smelling) before washing everywhere, rinsing and then finally washing her face. When that was completed she turned the water off and twisted the excess water out of her hair before stepping out and reaching for the second towel she had brought in earlier. She toweled off briskly before wrapping it around herself and picking the puppy and his towel up from the basket and carting him off to her room, the shadows lazily following like minions in her wake until her radius ended and they returned to normal. Given the smaller rooms in her apartment, most of the shadows around her were affected and it wasn’t difficult to see that they took every opportunity to move, swirl, fly and stretch themselves nonsensically while she was near. She took the dog to her room where she set him down with another brisk rub down, determined he was dry enough and tossed the towel with her other dirty laundry.


“Are you hungry? Let me put something on and I’ll make you food,” she called behind her as she entered her closet and began to dress. She tossed her towel into the laundry pile and dug around before she found a light blue and white lingerie set to wear before pulling on a pair of yoga shorts and slipping an overlarge pajama shirt over top, choosing to leave it open for now. She exited her closet and picked up a brush, easing the tangles from her hair before setting it down and running her fingers through it to relax it. “Sweetie are you hungry?” she asked, looking around for the small dog.

[Dakota Hyde]

Dakota growled at the soap comment, how he would know it. It was how his parents punished him for talking back, and saying bad words were to put a bar of soap in his mouth for like thirty seconds. He perked up at radio station. He barked, he wanted to know a name! he wouldn’t be able to know who it was without a name, was a name so hard? He tilted his head to the side, he had said she was cute. How could she not like being complimented? Would explain a lot though… He would have to remember not to compliment her now… He started barking, this time it wasn’t just one bark, it was a series. He didn’t like how she was talking about herself. But the comment did make him laugh a little. His nose tingled at her touch, and he gave a small whine. The grocery store? That was where he had... so.. It was him? He was who she was talking about? That had made all the difference...


He whined a little in the basket, as the girl hopped into the shower, Kota couldn’t help but stare, then he actually wanted to jump in with her… But refrained from it, he thought it would be a bad idea. She also did tell him to stay put. That however was hard to follow when he saw the shadows start moving… it freaked him big time, he tried to jump out of the basket, but failed. He ended up on the floor in a heap with the basket over him like a cage. He pawed at the basket for a bit, but when he couldn’t move it he just laid down and rested his head on his front paws.


When he was set on the bed, he laid down on one of her pillows and curled up. Kota wasn’t going to follow her into the closest, again he was trying to respect her as much as he could with how she was being around him at the moment. His thoughts got interrupted when a really big fat cat walked up to him. He blinked at the cat, and barked, hoping he would go away. However, the cat hadn’t, the cat ended up sitting on him. He growled, trying to twist and crawl to get out from under the huge cat. When Remle asked if he was hungry, he tried to bark, but it was muffled by cat butt fur.

[Remle Boyd]

Remle looked around for the dog and then back onto her bed where Kraken sat there looking way too satisfied with himself. "KRAKEN! Bad boy!" she scolded as she moved the reluctant feline off of the dog and swatted him lightly on his bottom. "No sitting on the puppy!" she ordered as she picked the dog up and put him on the floor. "Ceasar you too!" she ordered the Siamese, lurking on a nearby cat tree. She turned on her heel and walked back down the hall into her kitchen, making small kissy noises at the dog to get him to follow her. As she pulled various supplies from her cupboards and her fridge she took a short break to go put a record in her record player and soon the smooth sounds of a 1930's jazz trumpet came out of the speakers. It was sad and filled with soul, perfectly mirroring her current mood as she moved back to the kitchen. She knew the next track would be more upbeat, but for now it was nice to enjoy the mournful sound following her around her space. She set about making pasta, efficiantly cutting and adding her incrediants before she took some thawed steak out and cut it up. She'd have to go out later to buy dog food, but the steak was big enough that she could get at least two or three meals out of it for the small dog she had picked up.

Thirty minutes later her pasta was done and cooling as she finished cooking the steak and cut it into small bite sized chunks and put some into a small bowl. She made sure to trim any fat she came across and added a bit of potato that she had boiled until soft and mashed to give the dog a more rounded (and hopefully filling meal). She put the leftovers into the fridge before quickly cleaning her space and pouring herself a glass of wine. With no regard to the time of day she took a sip and then poured more. The combination of liquor and jazz helped her relax and she set her plate at her kitchen table and the dog's bowl on the floor nearby. "There ya go," she murmured before curling up into her chair and eating. A dreamy look appeared over her face as she thought about vintage dresses and dance halls and...the look slipped away and her fork clattered onto her plate. She'd thought about dancing with Dakota Hyde...again. "Really, really gotta stop thinking about Dakota Hyde," she sighed as she quickly finished eating and took her plate to the sink. She picked up her wine glass and took another sip as she moved into the living room where her keyboard was set up and turned the jazz off and her keyboard on so that she could work on a composition she’d been playing with on and off. It wasn’t long before she was completely absorbed in her music.

[Dakota Hyde]

Dakota was glad when Remle took the huge cat off of him. Wow! Such a mean cat.. He wished he was bigger, that way he could sit on the cat back… He shook out his fur, never has he been that humiliated before.. Not even that time he stepped on an animal trap. Kota perked up his ears when she started to play music, but growled under his breath when it was jazz music. Who liked jazz anymore? It was boring and old. Kota sat at the edge of the kitchen entrance, and watched Remle make food. His stomach growled in hunger, that was right, he hadn’t eaten anything today… It was a good thing the woman was making something for him now.

Kota started working on the dog dish, eating in almost gulps, he probably shouldn’t be eating like this, but he had to make it convincing that he was a dog… And Dog’s didn’t really chew their food. When Remle said something about him, he looked up and barked. No! She should not stop thinking about him, though he wondered what the details were… Probably best not to delve into that one… Who knows, the girl might be extremely kinky… Kota licked his lips when he was done, then jumped onto the couch and curled up, watching Remle with his head on his paws. He had to think of a way to get away from Remle… He couldn’t stay here forever, he had a life, but he also didn’t want to just leave her… Should he just run away and screw it? Or should he shift, and then leave, after she got clothes for him…?

[Remle Boyd]

When Remle got into something, there was usually the chance that she got so into it that she lost track of time. Case in point, three hours later she glanced at the clock and noticed the time. Shit, she should really do something else...sighing, she turned off her keyboard and shifted the stack of music paper she had scribbled on over the course of her practice and writing session to a safer place on a shelf before taking her empty glass to the sink. Upon her return she cooed to the sleeping puppy on her couch and picked him up, cuddling him against her chest as she carried him into her bedroom and sat him down on the bed. She took a moment to pet the cats in their cat tree before retrieving a small stack of books from another shelf and bringing them over. "Wait a moment," she told the puppy as she went back through her apartment and turned off lights and checked that her front door was locked. She took her phone from its charger in the living room and brought it into her bedroom, tossing it near to the pile of books she'd set on her bed before climbing up herself.

Her bed was a king size, much too large for herself, but large enough that she could bring her keyboard and papers in and work from here if she wanted...and she often did. Tonight however she rested above the fluffy comforter with her books, dragged her new puppy to her lap and pet him for a few moments (telling him how he was a good boy and very handsome), giggling when he licked her face. Finally she settled in and picked up a book, fully prepared to lose herself for another several hours when her phone rang. Normally, this simple act was no cause for alarm, but as the first strands of Nickleback's "Never Gonna be Alone" played over the speakers, Remle paled and sat straight up, upsetting the dog nestled in her lap.

She stared at the piece of hardware like someone staring at a dead body and despite a desperate inner monologue telling her to NOT pick up the phone, she couldn't help reaching for it and sliding it to answer on speaker. "H-hello?" she questioned, posture bent and defensive as she turned to face her headboard and the wall it was pushed against, drawing her legs under her.

"Hello Princess," purred a smooth voice from the other end of the line. "I've missed you."

"Dylan," her voice quivered, heart racing as she heard her ex-boyfriend's voice for the first time since their break up five years previous. "What...why are you calling me?" she asked, trying to sound aloof and annoyed but failing miserably.

An audible sighed crackled through the speaker and she could almost imagine him raking his hair back the way he used to when he was about to say something that might be potentially upsetting to her. "Look, Remle... I know we didn't break up under the best terms but lately, I've been thinking about you a lot. I called your mom and she said you hadn't seen anyone since we broke up and I just, you know... it seemed like a sign," she swore she could see his shy smile on the other end of the phone.

"I didn't tell my mom about you until we've been dating for three months," she blurted, covering her mouth with the hand not holding the phone, trying to physically hold back the whimpering that threatened to tumble forth. Why was this happening to her now? She didn't think she was strong enough for this conversation despite all the time that they'd been separated and all the anger and emotion she had stuffed into a box and kicked away into the recesses of her heart, vowing never to confront them again.

A snort echoed from the phone. "What are you trying to say?" his laugh had that questioning lilt to it.

"What about Melissa?" she asked suddenly. "The last I heard you two were getting married," she countered, feeling emboldened by the sudden memory swooping in to aid her. Dylan's next sigh was definitely annoyed.

"It's complicated right now, we're taking a break."

"Taking a break implies the possibility of getting back together, you and I never "took a break" Dylan, we broke up," Remle pointed out.

"Remle, Princess...come on, I admit that I probably made a mistake when we broke up okay? I was young and didn't know what I wanted; I just thought maybe we could at least talk about this."

How had she never noticed that he was a selfish bastard? "A selfish bastard that dated you; that you liked...that you still have feelings for," a snide voice reminded her. She needed a way out of the conversation before she caved. She was so tired of being alone. "I have a boyfriend!" she blurted without thinking, closing her eyes tightly as the lie finally forced those tears just shimmering in the surface of her eyes to fall.

She hated the snort that greeted her news. "Really Princess? A boyfriend? You don't have to do this to us," Dylan purred.

"I'm not lying!" she argued, her breath hitching on a small sob. She was soooo lying.

"Alright then, I'll play along, what's his name?" he demanded arrogantly.

"Dakota Hyde," she responded, biting her bottom lip so hard she thought it would bleed.

"What does he do?" Dylan challenged, trying to catch her in the lie.

"He works at his parent's video game company and he goes to school," she answered quickly, remembering from their interview.

"What does he look like?" She was really crying now and trying to hide it, taking a moment to breathe through her mouth so Dylan wouldn't hear her sniffle. She was lying to her ex-boyfriend about a current boyfriend she literally did not have, a man who she'd never see again but he was first guy in a long, long time that she found herself interested in. She opened her mouth to answer when the bed suddenly dipped behind her and she felt a warm body press against her back as a fully tattooed arm reached beside her and took the phone from her hand.

[Dakota Hyde]

There really wasn’t much of a difference for the dog from being in the living room to being in the girl’s bedroom. Though he was starting to wish he was in his own place, hoping that his dog and cat were doing alright, he the cat would be fine. But his dog might be hating him right now…

Kota perked up when Rem started talking on the phone. Who was Dylan? Was this a boyfriend? Or ex? Either way, he did not like how Remle was reacting, the woman was reacting so badly, almost terrified of the person on the other end of the phone. He growled a little when the boy started talking about them breaking up, and now wanting to get back together. Was he about to lose the chance of maybe getting closer to Remle? Well, he probably lost that chance of being a dob in her apartment…


He rested his on his paws, whinning a little, he didn’t like how distressed Rem was, and wanted to help in some way, but didn’t know what to do. Also, he wanted to know how this would play out. It was obvious that Rem didn’t want to get back together with this guy, which gave Kota a little hope, but… Girls were always weird with this stuff… He barked, this guy was such a douche, and really didn’t know how to take care of his girl, even his past ones…



Then it felt like his heart got ripped out of his chest, and he gave a very small whimper. He wasn’t going to lie, there was always something about this girl that got Kota attracted to her ever since he first laid eyes on her, there was just something about her, and he felt like he was losing a battle that he never even got a chance to fight in. Then she said his name, and if he hadn’t been a dog he would have choked on his own saliva. It wasn’t focused on her lie anymore, he was focusing on the fact she was crying, that was a no in his book, no one was going to make Remle cry, except maybe him but not on purpose…

He shifted so fast that it made his spine hurt a little, his muscles were going to ache for a week. He took the phone from Remle. “Well, if you must know, I am six foot and some odd inches, have jet black hair, piercing ice blue eyes that all the woman like, pretty thin, yet muscular. Is that enough for you? Or do I need to give you my penis size for you to feel like a complete shit head?”

[Remle Boyd]

Remle wasn't even aware she had started holding her breath until she was gasping for air at Kota's parting comment about his penis. Dylan was stuttering on the other end of the phone, she heard a muttered apology and the line went dead. Part of her was a little upset, she really wanted to hear Dylan making a fool of himself even more so that Kota would yell at him. On the other hand she was glad he'd disconnected, but that meant that she now had to deal with the fact that Dakota Hyde, the man she had just claimed was her boyfriend when really he was not, was in her house. That's when she noticed the dog was also gone. Her sharp mind quickly put two and two together. The dog she had picked up and taken home was Dakota. She flushed a strange shade of crimson and slid off the bed, keeping her back to Kota as she moved towards her closet. She stopped just before she reached it, her feet nervously marching in place.

Several different emotions warred within her. The two most prominent caused her grief however. She was happy that Kota was here, that he had saved her from Dylan and that he had done so without a need. He really could have just let her deal with her ex-boyfriend herself. She was happy. But that didn't stop a hefty amount of embarrassment mixed with shame. She'd claimed her was her boyfriend and she had technically kidnapped him. How could she be happy when she felt this bad? How could she feel this bad when that strange fluttering in her chest made her happy? How could she possibly be both? “Thank you,” she finally managed to murmur before she gathered her frayed nerves enough to continue with “I’m s-s-sorry I…picked you up without p-p-permission,” she rasped in a small, stuttery voice. “I’ll get you some pants,” she announced just as quickly, running into the closet to grab her largest pair of pajama pants and brought them out again. She kept her eyes diverted as she practically sprinted towards him, finally closing them altogether as she got close enough to thrust the pants out to him.

She hadn’t stopped crying necessarily and it was obvious that she was still upset even without the tears still refusing to be withheld. “I’ll go unlock the door while you change.” She turned to do that, already so certain that Dakota would leave, his good deed done for the day. She couldn’t pull together any reason as to why he’d want to stay with the crazy, bitchy girl who’d basically kidnapped him, even if it was a misunderstanding. She’d claimed he was her boyfriend; that was crazy right? Desperate but still strange and totally an indicator of…something, she wasn’t sure what. A few days ago she had been thinking about what Dr. Neville had said about pursuing a relationship if she was interested, and she had been. Now though…it seemed laughable to think that someone would also feel the same way about her. Even her ex-boyfriend was only calling on her because he was looking for an easy out, he didn’t really care about her.

After Kota had left she was going to get drunk and pass out, if only to stop the maelstrom of emotions afflicting both her head and her heart at the moment.

[Dakota Hyde]

Dakota scratched the side of his head, when the guy hung up and Remle realized what was going on. It felt like a brick wall had dropped between the two of them again. Kota couldn’t help but groan as he fell back to lie on the bed after Remle got up. Rubbing his temples, he was starting to get a headache from all of this. He really hadn’t thought about how Remle would react after he shifted, it had been a quick choice to help her out. It wasn’t a choice at all really, it was more instinct. He wished that Remle would talk to him about everything that happened, and not just about the phone call…

Remle was over looking one more important fact… Everything she had told him while he was a dog… That was the thing Kota was more concerned about at the moment. “You didn’t pick me up without my permission… Believe me if any mammal didn’t want to be touched or picked up they would let you know, even one that was human.” The fact was, Kota had slightly manipulated Kota… He let her pick her up and take him home… Was that awful of him? He smirked at her comment about getting him pants, “What don’t like what I’m wearing now?” humor in a not so humorous situation, was that a good idea or a bad one? Taking the pants, he held them out to look at them, it was a good thing Kota was pretty thin. “thanks.” At least this would possible give him a reason to see her again.

Standing up and putting up the pants seemed quite easy. The pants were a little snug, and he was sure they looked stupid on him, but it had to be good enough.. He just hoped he was close to his apartment, his sad little apartment with just him and his pets.. He walked out of Remle’s bedroom, and out into the living room, he looked at the now unlocked door, and shook his head as he leaned on the wall of the hallway. He knew what she was trying to indicate, but he was going to be stubborn. One of them had to. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk about what happened today..” notice how he said ‘today’ and not just the ‘phone call’

[Remle Boyd]

Remle picked at the long sleeves of her shirt and walked over to her keyboard and sat down on the bench. She turned the instrument on, turned the volume down and began to play something slow and dreamy-sounding; a song of her own creation. The soft notes emanating from the keyboard helped her focus and calm down. The first thing her mind wrestled with was the fact that Dakota was still in her house. He didn't seem angry or annoyed, she knew this because her fingers were moving reflexively along the keys, and her eyes were trained on him. Her face remained set in a serious, bleak-looking expression. "What is there to say? I can't think of any reason as to why you'd let me take you home," she finally stated, fingers continuing to caress the white, plastic keys of her instrument. “It seems unlikely you were trying to take some perverse form of revenge on me…otherwise you wouldn’t have interfered with my phone call,” she continued softly. Feeling suddenly restless she stood from the piano and walked to a nearby armchair, reaching behind it to pull forth a large teddy bear which she proceeded to cuddle with in a death grip.

Recently, whenever she felt alone and uncertain she would take this bear in her arms and remember that someone out there cared about her. It hadn’t derailed her feelings for Dakota but it was a comforting thought nonetheless, it helped give her strength in difficult times when she couldn’t pull herself out of whatever mire she was bogged down at the time. One hand threaded through the soft fur of the toy, the other arm curled around the bear’s middle, tugging it tightly and close to her body. She regarded Dakota guardedly, the distance vast between them. She didn’t say anything further but her defensive body language spoke volumes. Uncertain, just over a touch anxious and totally out of her sober element she decided to blurt out the secret she had been harboring for a while, the one that he already knew. “I think I like you...I’ve been wanting to apologize for a while a-a-and…” her stuttering voice forced her to stop, a blush furiously spreading across her face. This was the most she’d ever volunteered to anyone since she left college; it was terrifying and liberating all at once and she didn’t quite know how to handle it.

[Dakota Hyde]

Dakota sighed as Remle went to her keyboard to start playing. Half of him wanted to go over there and stop her so they could talk like adults; but his other half knew he should just let her be which he did. “No I wasn’t trying to do any form of revenge… But, why would you take me home instead of an animal shelter?” Because yes, that has happened. Kota opted to sit on the sofa as he watched Remle cuddle a teddy bear, a teddy bear he recognized.

The fact was, the someone that cared about her was sitting right in front of her. If only she could really see it. He went to sit on a chair next to her, sighing, he wished this could have gone differently. “I know… I do remember everything from my dog form..” Like how she said things about him dating her? Those kind of went together with the fact that Remle stated that he was her boyfriend to her ex. “You did apologize remember? And I forgive you.” He looked around, trying to spot a pen and paper somewhere, but unless Remle left those things lying around randomly he wasn’t going to see any. “The truth is Remle, I like you too.”

[Remle Boyd]

Remle shrugged at the first question. “I don’t know…I didn’t see a collar so I just assumed that maybe you had been lost. I figured if I saw any flyers around the neighborhood I’d return you…but I like animals,” she ended (somewhat lamely in her opinion). When he brought up remembering everything in his dog form she had blushed at least five shades of red darker, hiding her face in the stuffed bear’s fur. She really wished he hadn’t brought that up because it was so embarrassing. He didn’t seem angry about anything though so she at least clung to the hope that he was going for understanding rather than just dismissing her as someone who might be dangerous.

She almost missed it when he said he liked her. She was worrying over how he would take her confession, if she’d ever see him again, how long it might be before she felt this way about someone…how many years would go by with her parents worrying over her being alone. Except that she didn’t miss it, she heard it despite the cacophony in her head and suddenly everything that she was thinking about ground to a halt. He liked her, he said he liked her, they liked each other. Remle’s stare must have resembled a deer in the headlights as she struggled to find something to say to this new revelation. How long had it been since this butterfly feeling had wedged its way into her heart? “You…? Really?” she practically whispered, arms tightening around the teddy bear. “When?” she had a hard time believing that he developed feelings for her during their interview and they’d never met beforehand.

She was happy, but confused.

[Dakota Hyde]

Kota chuckled “You’re cute..” He didn’t even try to hide what he said. He cocked his head to the side when she didn’t say anything about the other thing he said. Maybe she was just too embarrassed but even if that was still the case then he still would wish she would talk to him about it.. Though what was there to really talk about? That Kota saw her naked? Even though he tried really hard not to..

“Yes, really… Though I should be the one asking you that. Considering you seemed to completely hate me in our interview..” Which was kind of the point of this whole thing.. He really felt like Remle would have been a lot more upset finding out he was in her house… “when? The first time we met to now.. Is it really that hard for you to think about?” Had he done something wrong? Had he ever seemed to have gotten annoyed or mad at her?

(sorry it's short, trying to get back into the swing of things)

[Remle Boyd]

"I didn't hate you...but after we finished I couldn't stop thinking about what you said...and, you said I was cute so I couldn't stop thinking about that either..." and he'd just called her cute again before too. What about her was cute? "Yeah," she answered softly to his last question. "It's just that...it's been awhile since anyone's been interested in me and we didn't have the best meeting and despite that fact I still can't get you out of my head and so I thought that maybe, if I could see you again and apologize and you didn't think that I was just a huge bitch I wanted to ask you if maybe you wanted to have dinner sometime," she babbled. Shit was she even making sense right now?

She didn’t know if being a couple was in their future but it seemed likely perhaps that they might be able to go on at least a few dates before that decision was made. Old worries started popping up again. Sharing things, admitting things….how much would he expect her to share with him right away? Would there be any pressure on her to keep a conversation going by potentially revealing something that made her uncomfortable? She remembered awkward first dates with her first two boyfriends and couldn’t recall how they ever got past them. She fidgeted and took a deep breath to remain calm. She could do this! “So….yeah…do you want to get dinner sometime? With me?” she asked shyly.