"Oh hey," Troy tells me as soon as he opens the door.

"Sorry," I apologize for coming over unannounced, "but I hear you guys have a new puppy..."

He laughs as he opens the door wider and moving to the slide, allowing me to come in. "Already? We brought him home 20 minutes ago."

I shrug, stepping in, "news travels fast."

It's kind of sad that I didn't hear it from him. I mean, if this was back before everything, I probably would have went with him to get the dog. I have to stop thinking about the past, though, and just focus on the future. Who knows. I know shit has happened, but maybe one day we could be best friends again.

My mom got home 10 minutes ago and told me she just ran into the Boltons new dog and I just had to come over here.

Troy and I... we're fine. We're definitely on friendly terms.

After that night at Jakes, and hanging out at my house, things felt good between us. It's been about a week and at school, we'll talk in class. It's nothing groundbreaking or anything, but it's something. And that's better than nothing.

"Come on," Troy closes the door and leads me to where the puppy is, "my mom and sister just left for the mall and they're gonna buy him a few things."

"Where's your dad?

"He went to his parents house."

Before I knew it, we were in his back living room where the little puppy was sleeping peacefully on a blanket on the couch. It was the cutest little thing I've ever seen. I'm obsessed with dogs. Anyone who knows me knows I love dogs. I mean, I have three dogs at home and they're probably jealous I'm over here fawning over a little puppy, but I just can't help it. I'm dog obsessed. And I'm sure Troy expected me sooner or later.

I immediately picked it up and it's little eyes opened up, but the minute sat down on the couch, it's eyes immediately closed and it was sleeping again.

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl," Troy takes a seat next to me, "she doesn't have a name yet."

"She's the cutest thing I've ever seen," I can't help, but gush over her, "don't tell my dogs."

Troy laughed as he put his hand on her, petting her slightly, "my sister can't think of a name, and neither can I. Do you have any suggestions?"

DO I? I have a whole list of names I would want to name my dogs. Boys or girls. I have two boys and a girl at home whose names are Sadie, Maxwell, and Finley. So obviously those names are off the table. Hmm. This little cutie is a long haired dog whose going to be fluffy and so I really have to think about it.

"I've always wanted an Australian Shepherd."

"You should get one," Troy tells me, "I'm sure you can handle another dog."

"Please tell that to my parents. They're all so well behaved but it just gets expensive and it's one more to worry about, ya know?"

Troy nods, "yeah, well I hope this dog is just likes yours. They're very smart dogs so I don't think it'll be hard to train them, they just have a lot of energy and are too smart for their own good, that they could get bored and get a bit destructive, but we'll see."

How could this cute little thing ever be destructive? I seriously want to steal this dog. "You'll be fine. You have a huge back yard for her to play in."

"Yeah, we'll see."

"When did you guys decide to get a dog?"

"Before we even moved here. We were looking around for one over there, so yeah..."

Well, I'm happy they got one. Not only is it the perfect excuse to come over and work on our friendship, but I absolutely love dogs and I was getting puppy fever. And I know I won't be able to get another one until I move out of the house so this is definitely the best alternative.

I just realized I never gave him any suggestions for name. Oops. I was so mesmerized. "Do you like Sasha? I think she looks like a Sasha."

"Sasha?" Troy repeats then looks down at this little fur ball. "I think so."

"Yeah?" I give him a smile, wondering if it'll actually be that easy deciding on a name. "You like it?"

"I do and I'm sure my sister will like it too," he says.

Sasha it is then.

Sasha Bolton. Hmm does she need a middle name? NO, that's a little crazy. Ha. My dogs have middle names, but I'm a freak and probably one of the weirdo dog parents out there that give their dogs middle names. But they're like children, too, so why not? They deserve to have middle names just like us.

"Do you remember that one time you made us bike ride all the way across town to see Blair's new puppy?"

"Oh my gosh," I laugh, remembering that day SO well, "I do."

Troy laughed, probably rolling his eyes, "you literally had me pump air in my tire."

I did. Oh my gosh. What a fun day.

It was in the 8th grade and we were hanging out at my house one weekend. My parents were running a marathon for charity while Troy's parents were out of town at his sister's soccer tournament. After we were done having some breakfast, Blair texted me saying her parents surprised her with a puppy and the second I got that text, it was go time for me. I HAD to get over there. Our parents were gone, though, we weren't old enough to drive and we had absolutely NO idea how to ride the bus. I didn't want to bother any of my neighbors or text any family members because they probably wouldn't want to drop their plans just to take me to see my friends puppy. It wasn't an emergency, but I made it seem that way, for sure, by how quickly I wanted to get there.

So, I told Troy to get his bike from his garage because we were going to ride all the way to Blair's house to see the puppy.

And there were two problems: one, his tire didn't have air. Two, Blair lived many blocks away.

It's not like I'm even trying to be cute or cool with my obsession with dogs. I literally just love them so much and the minute you hear about someone in your life having a dog, you want to meet them ASAP. I mean, what is wrong with that? So that's what I did back then. And what I'm doing now.

Troy understood and so, being the best friend he is, filled his tire up with air and then we were on our way.

"I was so exhausted."

"Thank God Blair's mom gave us a ride home," he laughed.

"It was worth it, though, you gotta admit. We had so much fun playing and hanging out with that puppy. And the pizza her mom got for us," I remind him all about it, "I mean, to this day, that is the best pizza I've ever had in my entire life. It's actually my go to pizza place now."

Troy smiled and shook his head, "it started out so hectic, but you're right, it was a great day. I haven't had that pizza since that day. I'll have to soon."

Yeah, well, maybe because a couple months later, he was out of here and in Seattle.

But whatever, that's beside the point right now. The point right now for me is, that I had some really, really great times with Troy. And instead of being sad over them, I should be happy and just embrace it and realize that maybe, just maybe we could have more great times like that. Like maybe today could one of those days, I don't know. I really have to stop being so angry. Sure, he left without saying a work and we didn't talk for three years.

But maybe talking to him and him being over there would have been harder.

I'm trying to look on the bright side.

And I think we're getting to a really good place.

Before I could say anything else, my phone started to ring. And I was annoyed because it woke little Sasha up. I immediately handed her over to Troy and took my phone out of my back pocket to see who was calling me. I didn't even really want to answer it. Ugh.

It was Cole.

Shit. Fuck. I don't want to talk to him right now in front of Troy.

But then I realized that it can't be like this. Troy isn't anything more than a friend so why should I avoid talking to my boyfriend? Unless it means something else for me. It doesn't, though. And I don't want it to. I don't want to act like I'm hiding it from him or anything like that. Just for my personal self, ya know? There's nothing there anymore, we're barely becoming friends again so what's the big deal that he hears me talk to my boyfriend?

"Hello?" I answer.

"Babe," he immediately says over some loud noise, maybe a video game, "what're you doing tonight?"

I can't help, but wonder why he's calling me instead of just texting me. But whatever. I'm not going to ask him that. What am I doing tonight? "I'm grabbing sushi with Blair and Mads, and then we're watching a movie, I think."

He doesn't say anything for a second as he shuffles the phone from one ear to the other, "ditch them. Come with me to this concert, yeah?"

Ditch them? Uhhh. "Concert?"

"Yeah, it's this band I like. You remember I got tickets? It's in Santa Ana tonight."

"Which one of your friends bailed?" I ask him. Obviously, they all had to if he's asking me. Why would he want me to go now when he didn't invite me when he got the tickets a few months ago? I'm not mad he's just using me to go, but he can't expect me to cancel my plans for him.

"Doesn't matter. You're going with me," he tells me, "come on. You owe me after I picked you up in LA a couple of months ago because your car got a flat."

Is he serious right now? He thinks I OWE him?

First of all, we weren't together, we were still getting to know each other and he OFFERED.

Obviously, now it seems like he did it just to get ahead of the game, to score points, and maybe he didn't actually care. I didn't make him. I told him my mom could easily come and get me. It's not like I was trying to hide it from her. But he insisted and so he came and got me and that was that.

But now he's throwing it in my face and asking for a favor in return?

"And do you remember a couple weeks ago when we left the movies because you weren't feeling well? I rally wanted to see that movie."

"Cole, I'm hanging up."

"What?" He says with a laugh, "why can't you just come with me? It's gonna be fun. I promise you."

I don't say anything for a moment. I look over at Troy and he's not saying anything, just looking down at Sasha. I'm not sure he can put together our convo just by what I'm saying, but it really needs to be over. I don't want to talk to him right now. He's making me mad. And I'm trying not to let that show.

So, I very calmly tell him I can't go. "I have plans tonight, I'm sorry. I'm sure you can find someone else to go with you."

"Whatever," he says before hanging up.

I hit 'end' on my phone and put it off to the side and close my eyes for a second.

Still can't believe he threw those two things back in my face. At the time, I thought he was being a nice guy who wanted to help me out and then a nice boyfriend at the movies who didn't care about the movie and only about me feeling better. Ugh. Fuck this shit. It's been so inconsistent with Cole and I am getting so sick and tired of it. I don't want to feel mad at him all the time or feel like things aren't progressing with him. That's not how it should be going.

Right now, I don't have time to deal with him because I'm too busy loving on lil miss Sasha.

"Can I have her back?"

"What?" Troy looks over at me and then down at Sasha, realizing what I was saying, "oh yeah, yeah, sure..."

"Thanks," I smile slightly while grabbing her.

I don't want it to become this big issue between Cole and I, but I am pissed. The fact that he wants me to ditch my friends is upsetting.

Like, I have plans with them and he wants me to just leave them to be with him? That's not okay. I'm not that kind of person and I never want to be that girl who ditches their friends when her boyfriend is free. And that's really what I'm most mad about at this very moment more so than the other thing.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," I quickly tell Troy, picking little Sasha up so I can see her cute little face.

"I know you probably are, but if you wanna talk, I'm here..."

That's funny. He hasn't been here. Not even through a simple phone call or text. But like I said, I'm not trying to go backwards. I'm trying to move this friendship along just like he's trying and I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm not going to tell him that he hasn't been here.

So instead, I just give him a small smile, kiss little Sasha and thank him for his kind gesture. "Thanks."

And that was pretty much it.

It was all about Sasha from then on and how beautiful she's going to be.

There was no more talk or thinking about Cole.

Thank God.