She wore a light jacket, blue jeans, and pulled her hair through the back loop of a hat. Timothy pointed the way to the house, which was much faster than riding a bike, and they pulled up.

  “The dog’s name is Gunner,” Timothy told her as they exited the car.

  The man answering the door must have been in his mid-20s and was always friendly with Timothy. Through the door in his living room, his computer setup involved multiple monitors, which all looked to involve what he does for a living. Despite the hoodie and shorts, the owner of Gunner exercised a lot. And Gunner stood next to him waiting in the entryway, who is a large German Shepherd.

  The man spotted Sarah standing behind him.

  “Dude,” he said, “girlfriend? Nice!” He raised his hand to high-five Timothy.

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  The two teens both said.

  Who slowly lowered his hand. “I’m rescinding my dude high five until you realize how lucky you are.” He handed the leash over to Timothy. “Back by 10,” he joked.

  Gunner was enthusiastic as soon as the door closed, nearly hopping on all fours. The dog lunged up to Sarah, and the two met eye to eye, the same height.

  “Gunner will be my boyfriend,” she said.

  Timothy tugged on the leash. “Yeah, yeah.”

  It was already late, this being one of the few evening walks. Most of his dog walking is on weekend mornings, and a close neighbor morning walk he does before Sarah picks him up.

  “So,” Sarah said, “where are we going?”

  “The park,” Timothy pulled out a ball.

  Winding their way through the neighborhood, the park came in view several blocks away. Gunner tugged harder, wanting to reach their destination faster, causing Timothy to lean backwards while holding the leash. And once they stepped foot on the grass and the leash came off, Gunner bolted, and the game of fetch began. The grass was soft, and large tree leaves hadn’t fallen yet. Gunner was having the time of his life.

  “That is one fast dog,” Sarah said.

  Timothy reached down and grabbed the ball from where Gunner had dropped it. “Any faster, he might move as fast as you.”

  She slapped his shoulder. “What is that supposed to mean?” Timothy just chuckled. “Waiting a solid hour between boyfriends isn’t that fast.”

  “You travel faster than light in a vacuum.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said. “What about you? Mister I’m so cool I’ll wait an entire week to say a sentence.”

  Timothy gulped. She thought he was cool? “If nerves can freeze, then yeah I’m as cool as a cucumber.”

  “I never meant to make you nervous.”

  He smiled at her, acknowledging what she said. “So what did you do for the rest of the day?”

  “Homework.”

  “Yeah, me too.” He handed the ball to Sarah, and this time she threw it, and he said. “Calc?”

  She sighed. “Yes, God. Mr. Witman must be mad at me and taking it out on the entire class.”

  “He’s tough.”

  Sarah grabbed a dandelion and blew. “Yeah, but he’s always nice to you.”

  He watched the white parachutes of the dandelion seeds float by. He did the same towards her. “He might feel obligated to do so.”

  The game of plucking dandelions and tossing the ball continued. “He’s plenty difficult to the other unpopular kids in class.”

  He sighed, “Who knows?”

  The sun began to set, and Gunner showed no signs of stopping. Crickets began to chirp in the park.

  “We should get Gunner back,” he said.

  “Oh Hell no, it’s only 9. Let him know we’ll need another hour or two.” Timothy raised a brow. “It’s nice out, let’s walk him a bit. Gotta spend time with my boyfriend.” Timothy raised another brow. “Gunner.”

  He chuckled as he texted Gunner’s owner and got the ok to keep Gunner out later, and for extra pay.

  “Do I get half of that?” Sarah said.

  “Sure.”

  Timothy leashed Gunner and handed the leash to Sarah.

  “Have you thought about college?” Sarah said. “I mean, I know you’re walking dogs to save up for it.”

  He led them across the street, to a path between two homes, and out into open space. He chuckled. “I have to walk a dog 588 times to pay for one semester of college. It’s 17 an hour.”

  “That’s what you said, though?” She stopped and let Gunner smell the grass.

  “Yeah, but it’s mostly to help my mom.”

  He did say that, she remembered. “Your mom is lucky to have you.” She reminisced about a time she helped her mom with something. And nothing came up. “You’re making me look bad,” she smiled.

  “Didn’t think that was possible.”

  “Oh?” She brushed up to him. “You think I look good?”

  A biker came by and they stepped aside. “Always.”

  The trees and grass were lush, despite the time of year, the leaves had just changed color, and the sound of them rustling became crisper in the wind, ready to fall off any day now. Every pedestrian or biker was nearly hidden behind foliage if they were around a bend on the path.

  They reached a familiar part of the path. The trees opened up, and the Clearspring River was in full view. Gunner wanted to run and jump in, but Sarah managed to hold on as his nose reached the water.

  “Does this bring back any memories?”

  Timothy just looked confused.

  “Anything that might involve me?”

  He looked her in the eyes. “No.”

  “Damn,” she said. “That’s one solid no.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  He stepped back onto the path, she stopped him and said, “What do you think about?”

  “Not much.”

  “Come on.”

  He hesitated a moment. “Do scientists, who don’t make new discoveries, actually scientists, or just applying science? I guess they’re just an applied scientist and maybe not a real one.”

  The dumbfounded look on her face nearly sent her to the ground. “You joking with me?”

  He shook his head. She let out a quick breath of realization. Her previous boyfriends were the same way. “Are guys just like that? Walking around with a running imagination at all times?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  She chuckled. His response to that question was a lot more mature than her previous boyfriend's answers. Alex answered in a way that involved kamikaze minivans, and Liam only answered about football.

  “It helps me get through my day. But, I do it less often with you.”

  That last sentence moved her, and she smiled as they continued. The path wound near a set of ranches that backed to a neighborhood. She became self-conscious as Liam and his parents lived in one of those homes. Windows are bare enough that anyone can easily look into them. Timothy didn’t seem to mind, but Sarah was afraid of running into Liam, as he does go jogging on the path.

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  Gunner got distracted by a horse, letting out a deep, but quiet, growl.

  “Jesus,” Sarah said as she heard Gunner.

  “You’re good,” Timothy said. “A horse once walked down this path last summer, he still growled, but he’s all bark and no bite.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  The sun had set with near pitch blackness from the trees covering the moonlight, Timothy held out his phone and turned on the light. They continued, and the path looped to an all too familiar building. The school lot was empty, and all the lights in the windows were off.

  “Might be a good time to turn around,” he said.

  She grabbed his shoulder. “Wait.” She peered into the distance. “I see a car out there.”

  “Ok,” he turned.

  “No,” she said, “it’s Alicia’s. Come on.”

  He sighed as she dragged him closer to the parking lot. “It is her car.” But she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She texted Alicia, asking why her car is at the school, but she didn’t get an answer.

  “Maybe she walked home on Friday? Maybe it’s broken?”

  “It’s a new model.” She led Gunner off the parking lot and onto the walkway that looped the school.

  “I thought you guys were on the fritz.”

  She hustled around a corner, Gunner having fun with the new environment, trying to sniff anything he could before he had to keep up with the leash. “It happens. We’re like siblings, and eventually we’ll end up back as friends. We always do. Getting voted out of the cafeteria table isn’t the worst thing we’ve done to one another. If she’s here, I can talk to her in person. Text messages always sound nasty. Maybe Gunner can soften her up.”

  Timothy could only listen while he hustled behind her. He had no idea how friendships functioned. Like a fish asking a bird how it flies, it can listen and try to understand, but the fish will never fly, and the bird knows how to swim. “Why would she be here at the school?”

  “Alicia does help manage the gym with one of the assistant gym teachers. But, we’ll ask her.” They continued, around where the gym was located, but no sign, no lights on, and the doors were also locked. They continued, further from the student lot on the side, further from the gym, and wrapped around near the front entrance.

  Near another corner, the two heard a bit of spraying of a canister, and giggling played along with it.

  Sarah turned the corner and stopped in her tracks. Timothy, right behind her, understood why as he caught up. An empty spray can lay on the grass, and Liam sprayed another, his arm making a large arch spraying against the school wall and window, with Alicia standing by.

  Sarah pulled out a phone and took a video. “Fuck that bitch Sarah?”

  The two turned. “Oh, hey,” Liam said next to a dejected Alicia.

  “You two going to explain this?”

  “Turn that shit off,” Alicia said.

  Timothy stood still and slowly took Gunner’s leash from Sarah. His eyes paced between Sarah and the two graffiti artists as they exchanged words.

  “Already saved it. Sorry kids, you’re going to have to clean this up before school starts tomorrow morning.” She took a closer look at Liam’s graffiti. “Wait a minute.” She scrolled through her phone, and Liam and Alicia stood powerless. She found the photo on her phone. “That graffiti looks a lot like what happened last year. We all thought it was Avondale. It’s even on the same spot of the school.”

  Alicia breathed in and went for Sarah. Hands went into each other's hair, phones fell, and the two girls screeched in pain. Timothy tried to jump in, but Gunner growled and barked.

  Gunner was loud enough for the two girls to stop where they stood, and Gunner, barely held back by Timothy, bore its fangs. The girls backed off of each other.

  Sarah straightened her hair and picked up her phone. “You did this last year too, bitch.” Alicia didn’t respond. “It lines up when Liam and I broke up the second time.” Alicia still didn’t say anything. “Did you print out any AI images of me? In that bag there?” Still silenced. “Throw that shit away too.”

  Timothy and Sarah turned. Sarah, irate, took long strides to get away faster, and Timothy followed her, dragging Gunner with him.

  “Duck Face,” Liam said.

  “What?”

  “You fucked up my chance to see a cat fight. Ass.”

  The girls ignored him, and Timothy just said, “Sorry.”

  The three left the vandalizers and made their way back to the side of the school at the parking lot. Timothy kept his phone light on in one hand and Gunner’s leash in the other. Sarah held her in her arms and looked down at the sidewalk.

  “I’m sorry about what happened back there,” Timothy said.

  The gait of her’s told him she was mad. Infuriated. “It’s fine.”

  A light wind picked up, but they felt nothing, the sound of an engine humming beyond the corner of the block where the school sat. The headlights changed direction, and the car crept up to the entrance of the student parking lot.

  Sarah squinted her eyes to get a closer look. “I wonder who that is.” Then a set of police lights turned on. “Oh shit,” she said. “Run.”

  Gunner perked up as he tugged Timothy in the direction Sarah ran. “We didn’t do anything.”

  “They don’t know that.”

  The lights caught up as the trio ran onto the grass and into the foliage that marks the end of the school property. Timothy didn’t put much effort into hiding until he saw how much Sarah was into the escape. He hunched down behind a tree and got Gunner to lie down. He understood why Bonnie and Clyde were a couple, and his heart raced as the car wheeled by. He hunched down more, but kept an eye out. Despite the romantic excitement, the logic side of his brain leaked through. He reconsidered taking Gunner on a longer walk. What will his mom think? Getting taken home in handcuffs? The spotlight on the car turned on, Timothy flinched at the sudden brightness, and it slowly scanned the woods from the edge of the parking lot. Will he ever see Sarah again?

  “Just, don’t move,” Sarah whispered from a bush. “Cops can’t see for shit.”

  “How can you possibly know that? Do all cops have to fail a vision test?”

  “I don’t know,” she hushed him.

  Timothy kept a hand on Gunner’s head to keep him still. “Don’t they need to see well to shoot a gun?”

  “It’s Clearspring. Vandalism is like the crime of the century, and they don’t need guns.”

  The spotlight swept past them, and it went off into the distance.

  “See, told ya.”

  Then the spotlight swept back and stopped right on the bush Sarah hid behind.

  “Shit.”

  An officer stepped out and, with a deep voice, said. “Out you two, and the dog.” The two slowly stepped out, and Gunner did so with excitement. The officer rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to have your hands up.”

  They put their hands down.

  Another officer stepped out. “I saw two others over there,” and he nodded in the direction he began walking.

  “Mind telling me what’s going on here?” The officer asked.

  “We were on a walk and we saw our friend's car here and we went over to see them and then we left and then—”

  He stopped him by raising a hand. “It’s fine.” He then noticed the pair, and he’s dealt with them before.

  “Oh!” The officer said. “Timothy? Right?”

  He nodded.

  “Haven’t seen you since that incident a few months ago. How are you?”

  “Good.”

  The officer let out a deep chuckle. He reached a hand over to his broad shoulder and spoke into the radio, telling whoever was on the other end it was nothing to worry about.

  “And is that Sarah?”

  She nodded.

  “You were there too? With your sister.”

  She looked to Timothy. “Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”

  Timothy shook his head.

  “Huh, small world.” The officer said. “Did you ever contact my son? He’s a year younger than you.”

  She has a general inkling as to who his son is, a large, heavyset student who played football and also did wrestling. “Officer Pace, I barely recognized you with the spotlight back there. Whenever I approach James, he gets all nervous and runs off. I’ve tried giving him my number, but he won’t give me the chance to talk to him.”

  Officer Pace let out some laughter. “Yeah, that’s James for you. Keep trying for me. Well, for him, but I think you’d make a cute couple.”

  Sarah stepped forward. “If you don’t mind, is it ok if we walk Gunner here home? We’re on the clock here with our dog walking business.”

  “Yeah, sure.” With a bit of commotion, the second officer returned with Alicia and Liam. “What do you have here?”

  “Vandalism.”

  Officer Pace rolled his eyes. He stood wide, when compared to Liam, he looked like a wall that approached the two students. “Liam?”

  Liam nodded.

  As Officer Pace began talking, he nodded to Sarah and Timothy to head on out. In the distance, the two could overhear the officers agree it was just a harmless prank. But they had to clean it up, even if they had to call in the entire football team for help, to do so before morning.

  Only an owl off in the distance made noise on the path, that and their feet. She looked down, dejected about the night.

  “Ever been to Mexico?”

  She thought the question was weird. “Yeah. Why?”

  “The owls there say, quien, quien.” He hollowed his voice.

  She slapped his shoulder. “Oh my God, ok, there dad!”

  He smiled at the dissipated tension.

  She then began. “That asshole gets away with everything,” Sarah said. “Just spending a few hours tonight cleaning it up. It’s just rubbing alcohol.” They walked beyond the ranches and back to where the path paralleled the small river, all the while Sarah complained about what Alicia and Liam were doing to her. To tarnish her reputation, to get people to dislike her.

  He stopped, and Gunner sat next to him, leaning against him. “Hey.” She turned, Timothy angled his phone light so as not to shine right into her face, but anyone could see how red it turned. “I’d be devastated if you did something like that to me. So, I know it’s not fine.”

  “You think I’d do th—”

  He raised his hands. “Of course not. But, if you need to vent, go for it. If it gets bad, my mind will think if chefs who are not inventing new recipes are just applied chefs.”

  She chuckled and then said. “That bitch was my friend since kindergarten we’ve traveled to other countries together, fought over boys together, chose the same college together, helped each other get a boyfriend, I got her to try out for cheer with me, I planned most of her birthday parties, ate lunch nearly everyday together, fought off a potential mol…”

  Timothy nodded along to the incredible laundry list of experiences they shared. It was a lot. And when she finished, she took a deep breath, and her face brightened. “Alright, whatever, I feel kinda better now.”

  He walked up next to her. “That’s good. And you know, I noticed you did a lot of the legwork in that friendship.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “I think she was just an applied friend.”

  She laughed. “She was never a true scientist or chef in the first place, then?”

  “I’m still figuring it out. It’s a little early to be vandalizing the school, right?” He changed the subject.

  “Alicia has an early curfew on school nights. She was probably with friends last night too, so Sunday night with her semi-boyfriend. They probably got the idea while talking shit about me.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Nah. It’s like you said. She’s just an applied friend.”

  They walked back and dropped Gunner off, the dude bro who owned him gave Timothy a thumbs up. And Sarah drove him home.

  “Your surgery is tomorrow?” She asked as he stepped out.

  “Yeah.”

  “Can I visit you afterwards? After school?”

  “Of course.”