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Newt put the finishing touch on the cappuccino for the handsome customer and called his name with a smile. “Tommy!”
Thomas came up to the counter and received the cup with a grateful thank you and went back to his seat, in view of the cute blond barista. He looked in his cup and noticed the delicate and pretty winter scarf in the foam on top. Every day had been a new design, yesterday was a fountain pen, before that a necklace, and the first day an ivy leaf. He had been coming here for a week but hadn’t really gotten up the nerve to say anything more than his order to the barista at this trendy coffee shop on the corner. It was always the perfect amount of busy and the WiFi was great.
Today he had his laptop with him and he was house hunting. He sat over by the window and could see Newt’s reflection in the glass, as the evening fell to dusk outside. After half an hour of browsing through Zillow, Rent.com, and even Craigslist, he threw himself back in his seat with a big sigh, ready to give up. He just moved here for his new job, and he was currently staying with his sister Teresa, but he really needed his own place.
“Hey, mate, you look pretty put out. Could use another coffee, eh?” the barista of the shop’s voice broke into Thomas’s thoughts, startling him.
“Wha-oh, thank you,” he stumbled over his words, taking a new warm cup of coffee from Newt’s hands. He glanced over to the counter, wondering what was going on. He saw the other barista, Brenda, working, so he surmised Newt must be on his break. This is the first time he had come over to talk to him, since he had been a patron here. Newt was looking at him with a questioning face, his eyebrow raised. “I’m fine, really. I just, it’s so difficult to find a nice house, ya know? I’ve been looking for a week! Haven’t found anything yet. Or if I have it’s out of my price range. It’s just so…” he broke off, at a loss for words, shrugging helplessly.
“Frustrating?” Newt finished for him. “Yeah I totally understand. I got super lucky with my place. My aunt is leasing it to me for super cheap, and it’s lovely. It’s got a big backyard, plenty of bedrooms, too many actually…”
“Newt right? I’m Thomas,” Thomas extended his hand to finally introduce himself properly to the barista.
“Oh yes, where are my manners? Newt, yes. Thomas, mm I like Tommy more. Nice to meet ya Tommy,” he shook his hand firmly, his hand warm.
“Actually, Tommy, you know, I’d quite like a roommate. I know we just met and all, but I wouldn’t be opposed to living with a roommate, come to think of it. But you mustn’t be allergic to dogs.”
Thomas couldn’t believe his ears. Were his problems really about to be solved by this blond British man who was way too cute for his own good? Yes, yes they were. He nodded eagerly, and exclaimed, “Yes, oh my gosh that would be perfect. I would be so grateful. Dogs? Yes I love dogs! Is this for real?! Wait how much is it?”
“For you, four hundred dollars a month, mate. Bloody good price, right? My aunt is gonna be so relieved I’m not living on my own anymore, I’ve gotta call her.”
“Whoa, that’s twice as good as most of these ones on these stupid websites. What the heck? Thank you so much, man.” Thomas felt like his grin extended to his ears but he was so relieved. Not only would he be paying a super manageable price but he’d be living with the guy he’d been ogling for the past week since moving here. Oh man, Teresa was gonna have a field day with this when he told her.
“Anyway, I was planning to adopt this adorable puppy from the shelter. My sister Sonya works there and she got so attached but she’s still living in the dorms at uni so she can’t have a dog. So she wants me to adopt him. I was planning to get it soon but if you help me look after him, it would be so much easier. Do you want to tour the house this weekend?” Newt finished his long sentence, almost out of breath, realizing he was probably rambling but how could he not with this gorgeous man standing in front of him, the prospect of them living together making stars in his eyes.
“Sounds great!” Thomas replied happily, almost in a lightheaded daze. They made plans for that weekend, but Thomas already knew, he’d say yes no matter what the house looked like.
——-
The next week, Thomas, with the help of his sister Teresa, moved in to Newt’s really nice two-story yellow craftsman bungalow home. His room was down the hall from Newt’s and he even had his own bathroom. There was still a third bedroom open for use as a guest bedroom. Thomas couldn’t believe his good fortune. He did not regret for one moment waltzing into that little coffee shop on the corner, The Glade. Now they were in their kitchen sorting out Thomas’s stuff.
“There’s some empty cabinets just there, you can put your dishes and such in and there’s plenty of room in the fridge and pantry for your things,” Newt said, pointing to the cabinets in the brightly painted kitchen and opening the pantry door by the stairs to the basement. “Just make sure you don’t go tumbling down the basement stairs when you want a midnight snack from the pantry, eh?” he admonished, chuckling warmly.
Thomas shook his head and smiled to himself, dragging his things around the kitchen, dispatching pans and dishes to their new homes on the shelves. They unpacked everything eventually and ordered in for dinner. Tomorrow they were going to get the puppy and Thomas couldn’t wait to collapse into his big new queen size bed upstairs. They were getting dozy watching a movie together, Cargo. It was some sci fi drama about zombies in Australia and a father trying to find a safe place for his baby, a really good find on Newt’s Netflix. When the movie finished they roused themselves from the couch and dragged their blankets up to their separate rooms, bidding each other good night.
The sun shined in through Thomas’s windows, he didn’t have any curtains up yet, he woke up drowsily, with the sound of birds in his ears. Rubbing his eyes, he made his way downstairs, glad neither he nor Newt had to work today.
Newt almost spit back into his coffee cup when he saw Thomas coming around the corner from the stairs into the kitchen, his hair rumpled and his shirt riding high on his hips. Which was a shame because he always made good coffee, should never be spat out. He carefully swallowed the rest of the coffee, then called out, “Ready to meet my little sister today and get a puppy?”
“Super ready! I’ve always wanted a dog of my own,” Thomas replied, pouring himself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.
“Good that. We’ll leave in, say, half an hour?”
“Perfect,” and Thomas happily chomped on his cereal and Newt went back upstairs to get dressed.
——
“Tommy, meet Sonya, my sister.” Newt gestured grandly to his sister who was standing in the doorway to the shelter, wearing regular clothes and her long blonde hair in a braid down her back. She had a wide grin on her face, and welcomed them inside. “Sonya, this is Thomas, my new roommate and future proud pet owner.”
“I’m so glad you’re here! You HAVE to see this adorable puppy, he’s just the sweetest. He has all his shots and we neutered him a couple days ago. He’s really a good dog. I want him but you know I can’t have pets in the dorms at my college. I’m just a freshman.” Sonya said, hugging Newt then leading them inside, addressing both Newt and Thomas, as she walked.
They passed rows and rows of kennels til they finally got to the one that Sonya was headed for. “I just… feel like I need to save all of them,” Thomas said quietly, his eyes big and sorrowful. Newt heard him and looked over.
“Hey mate, we are saving one. That’s one less dog out there. We can’t save them all, but we can do our shucking best to take care of what we can,” he smiled sincerely.
That grin sent a wave of reassurance through Thomas, as if he were finding out the world was okay again. The dogs still left a heavy weight in his heart but he knew he had to focus on the positives. Today was supposed to be a happy day after all.
“This is a no-kill shelter, Thomas. We take good care of them here. We do our best to give them good lives, even though there are so many who still need homes. Donations and volunteers are super helpful too,” Sonya added. That made him feel a little better. “Here’s our boy! Look at him, he’s happy to see you,” Sonya said, rounding to a kennel with a black and white dog inside. “He’s three months old, a Border collie mix, and sweet as can be. He’s house trained too! We named him Chuckie.”
Her face broke into a huge grin, so that Thomas could see the resemblance between her and Newt. They all three had huge smiles on their faces as Sonya led the dog out of his cage and toward the yard out back where they could play with him. Thomas admired the puppy. His fur was shiny and clean, his big brown eyes bright with curiosity, his black nose healthy and wet. His body had black fur with white on the underside and chest, as well as on his legs and tip of the tail. His face was so sweet and cute, Thomas’s heart melted at the sight. His face was white with black patches around the eyes, and he had black ears. “Yep, we’re taking that little fella home with us,” he immediately said, before he even bent down to pet Chuckie. Newt who was already sitting on the grass with the dog right up against him, laughed and agreed, looking back up at Thomas, “I’ve been shucked and gone to heaven.”
Sonya gleefully helped them fill out the adoption papers as co-parents of the dog and reminded them five times that she would be over all the time to visit Chuckie. “I’ll bake cookies or something, I won’t be a burden I promise.”
“Sonya, you could never be a burden. But I won’t say no to some snickerdoodle cookies,” Newt teased.
“Hey, those are my favorite!” Thomas exclaimed.
They brought the dog home, stopping by a pet store on the way for the supplies they would need. Newt set up the dog bed in a corner of the family room by the front window, and Thomas set the new dog bowls in the kitchen by the table. Sonya would be over later that evening with some toys and dog treats for Chuckie. Thomas settled on the couch and patted the cushion next to him, encouraging him to get up on the couch. “Whoa mate, no dogs on the furniture!” Newt interjected.
“Come on, how can you say no to this cute face?” Thomas said, framing Chuckie’s adorable face and pouting himself.
Newt stared back at the two adorable puppy dog faces looking at him and sighed exasperatedly. He really couldn’t say no to those faces, “Fine, but we’ll need to vacuum double the amount and keep this place in order. We can’t have dog hair flyin’ around everywhere, my aunt will kill me.” He smiled at the dog though to show he was okay with him on the furniture. Then he sat down next to Chuckie and Thomas and snuggled his face into his soft fur. Thomas pet Chuckie’s head, marveling at the softness of the puppy fur. He even had that puppy smell. He relaxed contentedly as Newt snuggled next to him, a glorious grin on his face.
Thomas couldn’t believe his good fortune, having just met Newt two weeks ago in a coffee shop, now living with him and raising a puppy together. He was sure there was some chemistry between them but he would have to see where it led them. He had a good feeling about this.