Connor restrained his frenzied dog with one hand, tightening her collar and keeping her from attacking his assailant. The other hand had it harder, wrapped around his assailant's hands that targeted his throat. His dog would protect his owner, and the man who pinned Connor down knew it.

The man was undeterred by the fangs and deep growling a few inches from his face, and his muscles stretched his shirt sleeves, revealing a scar.

The one thing that could save Connor and his assailant happened. The garage door started opening—his mom got home from work.

He looked down at his pinned victim. "Let her go. I fucking dare you."

Connor couldn't speak up. Soon, his strength would give out, and the dog would draw blood—lots of it. Joules would have to be put down for a second dog bite.

Connor managed to breathe out. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"Fuck you, and you knew I needed it." The man tightened his grip.

"I'm sorry," Connor gasped.

"I don't care," he said, undeterred by the dog trying to lunge at him.

Connor managed to turn his head to look at Joules. "Heel, heel."

Joules could break free. To the canine, it's a balancing act between listening to her owner and protecting him. Following his commands was second nature to her, but saving his life was her nature.

They both heard the door handle start turning, and the man loosened his grip. That's all it took for Joules to lose her predatory instincts, hide her fangs, and calm her growl. Connor drew several deep breaths and embraced his throat with one hand and his dog with the other.

"Not a word," the man warned him.

Connor got to his feet and, as usual, pretended nothing had happened. A perfect actor.

"Good girl," Connor whispered to Joules as she restrained herself from biting this time. Joules got up on her hind legs, and her height nearly matched his at six feet, for a well-placed hug and hopped back onto all fours. It's surprising to see how her rabid defense could transform into a fluffy teddy bear within a moment's notice and vice versa.

Their mom entered the house, and her hands were full with her purse and groceries.

"Can you help me with these?" Tabitha asked Connor, and he walked over to grab the bags. "Your face is all red," she noticed. "Did you run home from school?"

Connor felt his older brother looking at him from the corner of his eye as he watched TV on the couch. "Just did a light jog," he said.

He grabbed the bags and placed them on the kitchen table while his mom returned to the car to get the rest of the groceries. "Thank you, Connor," she said as she walked back in and placed the rest on the table. He would have stayed. Instead, he went upstairs to avoid Axel.

"Dinner's out of the crockpot in a few," Tabitha said to Connor.

After helping his mom, he immediately went to his laptop and ordered a living room camera for overnight delivery. It was the first product in his search and one he could hide on a shelf somewhere. If Axel wants to get bitten again to report Joules, he'll have evidence the bite was in self-defense. He opened his school bag, pulled out his summer homework to finish up before tomorrow, and glanced outside his window every few minutes, daydreaming.

Axel is an asshole. Some daydreams weren't happy.

As far as he can remember, Axel always had been. Connor had started doing some push-ups, sit-ups, and a few other exercises in his bedroom, but the difference in strength still felt the same. But he didn't give up.

A flicker caught his eye. Across the field, he noticed one of the ranches lit up through the windows. They flickered a bright white light and then shades of violet. In unison, and turned back to dark.

Connor stared, dumbfounded by what he saw.

The hell? he thought.

They'd lived across the field for several years, and Connor had never seen any activity come out of that house. No people, no cars, and certainly no flashes of light. Maybe someone moved in and decided to throw a rave?

His mom shouted up the stairs. "Dinner!"

Still dumbfounded, Connor forced himself to put his pencil down and went downstairs. Three chicken and rice dishes waited on the table as he took his seat.

Her boys, as usual, didn't say a word to each other. "How was your day, Axel?" she said.

His head remained facing the plate and gave a repetitive response. "Watched TV all day and worked out."

"Did you look for a job?"

"I did some searching online, but nothing good."

"I've been thinking. You could start a dog-walking business. Joules is a great-looking dog model," Tabitha tried to feed him an idea. "Since looking online hasn't worked, try to start something simple."

"Never," Connor piped in.

Axel noticed the look on Connor's face. "A dog walking business? Maybe I should. I could take Joules to the dog park, make business cards, and hand them out."

"Like hell, you will."

"Connor!" Tabitha stopped him. "Joules is the family dog."

"And what exactly has this family done for her other than I?" Connor reminded her. "I found her, walk her, feed her."

"It doesn't matter," Tabitha said.

Axel grinned.

"Jesus, Axel, she says one sentence, and suddenly, you have the motivation?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Okay," Tabitha spread out her arms, "okay. Calm down, both of you." She chalked it up to sibling rivalry. "At this point, Axel needs to try something. If he wants to try dog walking, let him try."

"You think he's going to walk out that door with Joules and come back with a business?" Connor said.

"You don't think I can do it?"

"I think you'd come back with herpes."

"Connor!" Tabitha said. "What's gotten into you? It's dinner. We're just talking and throwing out ideas."

He ignored her and continued eating, and Axel and Tabitha began finishing their meals.

"A meteor is visible in the sky," Axel read from his phone.

"What?" Tabitha said.

"Look." he held the phone up to her.

She squinted her eyes and read, "NEO discovers a large, previously undetected meteor that will come within miles of colliding with Earth. It may be visible for months."

"The blinds," Tabitha hustled to the large window in the kitchen and yanked the drawstring, and all three spotted it. A bright meteor lit up a small portion of the night sky—a sizeable fuzzy dot, much larger than a star but dimmer than one.

Connor stared at it from his seat, but he kept his distance from Axel. He wanted to get closer, the sight was mind-blowing, but Axel would crush his enthusiasm like a bug. "It could crash into us."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Please," Axel continued staring out the window, "that'd be the end of the world, dumbass."

Connor took his last bite as the other two remained focused. "Mom, I need the car. It's Thursday."

"I know," she nodded to her purse.

Axel put his utensils down. "Can I have the car tonight?"

"Connor's got to work."

He heightened his voice register. "But I need it."

Connor rolled his eyes. "Are you going to strangle me if I take it?"

"You know," Tabitha said. "Axel could use it—"

"Nice!"

She simmered her oldest son's excitement. "Not tonight. Quit this weekend and find a job you can walk to."

"What?"

"Alright, tomorrow. Another word, and you quit right now."

Connor lifted his hands in defeat and stepped out. Axel hid a smirk as his little brother left.

***

"God, I'm fucking hungover," someone said next to him. It's typical chatter he's grown used to. He never chimed in, mostly because he couldn't add to the conversation.

A hostess approached him. She wore a low-cut tank top and was hired for that reason and also to serve pizza to the guests. She'd be chatting with the other drivers if they weren't out on a delivery.

"Connor," she said, "is Axel stopping by tonight?"

"Don't think so, Crystal." He noticed the manager preparing a delivery bag of pizzas for him, and he hurried to prep the bag to get away from her.

"So, Axel isn't answering my texts."

She followed him out as he grabbed the bag and headed for delivery.

"Hey!" She stopped him.

"What?"

"Axel isn't answering my texts."

"I don't want these pizzas to get cold," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "One day, you'll have to get a human girlfriend."

"I'll worry about myself." He turned and went for his first delivery.

The bright celestial body was hard not to look at while driving, even more so than the mountains awed its audience in every sunset, as it was doing right now. Well, he was used to the Colorado mountains. The meteor was new, exciting even.

He wondered about it as he continued the rounds, delivered some pizza, drove back to the restaurant, and repeated.

Crystal didn't hesitate as he walked in. "Tell Axel to text me."

"I don't care." He noticed it was just him, her, the shift manager sweeping the floor, and a meat lover's pizza on the counter.

Connor checked the ticket. "Is this for me?"

"No," his boss said back. "Sorry, man, there is one more order, but your pizza is almost out."

Connor nodded in acknowledgment, leaned back, and waited.

"I'll be extra nice to you," Crystal said.

"Oh God, please, no," Connor chuckled at the thought of action. "I've had enough kindness for one day."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't want to be where others have been."

"Jesus, Connor," she said, "that's not what I meant, and you're a pussy."

"Am I?"

The shift manager ignored them as he prepared the last pizza.

"One meat lover's for you, and one meat lover's for your last delivery."

He nodded, kept one pizza out of the bag, and left as quickly as possible, leaving Crystal to finish her cleaning duties.

He opened the side door with the pizza box already opened for Joules. The animal went straight for it and devoured nearly half of it before Connor made it to the driver's seat. Nothing could stop her if it involved meat, not even Connor, and sometimes the makeshift gate between the front and back seats could barely hold her.

His phone wanted to guide him near his home, on the edge of town just one block away, across the field from his own house. Which he thought was great as he'll get home earlier for more sleep.

As he pulled up, the house became recognizable. It was the same small ranch he had seen earlier in the night with the lights beaming out of the windows. He wasn't sure what it was, but they had the same taste in food as Joules, so he was curious about what kind of light rave party was going on. And what kind of person lived in the converted ranch with the huge lot.

He walked up to the door, and all the lights were off.

Knock, knock, knock.

A cacophony of clings and bangs played.

"Hold on," a woman's voice yelled from inside. A tall, blonde woman stepped out. He has seen plenty of pretty girls answer the door. Some were older, while others were his classmates, but never someone near his age who he hadn't seen before. Connor knew he looked seventeen, and with his wavy brown hair and his young-looking face, he wished he were just a few years older to meet her at her age. Her long hair was in a braid draped over one shoulder, the gold necklace she wore was tight around her neck, and a blue pendant nestled inside of it shined even at night, and her clothes matched it with blue jeans and a white shirt.

Connor couldn't help but notice the look on her face. She looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

"Uh, meat lovers?"

The woman snapped out of it, "Yeah, that's for me."

He took it out of the bag and looked at the receipt. "Mrs. Stephanie Saunders."

"Miss, you look too young to be working this late," she said.

This was weird to Connor. Never has there ever been a conversation beyond pizza and transferring money. "Um, yeah, I'm in high school."

"Really? It's past eleven." She reached into her pocket and grabbed some cash for his tip. "Kids work hard these days."

Kid. damn, he thought. "I do the seven to eleven shift, mostly because I got a mouth to feed."

"You have a child?" She exclaimed.

"Oh, no." He stepped to the side and nodded to his car. "My dog eats three pounds of meat every day. That's the mouth I need to feed. The rest I save for college."

She spotted the large animal in the car. Joules' amber eyes glowed at her through the car window. "Wow, what a magnificent creature." Yet, she was more impressed with his profound sense of frugality.

"Yeah, she's a hybrid."

Her eyes enlarged. "Your dog is part wolf?"

"Yeah, Joules." He finally got around to handing her the pizza, and she gave him the cash, which he'll turn in tomorrow. "Enjoy."

She found him rather interesting or at least dedicated to working to feed a pet of his that required tons of food.

"Jewel, as in the gem? That's a strange name for a predator," she said.

"No, like in physics."

He piqued her interest. "Who's your science teacher?"

"I forget what it says on my schedule. But class starts tomorrow, so I'll find out in the morning."

She held the pizza box against her and thought for a moment. Despite him being the pizza boy, she enjoyed a random conversation as it was her first in a long time.

She smiled, "Great, have a good night."

"You too."

He tossed the bag into the passenger seat, hopped in, and took a breather.

Whoa. He looked back to see her, but she was already inside. And right across the field from me.

He composed himself and drove home. He and Joules walked into the house from the garage, and Axel didn't move his eyes off the TV. "Where the fuck were you?"

Joules growled, and Connor quickly got down and petted her head to calm her. "I was working. Remember?" Whenever Axel got like this, he just had to wait for him to vent.

"I know you fuck. Do you know what it's like not to have a car when a girl is texting you?"

"There are apps for getting a ride and such," Connor said.

Tabitha continued to watch TV next to Axel, pretending to be oblivious.

"It's humiliating," Axel continued.

"The car is free, and Crystal wants to bang you."

"I'll fuck who I want."

"Connor, honey," Tabitha said, ignoring Axel. "Can you find another job?"

"Yeah, find another job," Axel said.

"We already discussed this?" He left and went into his room. He didn't bother brushing his teeth or using the restroom but lay next to Joules as she jumped on the bed. The image of the woman he had just met kept replaying in his head.

Stephanie Saunders, good lord.

And he watched the significant celestial object in the sky and eventually fell asleep.

***

Connor left Joules at the field near his school. Anyone could spot her orange vest a mile away, and he thinks she stays near the trees at the end of the area while he's in attendance. Or perhaps she's run up the side of the foothills. Regardless, she always runs across to him when he calls for her after school.

He hustled across the street to his school. The parking lot filled up, and the concentration of his peers grew as he made his way inside. No stops, no nods—just avoiding cliques and bodies as he went straight to his first class. Physics. He sat, not at a desk but at one of the tables meant for lab work near the windows. Other students filed in, and one, in particular, irked Connor, the reason why he chose to sit near the back. His former friend, Neville. Connor looked back at his book to avoid eye contact. And Neville took no notice of him as he sat next to his friend, Christian.

The bell rang, but the students kept chatting or playing on their phones. Heads turned as the door opened. Connor's double-take at the woman nearly gave him whiplash. Her blonde hair was braided and swayed along with her beautiful dress and gold necklace. You'd never guess that she ate pizza late at night.

Stephanie? Connor thought.

"Good morning, class. I'm your physics teacher, Miss Saunders." She turned to grab a marker and paused as she spotted Connor's stare. She smiled back at him and began writing on the board.

Whoa, Connor pulled his book out, trying to be cool about the coincidence.

Knock knock.

Heads turned again in unison, Stephanie included. A young girl with short, long-waved short hair and brown skin lowered her hand from the door frame and stepped in.

"Hi, Miss Saunders?" she said. "I'm Teresa. I'm new."

They stared at one another awkwardly. For those two, they just negotiated a silent mutual understanding.

"I'm new as well. Please sit anywhere."

Teresa walked down all the rows of desks, drawing attention to herself with her sundress swaying and hair bobbing. Twenty-five pairs of eyes followed her, and Connor watched as well as she was about to sit down at another table—nope, she sat right next to him.