Page 70 of Puppy Love

“Implied how?” he asks, pulling back the top bun. He peels off the tomatoes, dropping it onto his own wrapper, then carefully scrapes off any seeds and juices as well. He puts it back together and hands it to me.

“I mean,” I take it slowly and inspect it once more before taking a heaping bite. “I kinda just said I would see her at work.”

Hayden’s blonde eyebrow quirks, his cheeks puffed out with chewed hamburger.

“Huh?”

I swallow, the burger sliding down my throat with just the tiniest hint of tomato taste on it.

It’s fine. It’s fine.

“I just said we weren’t meeting up, that I was busy. And then I told her I’d see her at work. Like, only at work.”

Hayden nods, and on a cot in the corner, Dawson and Major throw each other around like it’s a WWE match.

“And you said that? That you’d only see her at work?”

I pause, reaching for another disappointing french fry. “Well… not exactly.”

“Cam! How is she supposed to know you broke things off if—”

“It was implied!” I huff, furrowing my brows at him. Hayden sighs.

“Okay,” he says. “Alright. And you’re… okay?”

A stifled laugh pops out of me. I’m doing just fine. Sure, I liked what we had going. Violet helped me explore things I didn’t even know existed. I didn’t have to chat up a bunch of strangers, and it was on a schedule, part of my routine, which helped me anticipate the new things too. They didn’t just hit me out of nowhere. But clearly, it was failing to help me move on. And it was supposed to be brief. I prepared for it to be. So of course, I’m fine.

“I’m the one who broke it off,” I say, pulling a big white comforter over us. “Aren’t I?”

Hayden nods.

“Yeah, sure. But...” He shakes his head. “You’re going to have to see her tomorrow. And the week after that, and the week after that. Is that going to be…”

“It’s no-strings, Hay,” I say. “That’s the point. It isn’t going to be anything because it was just for sex.”

Hayden swallows another bite of his burger. “But isn’t work… strings?”

I groan, dramatically lifting my back off the sofa just so I can toss it backwards again for the effect.

“Not this again, please.”

“Sorry.” He shrugs. “I just fail to see how it’s no-strings-attached when there’s like…” He starts counting on his fingers silently, his soft indigo eyes scanning the ceiling like he’s searching for a memory. “Three strings, at least.”

I scoff. “How’d you jump from one to three?”

He scoots closer to me on the couch, rubbing his palms against the denim on his thighs, before holding them out in front of him.

“Okay so you’ve got the job, obviously.” He holds one finger up. “And then there’s me. She’s Major’s trainer, so even if you hadn’t worked at Furry Friends, I would have brought her up eventually.”

I look at him, unconvinced. “That isn’t a very compelling argument.”

He ignores me and throws up another finger.

“And lastly, she’s hot.” He leans back against the couch, waving a hand. “Respectfully.”

“How exactly is being hot a string?” I ask, cocking a brow.

“It’s not,” he says dismissively. “Unless she has a good personality too, which she does. That’s why—” He lifts his hand, performing “A.D.D.” in sign language. “But it’s a little late for that.”

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