“This is Brucey.” Luis grinned. “I figured you should meet him right away to see if you like him or not.” The dog and I stared at each other. He was almost as tall as I was.
“Can I give him treats?” I asked nervously, not taking my eyes off Brucey.
“Of course! Do you have any?”
“No.” I frowned. “But we can keep some in stock. My last roommate left her cookie jar here. We can fill it up and use it for him.” I reached my hand out and slowly brought it closer to the dog’s snout. He sniffed it and then licked me, causing both Luis and I to let out sighs of relief.
“Why don’t you guys come inside and check out the place?” I stepped away from the door to let them in. “It’s not much. And I work evenings, so if you want to have guests, I won’t be around.”
“Where is the room I’d be renting?”
I pointed and led him to Brenda’s old room. “We did paint her room for the next person. As you can see, you can decorate. Paint, wallpaper, or you know, scribble.”
“I see that.” He laughed and nodded. “I have a cage for Brucey. Where could we put that?”
I looked down at the dog who had been following us diligently.
“What size cage would fit him?” Still cautious, I reached down and petted his back. He stiffened, then relaxed once he realized I wasn’t going to hurt him.
“It’s quite big, but it’s necessary for guests. Is there space?”
“Let’s check the kitchen.” I took him through the rest of the house. “If we move some stuff around, I think we can put it here.” I looked at Luis as I waved at the space where I currently had a shelf and the trashcan.
“That should work, thank you.”
The phone rang, causing us to startle. “It’s fine, I have an answering machine.” To get away from the loud ringing, I took him to the living room. “As you can see, there’s not much here. You can bring in whatever you want to decorate.”
“You really like to draw,” he said, looking around the room.
“I know, the landlord says as long as I paint before I leave, I’m—” My words were cut off by a loud beep from my answering machine. Luis and I exchanged a look as a moment later, the person spoke.
“Hey, it’s me. Maybe I’m overthinking things. Am I being too presumptuous that you would want to spend the holidays with me? I know we just met, but I mean, I did finger-fuck you in my backseat the other night. Should we have waited? Call me.”
