Short Story: The Dog Ate My Love Life

She had been terrified a tractor would appear around the corner, so when the narrow backroad opened up between sunlit fields, and the ancient Mini stopped groaning, Cass changed gear, and let it fly. In the distance, Waterbury’s famous Cathedral spire rose above the trees. Leaning forward to turn up the music, Cass heard a gentle exhalation from the backseat. Trevor, blissfully asleep under his moth eaten blanket.

Further down the road, a car was banked, hazards flashing. She decelerated cautiously. The low sun glared through the tree-line, making it hard to get a good look. As she neared the wreck, the driver waved his arms. She wound down the window and her stomach lurched. She was uncomfortably aware of how far away they were from habitation.

“Wake up Trevor!” she said, yanking off the blankets. He jumped up, growling. “Shh, dumbass. Just look fierce.” She peered through the passenger window. “Everything OK?”

The guy leaned into the open window, then recoiled. Trevor licked his chops. He was a teenager, her age and movie star gorgeous. He sounded upset, or was that the effect the dog had had?

“The.. car just cut out. Heap of junk. I could be dead.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, but I can’t get reception here. Can I get a lift? Just to Waterbury.”

She considered it. He was harmless looking. Besides, the dog seemed to like him. Warily getting in, his eyes widened in alarm as Trevor leaned over and licked him with his great pink slab of a tongue.

“He accepts you.”

Now, there was an awkward atmosphere. Cass regretted her choices, especially of CD. She was stuck listening to a horror soundtrack in the dusk, on a remote backroad, with a stranger. A beautiful stranger, but even psychopaths could be handsome. They sat wordlessly, as the car engine whined and the radio screamed.

After ten minutes with his head on the shoulder of his new friend, Trevor yawned with a cavernous snap.

“Stop here,” the boy said, waving his hand.

“Bye then! Huh! Could have said thanks.”

On Monday at college, Jaime was full of gossip.

“Remember I told you about my cousin?”

“The one you reckon is my soul mate?”

“Well you’ve missed your chance because he’s fallen in love.”

“There goes nothing!”

“It’s the funniest thing. He borrowed the car and pranged it, anyway, got it in a ditch, so he had to flag down a passing stranger.”

Cass got a sinking feeling.

“Sooo, this gorgeous girl picks him up, doesn’t tell him her name and he is totally petrified because in the back of her car is an enormous dog. And she takes him into town but they don’t talk. Still, love at first sight. I saw him Saturday and he would not stop talking about her.”

“Is he going to see her again?” Cass said, fiddling with her keyring.

“Can’t. He forgot to ask her number. He’s really afraid of dogs.”