Friend Locked (Salt Lake Pumas)

by Camellia Tate

“Apparently everyone thinks I just want another dog because I can’t have you.” But now I was pretty sure I could have Jessie and I still wanted a dog. Though, that very well might be because I’d met Rudolph. The way he looked at me, how could I say no?

  Looking at him, I gave his nose another small boop. “What do you think, Rudolph? You want to become my dog?” He raised his ears almost as if in surprise and then looked at Jessie. “Or maybe he wants to become your dog?”

  Jessie shook her head. “My apartment is way too small for an Alsatian,” she pointed out. Looking at Rudolph’s big, black form, I could see that she was right. He would have enough space to run around in my yard, but it wouldn’t be fair to him to coop him up in Jessie’s tiny place.

  “I was going to get a little dog. But then I walked in here, and I heard you talking…” Jessie trailed off, giving me a tender smile. “Well, I’m glad I did. And if you hadn’t been talking to Rudolph, I might never have known you missed me! We can’t just leave him here. Not over Christmas.”

  “No, we can’t,” I agreed.

  Rudolph’s ears seemed to perk up at that. “He’s been in this shelter for a year,” I told Jessie with some sadness. The idea that Rudolph had had to be here, watching other dogs get adopted for a whole year, was very sad. But! Jessie was right. I could hardly leave him here now that we’d met.

  Turning to Jessie, I chewed on my lower lip slightly. “Will you adopt him with me?” I asked. It might have seemed like a lot, but if her concern was that he’d be too big for her apartment... well, he could live at my house and then Jessie would have a reason to stay over. More of a reason!

  Anxiety fizzed inside me, worried that Jessie might say no, that it was too much and too soon. I should really have known better! As best friends, Jessie and I had always been so good at being on the same page.

  “That’s a great idea!” Jessie said, her whole face lighting up. It made me want to lean in and kiss her all over again. Before I could, she’d thrown her arms around my neck, squeezing me as fiercely as she could with both of us still sitting down. “He can be our dog. That’s perfect.”

  She turned to him, beaming so widely that it made round, rosy apples of her cheeks. “Isn’t it, Rudolph? You want to come and spend Christmas with us and Felix’s other dogs?”

  Rudolph, to his credit, seemed a little skeptical.

  “No, really,” I promised and, slowly but surely, his tail started to wag. It made me grin. Once I’d stood up, I helped Jessie up as well. “I guess we had best go tell Susanne we’ve made a decision to adopt one dog together.”

  If I’d expected her to be surprised, I was thoroughly disappointed.

  If anything, Susanne seemed the opposite of surprised. “I’m just happy that Rudolph will have a nice home for Christmas. You’re sure your other dogs will be okay with it?” she asked when I pointed it out.

  “Oh, yes,” I promised. “They’re always excited about more dogs. They get that from me.”

  Once the paperwork was signed, listing both Jessie and me as the owners, we bought one of the dog leads they had since I’d arrived very unprepared. “Shall we take him for a walk first?” I suggested, before frowning slightly. “Are you okay to walk?” I asked, glancing down at Jessie’s formerly broken leg.

  “I think so,” Jessie answered. “As long as you don’t expect me to run any races.” Thinking back to how often Jessie and I had raced each other around, I smiled. Her face echoed the expression and I could almost see the same memories playing behind her eyes.

  She helped me fasten the lead to Rudolph’s collar, but declined to hold onto it. “You’d better hold him, just in case he tries to pull away,” she advised. “The doctor says I should be able to run and dance okay soon, I just have to be patient.” She pulled a face that made it very clear how she felt about having to wait. I couldn’t really blame her.

  “You’ve waited this long, you can wait a tiny bit longer, I’m sure,” I told her confidently. I’d been there for how hard it had been for Jessie, but she was strong. She’d make it through this and soon her broken leg would be a distant memory.

  Kind of, at least. It had been the reason we were now here.

  Reaching out with my free hand, I took Jessie’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “It’s shit that you broke your leg, but if that’s what it took for us to get here, then maybe it’s not been all bad?” I suggested. “And now we have Rudolph.”

  Who, I had to admit, looked absolutely delighted and wasn’t even remotely trying to pull away as we walked towards the nearest park.

  Jessie screwed up her mouth, considering. “Maybe when I’m dancing again, I’ll be able to look at it that way,” she offered. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that we’re here and that I came to stay with you! And I’m glad we can give Rudolph a home.”

  She didn’t need to explain any further. I got that there was still some doubt in her mind about whether she’d be able to dance again as well as she had done. If it had been me, I probably wouldn’t be able to look back on an injury with much positive feeling until I was absolutely sure I was going to get back on the ice.

  I squeezed her hand, feeling Jessie squeeze it back. “Ask me again after my first performance,” she advised. “Then I’ll be able to say that something good came out of breaking my leg.”

  “That’s okay,” I assured. “I can make sure to remind you how something good came out of it.” Then, I leaned down to kiss her again. The butterflies didn’t seem to stop fluttering in my stomach just because I now knew Jessie wanted this the same way I did. If anything, maybe they fluttered even faster.

  It wasn’t until Rudolph pulled against the lead that I had to withdraw. Our lips were red and I smiled at Jessie. “It’s going to be even better sharing a bed now we can kiss,” I informed her seriously.

  The blush that colored her face was so enticing, especially when her smile brought out the dimple in her nearest cheek. Part of me definitely wanted to go home and explore all the different possibilities open to us now that we could share a bed with something more than friendship between us.

  “Maybe not while your parents are staying with us!” she objected, slapping me lightly with one hand. I smiled back. If I had to wait, I could wait, especially now that I knew how Jessie felt about me.

  Glancing down at Rudolph, Jessie frowned. “Do you think he’ll be alright coming into such a busy house?” she asked.

  “Rudolph?” I asked and when she nodded, I shrugged. “He seems pretty chill. But if it’s too much, we’ll get him a room of his own. I think it will be alright. My family is pretty good with animals, after all.”

  It certainly was one of the perks of growing up with zookeepers for parents. Besides, we’d had a lot of dogs over the years, both rescues and not.

  “My parents are going to be so excited,” I told Jessie. “Both about Rudolph, but also about you. My siblings have been telling me for days how I should ask you out.” Which, I realized, I still hadn’t done technically. “Um, can you tell them that’s what happened?”

  Jessie laughed, her eyes widening in surprise at my question. “I don’t know,” she said, pursing her lips as she scanned my face. “I feel like both of us heading to the dog shelter to deal with our feelings for each other is a lot more romantic than you just asking me out.”

  Romance had never really been my area of expertise. If Jessie said the truth was more romantic, I trusted that she was right.

  “Besides, how else are we going to explain coming home with a new dog?” she teased.

  “Found him on the way?” I offered but it was clearly a joke. Jessie had some good points. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter too much to me what the story was, for as long as the outcome was the same each time.

  Tugging Jessie’s hand, I pulled her in closer, pressing another quick kiss against her lips. No forbidden kisses here.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jessie

  In some ways, it felt like everything between me and Felix had
changed. There was no longer that heaviness around my heart, that bewildering tug between joy and despair any time Felix smiled at something I had said, or laughed at a joke I’d made.

  And yet, in other ways, everything felt exactly the same. Once they’d gotten over the shock, Felix’s parents and siblings treated me exactly the same way they’d always treated me. Of course, they teased us about the way we’d gotten together, but I had expected nothing less.

  Being able to curl up with my head on Felix’s shoulder while we watched a film with his family was worth any amount of teasing, anyway!

  I still refused to share Felix’s bed while his parents were living with us, but he’d convinced me to at least sleep in the spare bedroom, the way I’d initially planned.

  It certainly felt a lot better waking up on Christmas morning knowing that Felix was under the same roof. I jumped out of bed, not bothering to change out of my pajamas before I ran downstairs.

  Felix would be the only other person up so early, and the sound of Rudolph barking led me straight to him. Despite spending so long at the shelter, Rudolph was a sociable dog. He’d bonded immediately with Pammy and Damson. Edgar and Jace were taking a little longer to warm up, but I knew that they’d get there.

  “Merry Christmas!” I wrapped my arms around Felix from behind, resting my cheek against his shoulder. “Are you feeling festive?”

  Felix’s laugh made me feel warm all over and so did the way he turned around to pull me in closer against him. “All the more festive seeing you in your Christmas pajamas,” he teased. Felix was right, of course, my pajamas were covered in pictures of gingerbread men and women.

  Unlike me, Felix was not wearing anything particularly festive, but he did look like he’d just gotten back from walking the dogs, so that was probably forgivable.

  “Today we get to feed my whole family, are you excited about that?” he asked, waving his hand towards the kitchen. “I am pretty excited about this being our first couple-y Christmas,” he admitted, voice a little quieter.

  Beaming, I went up on tiptoes to press a kiss against his lips, grateful that I’d already brushed my teeth. “I actually am excited about cooking a turkey for your family,” I answered. Mostly, my excitement stemmed from knowing how much Felix wanted this to go well so that he could claim all the credit for being the first child to host Christmas. I was going to do my absolute best to make sure that came true.

  “Besides, I picked up a few tricks from Martin.” Felix frowned, making me roll my eyes. “The guy who came to cook for me while you were away,” I reminded him. “I asked if he had any Christmas tips and I’ve been saving them for this!”

  “Oh, him,” Felix said wrinkling his nose in a way that made me laugh. Even at the time, I’d known he wasn’t very pleased about it being a man who’d come to help me, but now that I knew Felix’s feelings towards me it put it in a whole new light.

  Sighing dramatically, Felix gave a shrug. “I guess that’s fine. But only if they’re good tips,” he informed me, like I was going to force him to follow some bad cooking tips just because Martin had told them to me.

  “Of course they’re good!” I insisted. Honestly, I wouldn’t have known how to tell the difference between a bad cooking tip and a good one, but everything Martin had cooked for me had been delicious, so it seemed safe enough to rely on him.

  Reluctantly, I let Felix pull away so that he could go examine the recipe he’d printed out the night before. “Should we start peeling things now?” I asked, teasing just a little. “Or did you want us to do something couple-y for Christmas first?” Felix’s present was already wrapped and under the tree, but I figured he’d probably want to wait for his family to get up before he started on gifts.

  “I didn’t get you anything girlfriend-y,” I offered, almost apologetically. “But I will next year, if you want.”

  “Peeling potatoes together is couple-y,” Felix informed me, handing the potato peeler to me. “I didn’t get you anything girlfriend-y either,” he shrugged. “I mean, in both of our defenses, we’ve hardly had the time to go get an extra present. Also, I’m sure whatever you have got me will be great.”

  I knew what he meant, because I, too, was certain that Felix’s ‘best friend’ Christmas present would be as good as any ‘boyfriend’ present I might get. It was one of the great benefits of dating your best friend - you already knew exactly what they liked.

  Sitting down at the counter, I began to peel the potatoes. At least Felix had the good graces to make me a cup of coffee while we did so. “What do you think next year’s Christmas will be like? Do you think we can share a bed then?” he teased.

  Despite the blush that stained my cheeks, I laughed. “Yes,” I promised. “It won’t feel weird by then.” Not that I was expecting sex with Felix to feel weird - but it did make me a bit uncomfortable to imagine having our first time while his parents were right across the hall!

  “Maybe we’ll have my parents over next year,” I suggested. Glancing up, I paused in my peeling to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I kind of assume I’ll live here by then,” I admitted.

  In any other relationship, that would be presumptuous, but I’d already lived with Felix for weeks! And I was so sure that we weren’t going to break up, I didn’t really see why we’d put off moving in together for very long.

  Thankfully, Felix very much agreed with me. His smile lit up his whole face. It made my breath catch. Memories of wanting to kiss him but not being able to flooded through me. But that was no longer a problem. Now I could lean over the potatoes and press a kiss against Felix’s lips so easily.

  “Yeah, I hope so, too,” he nodded. “You make this house feel so much more like home,” he told me almost gently.

  Happiness blazed inside of me, filling me with heat and warmth. If I could have dragged Felix to bed right then, maybe I would have done! “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” I told him, beaming.

  “You’re such an amazing boyfriend already!” And Felix hadn’t even really had any practice at being my boyfriend yet. I’d seen how much hard work he put into training, I had no doubt that he’d be just as single-minded about making sure he made me happy.

  Still grinning so hard my cheeks hurt, I added, “Think how much better we’ll be at this by next year!”

  Looking down at the potatoes Felix was peeling, he gave a dramatic sigh. “If we’re done with these by then!” he announced, making me laugh. We would probably be able to peel all the potatoes we needed before the next Christmas.

  Then, Felix gave me a soft smile.

  “No one I’d rather be peeling potatoes with, though,” he informed me and well, maybe that was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me.

  With five dogs, not to mention four of Felix’s family members, it was going to be a very busy Christmas just to get everybody fed on time! But Felix was right; there was nobody in the world I’d rather have at my side to face a challenge than him.

  That was why I was so sure we would be brilliant together, and why I could hardly contain my excitement for everything that the new year would bring.

  By this time next year, we would be celebrating our one year anniversary, I’d be dancing again, and Rudolph would have spent a year getting to know us.

  It was going to be the best year ever!

  Epilogue

  Felix

  As it turned out, it really was the best year yet.

  Two months after that Christmas, Jessie moved in with me and all the dogs. The change from being best friends to being so much more was surprisingly easy. So many of the feelings I had tried to oppress for years now came easily and readily.

  Our first ‘I love you’s had felt like we’d said them many times before in the best way possible. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jessie was it.

  From the best friend ever she’d become the best girlfriend ever. Was everything smooth sailing? No, of course not. We did bicker, we had things th
at we had to learn to do as a couple. But they were things that I wanted to learn with her and for her.

  By the time next year’s Christmas rolled around, we were much better prepared. For one, we weren’t getting another dog, even if we had joked about it.

  Rudolph had settled in really well, kind of becoming the paternal figure to the other dogs. It was sweet and he clearly loved having that role. Still, even I was inclined to admit that six dogs might be pushing it.

  Like last year, I had offered to host Christmas. Well, Jessie and I had offered. Even though last year we had hosted Christmas together, too, it was this year that felt like it was ours. Jessie had done a great job making my house become our home. I couldn’t wait for my family to see it.

  Thankfully, we still had a day before everyone would be arriving.

  Jessie had pretty intense dance practices leading up to the winter show, which she would dance the lead in. It meant I didn’t get to see her as much, but that was okay, because I knew how much she loved dancing.

  Today, Jessie had gone to have Christmassy hot chocolate with Dana after their practice so I wasn’t surprised when she got home a bit late. For a change, it was me who had made her favorite meal.

  Greeting Jessie with a kiss once the dogs had bounced all around her, I rubbed my nose against hers. “Your face is cold,” I informed her before pressing another kiss against Jessie’s lips and then letting her take her coat off. “How was Dana?”

  Jessie broke into a brilliant smile, her rosy cheeks from the chill making her look twice as adorable as she did on any ordinary day. Her eyes twinkled at me as she followed me into the kitchen.

  “She’s met someone!” From the emphasis Jessie laid on the word, I knew that this was an important someone, not just a person she’d bumped into on the street. Since becoming Jessie’s boyfriend, I had heard much more about her friends’ love lives - and particularly Dana’s. Usually, Jessie sounded pretty upset about it. She wanted things for Dana and Matt to work out the way things had worked out for us, but it just never happened.