It was even darker out, by the time they got back to Adam's apartment, and the sound of other dogs barking into the night's air from nearby apartments could be heard from near the dumpster area that they'd watched Roxy run towards earlier.

Adam took a slice of Amanda's roast beef from the small bag he was holding, hoping that Roxy hadn't been scared away by any of the noise.

He whistled a couple times for her, as well as calling out her name, as they cautiously approached the area.

Amanda was trailing only two steps behind him, adoring every second of it.

"Roxy, Roxy!" She called out along with him, thinking that if there was any truth to Adam's earlier presumptions, they might have a better chance of coaxing her out if she heard both their voices.

Adam smiled to himself, as he shook the bag of dog food.

He was, just as much, adoring this side of her.

—

—

They weren't over there for much longer than ten, or maybe fifteen, minutes or so before they heard the familiar eager tapping of her claws against the ground, as she started trotting over to them.

Upon eventual sight of her, her little tail was clearly wagging a mile a minute again, as she sped up to race towards them.

Adam immediately kneeled down to her level and began petting her when she got close enough. "Aww, there's my girl! How are you, hmm? Hmm?!"

Roxy was just as quick to start rubbing up against him and start kissing him, until she spotted the roast beef in his hand, at which point she became even more excited and started begging for it.

"Alright, settle down, settle down!" He laughed, handing her a piece. "Here."

The eager little mutt scarfed it down, as if it were the first thing she'd seen all day.

"Alright, just a few more, here." He reached back into the bag and handed the next slice he grabbed to Amanda to give to her. "You wanna do this one?"

She took it from him with a smile. "You sure?"

"Of course I am, look at her! She's crazy about you."

"I think you're crazy." She laughed, kneeling down, herself. "Come on, girl."

Sure enough, just as eagerly as she had before, Roxy trotted over to her and gobbled the slice right out of her hand, and even pelted her hand with kisses when the slice was gone.

"Ahh!" She blurted out with laughter, startling her a bit.

Adam chuckled at the interaction. "Ahh, so what if I am?" He turned to start giving Roxy some more scratches. "You don't care, do you?"

Amanda laughed again. "Who said I did?"

He looked back over at her with another chuckle and shrugged. "Right, fair enough."

—

—

When the roast beef was gone, Adam poured out some of the food into a small bowl they'd brought along for her and they watched her scarf that down too.

He finally glanced back over at Amanda again and chuckled. "You know, I feel like I should be the one to drive back, after all this back and forth we've been doing.

Amanda just shrugged at him and gave another chuckle, which was aimed at how quickly Roxy had gobbled it all up, and gave her another pet. "Oh, I don't mind. I don't really get out much."

He looked back at her with a little bit of a smirk. "You don't, do you?"

Amanda shrugged again, giving Roxy some more pets when she came back over to her. "Yeah, not really. No."

"Do you want to, sometime?"

Amanda grinned even more at the idea. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Adam raised an eyebrow, even more amused. "Do you want it to be a date?"

"I'm saying I wouldn't be opposed…." She returned the smirk.

Adam grinned even more, having not even really expecting her to mean it seriously, if at all.

He more than half expected her to just laugh even the idea of it off, or ask if he was joking and call him crazy again, or something.

"Alright, how about tomorrow then?"

She grinned back at him at the idea.

Even with all things considered, she really hadn't actually expected him to really take her up on it.

As much as she wanted to, she half expected him to take it as more of a joke or otherwise not believe she was actually serious.

She nodded. "Okay."

"Alright, then."

He was still grinning, and at this point, although he was clearly trying to hide it, she couldn't tell who was happier in that moment, him or the dog.

She smiled back at him, glancing briefly up at the sky, and petting Roxy some more.

"It is getting late. You wanna start heading back now?" She suggested.

Adam glanced up too, as if only just now realizing, himself. "Yeah, probably a good idea."

As they both stood back up, Adam looked back down at Roxy and began patting his leg. "You wanna come?"

Roxy started wagging her tail again and began following them back to Amanda's car, as they started their walk back.

….Well, that certainly went better than planned.

As soon as they finally did get back to Amanda's place, and in the door, Roxy trotted in just ahead of them and immediately began curiously sniffing out her new surroundings.

She made it halfway through the living room, nose mostly to the ground, and looked back at Adam as he watched her, as if looking to him for an explanation or what to do next, just before returning to his side to follow him.

Amanda looked over and smiled at her, after setting some stuff down on the dining room table.

"I'll go see if I can find some newspapers for her. Bowls are in the kitchen cupboards, if you wanna help yourself to get her some water."

"Thanks." He called back to her with a little smile, reaching down to give Roxy a little pet, as she was standing up on her hind legs with her paws up on his legs.

He watched Amanda for another second, as she went into another room, before taking up on the offer to set Roxy up with a bowl of water.

—

—
By the time he set her up with her bowl of water in a corner of the living room, Amanda was coming back with a small stack of newspapers and blanket she'd found for her to sleep on.

"Here." She offered. "It's not much, but she doesn't exactly strike me as the picky type.

Adam, who was seated beside Roxy, smiled as he took them from her.

"I'm sure this will be more than fine. Thanks."

She smiled back at him, and then down at Roxy. "Don't mention it."

Adam took a break from petting Roxy to make out a comfortable bed out of the blanket for her and set up the newspaper beside it.

"I went ahead and set up an extra blanket for you too, and some pillows, in the guest room."

"A guest room." He teased. "Gee, your place is fancier than mine."

"My ex roommate's old room." She chuckled, glancing down at Roxy. "She's welcome to sleep in there too, if she's more comfortable."

"You've seen my place, so the point still stands." He insisted with a little smirk.

"If you say so." She chuckled, as she started to walk away.

"Hey."

"Yeah?" She turned back around.

He shot her another little, more curious, smirk. "...So, about that date tomorrow…."

A little grin, which she tried to hide, started to creep across her face. "Surprise me."

"You got it."