"Look, there's a great big hunk of world down there, with no fence around it. Where two dogs can find adventure and excitement. And beyond those distant hills, who knows what wonderful experiences?"

~Lady and the Tramp

~~~~~

"So tell me again why you're going up north?" Kelsey asked, still foggy with sleepiness. She closed her eyes and took a sip of her cold coffee, too lazy to go heat it up, and watched as Sandy buzzed around the kitchen, the remains of a charcoal mask partially rubbed off on one side of her face.

"Because Alex is coming to pick me up in—like, now—because he's wanting to buy a business or something up there!"

"A business?"

"Some vineyard, I don't know!"

The door swung open in the other room and Sandy froze. "That's him! Kel, just buy me ten minutes while I get dressed!"

Before Kelsey could consent, Sandy disappeared into her room.

Kelsey groaned inwardly. She'd been avoiding him all this time, now she didn't even have Sandy to help her keep her cool. She rarely lost her temper with anyone, but there was something about chauvinistic pig heads that always set her off.

"You ready?" A voice called.

A tall, stocky man appeared in the kitchen and scanned it before his eyes landed on Kelsey.

"Nice to see you again, Alex," Kelsey said, glancing at him before taking another drink of her coffee. "Sandy's almost ready."

"I remember you," Alex mused, coming around the corner into the kitchen. "Kelsey, right?"

"Yep."

"You looked better last time I saw you." He sneered, casually pointing to the nest that was her hair and the frame of exhaustion that was her face.

"Funnily enough, you look exactly the same."

He snickered and scratched his beard. "How've you been?"

"Fine."

"You still into baking or whatever?"

Kelsey lifted an unamused brow. "If you mean to say the culinary arts, then yes. That's actually why I'm here."

"Seems like a pretty useless job, to be honest. We've got chefs at every corner it seems like. You should've bought a food truck—that's where the business is."

Kelsey scowled. "And are you out of your parent's basement yet or have you moved up to the couch?"

"Ouch," Alex inhaled. "What've I ever done to you?"

"Nothing at all," Kelsey muttered, feeling too tired to give this jerk any energy she had left.

Alex moved towards the counter. "You playing hard to get or what?"

Kelsey sat up and pursed her lips. "Excuse me?"

"You know, I have to say you caught my eye last time we met. You know, me and Sandy get along okay or whatever, but we've been together for four years..."

Kelsey's grip tightened around her coffee mug and her blood boiled. "Sandy deserves so much better than you."

"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying!"

"No, I'm pretty sure I blame you completely," Kelsey snapped. She impulsively tossed the contents of her coffee cup across Alex's shirt and gingerly placed the mug in front of him just as Sandy walked in.

"Alex!" Sandy cried. "What'd you do that for?"

"Better get that cleaned up before it stains," Kelsey said, sliding off her seat. She gave Sandy a tight hug and whispered, "Hope you have a good time. Just be careful, okay?"

She left the kitchen and went to her room, shutting the door and storming towards the window. What a scumbag.

How could Sandy not see what a jerk he was?

She watched as Alex's truck rattled down the road and caught sight of Sandy's blonde curls waving in the breeze.

She shook her head and faceplanted on her bed, releasing a sigh.

~~~~~~

Kelsey hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep until the doorbell jolted her awake. She inhaled sharply and blinked in the orange sunlight filtering through her window.

"What the..." she muttered, wiping slobber from her cheek.

She pulled on a sweater and walked dazedly down the hallway, yawning as the doorbell rang again.

She rubbed her face and flung open the door. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Ethan was standing outside, looking like he was about to have a heart attack.

He rushed forward and grabbed Kelsey's shoulders. "Kelsey! I'm so glad it's you!"

"Uh, hey—"

"I need help. I—I can't believe this," he murmured breathlessly.

"What's wrong?" Kelsey asked, panic rising in her chest.

Ethan backed away, shoving his hand through his hair. "I hit a dog. Just up the street."

"What?!"

"I didn't know what to do! Do you have any, like, medical supplies?"

"I don't know! Is it okay? Are you sure it's alive?!"

"Yes—no—look, we just need to hurry."

"Right," Kelsey breathed, retreating back inside with Ethan close at her heels.

"It just came out of nowhere," he explained. "I think its leg might be broken and it's not moving."

Kelsey rummaged through Sandy's cupboard. "Why were you even here?"

"I was going to visit a friend."

Kelsey turned and lifted an eyebrow. "A friend? Here? Really?"

"I'm not stalking you, geez. I was in the area and remembered you said you had a lot of flowers outside."

Kelsey found a bag of supplies, alcohol, and ibuprofen.

"Can you give that to dogs?" Ethan asked, pointing to the bottle.

"No idea, we'll Google it on the way to the vet."

She followed Ethan out the door, forgetting that she was wearing pajamas and no shoes. They raced down the street to where his car was parked on the side of the road.

Ethan dropped to his knees next to the limp form of a large dog. He took the bag of supplies Kelsey gave him.

"I'm such an awful person," he murmured, busting an instant cold pack and rubbing it between his hands.

Kelsey cautiously sat down beside it and ran her hand along the dog's brown coat. It didn't have a collar or any indication that it belonged to someone. Then, she noticed something. "Ethan, it's not breathing."

"What?" He scooted over and placed his hands on the dog's ribcage. He positioned himself and began CPR.

"Ethan," Kelsey said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I think—"

Suddenly, the dog inhaled a raspy breath.

"Give me your sweater," Ethan commanded. "Hurry."

Kelsey wrestled out of her sleeves and handed it to him.

Ethan gingerly placed it over the dog's head as it came back to consciousness.

It took a few moments for the dog to wake up, but it made no effort to move. Ethan carefully lifted the dog into his arms and nodded towards the car. "Do you mind driving?"

"Uh, yeah," Kelsey whispered, climbing into his small car, and noting the large dent on the front corner.

Ethan got in beside her and they drove in silence for a few moments.

Kelsey's mind was in a whirl and she barely heard the directions on the GPS telling her where to go.

"Thanks," Ethan said quietly.

"No problem." Kelsey managed to swallow, though her throat was dry.

They hit traffic in the middle of town and Kelsey had to resist the urge to fly across the median in order to move up.

"Where did these people learn to drive?!" She cried.

Finally, they found the veterinarian's office and pulled in. Kelsey followed Ethan inside, suddenly very conscious of her bare feet and awful appearance, and they told the woman at the desk that it was an emergency.

"I'll go get the vet," the woman said, hurrying off to the back.

Kelsey sighed and leaned against the counter. She noticed that people were staring and whispering to one another in the lobby. It didn't take long for her to realize that they weren't discussing the hurt animal, but the person who brought it in. Someone was even trying to take a discreet picture.

She could imagine the headline now—'Actor Ethan Glenn Saves Injured Dog'. People would go nuts for it. Hopefully they wouldn't mention the homeless ragamuffin accompanying the movie star.

The vet came out and took a quick look at the dog. "He's going to have to go into our emergency care," she said. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, of course," Ethan said.

Two other vets came and took the dog away, disappearing into another room.

"You can wait out here, if you'd like," the woman at the desk instructed.

Kelsey and Ethan took a seat and he exhaled slowly.

"So where'd you learn to do CPR on a dog?" Kelsey asked.

"Oddly enough, on a movie set," he replied, closing his eyes tiredly.

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

Kelsey blinked away the fog crowding her brain and said, "So why'd you really come to this part of town?"

"To visit a—"

"Ethan."

"Okay fine," he muttered. "At first I was just riding around, getting away from life because my day has really sucked. And then I remembered that you lived somewhere around where I was, and I hadn't seen you since the sink explosion, so...yes. I was coming to see you. But I wasn't stalking."

Kelsey had to refrain from laughing. "Mmhm, sure. Now wait a second, isn't this supposed to be the other way around? Aren't I supposed to be the deranged fan stalking you?"

"Well maybe if you had, I wouldn't have the life of an innocent dog on my hands," he sighed.

"Hey," Kelsey said, "I think he'll be okay. He was a pretty big guy."

After another hour of waiting, a nurse came around the corner and informed them that the dog was having respiratory issues, but would live.

"We're going to have to keep him overnight," she said. "He doesn't have a collar or microchip, and he looks like he's been living off scraps for quite a while, so once we get him back to health, we'll notify the Humane Society and—"

"No!" Kelsey and Ethan cried at the same time.

"We'll take him," Ethan said.

The nurse glanced between them and nodded with a small grin. "Alright, not a problem."

A slight blush came to her cheeks and she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. She handed it to Ethan and said, "Would you mind signing this? My daughter's a huge fan..."

~~~~

They drove down the street and Ethan tapped his fingers across the steering wheel. "So do you think your roommate will let you keep a dog?"

"Me?" Kelsey cried.

Ethan gave her a guilty look. "Just for a little while?"

"No, no way. You're the one who ran over him!"

"But you said we'd keep him!"

"I meant you!"

He sighed. "Listen, I'm not asking you to keep him forever. I just moved apartments and the landowner is a nice guy, but I just have to work it out, okay?"

"You're super rich, just buy your own house and do what you want," Kelsey muttered.

"Come on, please?"

"If Sandy kills me, you're going to have to buy the casket."

"Is that a yes?"

Kelsey chewed on her lip. "Fine. Sandy's only gone for the next couple days, though."

"Three days tops," Ethan promised.

Kelsey sighed. How was she going to keep a dog that big a secret for three days?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone! It seems that Ethan and Kelsey keep bonding over disaster, doesn't it? XD

~What do you think will happen with the doggo?

~General thoughts on the chapter?

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! {don't forget to comment, vote, and share!}