16. Too Many Princesses
Chapter sixteen
Too Many Princesses
Sawyer
I hoped things worked out with Neil tomorrow. If they did, I wanted to ask Neil out properly.
I wanted to take Hector’s advice and ask him out now, but like every time I interacted with Neil, my brain stuttered and threatened to shut off. Well, every time except when we’d gone out to the boardwalk. Then, I had finally relaxed enough to sound at least semi-intelligent.
All I could think of when he was near me was his dog, so that was what popped out of my mouth when he walked up. But that worked out because I needed to see if I could handle his dog before asking him out, anyway.
My second hurdle was if Leon was right, Neil wouldn’t accept if I still volunteered here. I was sure I could find other places to get exposure to dogs in a controlled environment. It might take me a little longer to overcome my fear without scheduled shifts, but if that’s what I needed to do to get Neil to go on a date with me, so be it.
“I can deal with a sheepdog. It’s like a big fluffy version of you, Princess,” I told the white cat. She purred and rubbed her entire body along my hand before I closed her up in the cardboard carrier Shane had put her in for me to take her home.
Then I texted Neil.
Me: [cat emoji, heart emoji] [picture of me holding up Princess in her carrier like a trophy.]
Neil: I’ll be right down.
I leaned back against my car to wait, holding Princess.
Neil came bursting out of the front door of the shelter. “You adopted her?” he yelled, jogging toward my car.
I held her up again. Inside her box, Princess let out a pitiful little meow, and I lowered her back down. “Sorry, Princess. Gotta stay in there till we get home.”
Panting a little, Neil asked. “What are you going to name her?”
“I already named her, remember? Princess Fluffybutt.”
“Oh, I thought that was a joke name.” Neil let out a little huff. “My dog’s full name is Princess Bubblegum, like—”
“Adventure time!” I yelled, echoing Neil. “That’s adorable! I didn’t even realize.” Neil’s attractiveness went up another notch.
“It’s cool, man,” I told him. “There can be more than one Princess of Gaynor Beach.”
“I’m glad you adopted the cat,” Neil said, pinking adorably as his eyes flitted between me and the cat carrier. “I adopted Bubblegum while I was in college, and it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
“Shelters make the magic happen,” I said with a laugh as I stowed Fluffybutt in the front seat.
“I found mine on the street, but yeah,” Neil said. “Um, about you calling our get-together tomorrow a date?” Neil asked, his cheeks going from pink to dark red.
“Slip of the tongue,” I said, waving my hand, palm out like Obi-wan. “These are not the droids you’re looking for.”
Neil barked out a laugh. “Good. Because it wouldn’t be very professional to date one of my employees. I know you aren’t paid, but you know what I mean.”
“Totally, dude.” I gave Neil a little bow. “And now I must be off and get Her Majesty home.”