“Reid! What a lovely surprise,” Alicia exclaims. She’s one of the most recurrent volunteers at Good Heart Shelter. She’s normally at the front desk, receiving calls to rescue some animal someone spotted.

“Hello, love,” I say and give her a hug. Archie walks in at that moment and Alicia’s face lights up. I think she has a crush on my mate, and I’m a bit sorry about her because he has eyes only for Steph, even if he can barely talk to her.

Archie smiles kindly at her and gives her a hug, too, and she still looks at him as if he were the sunshine of her every morning. I smile awkwardly wondering is Archie hasn’t realised the way Alicia looks at him or if he has and decides to feign ignorance. Either way it’s not like I can do something for her, I know my mate’s feelings and I’m sure Steph also feels the same way so Alicia has no room here. It’s a pity, she’s a great girl, very caring and sweet. I hope she’ll find someone else to give her heart to.

“What are you two doing here today? Came to help?” she asks and she tries to look at us both, but her eyes always go back to Archie.

“Not exactly. I came to talk to Rosie,” I say, organising my metal planner to know when I can come to actually help.

This is the problem when you do so many things: you can’t be regular at everything. Days are just too short for all the things I’d like to do, all the places I’d like to visit. But somehow I manage to do the best I can with the limited time in my hands.

“And what do you need to talk to me about?” someone asks from behind and I turn around to find Rosie walking up to me, a smile on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes.

I met Rosie because of Grace, my sister. They are friends and when Rosie told me about the shelter I had to come. Then I learnt her boyfriend is Orlando and that her name is Rosalind, despite everyone calling her Rosie, and that they were set up in a blind date because of their names. When I found that out I thought it was destiny I had to come here, because you know, Shakespeare.

“Hello, Rosie,” I say meeting her halfway and giving her a hug. “How are you doing?”

“I’m great but what brings you here today?” She then looks past my shoulder and greets Archie. He also comes here as much as I do but he’s not as close to Rosie as I am. I mean, I’ve known her for longer than I’ve known Archie.

“I’m here to ask for a favour in fact, and to see Lulu. You know I can’t spend much time without seeing her,” I add and she laughs.

“Why don’t you two come with me, let’s see the guys and you tell me exactly what that favour is about,” she proposes and we nod.

So we say goodbye to Alicia and follow Rosie to the yard where all the animals spend the day to play with one another and other volunteers. I take one step there and Lulu comes running to me. She’s a lovely ball of grey fur so full of energy it’s hard to contain. She runs like a bullet from a gun and demands for constant attention. So when she sees me she jumps on me and I have to take her in my arms and she starts liking my face immediately.

“Oh, I’ve missed you, too, Lulu. Why thank you for all this love!” I exclaim as she keeps licking my face, making me chuckle. Archie also starts stroking her fur and Lulu gets frantic because she also has my mate loving her and she’s not enough to keep up with both of us, she can’t lick us at the same time and she starts whining because she doesn’t know what to do.

Archie and I laugh and he decides to go play with another animal so Lulu can relax a bit. I sit on the ground, crossing my legs with Lulu on my lap. Rosie sits next to me and a cat comes to her to sleep on her lap and let Rosie pet her.

“So, Reid, what’s that favour you came here for? I’m curious,” she asks and I’m about to reply but Archie cries out when a Golden Retriever jumps on him, literally shoving him to the floor and licking his face as he keeps my friend pinned to the floor. I laugh out loud whilst Archie keeps struggling to keep the dog under control.

“Oh, that’s Bobby. He’s new and it seems he likes Archie,” Rosie explains and I laugh. That’s why Archie didn’t see him coming and why I didn’t recognise him. Archie realises Bobby is still a puppy and he needs to play, so he starts chasing him and pinning him as another puppy would do. I think I can hear Bobby’s exclamation of sheer happiness.

“Well, remember my friend Maca?” I tell Rosie, focusing on her again instead of my mate pretending to be a puppy.

“The post-it girl?” asks Rosie and I nod. “Yeah, you always mention her.”

I blush a bit, not knowing that I always mention her. I do it unconsciously. “Yeah, well, I’m finally meeting her,” I share and I can see her surprised expression from the corner of my eye. “And I’m here to request for your help.”

“I really thought you had already met her but sure, how may I help you?” she questions and I take a deep breath. Here comes the whole explanation again.

“I’m not just meeting her, I’m planning a whole day for her. She doesn’t know my name yet so she has to collect the letters. One letter in a different place and I want one of those places to be this shelter,” I explain.

“Why?” she questions but I look at her confused, not knowing exactly what reason she’s seeking. “Why doesn’t she now you name yet?”

Ah, of course it was that one. “I have my reasons,” I reply looking away.

“And why this place?” she asks next and I’m surprised she doesn’t push me about the whole name thing, instead she asks me something else.

I stay in silence for a few moments, surprised and grateful. I don’t want to confess my cowardice and weighting how much I can share. It’s not exactly like I know this, I just have a feeling regarding Maca.

She’s always so grateful in her replies, always saying I have the right words when she needs them the most and I normally leave encouraging words, which means she’s having a hard time. She is always grateful, so I’ve always wondered how hard her life is. I wonder what she has to struggle with every day. I wonder if she feels loved, if she has someone encouraging her every day. I know she has friends and family, but I don’t know if she actually feels loved. I have this gut feeling that she lives with a heavy burden, one I can’t even fathom, one that isolates her and wraps her in darkness, a veil that is so thick she can’t see beyond it and no one can reach her. I don’t know why I have this feeling, but I do. And I want to do something about it.

It’s know that animals are great for people who are depressed and I think this shelter is such a wonderful place, with a marvellous message of hope and love. I want her to see that, to experience love from strangers so she can also appreciate the love from the ones that are actually part of her life. Sometimes the touch of a stranger moves us deeper than the touch of a loved one, and at the same time a stranger’s touch triggers something inside that makes us contemplate our life.

“I think this place is wonderful,” I explain, knowing I can’t tell her my theory about Maca. “And I think she’ll love it. I want to show her all the places that are important to me and I want her to meet you and the guys here so she can feel more at ease when we actually meet. I want to make this day memorable for her and I think a visit to this shelter will accomplish that. I want her to meet Lulu,” I add scratching the dog’s belly. She’s almost asleep on my lap.

“Can I try to recruit her?” she questions next and I chuckle.

“Feel free to do so. I’d love to come here with her,” is my reply and I look at Rosie who’s watching me with a big smile.

“So I just have to receive her, let her play and then what?” she asks instead of what she really wants to say. I know it, there’s something else in her eyes but she knows it’s not comfortable for me to speak about it.

“I’ll come tomorrow to hand you a letter you have to deliver. She’ll come with my Polaroid so you gotta take a picture with her, please. Also, don’t say my name and ruin the game,” I explain and she nods. “Basically that.”

“Good then. When is she coming?”

“This Sunday, before lunchtime,” I specify and she nods again.

“And you’ll meet her when? At the end of the day?” I nod. “How many places are you planning to send her to? Won’t she get tired? I mean, isn’t it better if you spend the whole day with her instead of sending her from one place to another. She’s your friend, after all, you should meet her first.”

“I know,” I confess knowing that it’ll be better if I just meet her but I really want to do something unique for her, something no one else has done for her. I know I’ll barely have time with her and maybe I’ll regret then, but I won’t regret making all these memories for her. “But if things work out we can meet again and again, but I can only make this for her once.” Once again, I can’t explain how I know she needs this journey. It’s just a feeling.

“Fair enough,” Rosie accepts. “But if she decides to stay here instead of going to meet you, you can’t blame her. I mean, look at all these guys? You think they’ll let her go?” Rosie makes me ponder and she points at where Archie is still playing with Bobby, the dog literally all over my best mate. I try to imagine Maca, this girl that never allows me to see her face not even in my imagination, playing with the dogs, all of them trying to win her heart and get her attention and she laughing out loud, from the bottom of her heart.

If that happens, I wouldn’t mind if she never comes to meet me, as long as she’s happy and having fun here.

“Then I’ll accept my fate. After all, who can compete with all these guys?” I say and cue to my words I tickle Lulu, waking her and kissing her forehead, playing with her long ears. “But I hope you’ll help me to encourage her to meet me.”

“I’ll try but I can’t promise anything.” I just laugh, knowing she’ll do her best to put Maca at ease and encourage her to meet me at the end of the day.

“Lulu,” I talk to the dog. “A very special friend is coming this Sunday. Will you be nice to her? Tell her I’m a good guy and I just want the best for her, will you?”

She looks at me with big eyes and that doggy smile of hers, her tongue hanging and her tail desperately moving from side to side. She barks once, makes that cute little noise and barks again. I interpret this as her way to say “Of course, Reid. I’ll tell her and cover her with kisses.”

“Good girl,” I say kissing her again, playing with her ears.

Archie arrives at that moment, panting and with Bobby next to him, still full of energy but my mate can’t keep up with him. “I wasn’t prepared for this one,” he says trying to catch his breath and I just laugh. “Are we gonna take a nap at some point?”

I laugh and shake my head and he sighs heavily. “In fact, we should get going,” I explain and Archie’s eyes widen in dread. “Sorry, mate, but we still have more places to go.”

Archie sighs heavily, accepting that he already agreed to this. “Where to now?”

“Maca is a whovian so we need to talk to Sarah,” I explain and he nods.

“Tell me it’s near,” is all what he says and I laugh out loud.

“Yeah, it is. The order of the stops was carefully planned, after all,” I smile and he sighs. I look at Rosie and she’s smiling at us, amused. “Thank you for helping but we’ll take our leave now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good luck you two,” she says taking the cat in her arms and standing up. I follow her example but I leave Lulu on the floor to play with Bobby.

“Let’s go,” I tell Archie and he nods, so we leave to plan a whovian meeting now.

-:-:-

I think Archie and Reid are too cute. I'm glad they are not real, I wouldn't be able to take it.

VOTE AND COMMET! It encourages (and pushes) me to write before Saturday. Don't you want that?

Bel, xx