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Why did this seventy five pound ball of fluff want to go on a walk at 8 in the morning. He was on break, he shouldn’t be waking up early.
Zanka Rubion yawned as he shut the door, the cold winter air settling into his bones as the aforementioned fluff ball panted next to him. Normally, he wouldn’t be outside on a cold winter day this early in the morning, but he made the interesting choice to watch his dad’s dog, Starla, while they were out of town for a week. Really, he didn’t mind too much when they asked him, considering he was on winter break and didn’t have any other plans since both his siblings would be busy. However, standing outside shivering with the dogs leash in his hand? Yeah he was having some regrets.
But no time to question his decisions now. So he locked the door and led Starla towards the sidewalk.
Just 20 minutes. Not that bad.
(Oh how he would soon regret that statement)
Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt the leash slip from his hand as Starla ran off. Panicking he chased after her, trying to call her back, to no avail. Now Zanka considered himself pretty fast, and he wasn’t in bad shape by any means. But for the last month his ass had been glued to a chair working on final projects and studying for exams, all while maintaining the standard college kid diet. Needless to say, this was the most active he’d been in the last month or so, and he was feeling it. His lungs were burning as the cold air bit into him, his throat becoming sore as he tried to call Starla back.
Just when he thought he’d caught up to her, the world tilted as he tripped over a rock falling face first onto the concrete. Thankfully, he managed to put his hands in front of him to break his fall, but he scraped them up in the process. That wasn’t going to stop him, as he got up and kept running, eventually catching up to her, grabbing her leash. Zanka leaned over, finally catching his breath as adrenaline was still coursing through his system.
“You’re more trouble than you're worth, you know that?” He muttered, receiving a lick to the face in response. Huffing he stood back up, already wanting to take her back to the house, only to get dragged forward again. Thankfully he had a stronger grip on her leash this time, but as luck would have it, there were fresh patches of ice on the ground. So rather than running to keep up with Starla, Zanka was just sliding across the ground like he was on an ice rink. He kept his grip on the leash, trying to maintain his balance as he questioned his life choices and why Starla was so energetic this morning.
“What the hell-!”
As someone yelled, Zanka slammed into someone, sending both of them to the ground with a painful thump. Both groaned, trying to get their bearings back. “Ow- Starla why-” Zanka grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Starla just barked, acting as if she hadn’t caused a two person collision and embarrassed Zanka all before 9 freaking AM. Sighing, he directed his attention to the stranger he bumped into. “Sorry about that, I don’t know what got into her-” He started.
“Hey it’s all good man, no harm no foul.” The stranger replied. The stranger who was very pretty, Zanka might add. The person he’d crashed into had smooth tan skin and sharp features, with gorgeous locs; or wicks? Zanka remembered Riyo talking about them at one point, tied into a ponytail with gold jewelry clipped around them. On top of that, his eyes were breathtaking. He didn’t know if they were dark red or if the morning light was hitting them right, but either way he couldn’t help staring at them.
“So ya gonna stare at me or you want some help up?” The stranger asked. Crap- had he been staring? The man was now standing, holding his hand out to Zanka to help him up. Not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it already was, he took his hand and got up, noting that his skin felt as soft as it looked. “Sorry about that- are you hurt?” He asked, hoping the other wasn’t injured. “Aside from a sore ass, I think I’ll live.” The man chuckled, finding the situation more humorous than anything. Relieved, Zanka looked over at Starla, who was staring up at the man’s backpack. “Again sorry about her, I have no idea why she ran off like that-” the man cut him off.
“Really it’s fine. Sometimes dogs get excited when they see people.” He shrugged before continuing. “Besides, she didn’t hurt anybody, did you Star.” He turned to her, getting an excited bark in response as he rubbed her head. “See? She just wanted to make a new friend.” He said with a smile, causing Zanka to roll his eyes. “She couldn’t have done that without dragging me behind her like a rag doll?” That got a laugh out of the man as he stood back up. “Maybe she thought you needed a new friend too?” He suggested.
“Not the most conventional or safe way to make a friend in my opinion”
“Maybe not, but hey it leaves an impression on someone.”
“Probably not a good one if I had to guess”
“I wouldn’t say it was a bad impression, but maybe that’s just me.”
“Crashing into someone because their dog dragged them across the sidewalk isn’t a bad first impression to you?”
“Well it’s not boring that’s for sure”
“No but it’s painful and embarrassing”
The man laughed before replying. “You’re really funny, you know that?” He asked. “Not on purpose.” Zanka shrugged. “You know what I like you, what’s your name man?” Zanka gently pulled Starla to his side before responding. “Zanka Rubion, and you are?”
“Jabber Wonger. Wanna go out for lunch sometime?” He froze. “Uhh really?” Zanka asked, taken aback by the question. “Yeah, call it making up for crashing into me since you feel so bad about it.” Huh, he supposed that wasn’t too bad. Besides, it was the least he could do after crashing into this guy. “Sure, when are you free?” He asked. Rather than respond, Jabber reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled something down before handing it to Zanka. “Here’s my number, I’ll text you when I’m free. I gotta get going before she gets too cold.”
“She?” Jabber was alone so who was he-
Meow
A high pitched meow came from behind Jabber as he removed the backpack he was wearing. It was a plastic backpack with a bubble in the middle with holes across the top, and inside was a little Siamese cat, meowing. “My cat. This is Mankira.” He opened the bag and reached inside to pet her. “She doesn’t like being stuck inside all day so I like taking her outside in this.” He explained. Mankira rubbed her head against Jabber’s hand before he removed it and zipped the bag closed. “I should get home. See around Zan Zan.” With that, he turned around and walked away leaving Zanka to ponder the weird morning he’d just had. Tired, he decided to walk home with Starla in tow, ready to lay on the couch and watch TV till he was warm enough to get some cleaning done.
As soon as he got home and had himself and Starla locked in for the day, he removed her leash and went to put his coat and shoes away. Once that was done, he made his way to the kitchen for some water and to clean up his hands. As he was cleaning off his hands of dirt and blood, Starla bumped her head against his leg. Zanka rolled his eyes but leaned down and rubbed her head.
“You’re more trouble than you’re worth, but you have your moments dontcha?” Starla licked his cheek in response, causing him to laugh. Once his hands were clean he grabbed his phone, texting Gris that he was home after walking Starla before he added a new contact to his phone and sent a text to it.
Zanka: hey, it’s Zanka from this morning
Zanka: Are you free this Friday?