Finley's P.O.V

Ace was adorable.

We had already taken him to the vet the next day to make sure that he didn't, in fact, have rabies and the vet had announced that he was in perfect health, just a little small for a Lab puppy. We had bought a collar and a leash at the vet's office and now Eli and I were shopping for toys and food and a dog bed for Ace (I was also going a little overboard, but Ace was my first pet, he was like my child).

"What about this?" I held up a stuffed frog and squeezed its tummy and it squeaked.

Ace immediately jumped on me, trying to reach the toy. I squealed as his little paws hit my thigh.

"Yeah that's good," Eli said, his eyes on the food that the vet told us to buy.

I tossed Ace the toy and he caught it, immediately shaking his head and squeaking it wildly. He yanked Eli's arm as he attempted to run away with the toy.

"Ow!" Eli exclaimed, turning to look at Ace, who looked at him innocently. "Bad dog!"

Ace immediately drooped his ears and his head, looking quite depressed.

"Eli!" I scolded. "Don't yell at him! Now he's all sad!"

I cooed at Ace and he popped up, tail wagging as he ran into my arms. I scooped him up and he licked my cheek. "Aw, who's a good boy? You are!"

"Jesus Christ," Eli muttered. "If you're going to coddle him, he's just going to be a bad dog. Like Marley and Me bad."

"But he's so cute!" I exclaimed. "Look at him! How can you stay mad at that face?!"

I held Ace out, shoving him in Eli's face. Eli met Ace's look with a blank stare at Ace wagged his tail hopefully.

"Yeah, you're cute," he muttered, rubbing Ace's head.

Ace wagged his tail rapidly and I set him down. He immediately pounced on the frog toy and shook it.

"Excuse me," a voice called. It was an employee, and they didn't look very friendly in their red PetSmart vest. "The toys aren't allowed to be played with by dogs until they are bought."

"Right, sorry," Eli said, shooting me a look and grabbing the toy, setting it back on the shelf.

Ace started to whine. "Shush," Eli scolded, pulling on the leash slightly.

"Eli!" I said. "He's just a puppy, he doesn't know any better!"

"That's why we have to teach him!" Eli said. "I can see you'll be the fun parent," he muttered under his breath.

I beamed. "That's right."

Eli put a bag of dog food in the cart and sighed. "Okay, that's that, do you want to get some toys now?"

"Yes!" I cheered, almost sprinting over to the toy section.

"Wait, Fin, come here," he said, beckoning me back.

"What?" I asked, turning around.

Eli pecked me on the lips and pulled away with a smile. "Okay, now you can go."

I rolled my eyes at him before taking off, Ace trying to follow me but Eli held him back, pushing the cart as I disappeared behind a stack of cat carriers.

As I grabbed the frog toy and two tennis balls, I heard a bark echo throughout the store. Eli appeared at the end of the aisle and shot me a look.

"That was Ace," he said. "And that mean employee from before told me I had to keep my dog quiet or we would have to leave."

"Ace" I scolded, crouching down to his level. He wagged his tail. "Are you being a bad dog?"

His tail slowed and his ears drooped. I chuckled and ruffled his ears before turning back to the toys.

"Pick something," I told Eli.

He wrinkled his nose as he grabbed a couple bones and a weird toy called a Kong. "There," he said, depositing them in the cart. "That's all we need."

I pouted. "But there are so many other toys!"

Eli rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, intertwining it with his own. "We don't need anymore," he said gently. "And I can't afford anymore."

I pouted, but I stood on my tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek. "You're the best boyfriend ever," I told him.

"And that's all I get?" he said cheekily.

Rolling my eyes, I kissed him properly. As I made to pull away, Eli grabbed my waist, pulling me closer and quite pathetically, I might add, I melted into his arms. Eli's lip ring rubbed against my lower lip, slightly cold but it felt good, as always. I pulled back to breathe and looked over Eli's shoulder to saw Ace sniffing around. I was just about to call out to him but it was too late.

He peed on the floor.

...

"Hi," I whispered into the phone, glancing at the clock. It was two in the morning.

"Hey," Eli answered. "What are you doing up at this fine hour?"

"Talking to you," I answered, twirling my hair around my finger. "What about you?"

Eli let out a sigh. "Ace is keeping me up. He has to pee like very two hours."

"Oh," I said. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," Eli yawned, the sound emanating through the phone's speaker. "I'm putting Ace out."

"Go to bed," I told him. "You sound exhausted."

"No," he protested. "I want to talk to you."

A small smile tugged at my lips. "Then talk to me."

"What do you think I'm doing?" Eli teased. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I answered, my heart speeding up in anticipation.

"What's my Christmas present?"

I laughed. "That's your oh-so-important question?"

"Yes," Eli huffed.

"Well I'm not telling you," I deadpanned.

"Why not?" Eli whined.

"Christmas is tomorrow," I told him. "You can wait a day."

"Actually it's in two days," Eli started.

"No its not!" I exclaimed. "It's techniqually the day before Christmas since its really early in the morning!"

"You're right," he grumbled. "Ace!" Eli shouted suddenly."Get back here!"

"What's wrong?" I asked, picturing the small black puppy.

"He ran off-hold on," he said.I heard some muffled sounds and a crackling noise before Eli came back. "Got him," he panted. "Little fucker tried to visit the neighbor's yard."

"Don't call him that," I scolded. "You'll hurt his feelings."

"Oh my God," I could just tell that Eli was rolling his eyes. "He's just a puppy."

I gasped. "He is not! He is an adorable puppy!"

"I'm beginning to think you love Ace more than me," he teased.

"I do," I joked back.

There was an awkward silence and only one thought was running through my head - say it, say it, come on Fin, its three words say it sayitsayitsayit.

Eli coughed. "Well, it is late and we should probably go to bed..."

"Oh," I said, trying not to sound disappointed. "Right. Sorry to keep you up."

"No, its okay," he said. "Night, Fin."

He hung up and so did I, and I stared at my phone before falling backwards and groaning. I couldn't do it. This wasn't even the first time that I wanted to say it. The first time was when Eli showed me his tattoo, then when he agreed to take Ace, and countless other times in between where he just smiled at me or he did something stupid or adorable. And just now, when he actually said the world love. I sighed deeply. I have to tell him. I can't tell him.

I'm such a coward.

_________________________________________________________________

Hey guy, new chapter :) hope you enjoy xx and guess what? I'm doing an interview! The very nice @idiosyncraticforever go see it. Its not up yet, and I don't know when it will be (probably when I answer the questions lol) but check it out! She asked some really good questions,I would totally read it because she asked other really famous authors.*cough cathartics cough* so yeah.... check it out! Bye!

Love ya!

-T A Y L O R

P.S I MADE JV SOCCER WOOHOO GO ME YEAH FRESHMAN POWER #FISTPUMP

Btw theres a picture of Eli in the external link :)