Chapter 14
Josh and I make it through the rest of dinner without being seen by Alissa. Courtney leaves just a few minutes after I text her back. Throughout the rest of dinner, I seem to forget all about my friends. Josh and I take turns telling each other what we want for Christmas. "You don't have to get me anything, babe." Josh says when I ask him what he wants most.
"I already know a few things that I'm getting you, but I want to know what the number one thing that you want is."
"Hmm... I don't know. But I need to ask you the same thing."
"Ha! That's too easy. You already know what I like."
"I know, but what do you want that you don't have? Or what do you want more of?" Josh asks.
"Uhm.. I want the new One Direction album."
"You and your One Direction." Josh says and playfully rolls his eyes at me.
"Shoes. I like shoes."
"I know," He laughs. "What's your second favorite color?" He asks.
It takes me a few minutes to come up with an exact answer. "Like a scarlet red probably."
"What the hell is that?" He says with a straight face.
"It's like a pinkish red." I try to explain.
He sighs. "Okay. What else?"
"Anything TOMS or Victoria's Secret."
He doesn't say anything back because the waitress arrives at our table with our bill. Josh hands her a fifty dollar bill and tells her to keep the change as a tip. She blushes and thanks him, but he doesn't look up. She quickly walks away. Josh checks his watch, "What do you want to do now?" He says and stands up from the table.
I stand up with him and shrug my shoulders. "We can do whatever."
"Well here," He says handing me the keys. "You drive. We'll go where ever you want."
I take the keys from his hand and we walk out of the restaurant hand in hand, Josh leading me through the maze of tables. I trail behind him a little bit, but I never let go of his hand. Someone snaps a picture and for a second I'm worried about how Josh will react, but he only looks back and smiles at me.
We get out to the car and I end up driving for a few minutes before I really know where I'm going. When we finally stop, we've ended up in the parking lot of a pet store. "I want to look at all the animals." I say to Josh and get out of the car. He does the same. We walk inside and are greeted by a man in a purple vest. He motions to the places around the store where we can find the different types of animals. I drag Josh to the cats first. We check out the few different cats, and then move to all the kittens. I'm looking at the only pure white kitten in the whole store. It's laying in the corner, curled up in a little ball, and sleeping as peacefully as ever. We talk to one of the sales people near us and they unlock the sliding glass door that separates me from a vat of kittens. They let me reach in for the one I want to hold and I automatically reach for the one in the corner. When I pick it up and hold it close to my chest, it answers my soft, gentle touch with a squeaky meow.
"That was adorable." Josh says. I look up at Josh and smile. He smiles back before something catches his eye and he looks up. He gasps and quickly walks away from me. I watch him as he moves to another cage a few yards away. He looks at the cage for literally two seconds and turns to the store clerk. "Can I play with that dog!?" He says in an exited but serious tone that makes me laugh. The store clerk walks behind a swinging door and a few minutes later, returns with a leash. Josh takes the leash from him and squats down, patting his knees. Very slowly, a dog emerges from the door where the store clerk stepped out of. Josh holds out his hand and the dog starts sniffing it. In about a minute, the dog walks closer to Josh and sits down in front of him. He pets the dog a little and as the dog gets more used to him, a transformation happens. The small pup goes from being timid to loving, letting Josh pet its back and then laying down on its side to expose his belly. I watch them for a few more minutes before going to find the sales person that got the dog out of the cage for him.
