I Win ::Bill Kauliz:

I paced the large living area, my fluffy boot slippers making only the softest sounds when I turned round to walk the other way.

I’m picking the puppy up tomorrow... Bill and Tom aren’t here tomorrow; Sky, Georg and Gustav are though... Gustav and Sky should be fine... Only Sky knows about the puppy...

I let out a sigh, turning again, my eyes catching on a picture of Bill and me; I was laughing and Bills’ face was pressed against my cheek. It was taken a few years back, when we were on the beach. The first time I told him I loved him.

My heart panged; I hadn’t seen Bill since the argument yesterday, I think he slept on the sofa or the spare room – probably the spare room. And he got up and went out before I was awake to some interview or something...

I stopped pacing when I felt a pair of eyes burning into the back of my head. I slowly turned and screamed when I did, stumbling back causing myself to fall over the back of the sofa.

“Baby, are you okay?” Bill rushed over, the same smug expression he was wearing when I had just turned round.

I just glared at him, which was hard to do since my legs were vertical and my body was horizontal.

Bill leant an elbow on the back of the sofa, his eyes still watching me as he put his head in his hand;

“I’m sorry about last night...” He said quietly, regret in his voice, “I shouldn’t have left you on your own when you’d been on your own all day as well...”

I scoffed, turning my head away; any guilt about getting the puppy and not telling him was long gone now.

“But it’s hard for me too you know” Bill piped up again, “I didn’t see you all day”

“Yeah but you were the one who got up and left”

Bill scowled, “But what you said was uncalled-for”

I groaned and rolled off the sofa and began to stomp towards the bedroom.

“Where’re you going?”

“Bed.”

“But it’s only six—“

I cut Bill off by slamming the door shut without another look at him. My gut felt like it was about to turn inside out and my heart ached for Bill. I was just separating us more and more.

“Corey?” I heard a quiet voice ask from behind the door that I was somehow leaning on, “Let me in...?”

I sighed and did as I was told, slowly opening the door and leaning against it; looking up at a concerned Bill.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

I shrugged, “I really and honestly have no idea” I tried to crack a laugh – I was getting away with it too until I just stopped, not being able to get a sound out.

I felt a hand on my cheek, not being able to see Bill’s face eligibly due to the fact my vision was becoming glassy with tears.

“Baby, you know you can tell me anything right?”

I nodded, then without warning a large lump caught in my throat, sending me over the edge. I let out a single deafening wail, letting the damn of tears break. I threw myself at Bill; burying my face into his neck as I kicked up a storm. Bill’s arms snapped around me, pulling me into the room.

~*~

I hobbled into the apartment, my right side being pulled down due to the weight of the puppy in its basket. The puppy was fully hyper, jumping around noisily and I was grateful she wasn’t barking.

I placed the basket down in the centre of the room, and gingerly unclasped the two metal clasps. Within seconds I had been run over by the rampaging puppy. I pulled myself up and turned to find the puppy sitting there, wagging its tail furiously while she was almost grinning up at me.

I grinned, acting relaxed before making a lurch in a sudden movement. The puppy jumped, bouncing up still waving her tail happily at me, waiting for me to do something else – I did the same thing, this time I went a bit closer to her.

She barked and scrambled off towards the kitchen; sliding around on the wooden floor as she went.

~*~

“Kill girl, kill Georg”

The puppy just waved her tail at me again and cocked her head to the side, obviously confused.

“Haha, she loves me!” Georg laughed from his position of lying flat on his back on the floor.

“Pfft”

“What’s her name?” Sky asked from her spot one sofa; her stomach almost hiding her from view.

I paused, “Puppy?”

“I’m going to take that as ‘I haven’t thought about that yet’”
“Yeah basically” I turned back to where the puppy was bouncing on Georg.

“What about...” Sky thought aloud, “Daisy”

“I’m not naming my puppy after a cow, Sky”

“Spot”

“No”

“Dolly?”

“No way!”

“Platinum?”

“What? No”

“TV?”

“You’re just getting things from the room now”

“Fine!” Sky huffed.

“What about Mango?”

We all looked at Gustav who just spoke, even the puppy looked.

“Mango?”

“Yeah... I just saw the mango in the fruit bowl.”

I looked over at the puppy that was no longer bouncing on Georg but instead staring from Gustav to me then back again.

I smirked, “Mango?” I called her in a high-pitched voice, “Mango?”

She jumped, her tail wagging again; she leapt off Georg and went bounding towards me.

I fell back when Mango butted into me. This puppy is violent!

“Awww! She likes it!” Sky cooed, “I wonder if Mark will let us have a puppy”

“Poor Mark” Georg snickered from the floor, earning him a kick from Sky.

“Nooo! You can’t have a puppy!” I protested childishly, coursing Sky to raise her eyebrows amused, “I have a puppy ‘cause I can’t have a baby. You can’t have both, that’s not fair!”

“Life’s not fair” She resorted matter of fact tone.

“I hate that saying”

“So you say Bill and Tom don’t know about the puppy yet?” Georg asked from his un-moved position on the floor. He was staring at the puppy who was now curled up in my lap.

I shook my head, “No”

“So you just randomly got one?”

“No, the other day Bill and I were talking and I think it just slipped out his mouth” I grinned cheekily.

“What were you talking about?”

“None of your beeswax”

“It was about Corey wanting a baby” Sky stated from behind me.

“Thanks Sky”

“Oh really?” Georg smirked from the floor.

“Yes really” I rolled my eyes at him.

“Poor puppy,” Gustav spoke up, “You only got her because you wanted a baby”
“That’s not true. I also needed something of my own to keep me company”

“Well aren’t Bill’s dogs kinda yours too?”

“No”

“Oh” Gustav laughed.

“So when are Bill and Tom actually back?” Sky asked, heaving herself up from the sofa and making her way towards the fridge.

“Tom’s probably out ‘till late and I don’t know about Bill. I’d think soon. He said he wouldn’t be out too long yesterday”

“But I thought you weren’t talking?” Sky questioned from the kitchen while opening a can of cola.

“We weren’t... We are now.”

“Since when?”

“I’m going to guess since Bill made it up to you” Georg snickered from the floor.

“You’re just jealous, Georg” I resorted, trying to ignore Sky’s oh lalalaa’s and Gustav wolf whistles.

“Jealous of what?” He laughed sitting up.

“Jealous of not being able to have Bill in bed the way I do” I smirked.