Chapter 13: A Flower Called "Love"...?
It had been two days ever since we returned from our visit to Bluey's Nana. Me and Chris didn't talk much the following morning compared to the day when we played Charades, mainly however because of one question that would never leave me mind:
How was I going to get Bandit to remember meeting a human in the past?
A part of me sometimes even doubted that such a thing possibly even happened but I know my late grandfather would never tell a lie. If only I knew how to get him to remember…
Speaking of Bandit, I overheard him talking on the drive back to Bluey's home and heard something along the lines of "...I kind of wish he had friends here around his age, you know?". Friends around my age? I mean, he's not wrong, it would be nice to make friends with some dogs here that were around the same age as me. Don't get me wrong, Bluey and her friends are all good friends but I had my doubts that few if not any of them would understand some of my own tastes and interests. I somehow don't see Bluey or Bingo getting into Dragon Ball Z any time soon.
After having my usual breakfast of oatmeal, me and the Heeler family headed out and a few minutes or so later, we arrived at possibly the largest park I've ever seen. The plain grassy fields just seemed to stretch for miles with only a few trees adding to the otherwise plain scenery.
My view of the sights was cut short when I felt Bluey's soft hand tug at my own as she lead me to a typical children's playground with swings, slide and see-saw among other attractions aimed for young kids.
"Can you push me, Nathan? Please!" Bluey called over to me as she took a seat on one of the swings, kicking her legs in anticipation. I couldn't help but chuckle a little under my breath at how eager the Blue Heeler wanted me to play with her as I walked over and stood behind her before pressing my hands against the back of the swing seat Bluey occupied in a gentle rhythmic motion. Bingo meanwhile was occupying herself with the slide.
"Higher, Nate!" Bluey commanded in glee.
"Okay, but not too high." I answered with a bit of a laugh before increasing the force of my pushes slightly. There was almost never a day when Bluey wasn't so energetic.
"Hey, Bluey!" A young male voice caught my attention as I looked over to see two new faces run to the playground. A chocolate brown Dachshund with lighter brown for his belly, muzzle, paws and hands and a poodle with tufts of pink fur on her head, wrists, body, ankles and the ends of her ears, her skin being a lighter pink. The tuft on her head donned a hair clip made to resemble a butterfly with a yellow body and light blue wings. What gave away the hint that the poodle was a girl was the eyelashes she had.
"Hey Snickers! Hey Coco!" Bluey greeted the two young dogs before pulling them into a brief hug. The Dachshund was the first to lay his eyes on me.
"Hey, is that your "human" friend?" The boy Dachshund asked as the poodle followed his gaze and was looking up at me as well, both of them had a bit of a surprised look on their faces.
"Yeah! This is Nathan! Nathan, this is Coco and Snickers!" Bluey replied before she introduced me to the two dogs with the Dachshund being named Snickers and the poodle, Coco. I couldn't help but smirk a little at the Dachshund having such a name and his fur colour and long body reminding me of a certain candy bar of the same name as I knelt down to their level, where I noticed that Snickers was wearing a yellow cap with a green silhouette of what looked like the map of Australia on the front.
"It's nice to meet you two, Snickers and Coco!" I said as I held out a hand which Snickers shook when Coco's eyebrows raised with realisation.
"Hey! He has fur on his head like I do!" Coco pointed out as she gestured to my hair with a grin. I don't know how I managed to stop myself from laughing at that.
"Oh yeah, didn't I see you with Bluey at school once?" Snickers suddenly remembered, recalling to when Bluey had once snuck me to her school where I met Honey, Chloe, Rusty and Mackenzie.
Oh right… Mackenzie. I still don't know why, but I have the feeling he still doesn't trust me. I'd ask him why but I don't think he'd even answer.
"Hey, Nathan? Do you know any… "human" games that we might like?" Coco then asked me. It took me a moment to figure out that she meant to ask what games human kids like me liked playing.
"Well to be frank, I'm pretty sure human kids enjoy the same games as you do." I replied truthfully.
"Oh." Was all Coco said in a neutral tone.
"What should we play then?" Bluey then asked, which had the other two kid dogs in thought.
"Mister Wolf?"
"Hide and Seek?" Coco and Snickers suggested respectively. Bluey put a hand to her chin in thought as she tried to decide which game it was that we'd be playing. From what I know, "Mister Wolf" involves one player being the "Wolf" and the other players all had to stand a fair distance behind the Wolf. The players would then ask "What's the time, Mister Wolf?" where the Wolf would then answer with any hour they chose and the players would have to take one step for each hour leading up to the time closer to the Wolf. For example, if the Wolf said it's "3'O Clock", then the players would have to take three steps towards the wolf. The intensity of the game comes from how closer the players got with every turn until the inevitable time when the Wolf answers the question with "Dinnertime!" and thus the Wolf will immediately chase after the other players who must run or risk getting caught.
...That was when I got an idea.
"What if… We mixed the two games into one?" I implied. Bluey, Coco and Snickers now joined by Bingo looked up at me with confused looks on their faces.
"So someone is the Wolf and instead of saying the time for many steps. The hours in the time announced is how many seconds the other players have to hide before the Wolf shouts "Dinnertime!" and they go to find the others. If the Wolf finds one of the others, then the other player can try to outrun them and hide somewhere else or get caught." I explained as simple as I could, hoping it would be easy enough for the young dogs to understand. Luckily, it was as they grinned and Bluey's tail wagged.
"Wolf and Seek!" Bingo exclaimed, supposedly a title of the game I had just thought out.
"Hooray!" The young dogs cheered in agreement before Bluey turned to me once more.
"Okay, Nathan! Since you came up with the idea, you should be the Wolf first!" She recommended. I nodded in agreement and turned around before covering my eyes.
"What's the time, Mister Wolf?" The four pups asked aloud as they waited for my answer. Since this was the first time we were playing this, I decided to make it easy for them.
"Eleven O'Clock!" I retorted. They all now had eleven seconds to find a hiding place as I instantly heard their footsteps on the grass quickly decrease in volume as I counted up to eleven in my head
Five… Six… Seven… Eight… Nine… Ten… Eleven!
"Now it's Dinnertime! Hope you're well-hidden!" I announced in a playfully monstrous voice as I opened my eyes and began to stalk around the field, keeping my eyes open for any bits of brown, orange, pink or blue fur sticking out from somewhere.
Several minutes had passed since I started my search and I had not seen a trace of any of the four kid-dogs anywhere. They must've found some really good hiding spots.
That was when I faintly noticed a light pink tail with a tuft at the end, no doubt belong to Coco sticking out from a pile of leaves. I smirked to myself as I smugly strode over to the pile of leaves.
"Well… Aren't you handsome for a human?" A voice stopped me as I was halfway towards the leaf pile as I turned to see another dog who looked to be around the same height as me, possibly the same age as well given her adolescent voice.
From her fur pattern and colours, I figured that she had to be a Siberian Husky with possibly the most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen on a bipedal dog.
"U-Um, thanks?" I said, blushing slightly at the comment.
"Aww, you're even cuter when you blush." She noted with a giggle before coming closer to me which made me blush even more.
...Why was I blushing?
"What's your name?" She asked as she fluttered her eyelids at me. Is she seriously flirting with me?
"N-Nathan Faulkner." I responded. "And you are?"
"Hailey Husky." She replied before nuzzling my cheek a little and giving me a question of her own. "Can I tell you a secret, Nathan?" I responded with a nod to let her speak.
"I've always had such a big fascination for humans. Yes, I know that they used to live among us here in Canistralia. And I'm so glad I finally met one." She explained to me as I felt her wet nose press against my cheek bone.
"S-So… You have like… a love thing for them too?" I finally let it out. There was no way she was being this intimate with me just for fun.
"Maaaaaybe." She teasingly replied with a giggle before I suddenly felt her lips just beside my own as she put something in my hands before turning and walking away but not before giving me a "Call me" gesture.
What… just… happened?
"Who was that?" I suddenly heard Bingo's voice behind me as I turned to see her joined by Bluey, Coco and Snickers. They all had apparently seen the whole thing between me and Hailey.
"I… I've never met her before." Was all I could say as the blush from the kiss Hailey gave me just wouldn't go away.
"Hang on… She nearly gave you a smoochy kiss… That means she's your girlfriend!" Bingo blurted out which my blush redden. Such a realisation made Bluey, Bingo and Coco squeal with excitement.
"Are you going to get married?!"
"Will you have kids of your own?!"
"Will you two live happily ever after?!" The three girls peppered these questions at me like rapid-fire which almost overwhelmed me.
"Eeeugh! Girls and boys being kissy! Yuck!" Snickers gagged, his tongue sticking out as he exclaimed his disgusted reaction to the "romance" I was being involved with.
"W-Woah now, hold on! I only just met her… Love is… more complicated than that, I think." I tried to explain. Honestly, I barely knew the ropes of love to begin with. I've never even had a girlfriend before or been in any other kind of relationship.
The other problem was… Was it even legal for a human and a bipedal dog to be in a relationship?
Even in my visit to the library with Lucky, I never found any information about such a thing which was obvious since the Canistralia government had done everything to make sure that there was no recorded evidence of humans ever living here prior to me.
And even if it was legal, which I doubt, would anyone even approve of it besides Bluey, Bingo and maybe her other friends? Were human and bipedal dog relationships made to stay as just friends and was any romance involved frowned upon?
These were the kinds of questions that filled me with concern. I had only just gained the trust of the majority of Canistralia's canine citizens not too long ago. What if me getting together with one of them would affect that?
"Nathan, are you okay?" Bluey's question snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked down to her. There was no way I could possibly explain my concerns about the possible legality of human and dog relationships to her in a way she could understand.
"I guess… I'm just nervous about being in love with her. I've… never had a special someone before." I answered. Technically, I wasn't lying. I was rather nervous about getting involved with romance for the first time. Bluey's eyebrows raised at this until she smiled and looked down at Bingo who returned with a smirk of her own.
"Don't worry! We'll make sure your romantic night is one of the best!" Bluey promised as she gave me a truthful smile with Bingo doing the same. I swear these two kids would just go the moon and back for me if they could.
"Thanks, girls." I sighed gratefully before giving a small smile of my own before kneeling down and pulling the two Heelers into a hug, hearing Coco "Awww" at the sight.
But as I remained in my embrace with Bluey and Bingo, another question came to mind which made me freeze.
...How am I going to explain this to Bandit and Chilli?
Guest writes:
"Hey, when's the next chapter coming out?"
"How's the next chapter coming along?"
"Please update with another chapter!"
STOP.
I'm not joking when I say this: STOP ASKING WHEN THE NEXT CHAPTER IS CONSTANTLY IN THE REVIEWS.
I've already had to deal with that crap once before writing Chapter 7 of this story and it's seriously starting to piss me off. I have a LIFE that exists BEYOND writing these stories and if you want me to keep writing, then for the love of GOD.
JUST. BE. PATIENT.
That's all I SERIOUSLY ask of you in return because repeated reviews of people essentially nagging me to make more chapters really gets on my nerves.
This is the last time I'm going to ask this and if anyone else does this again, I'm going to have no choice but to report you for repeated harassment.
Just. Stop.
Blooditca545 writes:
"Hello there, JackCryo i have a question, Why do all of the Guest's who comment on the stories just say a bunch of nonsense? Also this story is very good!"
Thanks Blooditca. And trust me, I wish I knew the answer to that question. ¬_¬
