Charles poked his head out of the car window, fluff whipping in the wind, as his mommy, Claudia, searched violently for a decent parking spot. He could see it already: the Hollywood sign. Iconic and impressive, it was the perfect destination for his second date with Cleo.
The car finally stopped, and Charles bounced in boyish anticipation as Claudia gathered their supplies and leashed him up. Ahh, thought Charles as they strolled toward the trail head, the perfect weather for a great hair day, cool and dry!
As they got closer, Claudia started looking around impatiently. Where are they, worried Charles. They sat down and waited.
About ten minutes later, a shrill cry from afar traveled faintly into Charles’s ultra-sensitive canine ears. He perked up. Was it a tired baby? A dying rat? Or was it–
Cleo. Like a supermodel stepping onto the runway, the most magnificent, most beautiful pitbull in the world came into view alongside her mommy, Aleks.Charles swooned. Damn, that girl can strut! He adjusted his tail-poof, wiped the sleepies from his eyes, and prepared to greet his love-to-be. As soon as they got in sniffing distance of each other, tails, tongues and leashes alike whipped around furiously.
“Padooooooooo the loverrrrrrrs!!!” Aleks invented a language for communicating with dogs, meant to be spoken in the highest notes emitted by the human voice. In truth, Charles couldn’t understand a word, but there was something musical and energizing about it that he enjoyed; besides, it helped announced Cleo’s arrival.
“Let’s go before it starts to get hot,” said Claudia. And they were off.
Charles had thought about this hike all week: how he would show off his stamina and agility to his princess, how he would clean her eyes when it got dusty, how they would cuddle in the shade when they needed a water break. Cleo, on the other hand, approached this event with anxiety. While she knew she had a rockin’ body, she was best friends with her mommy’s bed, and a little out of shape for it. Already, at the start of the trail, she was beginning to pant heavily and daydream of pillows, many pillows.
She wanted to make a great impression, but she couldn’t bear it any longer; about 10 minutes up the trail, she plopped her booty right on to the ground and simply muttered “No,” staring stubbornly into her mother’s eyes.
“Cleeeeeeeooo is the lover tireeeeed?” Aleks removed a water bottle from her backpack and poured some into her hand for Cleo to lap up. Cleo hung her head, drowned in shame, but too defeated to push any farther. Charles pranced gracefully over in concern.
“Baby? Baby what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Cleo replied with nothing but a sigh. “Seriously, baby, you can tell me anything! I’m here for you.”
“To be honest…. I’m a lounger. I lounge. You seemed so excited to take me here so I couldn’t say no but… this is just too much for me. I’m so sorry!”
“Cleo, darling, you should have said so! You want to lounge? I’ll lounge with you. You want to play? I’ll play with you. Heck, if you wanted a bath, I’d even jump in the tub with you. You’re perfect the way you are, and I just want to make you happy.”A tear ran down Cleo’s face, which Charles immediately kissed off. He then kissed her nose, her ears, her whole face. She was just so amazing.
The pack turned around, and while their mommies went to brunch to discuss silly human matters, Cleo and Charles spent the rest of the day in bed.
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