Puppy Lighter || Joby Taylor x Reader || She/Her

8 | Menthol cigarettes.

January 23rd 2013

Joby and I were busy for about a week after our last date. He started to regularly check in on me every one or two days. He was mostly practicing with his band. Apparently, he had something interesting he was working on, so because of it, he wanted me to take Scotty out on a walk today.

I was already dressed because I was supposed to have a shift today, but they cancelled out on me last second. This being said, all I needed to do was switch out of my work shirt and then I'd be good to go out.

Within three minutes, I was at Joby's house. The driveway— aside from his car— was empty. When he opened the door, he looked as though he was trying to hide from me slightly.

"Joby?" I leaned in the doorway slightly to try and get a better look at him while he put the harness on Scotty. His eyes and nose med him look like he was crying, but the paleness and lack of pink in his cheeks made me think otherwise. His lips looked a lot paler, and his hair was a bit greasier than usual. The tip of his nose looked so red like it had been rubbed raw. My shoulders dropped in realization.

"I'm okay, just..." He trailed off, stopping to wipe his nose on the sleeve of his hoodie. The door was open wider now, and I got a better look at him. He was watery-eyed, and his voice was rough and weak. "Take Scotty on a walk, I haven't been able to and I feel uh... I feel really bad about it." He sighed, sitting down on his mudroom steps as I walked in.

"You know I'll be coming back after to take care of you, right?" I said, voice soft and careful. He nodded his head slowly, a weak grin appearing on his face.

"Of course I do." He said, looking up at me with his sad-eyed look. "You're going to get sick."

"I'm okay with that."

"Well, um... Then if you get sick, I'm going to be taking care of you then." Joby stated, smiling as I grabbed Scotty's leash out of his hand. The small dog seemed hesitant to leave him and I could tell he understood that Joby wasn't feeling great.

I took a walk around the block before coming back. Joby was sitting on the porch, cigarette between his long fingers. It wasn't the usual Marlboro Reds that he'd smoked. It was a menthol cigarette from a different company. He gripped the box loosely in his other hand, the cardboard looking weathered as if he'd been saving its contents for a long time.

He was pretty, with or without the cigarette that he brought up to his lips, puffy eyes locking on mine as I walked over to him. Pretty even though he looked so ill. He smiled around his vice as he looked at me, standing up when I got closer.

Scotty scrambled over, almost falling on the icy pathway leading to Joby's porch, damn near pulling me down with him. Just as Joby was retracting the cigarette from his mouth, he dropped it, immediately going to make sure I wouldn't fall. It was almost like payback for when I had caught him before he fell on the ice.

He has green eyes. I noticed just how pretty they were when he was helping me back onto my feet as Scotty pulled himself onto the porch. He snuffed out the dead menthol cigarette, squishing it into the cold ground before bringing me back inside.

I took off Scotty's harness before taking my shoes, Joby looked at me with a sort of confusion before his eyes widened slightly. He kicked off his shoes, letting them fall in the mudroom randomly. I placed mine by the door.

Scotty sniffed his shoes, then let out a sharp whimper, making Joby furrow his brows as if it had been a personal attack against him. I laughed, my teeth visible to the world as Joby's pretty green eyes watched me, as if I had been doing something worthy of his undivided attention.

He was sitting on the steps of his mudroom, playing with the menthol cigarette box that was still gripped in his other hand. He hadn't dropped it, not like he needed to. His eyes flicked back and fourth now, from the box to me.