Isaac was waiting for the train back home from school. It was two days later, the day Isaac would get to see Peaches face-to-face for the first time since he moved. It was the fifth of July now, the day they had agreed to meet at the train station after he got out of school. Isaac and Cheryl got on the train, and Isaac's thoughts started to wander. Images of Peaches flashed inside his mind. Her eyes, her hips. The way her hair fell on her shoulders. Her smile. The little snort she makes when she tries not to laugh too loud because it's late at night but she would refuse to go to sleep before Isaac had to leave. Cheryl elbowed Isaac in the ribs, the pointed joint popping his thought bubble. "What'cha smilin' about?" "What? I-- No, it's-- I'm just-- it's nothing." She chuckled. "Shut up!" "Okay, squishy." "S-Squishy? What does that even-- I'm not squishy." "Yes you are." "I'm not squishy!" "You're being squished right now." "What?" "Get squished." "Cheryl." "Yes?" "Do me a favor and stop being annoying." "Okay, you're not squishy." For a few sweet moments, Cheryl shut up. Just a few, though. "You're mushy." "Oh my god." Eventually, the train stopped, and Isaac had just barely gotten on the other side of the yellow line when there was an excited "Isaac!" Just as he turned to face the direction it was coming from, Peaches wrapped her arms around him. They stumbled a few steps backwards. He put his arms over her shoulders, and closed his eyes. The scent of her strawberry perfume filled his lungs. She felt so warm. Isaac wished that moment could last forever. "Hey," He said softly, a little smile on his face. "It's been so long since we've seen each other in real life." "I missed you so much." Then, there was a voice in front of them. "You must be Peaches' little friend," It said. Isaac opened his eyes to see two middle-aged dogs standing slightly closer than he had thought. "Uh, y-yeah, that'd be me," Isaac said, awkwardly letting go of Peaches. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, my parents are also here," Peaches said with a small laugh. "Well, I mean... That would make sense. Um. Your names are...?" "Todd, Todd Rhodes." "I'm Isaac. Myalao. Hi." "Well, ain't you just the cutest thing," Said Peaches' mother. She was the same height as Isaac, something rare for a dog, and definitely resembled Peaches; she had a shortish snout and rounded features and ears that flopped over. He laughed uncomfortably. "Thanks, I guess," Isaac wasn't entirely sure how to feel about her comment. "Oh, I'm Matilda, by the way." "Okay, nice." A few seconds of silence. "Oh," Said Peaches, perking up. "Isaac's an artist, isn't that neat?" Peaches' mother seemed intrigued, but her father was pretty blank. "Yeah, I, ah... I draw stuff. That's me." "He's really good at drawing stuff." Isaac shot Peaches a glance. Please help, it meant, but then he remembered that that trick only really worked with Cheryl. She didn't even notice, let alone know what it meant. "He has a blog where he posts his drawings, I think it's called um..." A more urgent glance: For the love of god don't tell your parents about my blog I'm begging you. Peaches seemed to catch on that time, or at least got closer to understanding what it meant. She just returned his gaze with a confused expression. "I..." He had to think of something. Quick. "Think we should get going. You wanted to go to the mall, right? The real big one?" "Oh, right! Yeah, let's go!" She looked so excited about it. Isaac couldn't help but grin. They made their way to the mall. Peaches' parents let them wander around alone, since she had her phone with her. "Hey, look at that," Isaac said, pointing to a vending machine. "You ever had ramune?" "I don't think I've even heard of it." "It's basically just soda, but it's really good." "Is it?" "Yeah! Come on, you gotta try it." Isaac wanted to hold her hand. He couldn't. Everyone would stare. He bought her a ramune, and one for himself. "Here you go," He said, holding out one bottle for her. "Thanks, sweetie." Sweetie. The word clung to Isaac's mind. No one else there would know what it meant because of the language they were speaking. "Oh, it's, ah... No problem, Peach." They sat down. She looked at the bottle, which had little cartoon peaches on it, and giggled. "Did you pick peach flavored on purpose?" "Maybe..." "You're a dork." "It's you!" They laughed. Peaches tried to twist off the top, to no avail. "You need help with that?" "Nah, I got it." "You're not even supposed to twist it." "Oh." "You gotta push down the thing in the center." She did, and a little marble dropped down into it, but stayed in the neck of the bottle due to how it was shaped. "There you go," Isaac said, doing the same to his. "It's, uh, supposed to keep it from spilling, because if you tilt it the marble *continued*
*continued from instructions* blocks the opening." "Oh, neat." They sipped their drinks. "What do you think?" He asked. "It's peachy." He chuckled a little. "Yeah, it sure is." Their eyes lingered on each other for a few seconds. Isaac felt like he was staring at the sun. Act normal, he told himself. Act normal, act normal, act normal. "You know, ah..." Peaches started. "I missed you." "I missed you, too." Those four words didn't feel like enough for how much he felt. She scooted a little closer. He became aware of his heartbeat. She put a hand on his thigh. His skin felt like it was burning from the inside out. "It'll probably be a while before we get to see each other again," She said. She moved his hair out from in front of one of his eyes, and her hand stayed on the side of his face. He sighed and closed his eyes halfway. "Can I kiss you?" She asked, her voice soft. "I-I don't know if it's a good idea, I mean... There are people, and..." His eyes met hers, and he melted. "Yeah, I'd like that..." And so, their lips collided. Their mouths weren't shaped the same, as if their very biology was protesting, but he liked it anyway. He put his hands on her waist. She sighed. They pulled away after a few seconds. His body demanded more, but he knew they shouldn't keep going. Not right now. Not here. Not yet. Isaac felt like he should say something, but his thoughts were tangled. They chuckled a little. "We really just did that, huh?" He said. "Yeah? It's, like... Kinda normal." "I know, I just... Haven't really... Done that." "Ever?" "Well, technically there was this one time when I was twelve, but it wasn't like this." Peaches propped her elbows up on the table, tilting her head a little. "Ah, geez, now you're curious, um... So, for context, I lived in this town for a few years that was practically all dogs. Half the people in the school I went to never saw a person with slit pupils before and they called me 'Snake Eyes,' but that's besides the point. Because I was intimidated by dog boys because all of them were bigger than me and they kinda hated me, I was friends with these two girls. So, it was this one girl's birthday, and at one point one of them dared the other to kiss me, and she did, and they just giggled about how it was gross and whatever for a little while." "Oh." "I just kinda pretended I didn't like it, but in my head I was realizing there was something wrong with me." "But there isn't anything wrong with you." "Nah, I'm pretty weird. So, how did your first kiss go?" "Oh, it was just this boy I had a crush on for a little while, nothing special." They sat in silence for a few moments. Isaac asked Peaches if she wanted to actually look around. She agreed. They wandered the mall. "Awww, look at those!" She squealed, pointing at a claw machine with little plush birds in it, her tail wagging. "Oh, cute. Do you want one?" "Yeah, kinda." "Go for it." She put a dollar into it, but the machine spat it back out. "It might only take Felanese money," He pointed out. "Oh." She looked disappointed. "But that's okay, I have plenty!" "Yay! You don't have to, though, it's fine--" He was already putting coins into it. "Which one do you want?" "I like the yellow one." He tried to get the yellow one. And failed. "Oh well," She said. "No, I'm gonna get it." Fifteen dollars and five of the wrong colors later, he got a yellow one. "Yes!" He exclaimed, having been unreasonably frustrated with it. "You could've stopped after you got the first one, it really isn't that important." "Yeah, but I said I would get a yellow one, so I had to get a yellow one. It's about honor after the first three tries." "Okay, Isaac. Thank you," She chuckled, rolling her eyes. "You're silly, but I appreciate it." He grinned and looked away. They kept wandering around. "Wouldn't it be crazy if we just, like, sneaked out in the middle of the night and walked around?" He asked, looking through a stack of T-shirts. "Sure," She said. "Wait, really?" "Yeah, it sounds fun, and we don't have a lot of time to be together, so... Why not?" There were several reasons why it was a bad idea that he could have pointed out, but he didn't care. "Okay, ah... I'll see you in your hotel's parking lot? Tomorrow night?" "Sounds good." All characters & story © Pastel_Screamss aaaaaaaaaaaaa I'm sorry it took so long,, I think the hiatus was needed but I still feel like I should apologize fjdgfhjg
