i.
Y/N wonders if the universe has something against her.
She doesn't think she's done anything to deserve it! Every time there is an old woman with bags, she offers her help, or when she's working and sees a customer scrambling for an extra dollar or quarter, she waves them off and takes it out of her own pocket. If her friend Adam forgets his lunch, she'll cut her sandwich in half during the lecture they share together and let him eat it since her day ends only one lecture after and he has to chug through a lab. And Niall – as lazy as he can be sometimes – will legitimately forget he has an essay due in a day, so she'll stay up with him late into the night compiling articles, being emotional support, and even helping him draft his introduction and thesis statement (to which he buys her dinner, fun things he finds when he's out shopping, or a back scratch when she requests it). Hell, she twisted her ankle once running after someone who dropped a whole lot of money (the exact amount she would've needed for a pair of shoes she'd been eying) and had to have Adam wrap it for her (since he's her roommate, he gets roped into a lot).
All of those things and more she doesn't even think twice about doing it!
Yet here she sits, a burning sting from the scrapes on both of her knees because her dog (a playful little chiwinnie mutt that had the saddest little face ever, appropriately named Eeyore) somehow snaked his way around her legs, got her all twisted up in the light blue nylon leash, and took her down to the ground because he saw a squirrel. Which would alright – scrapes suck sure, but she's got a wicked first-aid kit at home for falls such as these – however, the route her and Eeyore take for his walks is nowhere near where she lives at all. Though he's a relatively small puppy, she feels guilty that he's being subjected to the college lifestyle of a flat and no yard, so she likes to take him on extensive walks, one of which being that of a gated community that they kind of have to break into.
It's not in a creepy way though! For fuck sake, they had just been walking one day, and he had insisted on scaling up along this hill, and once they were at the top he had scampered down the gentle decline of the hill, covered in rich green grass towards a pretty little lake. She had thought he would be satisfied once he splashed around in the water for a second but then he tugged her towards a pathway, that led to a neighborhood of both steep hills and winding roads that he adored so passionately. Dare she say, his permanently sad face lit up that very first time, and she just couldn't not bring him back. He was her puppy for Christ sake, he deserved the world she's sure of it.
So every other day (or every other two days if she doesn't have the time allotted for their trot), she has Adam stop her off here before work, takes their walk, and pays Niall in a bakery good for a ride back home. She'd been here so often, people in the neighborhood had started nodding at her as she passes, shooting soft smiles; esteemed doctors, successful producers scuttering to their cars or leisurely making their way to their doors, maybe with bags of groceries, or a dog of their own in toe. She's fairly sure that they've mistaken her for some lawyer's daughter, because they've called her the same wrong name a few times, and one even asked how her father's firm was doing (she smiled wide and lied through her teeth as she said it was good, trying not to shit herself when it dawned on her she could probably be arrested for trespassing if things went sour. She hadn't even realized it was gated until about four weeks in when she stumbled upon the big iron entryway).
Though she feels bad for intruding on their living area, she keeps quiet, to herself, and always picks up after Eeyore if he decides he's going to do his business in the way too pretty grass along the sidewalk. If she's got an extra bag with her, she'll even pick up some of the stray litter she'd find every here and there, just to make herself feel better.
