Control Me

12

Emiko 22,

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

Silence.

"Do you want to fight?"

More silence.

"We can do it right here. Right now."

Silence, one yawn and a confused blink.

"I take blinking as fighting words."

Aja barks and I can't help but giggle.

It was currently three o'clock in the morning and right now me and Aja were having a staring contest in my living room. I was restless, tossing and turning in bed when I came up with the grand plan of chowing down on some ice cream.

The little pudge I sported was telling me not to do it, but I had a sweet tooth and was craving for some sugar to consume. I tried to resist the urge because I knew I'd end up having a sugar rush and not sleep until six o'clock hit. I gave up after three seconds of contemplating.

So when my foot hit the bottom step and I found Aja peeking at me from the couch I became distracted thanks to my short attention span and decided to face my fears.

She wasn't supposed to be in here, but the first night Akeno stayed over he slept outside with her because she wouldn't stop whining. I felt bad and even worse when I realized how brutal the weather was. I cracked, woke Akeno up and told him she could come in if he gave her a bath.

Now here she was, three days later lying on my couch quietly watching me.

My approach was slow and each step I took felt like I was condemning myself to an early grave. One wrong look or signal and this dog could switch and pounce on me like I was nothing.

Once I was directly in front of her I took a seat on the floor where we both eyed each other until her tail began to wag.

Aja is surprisingly quiet for a dog her size and sometimes I'd catch her sitting in the kitchen watching me cook. I wouldn't notice she was there until I turned around and found curiosity in her eyes as she sniffed the air at whatever monstrosity I was attempting to cook up.

If it was edible I'd sit some meat in her bowl and allow her a taste. She'd do some more sniffing, take a couple of licks before ignoring what I gave her. I know it was her way of telling me I was feeding not only her but myself crap but this was the best I could do until I got the hang of cooking.

"May I pet you?" I ask permission like the dog can understand me. She does that thing where she quirks a brow and gives me a mean side eye. "I won't try to fight you, I pinky promise."

Laying her head against the couch cushions I slowly, at a snails pace, begin to run my fingers through her silky coat. She's surprisingly soft and fluffy but that may be due to the bath she recently got.

"You're not so bad." I whisper, dropping my head next to hers and pet her more thoroughly. Her tail wags and the grin on my face breaks out into a bigger smile.

"You know I never really liked dogs. I was bitten by a chihuahua once when I was little." The clock ticks and Aja huffs at my confession. "I know, I know you don't have to remind me. They were a dick but can you really blame me?"

Her eyes close again and I giggle again before standing to my feet. Dusting my hands together, my soul nearly leaves my body when I see Akeno standing behind the couch watching us.

I jump and place a hand on my chest, "you scared the shit out of me!" I hiss.

He doesn't say anything at first, only taking me in like he's never seen me before. The look he gives me is something I've only ever seen in a wet dream. It's like he's undressing me with his eyes and I hate that I like it.