Chapter 26

(Mandy POV)

Mandy had set her alarm so that she'd wake up before Mickey left for the diner the next morning. She knew he wasn't going to be happy about the dog, so she wanted to make sure she had as much control over the situation as possible.

Dexter had cried the whole night. She guessed that it was because he was in a new place and locked in a crate. On the plus side, he hadn't had a tantrum like earlier in the morning. His water bowl was still upright, and he wasn't covered in shit. She got up and changed his wee-wee pad, then fed him some kibble.

"Okay, Dex. Let's go meet Mickey," she said to the little dog.

She pushed her brother's bedroom door open slowly and placed the dog on his bed. Dexter walked over to Mickey's side and started licking the boy's cheek. It took Mickey a while to wake up, even with the puppy's wet tongue making its way into his ear. Mandy tried to stifle a giggle.

Mickey swatted the dog away with his eyes still closed, then shot up suddenly. "Mandy?! What the fuck is this?"

"This is Dexter!" Mandy said, taking a seat on her brother's bed and petting the puppy. She knew she was being overly cheery. Mickey must have noticed it too. He sat up swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Mandy... what's going on?"

Mandy's smile faltered. Fucking Mickey... he could pick up on all of Mandy's moods. She grimaced.

"It's Brian... He's been talking to this chick from his school... meeting her for study dates... texting all the time. I don't know if he's cheated on me yet..."

Mickey was quiet. He nudged her knee with his own, urging her to continue.

"Well, I followed him, then found out where she lived."

"Okay, gimme the address and I'll go fuck her up," Mickey offered.

Mandy shook her head. "I took care of it. She left town for good."

Mickey chuckled. "Of course you did... and the dog?"

"It was hers. She bought it yesterday... but he's ours now. I named him Dexter. You like the name?"

"You plannin' on walking him, feeding him, cleaning after him?"

Mandy nodded.

"If Mrs. Lombardi says it's okay, then it doesn't bother me."

Then Mickey asked the real question. The one she didn't want to think about. The one she didn't know how to answer. "What do you plan to do about Brian?"

Mandy looked up at her brother with worry on her face. She knew Brian was Mickey's boss, but she also knew that her brother wouldn't hesitate to beat the crap out of him if she asked him to, and she didn't want him to lose his job over her. He'd worked hard for it.

"I... I don't know. I just... I don't know what to do. I mean, I have no proof that he cheated... and now that the bitch is gone, I don't want to start a fight over nothing."

Mandy stared at Mickey like if she looked hard enough, she would see the answer on his face, but no words came from him.

"Mick, please... tell me what to do..."

Mickey groaned. "You know that I am SO not the right person to be asking for advice, right?" A small laugh escaped from Mandy. "That being said... okay. I'm just gonna tell you what I think, alright?" Mandy nodded, still petting the puppy that was now in her lap. He was chewing on the zipper of her hoodie. She knew that Mickey wasn't comfortable with the conversation and where it was headed. She should have called Ian again. He was always better when it came to giving advice...

"You two have been seriously dating for a while now. Just because he didn't fuck the bitch, doesn't mean that he didn't do anything wrong. You said that he has been texting her and meeting with her behind your back for a while. That is not okay. And so what if she's gone now? Who's to say another dumb slut won't take her place? If it was Gallagher..." he sucked in a deep breath, "I wouldn't just let it slide."

That surprised Mandy. What her brother said actually made sense. Or maybe she had been wrong all along about Mickey's lack of advice skills because they'd never talked so openly and honestly before. Her brother had changed so much. She wondered if it was because of Ian or because of coming to NY.

"But what do I say to him? How do I bring it up? No matter what, he's going to know I looked at his phone."

Mickey shrugged. "The problem here isn't that you snooped. It's that he was having an affair." Mandy opened her mouth to remind him, again, that she wasn't sure they'd had sex, but Mickey cut her off. "Ay, before you interrupt—weren't you listening to a word I said? It doesn't have to be physical to be cheating. You gotta make sure that shit is done... or I will."

He slapped a hand onto her lap. "Now get that thing out of my room before he pisses on my shit, otherwise you're gonna have bigger worries than how to talk to your boyfriend."

Mandy smiled halfheartedly and carried Dexter out of Mickey's room. She decided to bake some muffins. Baking always made her feel better. Plus, it would give her a reason to stop by Mrs. Lombardi's and talk to her about Dexter.

Leaving the puppy alone at home in the crate was probably the most heartbreaking thing Mandy had every experienced. Well, no... not really... but it came damned close. She made sure he had a fresh wee-wee pad, plenty of clean water, and a full scoop of kibble in his bowl before she left.

Mandy was relieved when Mrs. Lombardi said she didn't care about pets as long as Mandy cleaned up after the dog. She wondered if Dexter would get along with her "itty bitty Charlie." Mandy didn't point out that Charlie was one of the fattest cats she'd ever seen.

Sara met her downstairs and they talked on the way to school about what had happened the previous night. Sara told Mandy that she was proud of her for getting rid of the whore, but had nothing to offer in terms of how to start up the conversation with Brian. Mandy would have to figure it out on her own, and she was not happy about it.

School flew by and Mandy raced home afterwards to see how the puppy had fared. She could tell he was still too small to be walked outside, so she just hoped that he hadn't made too bad of a mess in the crate. Her fears weren't unwarranted: the dog had acted in the same way as he had that first time she tried to leave him home alone. The inside of the crate was a mixture of water, urine, kibble and feces.

"Dexter... what am I gonna do with you!?" she moaned as she got down and started cleaning out the crate yet again. She took out her phone and called Mickey, holding it to her ear with a shoulder while she washed the puppy in the sink for the second time.

"Hey Mick."

"Hey, you're late. I already ate my lunch."

"Good. Don't wait for me... The puppy made a mess so I'm cleaning him up."

She could hear Mickey snickering in the background.

"Yes, I know I asked for this. You don't have to remind me..."

"Want me to bring you something to eat?"

"Nah, I'll just eat while I'm working. See you soon."

She dried off one hand and closed the phone. When Mickey came back to the apartment a few minutes later, she begged him to let her put Dexter's crate into his room—just until she got home from work, and just in the beginning. Her theory was that the dog would behave better if he wasn't completely alone. Mickey reluctantly agreed.

As soon as the weekend arrived, they took the puppy to the vet. He was 12 weeks old, and a pure black cocker spaniel. Based on his age, Dexter's size and weight were all normal so far. The little thing weighed only four pounds. The vet said his baby teeth would start falling out soon, and that his appetite would increase with his size, so not to worry and just follow the directions on the kibble container. He gave Dexter all of his shots and told the two Milkoviches he would see them in a year for Dexter's next annual visit, unless there was a problem. The visit to the vet cost Mandy $100 and his monthly heartworm medication cost another $75.

"You're an expensive little puppy, aren't you?" Mandy cooed to the dog. He lolled his tongue out at her while wagging his tail in pure happiness. Their last stop before heading back to the apartment was Petco, to have an ID tag made with Dexter's name and Mandy's cell phone number on it.

Mandy had been avoiding Brian. She had been short with him when they talked on the phone and had made a different excuse about being busy every night of the week. It was Saturday, however, and she couldn't come up with any reason why he couldn't come over.

After Mandy had introduced the puppy to her boyfriend, she handed Dexter over to Mickey, who carried him into his bedroom and closed the door tightly behind him. This was it... Mandy couldn't stall anymore.

"Brian."

"Yeah baby, what's up?"

"I have something to say to you and I need you to just let me get it out, alright?"

She bit her bottom lip and waited until Brian nodded in acknowledgment. Here goes nothing, she thought.

"I know about you and Lauren." She watched his face as it first registered shock, then confusion, and then anger.

"What do you think you know? There's nothing going on."

"I know that you two have been meeting after class and sending text messages to each other for weeks. I know that you've gotten close and that you flirt. And what I know is that you've never mentioned her to me before, which makes her a secret. I thought we didn't keep secrets..."

Brian scowled. "You were looking through my phone?" He almost shouted it at her.

Mandy shook her head slowly. "That's not the point," she said. "The point is... that you've been having an affair with some other girl."

"We didn't do anything," Brian said defensively.

"That doesn't mean you weren't going to... That doesn't mean it's not where you were headed."

They were both staring at each other with anger in their eyes.

"You had no right to look through my phone," Brian accused again.

"Maybe not, but I'm not a tool... so you don't get to treat me like one."

Neither one said anything after that. Where could the conversation go? Mandy was angry, but more so because she felt betrayed. She had hoped this confrontation with Brian would clear things up, not reaffirm her fears. Who was this guy sitting next to her? What had happened to her perfect boyfriend? She had trusted him, and now all she felt was betrayal.

"I have to go," Brian said, and got up from the couch. He didn't look back at Mandy as he walked out of the kitchen, down the hall and out the door.

Mandy started crying. She couldn't help it. She felt like her heart had been crushed. What the fuck had happened? She went into her room, not wanting Mickey to hear her.

After an hour or so, she decided to call Sara. Her friend came over with weed and beer, and the two girls got absolutely shit faced. Mickey walked in around 7 and deposited Dexter into Mandy's room. "I gotta get ready for work..." He shook his head and walked out. Mandy barely registered the sound of the shower turning on. She didn't even care that Dexter was taking a dump in the corner of her bedroom instead of on the wee-wee pad inside his crate. She just didn't give a fuck anymore.

Brian didn't call her for two weeks. In that time, Mandy hung out with Sara and the dog. They took Dexter on his first real walk, encouraging him to "go potty" on the grass. It took a few days and a shitload of praise and treats, but he finally peed against a tree on the sidewalk. Mandy didn't think something so trivial could bring her so much happiness.

Ironically, the dog she had gotten in order to protect her relationship with Brian had become a good substitute for it. The puppy gave everyone unconditional love. Even Mickey seemed to be happier when he played with Dex. It was as if, for a few minutes, he would forget that Ian wasn't near him.

Mandy could tell when Mickey was thinking about the redhead. She could see it written on his face. She wondered if she got a similar expression when she thought about Brian.

About a week before her birthday, Mandy had a meeting with Mr. Ferdinand, the guidance counselor at her school who doubled as the college advisor. They talked about Mandy's future, something she had only really thought about a few times. She'd already taken the SATs, and her scores had been good—good enough to get into a much better school than Queensborough Community College.

Mr. Ferdinand slammed a folder onto his desk, which startled Mandy. "Listen, kid. You're smart. Based on what I've seen in terms of your grades improving from the short time you've been at this school, you have potential. Why would you sell yourself short? Why settle for QCC? What do you really want to do? What makes you happy?"

Mandy didn't need to think long. She loved to cook. Even since she had started doing it with Mrs. Lombardi, she'd felt a sense of relaxation and joy from creating different dishes, even desserts.

"I like to cook..."

"Well then! We have a direction!" Mr. Ferdinand typed something into his computer. "I want you to go home and do some research on different culinary schools in NYC. You live near a city that is obsessed with food. Why not take advantage of it? Come back to my office tomorrow and we will talk more."

Mandy went to the school library after leaving Mr. Ferdinand's office and looked up the different schools that she could apply to. After about an hour of research, she came to the conclusion that they were all fucking expensive. Her favorite option was the Institute of Culinary Education, called ICE for short. They offered dual degrees in Culinary Arts and Culinary Management.

She went back for her second meeting with Mr. Ferdinand the next day, and told him about her choice. "But there's no way in hell I can afford the $30k tuition... I mean, I've been working my ass off all summer and working extra shifts at the diner. I have a little bit of a cushion saved up, but nowhere near enough for ICE."

"If culinary school is what you really want to do, then maybe community college isn't such a bad idea. QCC has a management program that might actually help you out when you ultimately apply to ICE. It will be good for them to see that you already have a degree, and that it is in something that will be useful when it comes to running a restaurant. You can get an associate's degree in less than two years." He took out a brochure from one of the drawers in his desk and opened it to the right page before he passed it over to Mandy.

"An A.A.S. Degree in Management would require only 60 credits. If you push yourself and take classes during the summer semester and even a couple during the winter break, you can finish the program in a year and a half. Maybe less..."

Mandy looked at the booklet while Mr. Ferdinand continued explaining the program. "You can even take a couple of "College Now" courses. It's a program QCC has with certain high schools in the area; you can take some classes here in the afternoon, during your senior year, and get college credit for them."

QCC would cost her about two grand per semester, plus the cost of books. Mr. Ferdinand handed Mandy some applications for different scholarships she could apply for. He said that the tuition costs were not bad, especially if she considered the financial aid she might be able to receive.

Mandy asked him where she should start, because it was all a little overwhelming. He said she should be working on getting recommendations from her teachers and filling out applications, both for financial aid and admittance. Mandy had a lot of work ahead of her.

Her birthday passed without a fuss. She was glad it fell before Thanksgiving this year. Everyone went to Mrs. Lombardi's for dinner that Sunday night, with the exception of Brian, who had still not called her or talked to her.

They all watched as Dexter and Charlie met for the first time. After the puppy tentatively sniffed at the cat's tail, he wagged his tail and rolled onto his back in front of Charlie, waiting for the cat to make his inspection.

"Aren't dogs and cats supposed to be mortal enemies?" Travis asked.

"I guess not even Charlie can resist Dexter's charms," Mandy said, smiling. "I bet Ian will love him instantly, too."

"Oh yeah, he's coming to NY soon, right?" Matt asked Mandy.

Mickey was the one to answer. "Yeah, I'm meeting him at the airport Thursday afternoon." When Matt looked at Mandy, Mickey explained that Mandy had work when Ian's flight arrived. Nobody really knew about the boys' relationship yet. She wondered how long Mickey could keep the secret going.

Well, at least they have a relationship, she thought. She didn't even know where things stood with her and Brian. She shook her head slightly to clear it before she ended up crying again. It was her birthday, and she wanted to enjoy the night with her friends and family.

It might be a while before the next chapter because I'm trying to get some stuff written for the Gallavich Week topics. I'm working on a few stories at the same time, so hopefully this chapter is long enough to hold you over until then. I appreciate all the feedback and I'm so thankful that you all are enjoying this as much as I am!