章 3: Chapter 3: A Favorable Situation
I opened the glass door and left the building. Leaving work on Friday had to be the best feeling. I can’t imagine anything better.
Enzo was waiting for me in his car, he was moving his head around and probably listening to his favorite band. He loves to sing along.
I got in the car and put my bag in the backseat while making a sour face because of the loud music. "Are the songs good at least?" I asked loudly.
"Yeah, they’re amazing!" he shouted and put the volume down. "How was your day?"
"The usual. I’d better find some new material though. Where are Di and Elena?"
"We’ll pick up Di and a friend of hers will drop Elena off, so no problem," he said and started the car.
Di got in and we arrived at Berry’s shortly after. We’d come here frequently until a month ago, then I refused to go out after all the things that happened.
I guess I was afraid of seeing Max somewhere, running into him or someone else from the office who watched my downfall.
It was a good thing that Di was pushing me to go back to normal. Because I had no energy or realization to do it by myself, I could see that easily when I compared the two versions of me, before and after Max.
We walked in and found a table where we would sit close to the group. I knew that Enzo would exaggerate these kinds of things, but I couldn’t help but get curious.
"Oh, by the way, a friend of mine will be coming too," Enzo said with a smile while looking around.
"Who?" Di asked.
"You wouldn’t know him. We had only one class together but somehow we ended up being friends, funny story, huh?"
"So, he’s not a doctor?" I asked.
"No, his major was Software Engineering," Enzo answered.
"Why is he coming?" I didn’t intend to sound wild, so I hoped I sounded friendly.
"We’ve wanted to meet for some time and I thought today would be fine." Enzo was always patient with the paranoid version of me.
I nodded.
I tried to find something decent to write and the band helped me with it by just existing. Maybe I just lost my sense of decency, but writing about a band and their first and only journey of gigging at Berry’s would be fun and interesting.
I left the table to use the restroom and I was shocked to find a dog on my way. I loved dogs and immediately smiled.
"Hey baby," I said as I approached it and crouched down to get its attention. I always had a love for pets, but dogs always felt different to me. I remembered my first dog and couldn’t help but miss him.
I forgot I had to use the restroom and looked for the owner. "Who is your mommy? Who is your daddy?" I was asking continuously but the dog didn’t seem to want to find the owner.
It was more than ten minutes so I decided to take him to our table and inform the bartender about the situation.
Di started laughing out loud when she saw me sitting with a dog in my lap.
"You found your favorite thing, in here?!" Di could barely speak.
"Lara, whose dog is it?" Elena asked while petting him.
"I don’t know! The owner didn’t show up! Who would leave their dog like that? I would never leave you, baby!" I kissed him on the head.
"So, you kidnapped a dog now," Enzo said with a face that said he was not surprised at all.
"He doesn’t know that," I laughed while looking at the dog.
"The owner must be here, so this exciting story will not last for long," said Elena.
"That’s the problem, Elena, the owner is not here," I tried to sneak away.
"Let her enjoy him, we don’t have a friend with a dog so she missed petting one!" Di touched Elena’s shoulder.
He looked well-cared for and had a normal leash with no name tag. It was a typical golden retriever and adored being petted. Could he ever know how much I enjoyed his presence? I hugged him again while smiling.
"Enzo!" I heard someone calling him but I didn’t look away. I was thinking of what name I wanted to give him. Oli? Bobby? No way.
"Hey, the gig is almost over, where’ve you been ?" Enzo stood up and hugged the man.
"Everybody, this is Aiden!" Enzo said introducing him to us. "Enzo, this is Elena, my twin sister, do you remember?" Elena raised her hand and smiled.
"Hi, nice to meet you," said the man.
"This is Diana, my kind of co-worker but not my favorite," Enzo said sarcastically.
Di threw some corn on Enzo and said "Nice to meet you, Aiden."
"And this is Lara, Diana’s housemate," Enzo said.
The light was dim so I couldn’t see his face. I didn’t try to. But I said, "Hi," as a courtesy.
"Hi," he said. "And this is my dog," he continued.
My eyes opened wide.
"What?!" Di shouted. "Is it really yours?"
"Yes, I actually spent the last twenty minutes looking for Vito, you know, my dog," I sensed the sarcasm in his voice and the hint of a grin on his lips. He sat down in front of me. I was still holding Vito tight. And he didn’t intend to leave.
Vito? I didn’t like the name.
"Of course," I replied. "It’s natural to look for your dog for twenty minutes if you lose it in the first place," I smiled.
"It’s perfectly natural for it to get lost if someone simply takes him away." It was his turn to smile.
"She loves and loves dogs like you can’t imagine!" Di said trying to smooth the conversation.
"Yes, I love dogs. That is why I feel the urge to save them from tough situations. For example, abandonment." I was still petting Vito and he was loving the attention.
"It’s pretty easy to misinterpret situations, especially when they will turn out in your favor."
I looked up at him when he said this. I started to see his face more and more. He had tan skin and his hair was deep black and wavy.
These features served only to make his best feature appear even stronger. His eyes. I stared at him and put answering aside for a while. His eyes met mine and he did not look away.
"I have to admit it was in my favor. Yet, the truth remains, you shouldn’t leave your dog alone in a bar, am I right?" I smiled.
My phone vibrated. I saw Max’s name on the screen and heard Di leap up. I rejected the call.
"Let’s order some drinks," said Di.
"Yeah, the night just got started," Enzo said and raised his glass.
"I couldn’t agree more," said Aiden and smiled in a way I couldn’t describe.
Was it annoyance? Challenge? Sincerity?
I raised my glass and took a sip while not taking my eyes off him.
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