Chapter Text
You’d always thought, if you saw a celebrity walking down the street, you wouldn’t recognize them. Even one that you were a huge fan of and spent a lot of time staring at their pictures each day, you would just think “This guy looks so much alike that actor.”
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January
You started to think your life is boring. Well, it’d been boring for a long time but you just ignored it. Anyway, for some reason, you started to have stronger feelings lately. You felt like your life was empty. You didn’t go anywhere. Always just work and home. You’d thought of taking a vacation, going somewhere to see the world. But then, you asked yourself “What for?” It was boring to do it alone when there was no one to share the moment with. Plus, you would rather stay home with your lovely fur babies than leaving them and traveling somewhere else alone.
You had a couple of cats and one dog. You loved them to the moon and back. There was nothing you wouldn’t do for them. They were the lights in your life. They always cheered you up on a gloomy day and also everyday.
You’d also spent a lot of time watching TV shows and reading through Tumblr about some actors you liked. It helped keep you out of reality for a bit. You were lonely. No one else in your life for so long. You just lost interest in looking for a life partner at some point and decided you were happier with just your pets.
Deep inside you knew, you would like to have someone to come home to. But you were tired of having your heart broken. Your fur babies helped heal your broken soul last time. You decided to start a new life by quitting your job and going to a grooming school.
You’d always loved animals. You’d got it from your mom. You also loved photography. You were given your first camera 10 years ago when your boyfriend at the time got himself a new one and gave his older one to you. You’d taken a lot of photos of your pets. You even had your own pet photography portfolio. You’d thought of making it for a living. It didn’t work out. People around here wouldn’t pay to have a professional photo shoot for their pets. Not in this town. Sometimes, you wished you were living in a bigger city where people with thick wallets lived and would pay for their pets without thinking. But then again, you loved living here. It was a small city less than 100 miles away from LA.
When you couldn’t rely on surviving with your dream job as a pet photographer, you worked at a restaurant. After a while, you got bored and thought of doing something you would enjoy and love to do. Your brain thought back about working with animals.
“ A groomer sounds good,” you thought.
You would set up a photo booth on a corner of your salon and take some nice photos of them after being freshly groomed and give them to the owners. They would love it!
You actually had a photo studio in your home. You’d been doing it as a hobby that made you some extra money. As mentioned, pet photography was hard in your area so you were usually aiming for doing photo shoots with people. Since you were given that camera 10 years ago, you started to be gradually more serious about photography. You’d bought a bunch of equipment, more than enough to make it a business. But you were not good with people and marketing was hard for you. And you decided to get a regular job as a waitress at a restaurant instead and only do the photography job in your free time.
After you graduated from the grooming school, you spent some savings on setting up a grooming salon in your garage. It’d worked for you. You’d dogs and cats come in regularly and you made more than enough each month. You made more than you did back in the restaurant and worked a lot less. Your work schedule was up to you. It was very flexible. You had more time to spend on something you had wanted to do but didn’t have a chance to do so.
You were happy… well… happier…. You still felt that hole in your heart that you were hoping you could somehow find a way to fill. It’s why you’d been on Tumblr a lot. You’d used a celebrity crush to distract you from that feeling. You smiled as you looked at Pedro Pascal photos on the screen.
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Somebody was ringing your doorbell and your dog was barking like she always did whenever she heard the doorbell or a knock on the door. You were wondering who it was. You didn’t normally get an unexpected visitor. You were gonna ignore it then the doorbell rang again. You walked over to the door, looked through the peephole and saw a man holding a little black and white dog in his arms.
“That’s odd…,” you thought. You didn’t normally open the door because 99% of them were solicitors. You even put a ‘No Solicitors’ sign on your door. Some people still rang it anyway. This time, because of what you saw, you decided to put the dog fence up so your dog wouldn’t run out, and walked over to the door to open it.
“Whoa, he looks so much like Pedro Pascal!!” That was the first thing that hit your mind when you had a look at him. He was a lot taller than you, with broad shoulders, had a little messy hair with a few day old stubble and a mustache. He was wearing a pair of big seeing glasses like what you often saw Pedro wear. But then you thought, “Why the hell would Pedro be here? This guy is just a random dude that looks like him!”
“Hi,” you said looking at him expecting him to say why he was at your door right now.
“Erm…. I’ve heard you’re a groomer,” he said.
“Oh, his voice is so sexy,” you thought. “He probably needs help with this little doggy then. Why didn’t he just call instead of coming all the way here??” you kept thinking.
He must be able to tell from the confused look on your face and said “I’m your neighbor. I just moved in nextdoor to you a month ago. I just have this puppy for two weeks and I’m wondering if you could maybe help me with her nails?
“She scratched me this morning while we were playing. I tried to trim her nails but I only have a big clipper for my other dog and it was hard with her. She wouldn’t sit still for me to do it either,” he explained.
“Sure. I have small clippers. Should be better and easier for her. My salon is in the garage. You can walk over and wait for me there. I’ll see you there in a bit.”
Once you both were inside the salon. He looked around and said, “This is a really nice set up.”
The salon was small but clean and well organized. Also there was plenty of room to groom a dog or two at the same time. It was the third garage that you put some drywalls up and made it a closed space. The grooming table was on one corner of the room. There was a big kennel across from it with a small one on the top. On the other corner was a big cute bathtub. And on one corner was a little backdrop with photography light for photos.
“Thank you. Yeah, I hired someone to put the dry walls up and set up the water system for me,” you said while walking over to the small cabinet to get the nail clippers.
“How old is she?” you gestured to the puppy in his arms. It was a little black and white Maltipoo puppy.
“Four months old,” he said.
“Aww… So cute! What’s her name?” you asked.
“Cee,” he said.
“Cee?” you’d heard of it before, “Wasn’t it the name of the girl from Prospect?” you shook the thought away.
“A puppy is usually hard to groom because they won’t stay still. Can you just hold her like that while I trim her nails, please?” you asked.
“Of course!” he said while holding her to his chest.
You grabbed one rear paw. As you started to clip the first nail, she jerked her paw away.
“It’s ok, Cee. It’s not gonna hurt. I promise,” you said to the puppy.
You finished both front and rear paws on one side and asked him to change the position for you to clip the other side of the dog. As you started to clip the first nail on the front paw, she jerked away again causing you and her daddy to reach out and grab her paw at the same time. Your hand ended up gripping his. Your heart skipped a beat and you quickly let go of his hand.
“Ok. All done,” you said. Your heartbeat was a little fast now when you noticed. Being so close to him while working on the dog, you could smell him. You hadn’t been so close to men for a while and you thought he smelled so nice and masculine. You were surprised he made you feel this way. You hadn’t felt like this with someone for a long time.
“Thank you,” he said. And you jumped when you realized how close he was from you.
“No problem. Would you like to put her down and let her run around for a bit? I like to let them sniff around in here,” you said while stepping back from him for a bit before you got hit by a heart attack.
He put the puppy down and she ran around happily.
“So you do bath and groom too?” he asked while walking over to the wall and reading your certifications you had up there.
“Yep. How did you know I was a groomer?” you were curious.
“Oh, I’ve been walking my dogs to the small park over there,” he said and pointed in the direction to the small park on the corner of your street. “I was walking home from there the other day and saw you hand a lady a brown dog and she walked towards my direction. I said hi to her when she was about to pass me. I said her dog looked pretty and she said he was just groomed by you.”
“Ahhh…,” you thought, “That makes sense.”
“It’s so convenient to have a groomer next door,” he chuckled.
“Did you say you have another dog at home?” you asked.
“Yeah, Edgar.”
You heart skipped a beat when you heard the name, “What a fucking coincidence that this dog also has the same name as Pedro’s??” you thought.
“He’s a terrier mix. Nothing much to do with him. I usually just give him a quick bath in the shower with me.”
“You can just come here and do it here if you like. I don’t mind it. I’ve always wanted to hang out with neighbors but people around here don’t come out much. I mean, it’s more convenient here. You can use the tub, the blower, the nail clippers and everything else here.”
He looked amazed at you thinking how generous you were, “I don’t think…”
“It’s ok,” you stopped him before he finished his sentence. “If you feel bad about coming in and using my stuff then I can charge you something or you can contribute something. I don’t care,” you laughed. “Help me change some bulbs, maybe? I live alone and could use a man’s help around the house!”
“Umm… What about Cee? I can’t groom her by myself. I’ll just let you do it. How old should I bring her here to get her first groom?”
“Um… It’s up to you actually. The sooner you get her to start, the quicker she’s used to being groomed. I might not be able to do a lot on her for the first groom but she will get to know about being groomed. One of my customers brought her Maltipoo puppy for her first groom at 4 months old and she was doing really well. I actually did a photo shoot with her after the groom too. I can show you the picture,” you grabbed your phone and looked through your instagram for the photo and showed it to him.
“Do you need to be anywhere? I mean if you are not in a rush I can take some photos of her if you like. I don’t have anything later for today either, so….,” you said. You always like to have some nice photos of the dogs for your portfolio.
“That sounds fun. If you don’t mind then I would love to,” he said happily.
You put the backdrop down, set up the light and got your camera ready.
“Can you help me pose Cee so she would sit there for me? If she doesn’t sit, you can join in and sit with her. I’ll get some photos of you both together.”
You then sat against the wall while he tried and sat the dog in front of the backdrop. She was easy. In about five minutes you already got some good photos. And for some reason, you asked him to join in too so he could have some nice photos with his puppy. You saw him smile and you thought he was so cute.
“Are you also a photographer?” he asked later.
“Yeah, it’s been my hobby for over 10 years now,” you smiled while looking at your camera.
“I love animals. It’s why I decided to become a groomer and I would like to get some nice photos of them after they are nice and groomed,” you were surprised you were a little talkative today. It’s like you were in a good mood for some reason.
“Interesting. Can I see your studio sometime? It would be so nice to have a photographer close by. I could use one occasionally,” he asked.
“Of course. You live only a few steps away from me so come by anytime!”
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He was ready to leave your salon when you noticed some dark red spots on his white t-shirt on the back of his right shoulder.
“Are you bleeding or something?” you asked
“Huh??” he made a confused face.
“On your shoulder,” you pointed.
“Oh, Cee jumped on my back this morning and then scratched me here on the arm,” he showed you the two big red long lines on his arm.
“Whew… That looks really bad. Would you like me to take a look at it? I can check the back of your shoulder too. It’ll be hard for you to do it yourself there.”
“Erm…a... are you sure?”
“Yeah, of course. I don’t mind it. Better than leaving it and getting an infection. You can come inside and sit on the couch. I’ll go get the medicine,” you got him to the couch and walked away to get a medkit.
You came back with some cleanser, medicine and bandages in your hands.
“You can put Cee down. Rouxy is a nice dog. I believe they can be friends,” you talked about your little ginger poodle mix who was sitting on the floor right next to his leg, looking up at Cee and wagging her tail.
You then walked over to where he sat and asked to see the scratches. You kneeled down on the carpet next to where he sat on the couch.
He stretched out his arm and you grabbed his wrist and took a look at it. You missed the little tattoo on the back of his hand. You then asked to see his shoulder. He moved the neck of the shirt over to the side so you could see the cuts.
“I don’t know how it is there. I can’t see it. I didn’t even know I was scratched there too.”
You put your fingers on his shoulder and had the fabric of his shirt in between your fingers and dragged it to the side to take a look at his skin. You could see down his back to the waistband of his pants. You had to tell yourself to focus on the scratches, not his bare back! And you were glad he couldn’t see how you stare at his skin from back there. But you were pretty sure he could feel your breath on his skin.
The scratches on the shoulder were worse than ones on the arm. They weren’t as long but deeper. You wet the towel and wiped his scratches and then cleaned them with the cleanser and put the cream on before putting the bandages on his shoulder. The ones on the arm were left uncovered because they were too long for the bandages. Your heart was still beating fast from your finger touching his skin.
“Ok. This should do it,” you told him.
“Thank you. Can I come back later after a shower tonight so you can help me with these again?” he pointed at his shoulder.
“Sure, if you don’t mind walking a few steps over,” you laughed as you handed him a card in your hand and said “Oh, here’s my business card. You can call or text me if you need anything, so you don’t have to always walk over,” you laughed.
“Are you trying to say you don’t want to see me here so often?” he asked, looking at you mockingly.
“Oh, no.. no.. I didn’t mean that. It’s really nice to have a company. I’ve always wanted one. I don’t have many friends. I mean I’m not good with people and I always end up sitting at home speaking to my pets. But I do want someone to hangout with actually. I just thought it’s more convenient to be able to call or text from anywhere anytime,” you laughed.
“So you don’t mind if I call you at 2 am then?” he asked and you both laughed.
He looked at your card in his hand and said, “Well, thank you very much Janessa for your help today. See you later tonight. I’ll try not to come here so late,” he said.
“You can just call me Jane…”
“Ok. Nice meeting you Jane. And I’m Pedro. See you!” he winked at you and walked back to his house.
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