This was really crazy. I was attempting to run out of the bush, yet I hadn’t worn my pants.
Terrified, I pulled my pants up at all costs, but didn’t zip it. I managed to run out of the bush, and luckily for me, I spotted Ryan immediately.
“What happened?” He asked, fear swimming in his eyes.
“There’s a stupid dog over there! It’s chasing me!” I gripped his hand, pulled him, so we would both run away.
But then, for some very annoying reason that was unknown to me, he stopped us from running. I snapped my neck to look at him, breathing hard. He was wearing a blank expression, and I really felt like stabbing him at this moment.
“We shouldn’t be a coward. Dogs are cute, you know? Let’s try to—”
“Hey!” I cut him off. “Shut up. That dog isn’t close to being cute. It almost ate my butt. I don’t have a big butt, yet, it wanted to eat half of it. If I didn’t run, I’d be butt-less by now.”
He smirked. “I’ll—”
This time around, the dog cut him off. The shitty thing appeared, stood a few feets away from him, so he turned around to look at it. Helpless, I just stood behind him, tugged my hands to his arms, peeping at the growling dog. Woah, I had never seen a dog as frustrated as this thing.
“Hey, doggie?” Ryan attempted to step close to it, but I held him back. “You cute thing, how’re you?”
“This thing isn’t cute!” I snarled. “It looks like a monster. Let’s just get our ass off here. See, if it bites me, I promise to murder you.”
He chortled. “Calm down, okay?”
“How can I calm down in such a terrific situation? Please, let’s run!”
He ignored me, and only stepped closer to it. “Sweet dog, you’re hungry? Do you need something to eat? A bone or what?”
And then, it began to bark. Ryan stepped even closer to it. He stretched his hand forward like an idiot. Doing that, the dog attempted to chop his hand off.
“Ryan, let’s run!” I cried further.
“Wait, it—”
The dog barked even harder. Its upper teeth showed completely, and I knew it was really going to bite us this time around. I squeezed my face, ready to burst out in tears. Yes, I was afraid of dogs.
“Please, let’s go,” I beseeched. It wasn’t like I couldn’t go alone. But, what if the dog began to chase me if I went alone? What would I do?
“C-Calm down, doggie,” Ryan stuttered. Why had he stuttered? I hoped he wasn’t scared. I had thought he wasn’t a coward, huh?
“Let’s. Go.” I commanded.
“Serene, you know what?” He laughed weirdly. “At this point, all you’ll have to do is to grip my hand. Cause, to be honest with you, I’ve never encountered a dog like this. I know nothing about dogs. Was only trying to seem cool.”
“Ah! You coward! It’s gonna bite us now!” I snapped.
“At the count of three, jerk my wrist, and run as fast as you can, okay?” He prompted.
I nodded quickly.
“One, two… three!”
The moment he said that, he spun around. I managed to grab his hand. And, like never before, I ran like a maniac. My heart was running all the way from my throat, down to my chest, down to my stomach. My other organs had gone into a state of tension, and I could tell that my adrenal gland was doing its ultimate work by secreting excess adrenaline.
“Oh my gosh!” I cried when I tripped on a small stone. I almost fell, but this really wasn’t the time to fall. I tried as much as possible to maintain my stability.
The dog seemed to be running even faster. I was trying my best, but nothing seemed to be working. To worsen this commotion, a loud thunder attacked the vicinity. And, that was when I noticed that the rain was drizzling.
“Oh my gosh!” Uninformed, the dog snapped my leg with its big and dangerous teeth, which made me slip backwards. “Ah! Sweet Jesus! Help me please! Ah!”
“Shoo! Bad dog! Leave her leg!” Ryan commanded. How dumber could he be? He just stood there, barking at an angry dog which had no sense of communication.
“Ryan! Spank its head!” I commanded, trying to wiggled my leg off the dog’s mouth. Well, it hadn’t bitten me yet. But, it was surely going to do that very soon.
Ryan stepped close, knocked the dog on its head. And, like one of those weird dogs in the cartoon, the dog stepped backwards, whined, its eyes moving unstably as if it was giddy. In only two seconds, it fell straight to the ground like it had fainted, or had even died.
I stood up immediately, held Ryan’s hand, breathing hard. “Is it dead? Oh, no. We shouldn’t murder a dog. I think it’s illegal.”
“I don’t know.” Ryan was gasping for air as well. We had run so much.
I stepped backwards, swallowed hard, waiting for him to do something. He stepped backwards as well, stretched his left leg forward, and poked the dog on its head, using his index finger.
“Hey, doggie. Are you dead?” He asked.
I rolled my eyes. “See, we should call a vet.”
“Doggie.” He continued to talk to it. “Are you—”
And then, the angry dog jerked awake. It almost grasped Ryan’s finger, but he was able to dodge the dog’s attack. Not thinking twice, we continued to run. We ran into the next street, and that was when rain began to fall.
I was almost losing my breath, hoping that I wouldn’t pass out. All my energy was being suspended. This wasn’t nice at all.
Ryan was running even faster, pulling me so hard. Due to the friction between my feet and the asphalt, together with the force from Ryan’s pull, I tripped on something, and fell to the ground. No, my body didn’t just clash against the asphalt. It got dunked in a mountain of mud. Since Ryan was holding me, he fell into the mud as well.
Alarmed, I tried to sit straight, Ryan sitting as well. Seated in the mud, we stared at the growling dog. It was so wet already, but it still wasn’t ready to give up. What the heck did it want?
It stepped close. Not knowing what to do, I shut my eyes, clinged to Ryan, ready to cry out loud.
“Please, go away.” Again, Ryan spoke to the dog.
I peeked at the dog with my left eye. It grunted hard, just twirled around, and ran into a corner of the street. Dazed, I gaped. How could it have gone that way? Yes, I had wanted it to go, but hadn’t expected it to go that easily.
I turned to Ryan, glared at him. “Don’t be proud of yourself, okay? You caused this. Now, I feel like I’ve got no energy.”
He chuckled. “Forgive me, ma’am. Will you?”
“No! I’m in a river of mud! You caused this!” I had to shout because it was raining so hard already.
He bent his leg, put his elbow on his knee, a sneer on his lips. “Actually, it’s not so bad. Just imagine you’re in a pool of chocolate.”
“Chocolate, right?!” I cried. Without arguing with myself for a second, I dashed my hands into the mud beneath me, grabbed a fistful of it, then rubbed it against his face. “This is what you deserve.”
He ran his hands through his face, using the rain water to wash off the mud on it. After he did that, he scowled hard at me. Uh-oh, this seemed like Mr. Arthur, not Ryan. This was why I shouldn’t be called “Serene”. I always caused a commotion.
I chuckled weirdly. “You’re okay?”
Suddenly, a smirk curled on his lips. “You think you’re the harder player? What a joke.”
I gasped, shaking my head crazily. “No, no. You’ve ruined my night already. Don’t bath me in mud, please!”
“Too late!” He announced.
Like a child, he grabbed a whole lot of mud, began rubbing my face with it. As he did so, I couldn’t help but attack him with mud as well. I wasn’t going to surrender. I wasn’t a coward in a thing like this.
And then, we went on and on, playing in the mud like children. An oldie who was driving on the street asked if we needed help. But, well, when Ryan told him we were lunatics, the poor man didn’t hesitate before zooming past us.
We were being crazy, but it was a lot of fun.
***
Ryan smiled at me as he put his hands in the pocket of his pants. He sighed, and used the tip of his finger to brush his wet hair off his face.
“It was nice being with you tonight,” he said.
I returned his smile. “I agree with that. I also had fun.”
“You mind calling it a date?” He winked.
I giggled. “Just go home already. It’s late.”
He stepped backwards. “Have a good night. And, don’t forget to dream about me.”
“Goodnight,” I said.
He jogged to his car, hopped in, started it, waved at me after whining down the glass window of the car, then zoomed off. As he drove down the street, I couldn’t help but smile. He was so cute tonight.
Smiling like a blushing teenager, I made my way into the house. I opened the door, using the spare key that was always kept under the doormat, walked in, and shut the door. About turning to the stairs, I yelped when I saw mom standing beside me, her arms tucked around her chest.
“Oh, mom, you startled me.” I held my chest to denote that I had been scared to see her standing there.
With a small simper on her lips, she walked to me. “Mind telling me what’s going on here? Mama’s always ready to give you some advice, you know?”
“Let’s leave that for later. I’m sleepy.” Of course, I was trying to avoid a conversation with her. I knew she would convince me that I felt something for Ryan who used to be my boss. How ridiculous, right?
She patted my hair. “Alright then. Goodnight. Do keep yourself warm, okay?”
“Sure. Goodnight.”
Like an excited toddler, I ran up the stairs. Getting to my room, I shut the door behind me, and hurried into the bathroom. In a short while, I took a warm shower, and slipped on a sleep shirt. I managed to blow-dry my hair in only a few minutes, then tied it in a messy bun.
Finally, I settled to sleep in my soft, comfy bed. Staring up at the ceiling above me, a smile crept to my lips. I felt really happy for the first time in a while. And, I’d admit, it was because I had spent my time with Ryan, tonight.
I kept thinking about him; his attractive smile, his unique sense of humor, his erratic behavior, and most especially, the way he seemed protective of me, when the dog had been chasing us.
Shy for some unknown reason, I threw a pillow against my face, flushing. Slowly, my eyes felt heavy. I pulled the pillow off me, kept thinking about everything.
And, just like he had predicted, I slept while thinking of him. I was dreaming about him.
Why was that?
***