#cparayko

As you pull into your driveway you see your friend isn’t in the car. You really regret giving her that key sometimes. Walking into the house you hear them playing in the living room, “I’m home!” you call out as your dog comes running around the corner. “Hi there sweetheart! I see Auntie Sara already got you ready.” You say acknowledging her red harness already on her body. “you’re welcome, now you go get dressed. I don’t want any food trucks to run out of the good food before we get there” Sara says pushing you towards the stairs leading to your room. You can’t help but laugh at her as you make your way upstairs. Since it’s getting cold you decided it’s just a dark blue jeans, grey hoodie, and white sneakers kind of night. You made it back down in time for Sara to stop herself from coming upstairs to drag you out the door. “Ready?” she asks you. You nod as you grab your dog’s leash off the hook and attach it to the harness. “Alright let’s go” you say while reaching for your keys and purse that are next to the front door.

The drive downtown is short, the benefit of living in a small town. You lucked out and found parking only a couple blocks up from the center of town. As you make sure you have everything for yourself and your dog, Sara jumps out looking around. “I really do love your town.” She admits with a smile. You couldn’t hold back your smile in return, “Me too” While walking toward the street that all the fun is on your dog is just pulling you along but not too much. She was really good when it came to staying close to you and she only pulls for the firs few feet until she relaxes. “Sadie girl, why are you on one today?” you laugh then look up and see she is trying to get to a little girl that was running down the sidewalk to Sadie. “Oh you’ve got a new friend? She’s really friendly” you call out the second part to who you assume are the little girl’s family. When you approach the little girl and her mom she is very apologetic, “I am sorry, It’s hard to control her when she sees a dog.” Sara laughs, “same goes for this one” and motion towards you. You roll your eyes as you crouch down and introduce your dog to the little girl, “This is Sadie. She really seems to like you.” You chuckle as Sadie starts licking the little girl’s face. “Hi Sadie, I’m Emily. Let’s be best friends.” The cutest little girl in the world says to your dog, who is just as obsessed with her.

“Jen! Emily!” you hear shouted from behind you. “Here comes the loudmouth.” The mother jokes. You smile up at your friend whose eyes go wide and then lock with yours as she mouths “HOT” when no one looks. You hear him talking to other people as he approaches. You turn your head to acknowledge the few people approaching with a smile and lock eyes with him. As you turn back to your dog you quickly assess how you look and are annoyed you didn’t put more thought in your outfit tonight. “Colton, this whole town can hear you right now. Hush” she tells him and he lets out a huge belly laugh. He smiles in your direction, “Emily attack your dog?” You just laugh, “They both kind of went after eachother. Mutual attack” Everyone laughs along with you both.

“My goodness, I just realized we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet. Just Emily and Sadie have been social.” The mother says, “I’m Jen obviously. Since my brother hear shouted it for the town to hear” You laugh and let out a breath when she called the handsome tall blonde her brother. “You’ve already met Sadie, I’m Y/N and this is Sara” you tell them. The rest of their group stopped a bit further back at a little table selling some fun handmade trinkets. “Colton” He smiles raising his hand shyly as he crouches down to play with Sadie and Emily. “Mind if I take these two into the grass over here?” he asks pointing across the way. “No problem, go for it.” You smile staying back with Sara and Jen. Colton takes Emily’s hand in his and has Sadie’s leash in the other as they head to the grass. “Sorry about them. He’s going to be jealous if Sadie is her new best friend” Jen jokes with you as you watch them. Colton catches you watching and says something to Emily with a smirk. Then you hear her little voice call out “Y/N come over here!” Jen smiles, “I would go before she gets demanding.” Sara laughs along with Jen as you walk over to where Colton is with Emily and Sadie.

Sadie sees you and jumps up to you, “Hi little monkey” you say to Sadie. Emily bursts into a fit of giggles as Sadie jumps down and back to her. “she’s funny huh?” you say to Emily who is just loving every second of rolling around with Sadie. She’s laughing so hard she barely gets out a “yes”. You end up just sitting on the grass next to them and seconds later Colton is sitting down with you. Colton speaks up first but keeps his eyes fixed on Emily, “So do you live here or are you just visiting?” You turn to look at him as you answer, “I live here.” You say with a smile, “what about you?” He turns to face you. Even sitting down he practically towered over you. “We’re just visiting but we’re all in love with it here. You have a really nice town.” He smiles down at you. You look around and nod, “yeah pretty small. But I love it.” You take a moment to look back to your friend Sara you gives you a thumbs up as she mingles with his sister and you assume, the rest of his family. You can see Jen talking with another woman who you assume is their mother and she calls out, “Emily, Colton! We have to head to dinner.” Emily whines as her mother comes walking over. “Can’t we keep playing with Sadie?” she begs Jen. “No sweetheart we have to get to dinner with grandma and grandpa” Jen tells her as Emily hold onto Sadie. “Can we play with her again later?” Emily asks you all. You look between Jen and Colton to try and gauge how they wanted this to go. Jen speaks up, “Maybe one day if that’s okay with Y/N” and Emily jumps up cheers. She was so excited she just said “okay!” and ran over to her grandparents. Jen laughed as she followed after her daughter. Colton stayed next to you, both of you now standing. He slid his hands in his jean pockets as he looked down at you. “I guess since they both left, do you mind if I get your number? I mean…for Emily to play with Sadie again” He says with his cheeks turning a pale shade of pink. You smile and happily add your number to his phone, Y/N – Sadie’s Mom. He smiles when he sees the contact name. “I guess I’ll see you two around.” Colton smiles and he kneels back down to get some belly scratches to Sadie before waving goodbye and heading to meet his family down the road.