A finger tapped repeatedly at my forehead. "Autumn."

I groaned and slapped the finger away from my face.

The finger stopped tapping me for a few minutes, giving me a moments peace until it went back at tapping my head.

"Autumn, wake up."

"Shut up!" I groaned again and turned on my side so my back faced the person trying to wake me up. I am not a morning person. Never have, never will be.

"Oh my god Autumn! It's almost 9:30am."

Opening my eyes slowly, I turned to face the person trying to wake me up. Ryder hovered above me, smiling. Even though I could barely see, Ryder's smile still glowed, making me want to wake up and rub my eyes so I could get a better look at it.

I put all my weight on my elbows as I straightened up, not moving to a full sitting positing. I rubbed my eyes and blinked, taking in the view of him. His chocolate, brown hair was disheveled and messy, which was so hot. He wore a cherry red hoodie and grey sweatpants. It appeared that he only woke up a little before me, due to the tiredness in his voice and the yawn he did every thirty seconds.

I sighed, wishing I could wake up to his charming face every morning.

Wait, why would I want that? You're perfectly fine waking up by yourself. He doesn't make it any different.

Oh, but he does, my heart protested inside my chest.

I didn't know if I should believe my heart or my brain as I gazed at him, mesmerized my every aspect of him.

"I know I'm handsome, but you staring at me for this long is giving me the creeps," Ryder chuckled and my eyes widened. How long have I been staring at him?

A red blush formed on my cheeks. "I-I wasn't staring."

He rolled his eyes at me and smirked. "Mhm, sure you weren't princess."

Princess. The word echoed in my head. Since when has he called me princess?

"You're staring again."

Grabbing the pillow that I used for the night, I chucked it at his face but he easily caught it. His stupid quick reflexes made me upset.

I studied his face for a moment. "Did you not sleep last night?" I asked as I noticed him yawning for the billionth time.

"No I did. When I was playing—*yawn*—my video game last night, I accidentally fell asleep and let me tell you, that desk chair is not comfortable to sleep on." He chuckled, running his slender fingers through his hair.

Oh please... I bit down on my lip, please don't do that.

Looking away, I cleared my throat. "I can try to see if my moms home now. Thanks for letting me stay. That was very thoughtful of you."

I pulled the covers off of me and automatically wished I could just stay in his bed forever.

Weirdo.

My feet touched his carpeted floor as I hung my legs over the side of his bed. I was about to stand up when he grabbed my arm, forcing me to sit back down beside him. "Don't leave," he whispered but I barely heard it.

I turned to face him and his grip on my arm loosened. "What?" I asked, making sure I heard him properly.

Did he tell me to stay?

I hope, my heart fluttered.

No! You shouldn't feel like this, you don't even know this guy, my brain screamed, but I blocked out its screams for just a moment.

I hope...

His grip on my arm went away as he shoved his hand into his pocket. He lowered his gaze, forcing himself to not look at me. "Well," Ryder's other hand scratched the back of his neck, "I just think that since you're already here, we can have breakfast and then go to the pet shelter to work on the project."

Oh yeah, the project. That's the only reason he wanted me to stay.

For the project. Right.

Why are you sad? He wasn't going to end up liking you anyways. Don't find interest in someone like him, he may be like Luke. Remember, brave girls never settle again.

"Ok. I guess I can stay. For the project."

He smiled and stood up. "Cool. Let's go downstairs and I can make us scrambled eggs."

My mood automatically brightened at the mention of food. What? I like food a little too much.

***

The nice lady who owned the pet shelter toured us around the one story building. Even though she looked to be in her forty's, she was very pale, as if she hasn't seen the sun in decades. Her short, curled black hair bobbed up and down as she walked from each station in the shelter, explaining its purpose and all this other crap about it.

A tear dropped from my eye as we walked around the pet shelter. Looking at all the dogs and cats packed in small cages made me sad. I loved dogs and cats were okay but seeing both species in small crates was heartbreaking.

I stopped when I saw a beautiful golden retriever. I crouched down to get eye level with it. When I looked into the crate, the lonely animal stared back at me with eyes full of sadness and tradegy. Its probably once golden blonde hair but now pale yellow fur was tangled. The golden retriever nibbled at the tangles trying to set them free but failed miserably. When the dog noticed me, it whimpered; it sounded like a cry for help.

My bottom lip quivered at the sight of this poor dog. It was so beautiful yet so....broken.

And for some strange reason, I felt like I could relate to its brokenness, sadness, loneliness.

Taking my eyes off the dog, I looked up at the manager and she smiled wearily at me.

How does she not cry all day looking at all these poor animals? Because I would.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" I asked her.

"It's a boy. His name used to be Lucky, but I felt like it needed to be changed, since the condition I found him in wasn't considered lucky at all. His new name is Finn."

Finn. I looked back at the dog and held my hand up to the crate. "Finn," I whispered so softly I wasn't even sure the dog heard it. "Everything will be okay, I promise. Someday, if you're still here, I will adopt you." Slowly, I reached my hand into the crate and pet his paw. Instead of biting me or getting scared, he licked my hand and wagged his tail.

Another tear fell from my already puffy eyes. I haven't even been at the pet shelter for thirty minutes and I already fell in love with one of the dogs.

I looked up at the lady again, except my eyes met Ryder's. He was watching and listening to me the whole time. He probably heard everything I whispered to the dog. An emotion flashed through his eyes, a strong one. I wasn't able to figure it out because I think I was afraid to. The way it flashed through his eyes, the way he was looking at me told me it was an intense feeling.

Don't get attatched.

So I decided to ignore it.

My attention moved to the lady. "How did you find Finn?"

"He was in an alley. One of his legs was broken. There were scratch marks on his back and his teeth were all bloody. I think he lost three adult teeth. His paws were ripped. I've never seen a dog in such bad shape before. I'm assuming his previous owner abused him."

Abused him. The scars and bruises on my arm pinched in pain as I pictured my dad abusing me, just how Finn's owner abused him. My long sleeve shirt was able to cover the injuries, but I rubbed both my arms, trying to soothe the pain coming from them.

Ryder was watching me carefully as I rubbed my arms. He was trying to figure out why Finns abuse would affect me so much. I could tell in the way he bit at the inside of his cheek and how his eyebrows furrowed together.

He was trying to figure me out. But I can't let that happen. Quickly, I stopped rubbing my arms and turned to face Finn' cage.

"You guys don't have to start voulnteering today. But if you could just sign in on which dates you will be coming in to help," she handed Ryder a clip board with a mini calander on it, "then that would be great. Ill be right back."

Once she was out of the room, Ryder set the clipboard and pen down on the nearest counter then crouched down next to me.

He rested his hand on my back and fireworks lit up and down my spine, but the feeling went away when I forced myself to not drown in it. Ryder's brown eyes looked into my light blue ones. "Autumn, are you okay?"

I cant believe he even asked that. He really cared? He said he hated me yesterday night. He's probably faking it.

"Um," I wiped a tear away with my sleeve, "yeah I'm okay I guess. Its just sad you know? I would hate to be stuck in a cage like this all day, without a home. It just makes me want to adopt and care for them all." I looked over at Finn and smiled, "especially him."

Finn was resting now. He curled up into a ball.

As I was looking at Finn, Ryder was looking at me. I smiled a little, "now look who's staring."

His hand on my back moved to his lap and he looked the other way, embarrassed. "Sorry, I was just was lost in my thoughts."

"Hmmm," I rested a finger on my chin, "interesting. What were you thinking about?"

"Did you write down the days you will be coming in?" The lady walked back into the room and I looked at her name tag and saw that her name was Patty.

Ryder stood up, grabbed the clipboard, and started writing. "No ma'am but I'm doing it right now." Ryder glanced at me for a quick second and noticed I was still watching Finn. "Hey uh Patty?"

"Yes?"

"Can I talk to you for a second? Alone."

I turned my head so I could look up at him. Why alone?

They walked away and talked for a couple minutes or so, while I stayed and petted Finns soft but tangled fur.

Why did I feel like they were talking about me?

When they came back, I stood up and said my goodbyes to Finn. "We will be back soon, I told Patty as she led us to the front door.

"I'm glad," she beamed. "You two seem like very wonderful kids."

When we finally reached the door, we said our quick goodbyes to Patty and walked to Ryder's car.

"Finn is so adorable," I said as I stepped into the passenger seat. "I really want to adopt him. I think he really liked me too."

Ryder started the ignition and backed out of the parking space we were in. He never turned to look at me, but I could still see a smile plastered on to his gorgeous face. "Maybe you will adopt him someday."

I sighed and looked out the window, "maybe..."