Julian joined my brother and his friends for a couple round of shots. Their voices kept getting louder as time passed. One of them had one too many shots and became rowdy. Some of them were tapping their legs to the rhythm and sang along to what I assumed to be a cover of Chop suey. Nancy seemed to be taking a liking on one of the drunkest of the bunch. He had secretly been feeding her pepperoni off his pizzas.
"Yo, Paul. What are you doing, man? Sit and keep it down, will you? I have neighbors!" Jake warned.
"Is all gooood man, I'm just gonna pleh with Nuncy here. Ya like it don't cha, Nuncy," Paul stood up and baited the poor dog with a slice of his pie.
I didn't pay much attention to him at first. Most drunk people would act or say stupid things, these guys were no different. I was almost done with my cigarette when Paul came closer and stumbled on his feet. The rain must've made the soil and grass slippery as he ran barefooted on our garden.
Nancy thought that he had asked her to play for her food. The tasty piece of bread was just inches away from her face. She wagged her tail in excitement and pounced him with her whole body. She must've weighed at least seventy pounds. Paul's pool drunken leg couldn't support himself and he fell. The pizza flew in the air dramatically over my head in slow motion.
Next thing I knew, a wall of white fur slammed into me. Nancy launched into the pool to catch her treat, bringing me down with her. The water was freezing cold. Before I had enough time to comprehend what was happening, I felt her sharp paws stomping me down the pool as she struggled to find a footing.
The sky had turned navy and none of the fools in the house had turned the garden nor pool lights on. All I could see was blurry purple background and a big blob pushing me deeper in the water.
I tried to swim to the surface, but the sudden shock of cold water made my limbs cramp. I successfully raised one arm out the surface as I felt the cold air grazing it. But my victory wasn't long lived. Just as I almost successfully take a lung-full of air, Nancy was yelping and kicked my head. It was at this moment that I realized she couldn't swim.
She tried to mount on top of me to keep her head above the water. But this in turn didn't allow me to breathe. I could barely move my left leg to keep us floating. I could hear inaudible screams above the water and sometimes glances of colorful blobs around the edge of the pool that I assumed to be my brother and his friends.
Suddenly I heard a plunging noise next to me and I felt significantly lighter. The dog was off my back and a hand took grip of my jacket. He was dragging me to edge.
"Hey! You okay?" Peter yanked me out of the pool as I coughed the water I had swallowed when the dog pounded on my throat.
I could hear Nancy whimpering and shaking next to me as her owner hugged and comforted her.
"Hey, man. Listen. It was an accident! I didn't mean it," Paul drunkenly sway in the background with mud on half of his body from falling earlier.
"Not cool, man! I told you to sit and chill out! What the f*ck were you thinking? Go home! Take the day off!" my brother chewed his head off.
"You okay? Your nails are turning blue! Go take a warm shower now," Peter examined me.
I looked over at the dog as I coughed out more water.
"The dog's gonna be fine. Can you stand up and walk to your bathroom?" he asked, trying not to get distracted by the yelling from my brother and Paul's fight.
"Both my legs are cramping now," I looked down at my wet clothes and grabbed my leg.
I was so thankful the money and my phone were not in my pocket when it happened. But the cold night wind struck me and made my soaked clothes even colder.
"Here, straighten your legs," Peter took my legs and straightened it.
"F*ck!" I yelped.
"Sorry, gotta get the blood flowing again," he massaged my calves.
"I didn't know you learn first aid in psychology classes," I glanced over at my brother who had just carried Paul off the premises.
"Jake's the only one taking psychology in the band. I'm studying medicine, Julian's taking fine arts, Paul's taking business management, and the rest are doing mass communication."
"Oh."
"Try moving your legs now. Better?"
"Yeah, thanks. Hey, Julian. I'm sorry, I didn't know she couldn't swim. I can take her in the shower with me and blow dry her later."
"It's not your fault. Paul just had a lapse of judgement. And you did a pretty good job at keeping her from drowning. I'm sorry I didn't jump in sooner," he stroked Nancy's chin who was wagging her tail.
"You can borrow Jake's bathroom upstairs. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you borrow his clothes too" I accidentally stared at his body as his sheer white shirt exposed the outline of his bicep and abs.
The dog followed behind me and we shared a steamy shower together. Hot water had never felt this comforting. I put on an oversized t-shirt and pajama shorts when Nancy started to scratch my bathroom door.
"What's wrong girly?" I opened the door and saw Julian standing over my table with my bag.
"Oh, hey. Didn't mean to 'trespass'," he pointed at the "no trespassing" sign on my door, "I just wanted to drop this off and check on my girl."
"She's been such a good girl, haven't you?" I scratched her head as she stuck her tongue out.
"Oh, I didn't mean her," he smirked.
The realization hit me, and I staggered to look for my hairdryer and avoided eye contact with him. I searched my drawers and closet, but I couldn't find it. I tried my best to hide my blushing face with my hair.
"Were you looking for this?" he picked up the hair dryer from my dresser.
Idiot! I had put it there before going in the shower for convenience's sake. How did I forget about it? He must have thought I'm forgetful and awkward. I took the hairdryer from him and plugged it in. I dried Nancy's fur as he sat on my desk looking over us.
"Do you mind?" he pointed at the rest of my room.
"Go ahead."
He had stood up and walked around my room. Would he think I'm such a nerd for owning a library's worth of books in my bedroom? Should I ask him something about himself? Why am I worrying so much? Just focus on drying the dog's fur.
Julian picked a book off the shelf. "The Little Prince". It was the first book my parents had bought for me in hopes that I would be interested in learning French or drawing.
They were both brought up in the art industry. Mostly the business side of it. But I ended up falling in love with reading and storytelling. Since then, I had collected books of different genre and era.
God, I'm such a nerd. No wonder people would only talk to me for answers.
"All done!" I brushed through her fur.
"Le Petit Prince, nice one," he flipped over the pages.
"I forgot you speak French," Nancy leaped to her master's side.
"Do you?"
'Je parle un petit peu de Français. You better dry your hair, or you'll get sick. With this weather and all."
"Yeah, you're right. You did such a fine job on Nancy, I'm actually kinda jealous," he walked over with the book and a small towel over his shoulders.
"Be my guest," I offered Nancy's spot.
Why did I say that? I scolded myself.