Rocky buying the turtles
Ding.
Adrian looked up from the fish tanks towards the door to the pet shop, bright orange flakes falling from her suddenly still fingers. In the doorway stood a hulking figure in a black leather jacket and lumpy black hat. The man's hands were curled loosely into fists and he seemed to be practicing punches. Adrian caught herself staring and quickly looked down at her own sensible shoes.
She returned to feeding the fish, stealing glimpses of the dark stranger from between the tanks. Adrian watched as he strolled around the shop, chafing his large hands. He paused by the pen in the window, whistling and petting the puppies playing there. Adrian looked on worriedly; afraid they might be frightened by this brute, but they wriggled and nosed their way into the man's hands, fighting for room. Adrian fought to hide her smile as she moved across the shop to a solitary cage that held a giant bull mastiff. The dog had been found roaming the streets a few days ago but no one had come yet to claim him. Adrian placed a food dish in the dog's cage; looking up through her bangs at the man who had moved on from the puppies and was standing near the fish tanks.
Adrian straightened and turned to the man. She fidgeted with the watch on her lapel, squaring her shoulders before lifting her chin.
"C-Can I help you?" She stammered, not meeting the man's eyes.
"Yeah...yeah." The man paused, turning to face her. "I was just lookin' to get an animal. Somethin' small though, I don't got a lotta room." He shrugged his large shoulders and chafed his hands again.
"Uh...well we've got some nice birds if you'd like." Adrian gestured over to the cages near the windows. "Or fish are easy to take care of…" She trailed off as the mastiff at her feet started barking. Suddenly the man crouched down, poking his fingers through the cage and letting out a loud bellowing sound. Adrian jumped as the man and dog continued to howl.
"Hey, yo buddy, how you doin' today?" The man asked as he stroked the dog's nose through the mesh of the cage. "Does he have a name?" He asked without taking his eyes off of the dog.
"No, he didn't have a collar when we found him." Adrian answered without thinking.
"Well, a dog's gotta have a name…" the man trailed off, looking deeply into the dog's eyes. "How's about Butkus? Do ya like that buddy?"
The mastiff barked again, raising a paw to scratch at the cage door.
"I think he likes it. Yo Butkus!" The dog barked again, and the man straightened from his crouch.
"Yo, you're Paulie's sister yeah?" The man said, shrugging his shoulders.
Adrian froze, surprised, then nodded minutely.
"I don't know if he ever mentioned me, but me and Paulie go way back. I'm Rocky, by the way, Rocky Balboa. And you are?" The man waved one of his large hands in her direction.
Adrian swallowed but said nothing.
The man waved the extended hand again. "And you are?"
"Adrian," she whispered finally, glancing up into the man's surprisingly bright brown eyes.
"Adrian," Rocky said back, holding her gaze. "Yo Adrian, I already got a fish. His name's Moby Dick, see. He's just a goldfish but he's pretty nice I guess. I dunno," he continued as if they hadn't been interrupted at all. He turned around and started wandering back through the pet shop, occasionally bending down and peering into tanks and cages; poking his fingers into cages and tapping on glass.
"What about a dog?" Adrian asked, following behind him at a distance.
"Too big and too rich for my blood. I don't got much room in my place for a dog. I was thinking something a lot smaller. And cheap too. I don't got too much extra spending money. I can barely even afford to pay attention some days, you know?" Rocky laughed and smiled back at Adrian. She looked down at the floor, feeling a smile spreading across her face involuntarily. She shook her head and composed herself before looking back up, but the twinkle in Rocky's eyes suggested that she hadn't done a very good job.
"What do you think about turtles?" Rocky continued as he turned back to the tanks. He leaned down, looking into a tank where two turtles were submerged in a pool of water, one on top of the other. Adrian inched closer, also leaning down to look in the tank.
"Turtles are nice," she murmured, sliding her gaze from the tank to look down at Rocky's face as he continued to stare at the turtles. Adrian's eyes took in his strong, straight nose, full lips, and strong jaw. She glanced quickly away as Rocky looked back up at her. Rocky smiled and clapped his hands together, rubbing them briskly.
"Turtles it is. Now what does a turtle eat?"