This is the one chapter of the story that is conspicuously missing sexy times in favour of storytelling. The future chapters will (I hope) more than make up for this.



Enjoy!



___ ___ ___



Rachel was tragically late for her first day of work.



Fortunately her boss, none the wiser, arrived even later.



Rachel had suffered from a horrible restlessness during the night. Nervous tension filled her belly and her being and she was unable to silence or ignore the endless inner chatter. Rachel's pale limber legs squeezed the blankets closer before kicking them away. Feeling vaguely feverish, Rachel caught herself trying to check temperature of her forehead with the back of her hand several times just in case. As night became morning, Rachel wasn't sure if she had actually managed to get any sleep. Squirming and stirring endlessly, she couldn't seem to stay still long enough for sleep to come.



Rachel repeatedly glanced at the glowing numbers on the alarm clock patiently ticking away the minutes and hours next to her bed. The strange noises of a new city served to nudge Rachel awake from the brink of a light restless sleep again and again and she eventually punched her poor pillow in frustration before she resigned herself to patiently stare at her new slightly discoloured ceiling. The night sky slowly became light sky and Rachel struggled out from a deepening pit of resignation as the sun rose and her alarm clock started beeping at her.



So this was the working world.



Now that it was time to get up, Rachel wanted nothing more than to sleep.



Stupid brain, scumbag body.



Rachel groaned as she mustered up what little willpower remained and sat up, cocooned in an eclectic mix of bed sheets and comforters. Naked except for a pair of frilly pink panties touting a cartoon kitten on the front, Rachel sat hunched over on the mattress for a minute fighting to open her seemingly weighted eyelids. The first of what was sure to be many jaw-cracking yawns rolled through her, opening her eyes to the darkened interior of her cluttered apartment.



Rachel shook her head roughly and sending her hair fanning out around her as she stepped out of the blankets. She had never been much of a morning person.



Dogdog, Rachel's snoring dachshund roommate, had slept like a stone through the alarm clock, the strange city noises and the semi-frequent sounds of Rachel awkwardly shifting around on the squeaky springs of her bed all night. Rising to a lurching shamble, Rachel prepared hot instant coffee with too much milk and sugar while she looked for the matching piece to her underwear on the floor. Slowly, as the hot caffeine soaked into her bones, Rachel began to feel less tired and more human. Realization dawned on Rachel, staring around at her crummy apartment, that she wanted nothing more than to leave.



Aside from applying for jobs and fetching groceries, Rachel had spent an ungodly amount of time in this small place. Last night was clearly an indication that she needed to catch up on some much neglected exercise.



What the hell, she thought, blearily draining the mug. What's the worst that could happen?



Her job didn't start for a few long hours and Rachel's bed had become a black hole she would never return from if she went back to it. Besides, she thought as she covered her yawn with a fist, some fresh air would do her some good as she realized that she actually had a park in mind she wanted to visit.



Getting dressed, Rachel reached for Dogdog's leash which made the lightest possible distinctive jingle. With this, Dogdog immediately rose from his prone, snoring position with a series of chipper, yipping barks. Silencing Dogdog, Rachel was repaid with slimy kisses as she stooped down to clip on his leash. Rachel was painfully aware of the dark places that tongue had travelled and his rancid morning doggy breath almost made her gag. Wiping off her face with her sleeve, the two of them walked out into the great unknown.



Immediately after closing the door behind her, Rachel felt a great weight lift from her chest as she breathed deeply of the crisp morning air. Rachel felt invigorated as she set a brisk pace leading her dog to a small park she had driven past once or twice before while trying to find her apartment. The day was just getting started but it already looked it was going to be a cloudless, beautiful day. Rachel, like other corporate workhorses, would be passively denied the enjoyment of near perfect sunny days like today appeared to be. She would, however, also sheltered from drab, depressing weather as well. She absently chewed her lip as she mulled the idea over.



Rachel felt conflicted about the realization of what work really represented even as her and her pup entered the empty local dog park and she struggled for a moment with the squirming Dogdog to unclip his leash.



Dogdog was happy enough to smell everything and hose all the things with pee.



Catching sight of large black squirrels wandering away from the safety of their trees, Dogdog successfully managed to come close to catching exactly none of them even as he terrified and warned them away with his frenzied barking. The squirrels chittered what were probably obscenities at Dogdog and he responded in kind.



Rachel was content to enjoy the morning solitude as her puppy played and though she was standing upright, she found her eyelids drooping closed when the distant but growing sound of crunching footsteps forced her to, with an effort, open them again.



The footsteps belonged to a man walking a dog towards her.



A stocky pitbull was trying to pull the stranger in a beeline towards Rachel and Dogdog. Eyeing the pitbull with suspicion, Rachel called to Dogdog and was somewhat grateful when he listened to her without rebelliously dawdling in an adolescent manner as he sometimes did. Rachel stooped to clip his leash back on and discreetly crossed her fingers behind her back while looking up at the clear blue sky as the stranger and the dog approached.



Don't be ugly, old or creepy.



Please don't be ugly, old or creepy.



"Morning" greeted the surprisingly handsome stranger with a friendly wave as Rachel decided, giving a cheerful wave in response that a neighbourly conversation couldn't hurt.



Both of the dogs were on a collision course anyways.



"Hi." Rachel responded simply with a healthy caution as she eyed and tried to assess the duo. Rachel, reserved and distant as she tried to appear, found her resolve cracking as her gaze was drawn back again and again to the stranger's eyes. They were a rich warm dark brown color that only served to highlight the effortless smile that seemed to follow him at all times. Though she tried to keep her glances discreet, Rachel caught herself running her eyes up and down the stranger in a somewhat, admittedly, lecherous fashion.



No sane person walks their dog at this hour, thought Rachel with a tweak of suspicion.



After a slight pause, Rachel performed some mental gymnastics and firmly rejected the thought.



"Does... she bite?" Rachel asked politely, struggling a little to keep the excited Dogdog from tackling the squat bulldog. As fat as Dogdog was, Rachel was instantly reminded that his stubby little body was surprisingly strong when his interest was stoked. Rachel had to use both hands for a moment to keep her pup in check. The stranger accomplished the same with his own straining, larger, more muscular dog with one hand calmly resting in his pocket.



Bastard, she thought.



"Aw, she's really nice," responded the stranger in a pleasant baritone. "She's been around children and people since she was tiny and hasn't ever bitten anyone".



Rachel had noticed that the pitbull was wearing a bright floppy pink bow which lent the squat, reportedly dangerous breed of dog a particularly harmless (if somewhat ridiculous) look.



Finally, Rachel relented and allowed the leash she was holding to go slack enough to give Dogdog the distance required to introduce himself to the bulldog in the typical canine fashion; by jamming his sensitive nose into a dark smelly place and inhaling deeply. Rachel always winced a little on the rare occasions Dogdog met another dog. There was something terribly unappealing about the canine introduction; they left little to the imagination.



Soon enough the dogs were happily frolicking together and Rachel kept an idle eye on Dogdog, chiding him to keep him from jumping about while trying to ensure he didn't accidentally hogtie her with his leash while she talked to her new acquaintance.



"Interesting fashion choice" said Rachel, a little cheekily, glancing pointedly at the floppy pink bow of the bulldog.



"It's an icebreaker," replied the smooth-headed, broad-shouldered stranger with a good-natured grin. Not many men could make baldness attractive, but the stranger carried himself with such confidence that it hardly seemed to matter.



He was cute, too, in a scruffy kind of way. Rachel idly wondered what he thought of her own appearance and suddenly wished she had spent a little more time preparing before she left the apartment.



"What's her name?" Rachel asked after a moment, genuinely curious.



"Lady," the man responded mid-yawn before apologizing.



He looked tired. Well, they had that much in common.



Rachel gave a sympathetic yawn and they both chuckled.



"Late night?" she asked.



"Ah, yeah. I didn't get much sleep" the man responded as he cracked his neck, loosening it. Though Rachel usually hated the sound of anyone cracking any part of their body, she caught herself staring like a horny schoolgirl at the spot the strong muscles of the stranger's back connected to his neck as he rotated it around.



Damn.



Rachel gave herself a little shake as she tried to keep her own mind on track. Her grin was more than a little mischievous, however, as she began speaking before her brain had been given the chance to advise her on the content.



"Late night alone or late night with someone?" she wondered out loud. Rachel tried not to wince as the words left her mouth and desperately wanted to take them back. Stupid. Stupid!



The stranger gave her a mildly surprised look, obviously taken aback by the candid question, before laughing and responding.



"Alone, sadly" yawned the man into his hand. "Sometimes insomnia hits me" he explained.



Rachel fought to keep her own yawn in check as he continued. Her pale blue eyes watered involuntarily as he continued.



"After about two hours of lying around in bed and staring a hole through the ceiling I figured 'well, no sleep tonight' and decided to be productive instead. About halfway through my first movie and second load of laundry I passed out on the couch".



"Hmm," Rachel trying to sound like she was deeply considering what he had just told her. Mostly she was just tired and trying to buy time to respond.



"That's actually not a bad idea. I couldn't get to sleep last night myself either," as she considered his words.



"That sucks," he said empathetically before asking "any particular reason?"



The question caused Rachel's tiredly wandering mind to immediately flash to her recent molestation in the board room and she closed her eyes, wincing as the embarrassing scenes and thoughts that had been keeping her up all night once again came out to play.



A long moment passed.



"Yeah, a few come to mind" Rachel muttered, staring down at the happy dogs.



The answer was entirely vague but the stranger nodded in an understanding way without pursuing the matter, which was nice. There was nothing worse than someone pressuring you to talk about something you didn't really want to talk about. Strangely enough, it was the complete lack of insistence to talk or follow up the purposefully vague reply that led Rachel to follow up and talk about it.



"I was just... interviewed for a new job and I'm not sure how well I'm going to get along with my... new boss", she said with a nervous swallow.



Rachel felt uncharacteristically exposed tiptoeing around the truth of the matter and a feather of panic welled up inside of her, as if the stranger would immediately understand exactly what would happen and judge her harshly for it.



The stranger considered her words and-



"What do you do?" Rachel blurted out, before he could respond.



Smooth.



"I'm a student" the man said after taking a moment to shift gears with a little self-deprecating shrug. "This is my last semester and then I can actually start making some decent money".



"Money's always nice" replied Rachel, tucking a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear. A pang of jealousy ran through her, blunting the edge of her smile. Rachel's parents hadn't been able to send her to College or University and while her marks had been fairly decent, she had never taken school seriously enough to qualify for any scholarships or loans. More importantly, Rachel had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.



Rachel found herself hypnotized by the stranger's mouth as he talked. She smiled as she fantasized a little about what she would do if he tried to kiss her right then.



Granted, Rachel would probably slap him and run away, but there was a part of her that thought that aside from that part it might be nice. She wondered if he was a good kisser. Rachel gave her head a little shake again. Was she going crazy? What was wrong with her?



"What are you going to school for?" asked Rachel.



If he says he's Majoring in Philosophy I'm going home, she thought.



"A lawyer" he said, cheerfully, with that same good natured grin.



Rachel's eyes immediately went flat and her features became coldly expressionless.



Fucking lawyers.



The stranger seemed to notice her reaction and raised an eyebrow with a question on his lips. This happened several moments after Dogdog had caught a whiff of a fat old orange tabby cat casually strolling by in the background. Dogdog's ears had laid back across his skull and his body froze and tensed, unnoticed by Rachel who was otherwise preoccupied.



The cat stopped moving when it looked at the portly glaring dog and realized that it had been spotted.



Had this timeless encounter taken place in a sandy deserted area of the old West, a tumbleweed might have blown by.



An old battered plastic bag fluttered by instead.



Howling furiously and tearing loose from Rachel's inattentive grip just as the man was about to ask Rachel a question, Dogdog charged at his hated enemy with a series of howling barks. Rachel, surprised by the noise and the violent jerk on the leash which was torn from her inattentive grip, lost a few precious fractions of a second as her brain shifted gears and tried to understand what had just happened. Dogdog sprinted past her and the stranger both with his leash trailing in the grass behind him.



Large black squirrels scattered to the safety of their trees as the two grossly overweight predators flew past them.



The stranger, with eyes wide in surprise and mouth comically agape, watched the situation unfold.



"Dogdog! Stop! Sit!" Rachel began shouting at her pet and took steps in his direction, unsure of how seriously to take the situation.



Should she run? Could she even catch him? Why wasn't he listening?



Moments turned to seconds and the gap between owner and pet widened.



Glancing at Rachel and quickly making a decision, the stranger clumsily handed her the reigns to the leash of his placidly lounging bulldog who was contently sniffing and snuffing Rachel's shoes.



"Uh, hold this," said the man as he flew after her pet just as the cat and Dogdog rounded some foliage and disappeared out of sight, still barking furiously. The stranger ran at an incredible pace and likewise went out of sight in pursuit.



Rachel couldn't believe how quickly everything had happened.



"COME BACK YOU DUMB DOG!" Rachel yelled after the trio, in a last desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable chase. Wincing and gritting her teeth in frustration after she glanced at the time (or lack thereof) on her phone, Rachel made sure to tightly secure Lady's leash to her hand before flicking it as she began jogging after the others. The obedient dog followed at a comfortable waddling trot.



Off in the distance and out of sight, in the general direction she had seen Dogdog and the stranger running, came the sound of squealing tires and a blaring car horn.



Then silence.



"Oh, no" Rachel whispered, horrified.



A dozen different scenarios flickered through her mind – all of them terrible.



"Nonono!"



Tears threatened Rachel's eyes as she sped in the direction of the sound.



Long moments passed before the stranger jogged back into view, cheeks puffing, with her disobedient pup clasped firmly to his chest. Dogdog, healthy and unscathed, was gleefully squirming and trying to kiss the stranger. Relief washed through Rachel in an awesome wave as she ran towards the two. The stranger carefully put Dogdog down as they approached one another and Rachel, somewhat uncharacteristically, barrelled into him with a hug.



"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Rachel squee'd as she threw her arms around the stranger and squeezed him hard enough under the ribs to elicit a small grunt. The stranger seemed taken aback, but not entirely unhappy about Rachel's reaction. His strong arms closed around her automatically and he awkwardly patted her back in response. He smelled like fresh sweat and dog hair and the combination was intoxicating (in a gross kind of way) to Rachel.



Dogdog danced happily between them.



Lady was content to sit and drool, watching the scene play out.



"Hey... there there, it was no problem," said the stranger awkwardly as they separated and Rachel carefully handed him the leash to his own dog, suspiciously eyeing the placid bulldog as if she might leap away at any moment.



"Lady's run away more than a few times herself and it's always a pain getting her to come back. I figured I would save you the trouble" explained the stranger with an endearingly casual shrug, like he chased down runaway dogs through parks, side streets and traffic all the time.



"I'm so sorry," Rachel said, trying to apologize "it's just that he's never run away like that before and I wasn't expecting it and-"



The stranger held up a hand, interrupting her midsentence.



"Really, it's okay. Everything worked out".



Rachel's face was solemn.



"This was the nicest thing anyone has done for me in this town. How can I make it up to you?"



Something flickered through the stranger's brown eyes as he looked at her, and Rachel considered with a pained, embarrassed wince about how her offer might be interpreted by a perverted, opportunistic member of the opposite gender. Goddamned it, but she didn't mean it like that.



"You don't have to make it up to me" offered the man graciously after a moment.



"I insist!" she exclaimed as she handed him the reigns to his bulldog, glaring at him.



"Well then, I guess I have no choice," he chuckled.



"Exactly" said Rachel primly. "I demand that you let me take you out for coffee sometime".



"Look, here's my number" she said as she began fishing for and writing down her number on a cannibalized piece of gum packaging before he could respond.



"Call me anytime" she concluded.



"Uh... sure?" said the man with a beaming smile reserved for people being given the keys to their dream car as she held out the battered piece of cardboard.



His fingers touched hers as his strong fingers closed on the piece of paper Rachel held out but refused to release.



"Wait," said Rachel, her piercing blue eyes gazing directly into his, causing him to falter a little.



"What's your name?" she asked softly.



"Greg" said the stranger with a mock flourish before he carefully folded and stuffed the piece of paper into his wallet.

