All the teachers at MVB high school seemed to be hellbent on doling out as much homework as they could get away with and he hadn't been able to finish even half of it in study hall. And then on top of that, he'd gotten in trouble when his English teacher had caught him texting in class. Normally he'd have only gotten a warning for such a thing, but when the teacher had seen what he'd typed, he'd gotten after school detention for the entire week. And he'd accepted that punishment readily, since the other option was to call Lu's father and apologize for asking his daughter via text message to sit on his face.
He could never be sorry for wanting that.
So he used the the time in detention for homework as best as he could before going straight home to walk Dixie and change his clothes for work. Then he had to work the freaking dinner rush at the coffee shop all week long with some of the rudest tourist customers he'd ever seen and just barely made it home in time for his livestream, which he ended up doing in his uniform and smelling like coffee. He'd barely gotten to spend any time with Lu this whole week, except in school, and he was feeling wound up. He had been called in at two this morning to cover for Gina - again - and ended up being stuck there because Veronica was running several hours late.
Now it was after 6:30 and he had called a taxi to rush him home because he was going to need to take Dixie out to pee before his livestream. Poor, sweet little Dixie was probably about to burst right about now, since his mom had flown out this morning for a huge, week-long gaming convention. Tossing the cab fare to the driver, the vehicle hadn't even come to a complete stop before Buster flung open the door and leapt out. He sprinted up the walkway and barreled through the front door in a rush, but the usual skittering of tiny clawed feet and hyperactive barking was conspicuously absent.
Nothing but an eerie silence greeted him.
A cold, sick feeling of dread dropped into the pit of his stomach like a heavy iron weight. "Dixie?" He hated the way his voice sounded in that moment. He called for his faithful little Pomeranian again, this time his voice was a little stronger. But there was no answer. He looked around the kitchen to see if she'd gotten into the pantry or gotten stuck in one of the cupboards again, but there was no sign of her. He started to panic and ran from room to room, flinging doors open and checking the laundry baskets.
Eventually he found her in his mother room curled up at the end of the huge bed, looking like she was sleeping peacefully. But something was definitely wrong. Dixie had always rushed to greet anyone who entered the house with a cacophany of happy yapping barks and she danced about for attention. Against his better judgement, he reached out to stroke her fur.
She was cold as ice.
A heavy tear streaked down his cheek, then another and another as he carefully scooped her tiny stiff body and held it to his chest for a few moments, before taking her out to a chest freezer and placing her inside. Buster felt sick placing her in there but he couldn't bring himself to go out and dig her a grave right now. He closed the freezer door and leaned against it heavily, chest heaving as he roughly shoved at his tears with his hands. Why weren't they stopping?
He glanced at the nearby clock and saw he had maybe two minutes before tonight's livestream, but there was no way he'd be able to go on like this and force himself to act cheerful when he'd just lost the precious pooch he'd had for his entire life. Taking the steps two at a time, he made it to his room, typed up a last minute massage to his subscribers and cancelled the stream. Standing there for a few moments, he felt it really sink in.
Throwing off his work outfit, he decided that some clean clothes might do him some good. Something loose, maybe sleeveless. He pulled on a black tank and a pair of shorts and flopped down on his bed, head in his hands. A single stray chew toy caught his eye, laying on the floor near his foot. He was off the bed, down the stairs and out of the house before his mind even registered it, but had the sense to grab his cell first.
He had to get out of here. He couldn't be here right now, where everything reminded him of Dixie, not while his heart was breaking in two. One step, two, three... he didn't know where he was going, he just knew he had to go somewhere. Somewhere that wasn't here. He'd come back later, when it didn't hurt so much.
After wandering for a while, he ended up at a secluded part of the beach where he'd first met Lu. Of course she wasn't here right now, but even her memory was enough to offer him some respite. He dropped to his knees and wept, letting out all the anxiety and pain as best as he could.