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The leaves were falling off the Birch and Maple trees. Tabitha and Jughead, we’re walking back to their new house from Pop’s Chockalit Shoppe.
Tabitha was wearing Jughead’s yellow and black plaid jacket; she thought it matched her pop’s uniform better. Jughead’s blue eyes were smiling at how big it was on her as he wore his red and black jacket. She already laughed, saying; He was no “Paul Bunyan.” Jughead could admit he was no lumberjack, but he enjoyed the plaid.
A dog with a leaf in its mouth came running up to them. Jughead pets it behind the ears. When he did that, Tabitha breathed in the air. Late season fresh cut grass, someone was making Apple crisp and Jug’s scent of hamburgers and coffee. She smiled just thinking about it.
Jug looks up at her black hair flowing in the wind and her brown eyes dancing when she smiles, “What are you thinking about Tabs?”
She loved when he called her that, “You and that Dog wouldn’t it be nice to have one?”
He laughed and shook his jet-black hair, “Tabs, we work like all the time. How would we have time for a dog?”
Leave it to him to be the reasonable one she thought she’d show him. She looked at the dog, who hadn’t moved from the said spot, and neither had Jug, leaning down to pet the dog.
“Ahem,” he looked at her; she saw it, he wanted one too, “It can be the Pops mascot have a heated dog house outside Pops, and we can take it to special events, it can live with us.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility, Tabs, are you sure? You haven’t even pet this one!”
She nodded, leaned close to the dog, and the dog wagged his tail, barked, and jumped up like it was going to dance with her.
“I waited because I knew that would happen.” She laughed.
Jughead laughed and grabbed some leaves and watched them blow from his hands, “my other question?”
In a sultry voice, Tabitha says, “Ah, yes, Jughead, Change can be a beautiful thing! ”
Alright, he looked at the dog and said, “go home,” as he grabbed Tabitha’s hand. To continue walking. Three minutes go by, and the dog is still following, “Tabs, that dog isn’t going home.”
She whispered, “perhaps it is Jughead. Perhaps it is.”
Jughead just smiled, turned around, “Come on, Boy, if you want to be ours, you need to walk ahead of us,” he whispers to Tabs, “I only said that to see if it stops when we do.”
Tabitha shakes her head, silently laughing at her man. The dog followed Jughead’s order, but unlike what they expected, the dog walked up to their front steps.
Jughead smiles, looks at Tabitha in a sultry voice says, “Change can be a beautiful thing, Tabs!” They both knew they’d be looking out for lost dog posters and online, but until then, perhaps the dog found his home with them.