Milán
How’s Dog doing?
Hiding in Rory’s room and behaving like I’m transporting him to execution every time I take him outside for a walk while Rory’s at school. All the barking and whining is probably him calling for help.
Lol. Your neighbors must love him.
There is a chance we’ll be kicked out sooner rather than later.
I have a spare bedroom.
My brother finally figured out we have a dog.
Umm… It’s been five days.
He’s been pulling thirty-hour shifts. Stumbled into the bathroom, still half-asleep while Dog was sleeping there.
I don’t know who screamed louder, him or the dog.
Rory and I are currently getting a lecture about what a huge responsibility a dog is and how we should have discussed it first as a family.
Texting during a lecture? You’ll be in so much trouble.
My phone vibrates, and I pick it up with a yawn. On the screen, there’s a photo of Theo sleeping on the couch with a carton of Chinese food tilting precariously in his hand.
I smile while I quickly open my photos and send back the one I took earlier of Rory sprawled out on the living room carpet with Dog dozing off by his side, all four legs in the air. Jordan texts back immediately.
Who would’ve thought soccer practice could be this exhausting?
Chasing after a thief really takes it out of you. I don’t think Dog is allowed back into the stadium. I’ll pay for that ball, btw.
You can work off your debt to society by volunteering for snack duty.
If I must…
“It’s getting really late,” I say. “And you’ve got work tomorrow. Why are you still up?”
Jordan’s soft laugh has an edge of intimacy to it that feels even more intense in the dim light of my bedroom, the night outside my window, when everybody else is already asleep.
“I’ve been trying to go to sleep for the last hour, but you just keep talking,” he says.
“I am the chatty one.”
He laughs again, and another wave of warmth rolls through me.
I’m not sure when it happened. When talking on the phone before bed, text exchanges, and hanging out all the time became normal, but it has.
Somewhere in there, while I wasn’t paying attention, I settled into this temporary life.
Maybe a bit too much, if I really think about it.
Maybe if I let myself think too much, I’ll realize I’m uncomfortable with the level of okay I am with life right now, and realistically, I don’t want to be.
I don’t want to give out a wrong impression.
I don’t want to accidentally make more promises and then not keep them.
“Go to bed. It’s a school day tomorrow.”
“You just have to end the night on a bummer,” he says with a sigh.
My smile stretches wider and wider. “Night, Jordy.”
There’s a short pause.
“What?” I ask when he still hasn’t said anything.
“Nothing,” he says quickly. “Nothing. I haven’t been called that in a while, is all.”
“Called what?” I ask, confused now.
He hesitates, then says, “Jordy. You called me Jordy.”
“Oh.” I frown. “You don’t like nicknames? It sort of just came out without thinking.”
“No,” he says quickly. “No, it’s all good. I made it weird. What I should’ve said is…” He blows out a breath. “I liked it.”
I grin at the ceiling. He sounds just a bit flustered; not like the Jordan I usually know. I like that. Just a bit too much.
“Oh, before I forget, if you still want to get Theo a puppy, I’m free whenever to go see them.”
“Yeah? Sure. It’s still on. I better get on it, too. His birthday is almost here.”
I hum in reply.
“Night, Jordy,” I say again.
I listen to him exhale.
“Night,” he says softly.
He doesn’t hang up right away. Neither do I.
When he finally does, I drop the phone on my chest and stare at the ceiling, still smiling like an idiot.
I push myself off the bed to go brush my teeth, and the moment I step out the door, I run into Rory.
I raise my brows at him.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re supposed to be in bed.”
“I was just getting some water,” he mutters.
“Okay?” I say slowly. He’s just a bit too twitchy for someone who’s simply thirsty.
“Well,” I say after a good minute of silence, “I’m gonna…” I point toward the bathroom, then turn around.
“Milán?” Rory says.
I turn back. “Yeah?”
He fidgets there in the middle of the hallway, in dark blue pajama pants, a white T-shirt, and bare feet. He looks impossibly young like this, and I feel impossibly protective.
I take a step closer.
“What is it?”
He breathes in deeply. “I, uh… I accidentally overheard you talking. Just now.” He licks his lips, eyes skittering between random points on the wall. “Jordan’s going to get a dog for Theo?”
I tilt my head to the side while I try to puzzle out why that factoid seems to make him so antsy.
“That’s the plan,” I say.
Rory nods, looking even more nervous now.
“Well… I was thinking. Dog needs a good home,” he blurts.
I stare at him. “Dog? But Dog is your dog.” I shake my head. “On that note, maybe it’s time to give him a proper name. Just something to consider.”
He’s shaking his head well before I’ve stopped speaking. “No. No. I was just trying to help him. I don’t… I don’t want a dog.”
My brows knit together while my eyes dart from Rory to his bedroom door where Dog is sleeping, searching for logic that isn’t there.
I scratch the back of my neck. This is well above my pay grade.
“Since when?”
“Since always. I don’t want a dog. I’ve never wanted a dog. I don’t even like dogs.”
What… is happening?
“But Dog needs a good home,” he says. “And they’re good people. They’ll take care of him. They’ll be better for him.”
I’m still so lost.
“But he’s your dog.”
His fingers roll into fists, nails digging into palms, and his body goes all rigid while he clamps his teeth together. “No. He’s not. I don’t want a dog.”
“Rory…”
“You can at least ask them!” He blows out a breath and looks away. “If they don’t want him—if they want, like, a puppy or something—then I’ll find him somewhere else.”
“Rory,” I repeat, even though I don’t know what the right words are to untangle this situation and figure out what’s making him say all these things, even though everything I’ve witnessed since we brought Dog home tells the exact opposite story.
He loves that dog.
“Look, just ask them, okay?” he snaps.
I clamp my mouth shut.
We stare at each other in the dark hallway.
Finally, I nod.
“Okay. I’ll ask.”
Rory’s shoulders relax, and he nods, too.
“Thank you.”
He turns around and goes back to his room, closing the door behind him with a quiet snick.
I stand in the hallway for the longest time.
Lost.