Almost Easy

Everyone's A Critic

Brian’s POV 

Getting back to my house, I knew Pinkly was going to be angry with me for keeping her trapped in the house all night. Sure enough, she’d eaten more than one pair of my socks and the laundry room where I’d kept her locked up was a mess. After cleaning it, I gave her a nice refreshing bath and fed and watered her. She was still pretty pissy with me so I thought a trip to the dog park would be a nice excursion for her.

I called up short shit to see if he wanted to go with me. Normally I’d invite Jimmy or Matt but I wasn’t in the mood for any philosophical in depth discussions about Zoey or Michelle that they would incite. With Johnny, it would just be a trip to the park. 

I picked up my phone and dialed his number. He answered on the second ring “Sup Bri.”

“Hey gnome, you wanna go to the dog park with me?” I asked

“Why would I want to do that?” he asked, yawning into the receiver

“Because you have nothing better to do,” I insisted.

“True,” came the response “Lacey had to work today. Alright, I’ll go. You gonna come get me or do I gotta to drive?”

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

“Alright man, see you then.”

30 minutes later, Johnny and I standing in the middle of Huntington Beach’s biggest dog park. As soon as I set Pinkly down she took off running in the direction of the other dogs. Johnny and I followed slowly.

“So how was your first night under the same roof with Zoey?” he asked casually as we watched tiny Pinkly bark at two large Doberman pinchers with spiked collars.

“Not bad,” I said picking up a stick “she’s got a great place.”

“I thought she was moving into your place?” he asked.

“We just stayed at hers last night. I helped her pack up her stuff and went to dinner. It was late and we just decided to crash there.”

He nodded. “You know..you lucked out with Zoey.”

I looked at him as he kept his glance on Pinkly who was now drinking water from one of the various pools. “You think?”

He nodded again and put his hands in his pockets “I don’t know if you knew but I used to have such a big crush on Zoey when we were younger.”

I actually did know or at least I suspected “Really?”

“Yup, but she friend zoned me before I could even make a move.”

“Zacky would have killed you anyway.”

“Nah, I could have taken Zacky. It was never that,” he said as he moved to sit on the empty bench.

“Then what was it?” I asked as I took a seat next to him, swinging Pinkly’s leash back and forth.

“Dude, she was in love with you…like the whole time,” he explained as if I was a fool not to know.

“She didn’t love me,” I protested.

“Of course she did. And I’m happy she’s finally hooked up with you…” he trailed off

“I’m sensing a but here, Johnny,” I said curious

“I’m just hoping this isn’t all bullshit on your part,” he replied as Pinkly ran back towards us and allowed me to pet her.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Come on Bri, everyone knows how you treated Michelle. How Michelle treated you. I just don’t want you to hurt Zoey because you’re trying to get back at Michelle, cause she really cares about you.”