Fido and Michael were just about to get up and head home when they spotted someone trying to pull the bush apart.
“Oh no” Michael thought to himself.
“What am I going to do” Freddy thought to himself. “Who’s going to spot me like this now?”
Michael quickly shuffled Freddy’s clothes under his butt before the bush parted. When they looked up, they could see Sofya looking down on them with a mix of curiosity and surprise.
“Michael?” Sofya asked quizzically.
“Uh” Michael replied.
Sofya spotted Fido and looked him over. He gave her a curious look, not wanting to anger or upset her, despite his feelings of rage that boiled beneath the surface.
“Why did you run off like that?” Sofya asked Michael. “Where’s Freddy? And who is this dog over here?”
“Uh” Michael responded, unsure of how to answer.
“Don’t tell her it’s me” Freddy thought to himself. “And don’t tell her about my family. Please Michael.”
“Uh” Michael continued. “Freddy ran off. I mean, he did yell out ‘Help Me Michael!’ so obviously something must of upset him.”
“It’s not what it looked like” Sofya replied. “I swear.”
“And this dog” Michael continued, as he pointed to Fido “is a stray in the neighborhood who has been wandering around all week.”
“Oh poor dog. Do you two want to come in? I’m sure he could use some water.”
“Um” Michael replied, unsure of how to respond.
“No” Freddy thought to himself.
Seeing that Michael was hesitating, Fido barked once. When Michael didn’t respond to his bark, he barked once again.
“Has he forgotten about the yes, no barking?” Freddy thought to himself.
“Your dog seems like he’s up for it” Sofya replied. “Come on boy. Come on in.”
Knowing he had no choice in the matter, Fido quietly trotted out of the bush to follow Sofya back into her house. As Michael composed himself, he took Freddy’s clothes from underneath him and stuffed it into his knapsack.
“This might come in handy later” Michael thought to himself.
After a sense of dread over what kind of conversation would follow, knowing a confrontation was inevitable, Michael gathered the internal strength to get up out of the bush and wipe off leaves that covered his clothes. After a quick cough, he walked up the stairs and into Sofya’s house.
Michael hadn’t really thought about the looks of the interior of the house when he first came in a few minutes ago. His priority had been rescuing Freddy…or was it really a rescue? He needed to work on piecing that together. Before he did, he took a quick glance around the entryway and into the living room. Old antiques lined the walls, while furniture, which seemed to date back centuries, were crowded along the floor.
“Very interesting” Michael thought to himself as he did a one over on the room.
“Would you like to have a seat?” Sofya called out to Michael, interrupting his thoughts.
Michael, startled at the question, jumped back a bit, causing Sofya to laugh. He noticed she had been quietly rubbing Fido’s back the entire time, which filled Michael with a sense of internal rage. Sofya had made out with his boyfriend. Already on edge from Freddy mating with two dogs, Michael would have snapped at him on the spot had it not been for his screams for help. This didn’t seem like cheating of Freddy’s own volition, but why was he here? Michael was determined to find out.
Sofya had put out a bowl of water, which Fido had seemed to ignore. If dogs could have the look of nerves on their face, it would be there.
“Sure” Michael replied as he cautiously walked over and sat next to Sofya on the couch.
Noticing Michael’s presence, Fido got up from where he curled up next to Sofya and solidly placed himself next to Michael’s leg instead. Fido placed his head in Michael lap, whining to get his attention. Michael, still salty about seeing Sofya on top of him, only gave him light scratches on his snout. Although Fido wanted Michael to rub him behind the ears, this would have to do for now.
“It seems like the dog likes you” Sofya said.
“I guess” Michael replied, nervous about starting this conversation. “Listen, Sofya, we need to talk.”
“Michael, I swear, it’s not what it looks like.”
Michael put his hand up to Sofya.
“I’m willing to hear you out” Michael replied. “But you’re going to need to explain some things to me first. Like why Freddy was here in the first place and why you were on top of him when I came in the door.”
“I will” Sofya responded “if you tell me why you barged into my house uninvited and why you weren’t in school this morning.”
“I asked first, so you should respond first.”
Fido gave her a serious look as Sofya took a moment to compose herself. She could feel Michael’s judgmental eyes on her, which caused her to blush.
“Well” Sofya began. “I woke up this morning and my father said he was going to be at work all day. After breakfast, I was going to start doing some minor decoration when I heard a knock on the door. When I went to answer it, I saw Freddy. It was really early, Michael, like 10 or maybe 10:30 in the morning, which I thought was odd because, like, why wasn’t he in school?”
Fido began to growl as Michael scolded him.
“Calm down boy” Michael called to him.
Fido began to whine as he stopped growling.
“Why is my boyfriend scolding me?” Freddy thought to himself. “She’s the one who lured me here. And he’s the reason I had to stay home from school in the first place.”
“Anyways” Sofya continued “after I told Freddy that I wasn’t expecting him so early, I said I guess he could come in. I invited him in and I gave him a little tour of the house. He didn’t really seem to say anything while I was taking him around, so I doubt he remembered anything I said.”
Fido was going to growl again, but he realized that she was right. He couldn’t really remember anything she had told him during that time.
“So after that” Sofya continued “I sat Freddy down and we started talking about school. I told him that I was looking forward to starting with you guys tomorrow and wanted to know all about what to expect. From there, we started talking about you and I asked if he had any previous relationships.”
Fido growled loudly.
“What did he say?” Michael asked curiously.
Although Michael was under the impression that he was Freddy’s first boyfriend, he didn’t know 100% for sure. Maybe Freddy told her something that he himself didn’t know.
“I don’t remember” Sofya replied. “Anyways, so then the conversation turned to girls. I asked if he liked any girls and he didn’t really answer one way or the other.”
This infuriated Fido as he got up from his laid down position and stood defiantly to bark loudly at Sofya.
“Calm down Fido!” Michael yelled to him. “Calm down boy!”
“Maybe it would be better if you took him outside” Sofya replied.
Michael wasn’t sure what to do. On the one hand, he wanted Freddy’s presence around in case Sofya tried to pull off any dirty tricks on him. On the other hand, he wanted Sofya to answer honestly to the best of her knowledge. He could get Freddy’s side of the story later. He wanted to hear what she had to say.
Knowing it would infuriate his boyfriend, Michael grabbed Fido by the scruff of his neck and dragged him outside.
“Come on, Fido” Michael said as he led him out of the house. “Out you get.”
Freddy couldn’t believe that his boyfriend was doing this to him. What was he thinking? Sofya seemed to have a sort of magical allure. He didn’t want Michael to suffer the same fate. Although Fido barked to try to get Michael to change his mind, the decision was made when Michael pushed Fido out the front door and shut it tight. Pawing at the door and whining didn’t seem to make the door open, so Fido solemnly laid down on the porch hoping Michael would be ok in there alone without him. He hoped Michael wouldn’t believe any of Sofya’s lies.
Michael came back to the living room to sit down with Sofya.
“Sorry about that dog” Michael said. “He’s not really trained.”
“It’s fine” Sofya replied. “I just think it’s weird how there’s a big stay dog like that roaming around the neighborhood. Are you sure it isn’t just a lost dog with missing owners?”
“No one has come to claim him, so I don’t think so. Plus, he’s in tact, which most pets are not.”
“Hmm. I guess. Anyways, as I was trying to saying to you before that dog interrupted us, I asked Freddy if he liked girls and he didn’t really give me an answer. He didn’t have to. I started seeing it grow in his pants.”
Michael felt a sense of sadness and pain wash over him at the details that were to follow.
“When I felt it poking at me” Sofya continued “I took it as invitation to start making out with him. We started to kiss and then he took his hand and put it on my bosom. He put his hand under my dress and started to play with my nipple. That turned me on a lot. That’s really the extent of it because before it could go any further, the door barged open and you were calling for him. I guess he must have gotten nervous about being caught with me, so that’s when he ran out to you.”
“Why was Freddy screaming ‘Help Me Michael’?”
“Maybe he wanted to make it seem like I put the moves on him, but I’m telling you, he initiated the whole thing. He came over here on his own without any prompting from me and he was playing with my nipple on his own.”
“But did he start making out with you first?”
“He didn’t push me back or say no.”
Michael wasn’t sure how to process all of this. There were a million ways to interpret this. Maybe Freddy had a problem at home and was led here in fear. He was a very impulsive person. Maybe Sofya used some sort of magic to lure him here to trick him into making out with her. Or maybe….he really was into her. He didn’t want to think about the last possibility, but Michael had no choice. With his mating of two female dogs as evidence, plus his look of lust at Sofya yesterday, it could be that he had genuinely cheated on him with her. Getting Freddy’s side of the story later would be crucial.
“Besides” Sofya interrupted Michael’s thoughts, which snapped him back to the present. “It’s not like you two have such a great relationship anyway.”
“What do you mean?” Michael asked nervously.
Normally he’d be defensive and confrontational in responding to such a statement, but with the events of the last few days, Michael’s optimism for his relationship with Freddy had totally soured. He would have never even given a slight bit of credence to Sofya’s words before recent events occurred. Now, that wasn’t the case.
“I mean” Sofya continued “you suffocate him too much. You’re always telling him what to do, nudging at him, giving him a bad look every time he does something not to your liking. You’re controlling him. You don’t give him a free hand to live a little. Maybe he came over here because he’s attracted to me, but maybe he came over because he just wanted to do what he wanted to do for once. Do you ever really give him the chance to be the decision maker?”
Michael thought for a moment. Although he knew Sofya was right and that he was a bit of a control freak, he didn’t think that made him a bad boyfriend. Maybe he did need to loosen the reins…or, the leash, in this case…if he wanted his relationship with Freddy to survive.
“From the silence” Sofya continued “I’ll take that as a no. And would you say that this was the first time you suspected that Freddy had cheated on you?”
Michael knew the answer to this, but by revealing it, he’d reveal too much about the curse to Sofya. Considering her dad might be the wizard, he couldn’t risk it. Instead, he looked down at his lap with a growing sadness on his face.
“That’s what I thought” Sofya continued. “So this relationship clearly isn’t working out. Maybe you should just let him go, Michael. He seems happy with me and we probably would have had sex had you not come in and interrupted.”
“You don’t know about our situation!” Michael snapped defensively, as he got up to leave. “Yes, we may be having trouble at the moment, but I can you tell you with certainty that I know that Freddy loves me and he would never do anything to purposefully hurt me. Sure, he can be a bit impulsive and sure he can be a bit dumb at times, but he’s caring, thoughtful, kind and genuinely a good person. We’ll get through this, no thanks to you.”
Michael turned to leave as Sofya called back to him.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Sofya yelled.
Michael turned back to her, hesitantly.
“I think you’re telling yourself what you want to believe is true. And you still never told me why you came over so early today, anyway. Weren’t you in school?”
Michael wanted to get the hell out of there, but considering she had told him everything he wanted to know, he felt he should at least give her some explanation before he left, even if he had to fib a few details.
“School let out early” Michael replied. “There was an issue with the alarms during the fire safety drill and then the sprinkler system flooded the halls. They had to dismiss classes for the rest of the day. I figured since we were going to meet up this afternoon anyway, I thought I’d come by early and that’s when I saw you…two. I’m sorry, Sofya, but I have to go. I have to find Freddy.”
Michael shed a tear in his eye, which Sofya noticed, as he slammed her front door shut. Outside, Fido, noticing Michael, ran up to him and started to nuzzle his face into his leg.
“Not now boy” Michael quietly said.
Seeing a tear rolling down Michael’s face, Fido jumped up and began to lick him as Michael looked to try to push the dog off of him. With tears starting to become more frequent, Michael sat down on the steps as Fido resumed his licking his face, occasionally whining as Michael sobbed.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore” Michael said as he got up to leave. Let’s go….