Austin hated doing the dog walk. It wasn't as if he hated his dog; Pancakes, a handsome black labrador who he had gotten on his thirteenth birthday. No, it was the actual walk. The rowdy kids in the play-park, the loud barking of dogs, the smell of poo when walking by, well anywhere in actual fact, as well as having to get out of bed early in the morning to do the walk. But today he had been forced by his parents due to an emergency at the mattress store consisting of a child jumping up and down on a waterbed until, well you can guess what occurred next. However it wasn't all bad he supposed as he glanced at the tall redhead by his side who had happily agreed to come along so he could go on the new set of swings.
"Well, bye then Austin!" Dez yelled happily as he made a run for the swings.
"Wait, what? No! You can't ditch me straight away, we agreed we would walk for fifteen minutes, then you could go and play!"
Dez stopped and turned towards him, looking distraught as he continued to glance solemnly between Austin and the freshly painted red swings in the play-park.
"But there's one free…" he pouted.
"But! Fine… go, I'll meet you round there," Austin sighed and watched Dez sprint off punching his fist in the air in joy. At least he wouldn't lose Dez, he decided as he smiled wryly at the red, yellow and blue striped trousers, white suspenders and yellow top Dez was sporting today.
He begun to walk around the park, every so often glancing over to Dez to check he was behaving. Pancakes had always been well behaved, much more so than Dez, which was why it was a shock when suddenly the labrador rushed across the park to the trees opposite, his tail wagging wildly. Austin ran after him, shouting his name but suddenly Pancakes was gone from view and Austin ran into the trees into a clearing looking around in confusion.
Suddenly though, he heard a squeal which drew him further into the trees where he came to standing in front of a petite brunette with leaves in her hair, laughing as she sat on the floor, Pancakes on top of her, who was now licking her cheek, whilst another much smaller dog ran around them attempting to join in the fun.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, he's usually very well behaved!" Austin started, wanting to get back to check on Dez but he was met with the biggest, softest brown eyes he had ever seen. He could see her much clearer now she was looking at him, from her pale skin, to the caramel tips at the end of her light brown hair to her rosy pink cheeks from the crisp morning air. He could no longer hear the dogs barking or kids yelling or smell anything other than the early morning dampness of the air. The sun cut through the trees and highlighted her like she was an angel and he could feel his mouth opening in awe.
Her cheeks flushed as she gently pushed Pancakes off of her and stood up only to be half his height.
"That's okay," she smiled, and Austin could feel his face forming his own goofy smile to the sheer prettiness of the girl in front of him.
Taking a hold of himself, he held out his hand, "I'm Austin, and by the way you've…" he gestured to the leaves in her hair but at her look of confusion he stepped closer and brushed the leaves off, glancing down at the now much shorter distance between the two.
"Ally" she mumbled, her smile growing as she took his hand and he couldn't ignore the feeling of her small hand in his giving him butterflies and shivers up and down his spine.
She let go, much to his disappointment, and pointed at the small spaniel, who was rolling around in the leaves with Pancakes.
She giggled as she said "That's Pickles… it's so strange."
"What is?" Austin asked trying to ignore how the sound of her giggle, and how her nose crinkled when it occurred, melted his insides.
Her gaze met his as she shrugged and said, "he's usually not very friendly with other dogs but they look like best friends".
He couldn't help but smile too and said, "who knew that Pickles and Pancakes would get on so well together!"
She laughed, "Pancakes?"
"Hey! You can't judge, what sort of a name is Pickles?" he said jokingly.
"I was 13" she muttered sheepishly, "however that doesn't change the fact that pickles are the best food on earth!"
Austin scoffed, "Please, pancakes beat everything!"
The argument continued for another ten minutes which led to favourite drinks, which led to favourite films which led to the best discussion on music Austin had ever had in his entire life, which led to the swapping of numbers, which led to a hug (that made Austin feel so happy he thought he would burst) which led to the agreement to meet the next day in the food court at 12 for lunch.
Austin emerged from the trees, with Pancakes by his side feeling so thankful for his dog running off that he wanted to laugh and shout in happiness.
With a glance at Dez, still swinging on the swing like his life depended on it, an excited grin on his face, he realised that maybe he hadn't given dog walks enough credit as many a dog walk later, though neither Austin and Ally knew it yet, they'd be holding hands, laughing as Dez forced Trish to push him higher and higher on the swings. There would also be late walks with their beloved dogs to watch the stars, where they would be humming tunes to each other with their fingers entwined, every so often sharing a kiss. All leading to an extra special walk where Austin would get down on one knee, exactly where he watched the petite brunette sit on the floor with leaves in her hair and an angelic smile that gave him butterflies and still would to that day, and to where he would not even get through the whole 'would you be my wife' question before ally had squealed a yes and knocked him flat on the ground as the two much older dogs still ran around them knowing that something amazing had happened.
But that's the funny thing about a walk in the park, you never know what's going to be right through the trees…