Unlike most students, Caroline wasn’t exactly looking forward to summer vacation. Sure, the stress that was brought on my exams and assignments would be non-existent, but it would only mean that she had too much time on her hands. Even her job at the café wouldn’t be enough to keep her thoughts occupied. She had spent weeks on end drawing animations, shooting footage and editing film reels that she hadn’t had a lot of time to think about him.
She was sure that moving in with Danny, Isabelle and Nick for the summer would only make matters worse for her, even though she did need a place to stay. She was absolutely delighted upon hearing about Danny and Izzie’s engagement but she wasn’t sure she was crazy about spending the next four months cooped up in the same apartment as an incredibly loved up couple. She would have Nick, of course, but his own sadness was caused by another blonde Rousseau brother and she wasn’t sure that their shared sadness would be very comforting, especially when they were in the same building that Gabe had been in for so long.
Adjusting the straps of her backpack as she walked from class, Caroline pushed her hair away from her face, simultaneously pushing away any thoughts of Gabe from her head. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth and simply focused on the path in front of her, forcing herself to think about things like dumb cartoons and which superhero she could draw next.
Superheroes always reminded her of Gabe though.
She was more than glad for a distraction and her face practically lit up when one came in the form of a golden Labrador bounding towards her. The sun was high in the sky causing the dog’s fur coat to practically glow and Caroline was pretty certain that she had never seen a more adorable sight. The animal’s barking did not deter her and she immediately crouched ever so slightly in a welcoming stance, holding her hand out for the dog.
What she didn’t expect was for the dog to pounce on her, jumping up with excited yelps so she could rest her paws on Caroline’s shoulder and cover her face in slobbery dog kisses. At once, the redhead’s arms went to the dog’s torso to support her and happy giggles soon fell from her lips as she screwed up her face and simply let the dog have at it.
As quickly as the animal had arrived though, she was soon gone as someone, presumably her owner, began apologising to Caroline. The French woman pushed her hair out of her eyes once again to find that it had been obscuring her view of a man who was, admittedly, not that bad looking. She felt a swell of guilt rise up in her chest but told herself not to be dumb. She was allowed to think that guys were good looking, it didn’t make her a bad person.
For a moment she simply stood there, her eyes trained on the man’s blonde hair which she noted were devoid of any familiar looking curls and that both comforted and saddened her. When she managed to snap herself out of the silly mood though, she simply gave him a bright smile.
“No, of course not!” she reassured him, crouching down to her haunches so she could return to scratching the dog behind her ears. She grinned up at the owner.
“She’s lovely! What’s her name?” she asked, stopping herself there. She knew that she had the tendency to let her mouth run away with itself whenever she got nervous or excited and the combination of a hyperactive puppy and an attractive boy caused her to feel both at the same time.
She pushed herself onto her feet and tucked her red hair behind her ears, not entirely sure where to look and simply returned her attention to the dog.
“I mean, if it had been my cat then she would have probably clawed your eyes out by now,” she joked then immediately winced. Real smooth, Care.
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