Puppy Love

by Hayden Hunt

  I grabbed my phone, my wallet, and my keys, and headed straight to the hospital. It was only twenty minutes away, but of course, I hit the worst of LA traffic. The sun was beating down on my face as I drove, and despite the AC blowing on me, I was beginning to sweat. Maybe from the sun, maybe from the nervousness, or maybe a combination of the two.

  The entire drive there, I repeated the same mantra to myself over and over again.

  Please, God, let Grandma Mary be all right.

  19

  Caleb

  I came to the hospital with flowers in hand. I considered adding some kind of ‘get well soon’ card, but since I didn’t even know what was wrong with Mary, I didn’t want to risk it. For all I knew, before I came to visit, she could have gotten news of some horrible terminal illness. And in that case, ‘get well soon’ seemed wildly inappropriate.

  I was worried that when I arrived, Mary might be sleeping. Not that she shouldn’t get her rest; of course I wanted her to. But it was going to be awkward for me to sit there while I waited for her to wake up…

  Thankfully, she was wide awake when I arrived and even smiled at me as I walked through the doorway.

  “Caleb, my dear, you came!” she cooed.

  The first thing I noticed after her smile was the fact that there was a man sitting in a chair next to her.

  He was a good-looking guy. A very angular face, dark brown hair that was disheveled on his forehead. He too greeted me with a smile.

  “Come in, Caleb dear, come meet my grandson!” she chimed.

  “Oh, hi, nice to meet you.” I smiled. “I’m Caleb.”

  He nodded politely, though his smile was obviously forced. “My name is Mason.” Then he turned to Mary and gave her a kiss on the head. “I’m going to go grab a coffee, okay? I’ll let you guys catch up.”

  She nodded and squeezed his hand as he walked out of the room.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said to her after he left. “I hope I didn’t awkwardly intrude on your guys’ time together,” I said as I took his seat.

  “Oh, no, honey. Not at all. I can tell Mason has been wanting to leave to grab some coffee, but didn’t want to leave me alone. He just took the opportunity to leave while I had someone else nearby.”

  That was actually a big relief. “Oh, good, he seems like a nice guy,” I told her.

  “Oh, he is such a doll. I’m so lucky to have him for a grandchild.” Her eyes lit up when she spoke of him.

  “And where is your granddaughter?” I asked.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Granddaughter?”

  “Yeah… Don’t you have a granddaughter?”

  “No dear, only Mason. He is the only child of my only son. It’s just me and him.”

  “Wait…” I said softly. “But you always told me that you wanted to hook me up with your granddaughter.”

  “No I didn’t!” She laughed. “I said grandchild! And I meant Mason!”

  My jaw dropped. “Mary?! This entire time you’ve thought I was gay?” I asked, completely shocked and now feeling considerably more awkward. Did she tell him that I was gay?

  She shrugged. “I never even thought about whether you were gay or straight, dear. I only thought of the kind of person that you are. And the beautiful person that you are would be a wonderful match for my Mason. And I’m not just saying that! I have come to know you both very well and I can just picture you two together.”

  “Well, Mary, you kind of have to consider little things like orientation when you try to match people up.” I laughed. Now that the surprise had worn off, it was pretty hilarious. She was such a quirky lady.

  “Or maybe you don’t,” she pressed. “I used to think like that too, when I was your age. I only ever looked at men. It wasn’t until I got a little older that I realized love can be found anywhere, with anyone. You just have to be open to it. And if you’re not open to it then, well, you could be missing out.”

  “Wait a second, are you telling me that you’re bisexual?” I asked. She had never mentioned anything like this before.

  “Not at all. I would never label myself… I’m just a woman that loves love. Yes, I’ve fallen for women when I was younger. But it had nothing to do with them being women. I just loved who they were as people. Which is the same thing that happens when I fall in love with a man. If I’m being honest, I don’t believe in any orientations. I think we all are just stuck in our traditional ways and don’t realize that love is everywhere if you look for it.”

  I laughed again. “Well, I think I’m going to stick to my traditional ways if that’s all right with you,” I told her.

  She shrugged again. “Like I said, you’re the one missing out.”

  Just then, Mason walked back in the room with a coffee in hand. He looked even more frazzled than before he left.

  “I’m so sorry, I forgot my manners. I didn’t even ask if you wanted coffee before I left,” he said to me.

  “Oh, no, not a coffee drinker, but thank you.”

  He nodded. “Good, I didn’t realize until I had already grabbed myself a cup. You’ll have to excuse me, I’m not usually this rude. But it’s been quite the day.”

  “Oh, Mason!” Mary suddenly chirped out of nowhere. “This is the man who saved me!”

  Both of Mason’s eyebrows raised. “What?!”

  “Yes, this is him. This is the server I was telling you about. He gave me CPR until the ambulance arrived.”

  To my surprise, Mason set his coffee down on the table next to Mary and walked over to embrace me in a big, tight hug.

  I admit, I was a little thrown off. I wasn’t a very touchy-feely person and rarely gave out hugs. But I understood this was an emotional time and allowed him to embrace me.

  “Thank you!” he said loudly as he pulled away. “Thank you so much. You have no idea what this woman means to me. If I’d lost her today… I don’t know what I would have done.”

  “Oh… It’s fine. I mean, I used to be a lifeguard so instinct just kicked in for me,” I said sheepishly.

  “And he’s a musician!” Mary chimed again.

  I blushed. It was now immediately obvious to me she was doing her best to get us interested in each other. I was hoping that Mason didn’t realize what she was doing. I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

  Mary was sweet and her heart was in the right place but she was also old. There was no sense in trying to reason with her that you just can’t force two people together. I didn't like men—that was all there was to it. Mason could be the best guy in the world and I’d never be interested in him.

  “You’re a musician, wow. What kind of music do you play?”

  “Oh, all kinds. Lately I’ve just been doing a lot of acoustic covers of popular songs, though.” I didn’t say it, but I did this because that was what seemed to get me the most views on my videos.

  “Can I hear something?” he asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know…” I said hesitantly, slightly embarrassed.

  But of course, Mary interrupted again. “I have some videos on my phone, here, look!”

  By now, I was beet red.

  He played my latest video, smiling as it reached the chorus of a song that was hot on the radio right now.

  “Wow.” He nodded. “You have an amazing voice. Have you been picked up by anyone yet?” he asked.

  “No, but I’ve got my fingers crossed.” I smiled softly, pretty embarrassed.

  I wasn’t embarrassed by my music. I was actually pretty proud of what I’d created. The embarrassing part was the fact that I was just another waiter craving fame who’d hit twenty-five and still not done anything with his life.

  “How would you feel about—” Mason began. But as he did, the doctor walked in and all our focus turned toward her.

  “Is this an okay time?” the doctor asked. “We have some test results.”

  “Oh, perfect!” Mason completely diverted his attention from me.

  “Oh, I better get going, then,” I said, excusing myself.
I didn’t want to intrude on such private information. “You guys probably want to hear this information alone.”

  “Don’t be silly!” Mary insisted. “Stay. You’re one of my closest friends.” She smiled, reaching her hand out to grip mine.

  I was actually thrilled she asked me to stay. I wanted so badly to know if there was anything seriously wrong with her. If I left now before finding out, I'd be stressed about it the rest of the night.

  “Well,” the doctor began, “most of your tests are normal, which is good. It was a heart attack, but we can’t find any underlying health condition that caused it.”

  “So, she’s not sick?” Mason questioned.

  “No, she doesn’t appear to be sick.” He turned to Mary and continued. “Obviously, a heart attack is very hard on the body and she’ll need time to recover, but there is no reason to suspect she won’t recover fully, and we’ll start her on some medication that will hopefully prevent future attacks.”

  “Oh!” Mason sighed. “That’s such great news. Thank you, thank you so much.”

  “Of course.” The doctor smiled at him. “But we’re going to keep you for observation for a few days. Then you can go home, Mary.”

  Mary nodded. “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “Absolutely. But please let us know if you start feeling odd at all, okay?”

  “Will do.” She nodded.

  As the doctor left, the air of awkwardness returned. Mary was looking back and forth to me and Mason, clearly waiting to see a spark happen between us that absolutely was not going to happen.

  I clumsily diverted the conversation to something else. “So it looks like you’ll be back to visiting me at the restaurant in no time.”

  “Sounds like.” She grinned. “And maybe you could also visit Mason!”

  Well, that wasn’t subtle at all.

  “Uh…” I laughed awkwardly, “I’m thinking Mason doesn’t want that.”

  “Actually, I was going to ask you if you have time to see me Saturday.”

  “What?” I asked, my mouth hanging open.

  He raised an eyebrow, clearly thrown off by my hesitance. “Oh, I’m sorry, if you don’t want to… I thought you’d be happy for the opportunity.”

  The opportunity? Wasn’t that a little conceited of him? To call a date with him an opportunity? That threw me off. It was weird, because up until now, he hadn’t seemed arrogant in the slightest.

  “It’s just, I’m not gay, so…”

  He laughed out loud. “Not gay? I’m not asking you out on a date, I’m… wait.” He turned to Mary. “Have you not told him what I do?”

  She shook her head, a sly smile on her face.

  “Oh, God.” He turned to me and laughed again. “You must be so confused! I meant, would you like to come by my studio? I’m the owner of a recording studio and I was offering you a business meeting.”

  “…Oh.” I whispered. Okay, now this was the most embarrassed I had been. He was offering me an actual opportunity and I’d assumed it was a fucking date! God damn it. I was blowing this chance before I even realized it was a possibility.

  “Oh my God,” I continued, “I am so sorry, I just didn’t know…”

  He just laughed it off, to my relief. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault Mary didn’t tell you.”

  “So… you want me to come in and like… demo for you?” I asked nervously.

  “Absolutely! Your music is good. I’d love to hear some original stuff. Plus, you did save my grandmother’s life. It seems like the least I can do.”

  “That would be absolutely amazing!” I said eagerly. “Yes, of course, I’d love to bring in my demo for you. Uh, again, I’m really sorry…”

  “Don’t worry about it, seriously. You haven’t offended me in the slightest. How about Saturday at 9am?”

  “That would be perfect!” I said, even though I worked on Saturday. But I’d get someone to cover my shift. Hell, I’d call in if I had to. I wasn’t going to let an opportunity like this pass me by.

  “Excellent. I look forward to it.” He flashed me a winning smile. I had to admit, he really was quite good looking.

  “Oh, I knew you’d hit it off!” Mary squealed.

  “Oh, Grandma.” Mason rolled his eyes. “Please stop pressuring this poor straight boy to date me. You’re embarrassing him.”

  “She’s fine.” I chuckled. “I’m quite used to Mary’s antics by now.”

  “Good, glad it’s not a shock,” Mason said as he looked as his watch. “Okay, I’m going to go grab us some dinner,” he told Mary. “Would you like me to pick you up something, too?” Mason asked me.

  “Oh, that’s fine, I’ll probably be on my way out soon.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll see you on Saturday, then?”

  “Yep, see you Saturday!”

  He gave Mary a kiss on the head and then left.

  As soon as he did, I gave Mary a frustrated glance. “Well, that was humiliating!” I told her.

  “It was cute! He liked it, I can tell! He likes boys who are genuine. And you are genuine, my dear.”

  “Ugh, Mary! We are not going to end up together, I hate to tell you. I like women.”

  “We’ll see,” she said cockily. I just knew it, she was so confident that we were one day going to date.

  How could I explain to her that people were all different? Some people were just straight and it was not possible for them to fall in love regardless of gender. Not everyone was like her…

  But she was a stubborn little thing, so I decided it wasn’t even worth it to argue. We just spent the rest of the time making small talk before I excused myself to leave.

  I would have stayed longer, but for some reason, I wanted to go before Mason got back. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to see him. Even though he was obviously very nice and was offering me a big chance to finally do what I loved.

  I guessed I really was just embarrassed. I had made a fool of myself when I assumed he’d wanted to date me. Even though he had played it off like no big deal, there was no way I could not be embarrassed by that.

  After I said bye to Mary and left the hospital, I was finally able to relax. Firstly, because I knew she was okay and there was no reason for her health to continue to decline. And secondly, I finally was going to get the chance to lock down a record deal.

  It was the one thing I’d chased for years, the one thing I’d always told myself would bring happiness to my life. Having a record deal, that was the ticket, that was what would fill the void for me. And it was finally in reach.

  I couldn’t shake the feeling that this meeting was going to change my life.

  20

  Mason

  Through the rest of the week, I couldn’t get Saturday off my mind for some reason.

  I didn’t know why; it usually wasn’t particularly exciting for me to hear demos. Although I did think Caleb was a damn good singer and guitar player, I knew that wasn’t why I couldn’t get him off my mind.

  He was cute. Sandy brown hair, this innocent face with bright blue eyes. He was attractive, I wouldn’t deny that. But I saw cute guys all the time, and they didn’t generally make an impression on me.

  But Caleb did. I tried to play it off like he didn’t, but I could feel myself having a bit of a crush on him.

  I wouldn’t admit it or give into it, though. He was straight (no matter how badly my grandma wished he wasn’t) and he was young. He was just as young as all the other guys I saw in the clubs. And he was a waiter.

  Not that I had a problem with his financial status. I would never judge him for being a server. It was just that I used to serve once, and I remembered the restaurant atmosphere. When you served, all of your coworkers seemed to party. You got off late, got drinks, did late night partying to get rid of the stress of the day.

  I’d openly admit that when I was serving, I spent a lot of my free time drinking and hooking up with people. I could only assume that was the position Caleb was in.

&nbs
p; I couldn’t be with someone like that. It wasn’t where I was in life. Even if he wasn’t straight, he was just too young for me.

  Besides, there was no real reason he should have made an impression on me. He was just another cute guy; I saw them all the time. In LA, most men I met in the industry were damn good looking.

  Maybe he left an impression on me because of the role he had in saving my Grandma Mary. He was a hero—I couldn’t view him as anything but a hero. He saved her fucking life. I’d never be able to repay that.

  It didn’t help that it was clear she wanted us to date. She swore to me that we’d be perfect together. It was weird, because she had never pushed me to date anyone before. She wasn’t the kind of grandma who tried to hook you up with anyone they met.

  So if she said we’d be good together, she had a good reason for thinking so. And Grandma Mary knew me better than anyone. She seemed to know Caleb pretty well, too.

  But I didn’t. I didn’t know him at all. And I wasn’t going to sit around and fantasize about a cute kid who I knew nothing about just because he saved my grandma’s life.

  Unfortunately, though, that was exactly what I ended up doing for the next week. No matter how hard I tried to divert my attention from Caleb, in my spare moments, he kept coming to the forefront of my mind.

  But when our Saturday meeting came around, I was determined to hide this. I wouldn’t flirt with him; I wouldn’t show in any way that I found him attractive.

  It wouldn’t be fair to him, anyway. I meant what I said: I thought he was a good musician. And I didn’t want him thinking I brought him in the studio because I wanted to hit on him.

  I was in a position of power here. I had what he wanted, a record deal. And I was older than him, more experienced than him. It was easy to fall into a situation where I took advantage of him, even if I didn’t mean to, because he thought that dating me was the only way to a record deal.