I'm back with the new chapter! And it only took me a day this time! Hopefully I can maintain that schedule but don't count on it XD.
Guest, Sorry! I didn't mean to stereotype all guests as haters or trolls, I guess I should have worded it differently XD. I was just talking about haters in general, and used this guest that keeps attacking me as an example. Hope I didn't offend anyone :) And I'm glad you enjoy my story, thanks for reviewing!
Once again thank you all for your support and reviews! Enjoy.
The bright, happy atmosphere was back on the dance floor, with both Chase and Skye not worrying about the situation. It had been about forty-five minutes since Chase had chickened out of asking Skye to dance, and it hadn't crossed either of their minds since. Tons of their favourite songs were being played and they couldn't be having a better time.
Eventually, Rocky noticed that Chase was beginning to get a little tired of dancing. Even the mixed breed himself was beginning to tire out a little bit. So the he took this time to start phase two of trying to give Chase the courage to ask Skye again. Besides, a slow song hadn't played in a while now, and one was surely going to come on any minute.
"Wow, I sure am tired out," Rocky panted, "I'm going to get some water, want to join me Chase?"
"I was hoping somebody would say that!" Chase sighed of relief.
As Chase made his way to the drink bar, Rocky signaled for the rest of the pups that were with them to follow and they did so.
"Hey Rocky, what's up?" Zuma whispered to him so Chase wouldn't hear.
"While we all take a break, we need to encourage Chase," he told all the pups, "Don't do it directly, but just mention little things. For example, say something nice about him, or even Skye. Something that might boost his confidence or make him want to ask Skye more."
The pups nodded, and continued walking along with Chase to the drink bar. From there they brought their water to the table and sat down for a bit. Marshall, being Chase's best friend, took it upon himself to start the subtle encouragement.
"You know Chase, I haven't really noticed it until now, but damn, you have some fine muscles," Marshall smiled at Chase.
Chase blushed and chuckled at the compliment, "Heh, you think so?"
"Yeah! Look at the guns on you!" Zuma agreed, gripping Chase's arm, "A girl would be lucky to have someone as strong as you."
"Wow, thanks," Chase chuckled wagged his tail.
"Also, I meant to tell you this earlier, but you look fabulous tonight Chase." Rubble mentioned.
"Yeah! You're groomed all nice, your outfit is great, and it really brings out those auburn eyes of yours." Rocky added.
"Guys, come on now," Chase blushed even harder.
Marshall, who was sitting next to Chase, took a big whiff of the cologne Katie had given to Chase, "Wow, you even smell amazing."
"Oh yeah, Katie gave me that," he told them, "She said it would… attract Skye.."
Saying Skye's name made him start thinking again. The pups realized his change in tone, and decided to subtly make Chase think about how much he likes Skye. They hoped this would persuade him to ask her.
"Speaking of Skye, she looks beautiful tonight, doesn't she?" Zuma admitted.
"Yeah, Katie did a fantastic job with her grooming and makeup." Rubble observed.
"Don't forget her outfit. Boy does that make her stand out, right Chase?" Marshall nudged his friend.
However, Chase didn't notice. He was caught in a daze, blankly staring at the wall. His entire mind was on Skye right now. The pups' comments were so true, but none of them expressed the love that the german shepherd had for the cockapoo. Just thinking of Skye made Chase's heart race. The pups were respectful and didn't interrupt his thoughts, but in the meantime they noticed something terribly wrong. In the midst of all the compliments they heard a slow song slowly fading to an end in the background.
"Damn it," Zuma quietly said to Rocky, "We just missed another one."
"Oh my gosh how did we not even notice it." Rocky groaned, annoyed with himself.
They hoped that Everest was doing her best to keep Skye from losing hope.
X
At first, Everest was grateful to hear a slow song start to play, sure that this time Chase would ask Skye to dance. But after waiting and waiting for the german shepherd to make his way toward Skye, with no avail, the husky started getting ticked off. Eventually, the last verse was playing and Chase was still nowhere to be seen.
Skye noticed the annoyed look on Everest's face and felt as if this was her fault.
"Everest, it's okay. Maybe this just wasn't meant to be. We tried, but Chase probably just doesn't like me." Skye sighed.
"No, no, no! Don't say that!" Everest demanded, "It's not over yet! Remember the dance competition? You guys were partners and you had a blast! I'm sure he's falling for you."
"I don't know Everest, Chase is usually upfront about things, and he's hardly scared of anything. If he liked me he would've asked me to dance by now." Skye concluded with her head down.
"You don't know that for sure," Everest said, wondering where on earth the guys could be, "Here, just excuse me for a second, but don't lose hope yet, please!"
Everest walked off the dance floor and called Rocky for the second time, even angrier than before. Seeing her best friend so hopeless and depressed made her so upset.
Rocky stepped away from the table to answer his pup tag. He knew exactly who it was, and why they were calling. He braced himself before picking up.
"Hello..?" Rocky said, preparing for Everest to yell at him.
"What happened this time?" Everest complained, surprisingly not as angry as Rocky thought she would be, but merely just disappointed.
"I'm sorry Everest, that time it wasn't Chase's fault, we got distracted and realized a slow song was playing after it was too late. We've slowly been building Chase's confidence, and I'm sure he'll be ready by the next slow song." Rocky promised.
"I hope so." Everest sighed and then signed off. She didn't want to admit it, but even she was losing hope at this point. It was nearing eleven-thirty and nothing had happened yet. But she needed to keep Skye happy because that was vital right now. Love can be a stressful thing and can really wear you down, but happiness and support from a friend can heal the process.
Everest walked back on the dance floor and found Skye. The husky gave her a friendly smile, which ended up putting a smile on Skye's face.
"Sorry about that, I, uhh… just had to ask Jake something.." Everest lied.
"That's okay." Skye responded, "I've been thinking, and I guess it's not so bad if Chase doesn't ask me to dance. I mean, I really want him to like me, but if he doesn't then I wouldn't want to force something on him. What he wants and what's best for him is what matters most to me."
Everest was kind of shocked at this. She didn't want Skye to start losing hope, but she also overcame her depressed mood. She didn't really know how to respond to that, so she came up with this.
"Skye.." she began, "You're such a good pup. And regardless of what happens tonight, Chase is lucky to have a pup like you have feelings for him."
She didn't guarantee Chase would ask the cockapoo to dance tonight, but let her know that it didn't matter because she is a beautiful, smart and amazing pup.
"Thanks Everest. Thanks for being by my side the entire night. You've cheered me up a lot, and I really appreciate it." Skye hugged her.
"I'm always here for you Skye." Everest accepted the hug.
X
Back at the table, there wasn't much the guys could do at this point, so they just accepted that they had missed another chance and hoped that there would be a slow song soon after.
"Well, we're down to half an hour, let's hope for the best." Zuma informed the pups.
As the current slow song came to an end, Chase was slowly coming back into reality, also not noticing the slow song he had just missed. But that didn't stop him from noticing the next one. Directly after, Let Her Go by Passenger came on, causing Marshall, Rubble, Rocky, and Zuma to look up at each other in satisfaction. They had been given another chance.
Chase didn't need convincing though. The compliments that were given to him, and the nice things said about Skye seemed to do the trick. Plus, if he didn't make a move now, he knew the pups would for him.
"Guys, I'm ready. I need to go find her. Now," Chase concluded, desperate to get a dance with the pup of his dreams.
"Atta boy Chase!" Zuma encouraged him.
"Here, I'll go help you find her. We don't want to waste the song looking for her. Let's go!" Marshall offered, excited to help out his best friend. The two pups pushed away from the table and scattered around the dance floor looking for Skye.
X
As soon as the next song started, Everest and Skye looked up at each other, however with much different expressions. Everest was filled with butterflies, ecstatic that there was another chance for Chase to ask Skye to dance. But Skye looked back at Everest with a sad face, like, really sad. Before Everest could even blink, Skye made a mad dash for the bathroom. The husky stood dead in her tracks, absolutely puzzled at why her mood had changed so drastically. One second she was being happy and optimistic, the next, she was almost in tears and sprinting away. After comprehending all of this, Everest quickly followed her into the bathroom.
Skye found herself in a bathroom stall, blowing her nose into toilet paper. Her eyes were leaking like faucets. Luckily her makeup was waterproof, so that wasn't an issue, but something was wrong and she didn't really want anyone to see her cry. Unfortunately for her, she heard the bathroom door creak open, and saw a set of paws approaching her.
"Hello? Skye?" Everest knocked on the stall door, "Is everything okay?"
She didn't get an answer, but rather a few quiet sobs.
"Skye, please come out. What's wrong?" Everest pleaded, "I can hear you crying."
Skye eventually gave in and walked out of the stall with her eyes red and puffy.
"Sorry for running off." She apologized.
"I don't care about that! What's wrong? Is it about this whole situation with Chase?" She presumed.
"No that's not it. It's.. nothing." Skye said, avoiding the question.
"Don't lie to me Skye, you didn't just run off crying for no reason. I want to help." She insisted.
Skye sighed, "It's a long story, but basically before I was adopted by Ryder, I lived on the streets of Adventure Bay, and had a really good friend who was also a stray. Her name was Jade, and she was my first ever friend. We took care of each other, played together, kept each other company, and it made living on the streets not so bad. But one day I woke up in our little alleyway which we called home, and she was just gone. I looked everywhere but couldn't find her anywhere. I didn't know whether she got lost, was pup-napped, or was even… dead. Whenever this song plays, it reminds me of her, and how much I miss her."
The cockapoo wiped a few more tears from her eyes and whimpered after explaining the story of her friend, Jade. She had a special place in Skye's heart and really had an impact on her life, and to just lose her like that was hard.
Everest went up to the sobbing pup and gave her another hug, even tighter than the previous ones. The story even made her eyes water up a bit. She rubbed Skye's back as the aviation pup buried her face into the husky's chest. It stayed that way for a little while, and Everest comforted her friend by having a conversation with her until the song ended, taking her mind off of the incident.
Meanwhile, Chase and Marshall were in a frantic search to find Skye.
"We searched the whole dance floor, and the song is halfway over! Where is she?" Chase whimpered, desperate to squeeze in a dance with Skye within the thirty minutes they had left.
Marshall, who sympathized for his panicking friend, called for the other pups to help their search for Skye.
"Guys, we can't find Skye anywhere! We need you to come and help us immediately!" Marshall radioed to them.
Rocky, Rubble, and Zuma didn't even waste time to answer. They got up from their chairs and raced over to the dance floor with one thing in mind, to find Skye. They checked every square inch of the dance floor, and even all the surrounding tables, but still had no luck in finding her. Not even Chase's outstanding sense of smell could pick up Skye's scent. The song was coming to a close, and the guy pups met up back at the table.
"Where could they have been?" Zuma said in a defeated tone.
"I know! Why did they have to disappear on us now." Rocky sighed in an annoyed tone, banging his fist on the table.
"I guess I won't be dancing with Skye after all," Chase whimpered, "I should've taken my chances earlier."
Marshall placed his arm around the german shepherd's shoulder, "Stay strong buddy."
"Yeah, it's not like tonight was your only chance. You'll have more opportunities in the future." Rubble comforted him.
"Yeah I know, but I really wanted tonight to be the night. I was all prepared and everything, but I blew it." Chase said with his head down, thinking about how he almost asked her before and the necklace he had planned to give her. All down the drain.
"Don't speak too soon dude, you never know what opportunities might pop up around the corner." warned Zuma.
With that, the song had finally ended, which was fortunate for Everest who was trying to distract Skye.
"Would you look at that, the song ended." Everest smiled at Skye.
"Finally." Skye chuckled wiping the last few tears from her eyes.
Everest also chuckled at Skye's comment and left her to herself for a bit so she could calm herself down a bit, "I'll be waiting right outside the door for you!"
"Okay, I'll be there soon," Skye informed her, "Thank you."
"Anytime Skye!" she winked at the cockapoo.
Just as she walked out of that bathroom, her pup tag went off. Then it hit her. The guys were probably looking for them the entire song. She was so caught up in Skye's story that she had completely forgotten.
She quickly answered and apologized, "Guys, I'm SO sorry. Something happened, and it upset Skye so we were in the bathroom. There was nothing I could do, please don't be mad!"
She tried to be as vague as possible because she didn't want to embarrass Skye.
"We're not mad," Rocky sighed, "Just disappointed I guess. It's not your fault. Luck just isn't going our way tonight."
"It has been real frustrating hasn't it?" Everest came to terms with the situation.
"Yeah," Rocky agreed, "But it's not like this was our only shot. Maybe one day soon they could actually confess their love to each other."
"Yeah, you're right. Tonight was just one of many to come." Everest figured.
Mid-thought, Everest's ears perked as she heard the bathroom door creak open.
"Oh shoot! Gotta go Rocky! Sorry, I'll catch you guys later, over and out!" She quickly hung up on the mixed breed.
Rocky figured it was something important, so he didn't question it and walked back to the table with the rest of the guys. The mood was kind of dead at the table. Everybody was feeling kind of down and defeated due to the fact they failed trying to get Chase and Skye to dance. But Rocky didn't want the night, which had been great so far, to end on a sad note.
"Come on guys! Let's not let this ruin our night! There's still half an hour left, let's party!" Rocky wagged his tail, waving his friends over to the dance floor.
The pups were won over by the mixed-breed's enthusiasm, and joined him. Even Chase, who was definitely the most disappointed of the pups, walked back up to the dance floor with his friends.
The five pups danced and sang along with the lyrics of the song that played, deciding to enjoy the rest of their night. Out of the corner of Rocky's eye, he saw the two female pups making their way back onto the stage. Of course now we find them, he thought to himself and chuckled, thinking of the whole situation. If you can't do anything to fix it, you might as well look back at it and have a few laughs. The pups continued to party into the night and weren't going to stop until they were forced to.
That's too bad :( Really wanted Chase and Skye to dance on the night but seems like it just wasn't meant to be. But the pups are right, it's not like this was the only opportunity. There will be many more occasions to come. Hopefully they won't be short of luck like they were tonight.
Nearing the end of this story :( Oh well, it's been fun while it lasted. But we aren't finished yet! So look forward to the next chapter coming soon! Peace~