Embracing Rain

20 - Noah

2 0 - N O A H

"This is Mushi," I introduce, trying to hold my frantic dog back from smothering Chance with one hand and take my shoes off with the other. It's not very successful, though, because Mushi just ends up pulling me over onto the floor and wrenching himself out of my grasp.

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute!" Chance gushes, not minding in the slightest that he's been tackled to the floor and doused in dog slobber. "And his ears are so fluffy! And his paws are so big. Oh my gosh, golden retrievers are the best!"

"He can give you a high five," I tell Chance, finding the way his eyes widen absolutely adorable. They crinkle around the edges, just a little bit, and it makes me want to run my fingers over the creases. But that would be weird, especially because his eyes are still red and puffy from crying and I don't want to remind him of that, so I restrain myself.

"What? He can?"

I nod. "Yeah, but he misses your hand a lot of the time because he's too lazy and can't aim. Want to see?"

Chance nods enthusiastically. "Of course!"

I squat down, and Mushi follows my lead, sitting down right in front of me. I hold my hand up. "High five," I command. He complies, lifting his paw up and aiming for my hand but falling a few inches too far to the left.

Though his laughter, Chance says, "That's adorable. Kind of pathetic, but also adorable. How'd you teach him that?"

"With a lot of cheese. And even more drool. Our floor was practically a lake by the time I finally got him to do it."

"Your dog is amazing," he tells me. "Where was he when you were sick? I didn't see him."

"He was staying over at a family friend's house. He was thinking about getting a dog and wanted to see what it'd be like, so Mushi stayed with him for a week or so."

"And? Did he like it?"

"I think he was slightly discouraged when Mushi got startled by his own fart, ran head-first into a bookcase because he was trying to run away, and knocked an expensive vase to the ground."

"Have I told you I love your dog?" Chance says with a snort. "Seriously. If I had a dog like him, I'd never be bored."

I nod. "Kind of, yeah. He's not very smart, but he's very loveable. Sometimes I feel like he's so loveable because he's an idiot. It makes him cuter. Anyway, want to go feed him some cheese? If you toss it to him, he can catch it in the air."

"You said his name means insect, right?" Chance asks me as we walk into the kitchen. I'm surprised he remembered. "What insect do you think he resembles the most?"

"Something fluffy," I say, humming in thought. "Maybe a caterpillar? Because he's long and fat and fluffy? I don't know. I've never thought about it."

"Maybe you should," he says lightly as he walks over to my fridge and pulls out the cheese. He grabs a knife, too, and starts cutting the cheese into small cubes.

It's still the small things that really get me—the way he knows where everything is in my kitchen, the way he gets along with Emma, the way he cares so much about me going to school. It's those small things, the things that nobody else would notice or care about, that make me love him even more. I wouldn't say he's perfect—nobody's perfect, of course—but he's about as close to perfect as he can be while still seeming human.

"Noah," he whines, poking my arm. I turn around, feeling a bit guilty for zoning out on him.

"Yeah?"