Who: Veronica Smethley, Alexander Derrick
Where: Roni’s bedsit
When: 14 April 2002, evening
Veronica Smethley had a busy day at St Mungo’s and ended up staying later than her shift (clocked out, of course) with a big clean up in the lobby thanks to a patient who couldn’t make it to their floor. So even though she didn’t have class tonight, she was a bit more tired than usual and looking forward to taking a shower and cleaning up.
Apparating back to her bedsit in Helga’s Hill, Roni was greeted by a happy Mystee coming over for some ear scratched.
“Hi, Mystee!” she greeted the bichon-frise, “Have you had your dinner yet? Been out?” Alex seemed to do a lot of the housework but she didn’t ask him to so she was never sure and didn’t want to assume (especially when it came to her dogs belly).
“Hi, Alex!” she called as well.
Although he didn’t like to admit it, Alex looked forward to when Roni came home. He had lived alone for a long time, and he had thought he liked it, but that was before he had lived with other, non-related, people. Having a pet around was nice too. He could never have one when he had so much weed about the place.
“Hi, Roni,” he called back, wiping his hands on his jeans to get the suds off them, as he had been washing up. He left the kitchen and went out to greet his host, smiling as he saw her petting Mystee.
“Someone’s pleased to see you,” he said. “You’d think she’d been left alone all day, from the way she acts when you come in.”
“Oh she loves you too I promise,” Roni replied happily, rubbing Mystee’s belly as the dog rolled over, “I’m just her mummy is all.” Yes, Roni was one of those people who basically considered a pet as a child, but since she didn’t have any children of her own and none coming in the near future, she took what she could get.
She also enjoyed having another person in the bedsit. When it came down to it, Roni was a people person and she liked not being alone, especially when her house guest was as helpful as Alex.
“But if you want to make her like you even more you can always slip her a treat once in a while,” she added. She didn’t want Alex to feel left out by a pet, after all.
He smiled to himself. It was sweet of Roni to think about his feelings, but he really didn’t mind Mystee being pleased to see her. Dogs were very loyal companions. Really, Alex should have had one a long time ago. He didn’t get unconditional positive regard from anyone else.
“How was your day?” Alex asked, and then, “Do you want a cup of tea?” It was only polite to ask, even if she was in her own home. He’d noticed she was late back, although in a hospital that wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence.
Having grown up in the circus, Roni couldn’t imagine life without a pet. She’d actually been considering another before Ale moved in, but a new human and a new animal for Mystee to get used to wouldn’t be very nice, so she had put that thought aside for now. Someday, though, she wanted to have lots of pets. And children. Just a big happy house.
“My day was pretty okay,” answered Alex’s question, “We just had a big clean up in the lobby so I’d like to take a quick shower but I would love some tea. I can probably be done by the time the water boils.”