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Tyler closed up the last cardboard box, finally completing his move into a new apartment in a whole new city. Tyler smiled to himself as he carried the box over to the pile of the other cardboard boxes that needed to be thrown out. He’s been living in the apartment for about a month now, but he has just now unpacked the last box that was used to move his stuff from the old apartment to the new one. He’s gotten used to the new apartment now, but by unpacking that last box, it actually feels official to Tyler now. His own apartment. His own life. He even has his very own dog. Tyler looks over to the corner of the room where he placed Abraham’s bed to see the dog sleeping soundly in these early morning hours.
Although he loves watching his pal sleep, Tyler decides he needs to begin his day. Tyler turns the small television on and changes it to one of the music channels that his TV provider offers. Abraham slowly begins to wake from his slumber, at first trying to find a new, comfier position to hopefully go back to sleep in, but inevitably giving up. The dog raises to his paws and stretches out his back, sticking his butt high up in the air and bringing his chest close to the floor. Giving one final shake, he scampers over to his owner, who has now started toasting a bagel in the toaster.
Tyler looks down at the Corgi/Dalmatian and smiles brightly. “Hey, buddy.” Tyler beams. The dog is sitting down and giving Tyler the look he gives him every morning when he is ready to eat. Before he feeds the dog, Tyler squats down to the dog’s level and wraps his arms gently around his neck. The dog whines and stands up and starts pushing Tyler over. Giggling, Tyler gets back to his feet and walks over to the side of the small kitchen to feed Abraham. Abraham’s tail begins wagging and the dogs starts pacing around the apartment as he waits for his owner to finish serving him his breakfast.
When the dog has been feed and begins eating his meal, Tyler finishes up spreading the peanut butter on his bagel, adding just enough cream and sugar into his coffee and he sits himself down at the breakfast bar, starting his morning social media check.
Knock, knock, knock.
Tyler breaks his concentration from the small glowing screen to look towards the door. He never gets visitors, especially this early in the morning. Tyler at first ignores it and continues scrolling down twitter while shoving a bagel smeared in peanut butter in his mouth.
Knock, knock, knock.
Sighing, Tyler stands from his bar stool and walks over to the door, wiping away any peanut butter on his face with the back of his hand. Behind the door, Tyler recognizes the man that was knocking. He has seen the guy walking around the apartment complex, coming in and leaving, but he never learned the name of the man. The man had shocking blue hair and a nose ring that glimmered when the hallway lights hit it just right. Tyler could tell that the man had just been awoken since his hair was bed messy and he was wearing his pajama pants, t shirt and black slippers. “Good morning,” The man smiled at Tyler.
“Hi there.” Tyler replies, trying not to make it obvious that he is confused out of his mind. “Can I help you?” Tyler asks after a moment of an awkward silence.
“Oh, well, my name is Josh. I live in the apartment below yours and I hear your dog running around all the time.” Josh spoke, his eyes shifting from Tyler to the room behind him.
“Did he wake you up? I’m sorry. I just got him a few weeks ago and he’s like barely a year old he’s just always full of energy—“
“No, no. He didn’t wake me up. I don’t mean for this to be weird, but I just hoping that I could pet him?” Josh smiled, hope filling his eyes.
Tyler was slightly taken aback by the question that he couldn’t even form the words to respond. He just stepped back, opening the door wider and motioned with his arm for Josh to come in.
Josh made his way into the apartment and looked around, looking for the man—dog—of the hour. When he saw Abraham laying down, chowing into his food, Josh seemed to melt. “Aw, oh my god.” Josh cooed, kneeling down in the middle of the kitchen to say hello to the animal.
Tyler, sitting back at his breakfast bar, watched the stranger pet his dog. “What’s his name?” Josh questioned, his eyes and hands not leaving the dog.
“Abraham.” Tyler answered simply. “He’s a Corgi/Dalmatian mix.”
“He is the sweetest boy.” The dog rolled over onto his back, gesturing for Josh to rub his belly, which Josh obeyed. Josh looked up from the dog for a split second and noticed that Tyler was wearing a Starbucks t-shirt and a name tag that read his name. “Oh, shit. Are you getting ready for work?” Josh asked, getting to his feet and dusting his pants off.
“No, well yeah. I do. But you can keep playing with him. Actually,” Tyler walks over to the closet and pulls out Abraham’s leash and brings it over to Josh. “If you want, you can have him for the day.”
Josh’s jaw almost hit the floor. “Seriously??” Josh implored, taking the leash from Tyler.
Tyler nodded, smiling brightly. “He gets lonely during the day when I’m gone and likes to poop around the apartment in protest to me leaving. It’ll be nice for him to have a pal.”
“Thank you so, so much.” Josh chatted, looking down at the dog and then back to Tyler.
Tyler waved his hand and handed Josh a Tupperware filled with the dog’s food. “I have to get going now though. Please take good care of him, okay?”
Josh nodded and hugged Tyler quickly, despite only knowing him for a couple of minutes. “Thank you again.” Josh said one more time before he headed for the door with the dog following him on the leash.
As Josh left, Tyler felt a wave of jealousy wash over him as his dog got to spend the whole day with his cute neighbor while Tyler had to serve impatient rich bastards all morning. Tyler only hopped he would one day get his turn.