I watched my friend pace
around the room like a caged beast. His brown fur was unkempt, wild
and ragged. Lupine ears flicking a thousand times per minute, moving
with every sound that came their way. His fluffy tail curling around
his leg. Growls, whines and barks leaving his throat in equal
measure. Every one of his movements tense and awkward. For close to
ten minutes, he had been like this. Sometimes, he stopped and turned
to me, his mouth opening but no words would come out. Then, he would
just close his mouth with a click before resuming his march. At
first, the strange message at 2 am had piqued my interest. His torn
expression when I had come through the window had made the run worth
it. Now, however, the whole act was growing old and sitting on the
desk had become painful.

I cleared my throat, once,
twice. But when that polite interruption was met with nothing but
silence; I decided to take a more active approach. I crossed the
distance between us in a couple of strides, taking the wolf's
shoulders on my hand. Eyes focused intently on his evasive green
orbs.

"Duke,Duke!" i
shouted in front of his face. Terror and shame coloring his features;
his ears folding close to his skull. "Come on Duke, tell me
what's wrong."

The wolf shook his head. Tears
threatening to fall from his eyes. Mumbled words struggling out of
his mouth, too soft for me to hear. I shook him once more, bringing
him out of his stupor.

"Duke, I need you to
breathe. Take a few of deep breaths. Can you do that for me?"
The frightened boy gave me a slight nod, closing his eyes. His chest
raising and falling with each breath, steadying his shaking body. His
eyes opened once more; his dark brown eyes still tainted by fear, but
no longer searching for escape.

"I fucked up, Fen. Big
time. " He said with a strained voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you promise you won't
get mad at me?". His big eyes met mine, glistening with tears
that threatened to fall. A low whine leaving his throat.

"No, I won't." I
replied, barely holding back a growl.

"Can you at least promise
not to hit me?"

"Fine, but it better be
worth all the hassle or I'm throwing you out of that window."

"Really?" He asked
with a reluctant smile; his ears standing tall." Hope to die and
all that?"

"Duke." I warned
him; a growl forcing its way out of my throat. His ears sank a bit,
the tips folding slightly in deference.

"Okay, okay, but you
promised, " he walked over to his bed; the old wood groaning in
protest when he sat down, "do you remember Jenny?"

"The biology major,
right? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing. Nothing,
really! I mean, she's kind and smart and she has beautiful stripes
and-"

"Focus lover boy." I
interrupted him, snapping my fingers a couple of times in front of
his face.

"Right, right. So, I was
chatting with her, discussing the latest Predator movies, when Cinex
sent me a mail with an offer for Paradise Lost. The latest Gerard
Mason's movie."

"This better be going
somewhere."

"It is. I promise. Just,
bear with me a little. So, I'm screaming like a fangirl, thinking
myself lucky when an idea popped into my mind. Can you guess it?"

"Let your friends sleep
at night? Learn how to make a summary? Bring coffee to the next
emergency meeting?"

"No, even better. I'll
ask Jenny out and maybe, maybe open my heart to her. That's why, I
spent the next 20 minutes crafting the most passionate love letter
ever."

"It may be the lack of
sleep, but where are you going with this?"

"Patience, patience, I'm
almost there. Now, I was a mess; I checked that letter more than 30
times before sending it. But I was so anxious that somehow I didn't
send it to Jenny. I send it to Manny Cortez. Freaking Manny Cortez.
Of all the stupid things I could've done. The gods hate me. My
world's over, over I tell you!"

"Are you talking about
Manny from engineering? How do you even know him?" I asked him,
fighting to keep a smile from settling on my face.

"He's Jenny's friend.
Her best friend. Her bisexual best friend. We've only hung out a
few times and I just send him a love letter."

His muzzled turned to the roof
while a mournful howl sprang from him. The grave and long wail
waking the instinct inside me; an even tune coming out of me as I
joined him in his lament. My notes of brotherhood and comfort
contrasted against his sad tune. A chores of other howls came a few
seconds later, harmonizing into an impromptu melody. The angry shouts
and curses weren't far behind, bringing a quick end to his wailing.

Duke's head sank into his
hands; loud sobs shaking his shoulders. His tail sluggishly brushing
his bed's covers. Pushing aside my annoyance at the forced howling,
I got closer to him. I brought his lithe body into my arms, tracing
comforting circles over his back. A wet patch quickly forming on my
shoulder.

"Maybe he didn't read
it yet. Maybe you could explain it to him." I told him with a
soft voice. Mumbled words came out of him. A mix of sobs and
half-choked sounds.

"What? I didn't get
that."

"He, he already read it.
He was so, so happy. He was like a big puppy. I could practically see
him jumping up and down in his seat. He called me a cutie and said he
would be glad to go. Did you know he loves the director? It's his
favorite.

"Oh, that's...something.
Sorry."

"But you haven't heard
the best part. Jenny was all over it. She says we would make a cute
couple. A geeky wolf and a rugged doberman, walking hand in hand,
heedless of the stares. A girl's dream if you believe her."

Laughter brought out of me,
the whole tirade destroying my self-control. Duke pushed me back,
glaring daggers at me while his lips bared his fangs. He lunged at
me, pushing me against the bed. His fists pounded my chest weakly;
tears steaming down his muzzle. Eventually, we both ran out of steam.
We laid there in a comfortable silence, panting heavily.

"Well, you can go to that
date, keep up the appearances. Play it by ear and when it doesn't
work out, you'll wait for a couple of weeks before going after
Jenny." I said after I recovered, trying to lighten the mood.

"I can't, don't you
get it? If it fails, she'll hate me. It's a known fact that girls
always side with their BBFs during divorces. But, if by some weird
twist of fate, it works, then my life is over. Everyone will think
I'm gay and gay for that Doberman. Not that I have any problems
with gays, but, I don't want the whole college to know."

"And why would they
know?"

He stared at me with his mouth
agape, his head leaning to the side in a true canine fashion. A loud
groan left his mouth, his head shaking in denial. His arms flowing
through a thousand exasperated notions before he dug out his phone.
Clicking and tapping echoing in the room. Suddenly, his phone was in
front of me; the tell tale blue and white of Pawbook presented for me
to peruse. The picture of a Doberman in a shirt that hugged his body
like a glove rested on one corner while a few paragraphs of bold
black letters stood next to it. My eyes quickly took in the words and
my mind lost no time in making an intelligent response.

"Oh."