The Lucky Doberman

Chapter 20: Be Kind to Yourself

I held the glass in my hand and looked at it.

"Nobody's forcin' you to drink it." Mr. De Luca stated.
I knew that. I actually asked him if I could try it.
I took a sip.

I felt my body shiver and my face scrunched up.

"You're such a princess. This your first time drinkin'?" he asked and finished his fifth glass.
"Technically no."
"What do you drink?"
"Like...pina coladas and Miami vices..."
He casually snickered a bit, but I somehow still didn't see a smile. Maybe a small grin.
I continued drinking from my glass.
I hacked. "I do not like this."
He took my glass then drank the rest of its contents and put it on the coffee table.

My mouth was on that.
What if I backwashed?
I didn't.
But what if?

I began taking my jacket off again.
"Can I see the notebook one more time?" I asked and threw my jacket over the armrest.
I looked at him. He was already looking at me. But not at my eyes.
I looked away from him.

Then saw the notebook from the corner of my eye.
"Here." he stated.
He was looking in my eyes this time.
I took it.

I flipped through the pages and noticed there was more than one code. They all were. But I wouldn't stress myself out about it. So I just went back to the first.

Tigers den is in the rainforest. Cubs lost. Four antelope in the field. Three days to catch prey  for dinner. Teeth sharpened. Claws out. Dens being made.
Cats and dogs don't get along. Neither do cats and snakes.
11 5 8 6
17 39 6
25 11 14
Cat vs. mouse. Mouse sets up trap.

"Who wrote this?" I asked.
"Someone I knew."
"Were you guys friends?" I wondered.
"I knew him."
"So that's a no."
I think he's a bit tipsy. I was shocked he wasn't fully drunk from how many glasses of hard liquor he'd consumed.

"First, we need to figure out what the tiger means."
"It's him," he said with his head leaned back over the couch.
"It's him?"
"Mhm. They're Tygre. T-y-g-r-e."
"The same way that you guys are dogs?"
He looked at me. I looked back at the notebook. I forgot I'm not supposed to know that. Too late.
"So...I'll assume he's an opponent. Or a rival. Because here it says 'cats and dogs don't get along'. It's a reference to you. Tigers are just large cats."
He nodded. "Yea, I guess so."
That part wasn't hard. Like I said, I just needed context.

I noticed something.

"My number is here." I stated.
"What?"
I slid closer to him and he picked his head up. I showed the number.
"17 39 6. That's the number I gave you for the safe." I explained. "Which means...these two also must go to some safe. What do you think is inside?"
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
I noticed I was much closer than I thought.

"Um..." I looked back at the book. "Do you know where they might be? I don't think this one is a similar looking safe because it's four numbers instead of three."
"Look at me when you speak to me." he commanded.
I looked back at him. "It's um...It's probably one with a button code on it..."

I stopped speaking when I saw him look at my lips.
He subtly licked his own.

"Um...Who's the snake?" I asked and looked back at the book.
He took the book out of my hand. "It's late. You should be getting home." he said then stood up.
"But what about..."
"Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out later. Let's go." he commanded and I stood up and grabbed my jacket.
He held the door open and I walked out towards the elevator.

"Your friend worried about you?" he asked as we waited.
"No, she's spending the night at her boyfriend's house."
He didn't respond.

The elevator opened and we walked inside.