20 – "I've killed him"
Felicity was starting to regret her offer to look after her friend's dog. She loved animals, and especially Flash, the greyhound that Barry had adopted a couple of years ago. And that's why she had offered in the first place to look after him while his friend enjoyed his honeymoon with the love of his life, Iris.
She had played with Flash while visiting Barry and Iris before, and he seemed such a calm and obedient dog that she though this would be an easy job. But no one had told her that the damn dog liked to start his days early. For the last week Felicity had been woken up at 6AM by a dog jumping on her bed. The stupid pooch even knew how to open the door of her bedroom! OK, maybe the dog wasn't stupid but very clever, but that didn't make it any better.
So that's how she found herself, on her sixth morning on a row, having slept less than six hours, on the nearest dog park to her house. At least she wasn't the only one. She could see some couples walking with their dogs and a few people jogging. "It could be worse" she though "I could be one of those crazy people who wakes up early to do exercise. As if only one of those thing wasn't bad enough."
Felicity was a night owl, and trying to keep up with an active, early bird, or dog, like Flash was almost impossible for her. She barely could concentrate on throwing the frisbee. It would fly a couple of meters to then fall on the grass. And every time Flash would just look at her with his big brown eyes, and she knew he was judging her, challenging her to do better. So she try, and that's how she ended hitting a man in the head with the frisbee.
It happened like it were slow motion; Felicity could see the plastic disc flying in the air, Flash chasing it. And then than man appeared running and she just knew the frisbee was going to hit him. But that wasn't the problem. The real problem was that the dog had no time to stop and basically tackled the poor man, who fell to the floor with Flash still on top of him. That's when everything returned to normal speed.
"I've killed him" was the first thing Felicity thought before starting to run towards the man and the dog.
When she reached them Flash was happily lying on top of the man, chewing on the frisbee. The man let go a moan of pain and Felicity breathed in relief. He was alive. She hadn't killed him. But she needed to get Flash off him.
"Flash!" she shouted trying to put the maximum authority in her voice. "Come here".
The dog seemed to consider the order for a second but did not move.
"I said, come here. Now!"
Again no response, and Felicity had to take Flash by the collar to physically removed him from the poor man, the man who was currently smiling and looking at her with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. The man who had been jogging before the dog knocked him over and who was sweaty... really sweaty. When he got up Felicity kept looking at his wet t-shirt clinging to his muscles and her legs turned into jell-o.
"Wow, he must be a very brave dog to ignore that loud voice." He joked while trying to get up.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hit you with the frisbee. And I'm sorry about Flash. He is way to active in the mornings and has no control whatsoever. At least I'm glad he enjoys just running and not humping legs... I know people find it funny but I hate it when dogs do that... And I'm talking too much. And I should shut up. Sorry. Again."
"Nothing to be sorry about" his smile in that moment could have lighted up a whole country. "I'm Oliver, by the way."
"Felicity. And he is Flash."
"He is a cute dog... but not as much as the owner."
So he thought Barry was cute, Felicity thought. Just her bad luck, she meets a hot guy in the park and he is gay. Wait! How does he know Barry is Flash's owner? He doesn't. He was talking about her. He is flirting with her! A hot guy with a sweaty t-shirt was flirting with her. Felicity's brain short circuited in that moment and took a few seconds to be able to come up with an answer
"Oh... he is not mine." was the only thing Felicity could mutter. If the way her face was burning was any indication she was pretty sure she was bright red. "I'm just dog-sitting for this week."
"Well, maybe, when you are not dog-sitting you would like to go grab some dinner..."
"I would really like that." she nodded. "And what about some coffee now? I mean... after almost killing you with the frisbee is the least I could do." she was being bold, and she was not used to it. But she had the feeling that he, Oliver, was worth the effort. "Unless you want to finish your jog."
"I think I prefer coffee." He answered immediately, with no doubt in his voice.
They both stayed looking at each other for a few seconds until Felicity decided that they were acting too weird and needed to move, Flash following them with his frisbee in his mouth. So maybe the dog was really not stupid, and maybe Felicity needed to buy him a brand new frisbee for being the best wingman/dog a girl could wish for.