“...Colby?”
Now alone, Cheddar Biscuit felt her stomach begin to sink. Did something happen to him? Was he just off for a morning walk? Surely, he wouldn’t have…
Cheddar shook her head, trying not to jump to conclusions. This was Colby, there’s no way he’d just abandon her like that. Rather than worry herself, she decided it would be best to just take it easy for a moment and wait.
“Just wait. He’ll be back soon! Just… wait.”
She laid down on the grass, and she waited as she watched the clouds slowly passing overhead.
She waited…
and waited…
and waited.
By the time the sun had risen past its peak in the sky, there still wasn’t a single sign of Colby’s return. Cheddar was done waiting. The more she thought about it, the memories of what they did last night, it seemed so obvious to her now what kind of dog Colby really was.
Cheddar Biscuit’s fists clenched harder than they ever had before. She had never felt so angry in her entire life, and it wasn’t easy to make her angry. After everything she did for him, and after everything they had been through together… the way her family took him in only two days ago…
She finally stood up from the grass soaked with her tears. She looked at the car she had given him, now with nothing but disdain for it in her heart.
“And he didn’t even have the courtesy to take the car…” She grumbled, her chest still trembling with a mixture of sadness and hatred unlike anything she’d ever felt before. “So I guess him liking it was a lie too, huh…”
“That son of a… BITCH!” Cheddar snarled loudly, the hair on her back raised in fury as she kicked the bumper of the car with her foot as hard as she could - which she immediately regretted.
“OW!”
What Cheddar didn’t realize was that she had managed to kick the car so hard that she accidentally knocked an envelope on the seat onto the floor below. All she could do at the moment was curl up in a ball with her paws massaging her aching foot… and cry. The tears seemed to keep coming endlessly as the times she and Colby spent together played on repeat in her mind. The dates, the fetchball games, his attendance at her shows, the time he’d spent getting to know her family… was it all just a joke to him? Just some kind of game to toy with her feelings until she’d finally ‘put out’?
Cheddar Biscuit cursed herself for foolishly giving away her virginity to him, of all dogs.
Grandpaw and Grandmaw were confused to say the least when Cheddar Biscuit finally drove Colby’s birthday present into the garage alone at three o’clock in the afternoon the day after the party with a scowl on her face. She had driven around Pawston for hours for any sign of him, but no matter who she asked, none of them had seen the yellow Labrador all day. It was like he had completely disappeared off the face of the earth.
“Cheddar Biscuit?” Grandmaw was the first to speak when Cheddar came to a stop in an empty spot in the garage, unbuckling her seatbelt before hopping out grumpily. “You and Colby disappeared from the party and never came home last night, is everything okay? Your Maw said not to worry, but you know how Grandmaws are.”
‘So my family hasn’t seen him either. He must’ve skipped town entirely.’
“I don’t want to hear his name right now, Grandmaw. Or ever again! And I’m so sick of everyone in this family always treating me like a helpless puppy!” Cheddar bared her teeth, though she immediately regretted it when she noticed the hurt expression on her grandmaw’s face and the look of scorn on her grandpaw’s. She wiped her eyes as they were starting to feel wet again. “I-I’m so sorry, Grandmaw. I didn’t mean it like that. Now’s just… a really bad time…”
“Can you just… tell us what happened, Cheddar?” Grandpaw’s angry expression disappeared, replaced with one of sympathy as he reached out and placed a paw on his granddaughter’s shoulder. “Maybe there’s somethin’ we can do we can help.”
“There’s nothing to help, Grandpaw.” Cheddar replied somberly, gently lifting his paw off of her before turning away and heading for the door with a sigh. “Just don’t expect to see Co- him, around anymore. He left. You can just scrap the car for parts if you want, since apparently no one’s gonna be needing it. I knew it was a piece of junk all along, anyway...”
Cheddar Biscuit left as well, disappearing around the corner as she returned home next door.
For a moment, Marge and Mort stood together in a stunned silence, looking at the competent car Cheddar had built.
“This just doesn’t make any sense…” Marge finally spoke, her paws on her hips as she was racking her brain. “Colby was a good boy, I know it. I had a good feeling about those two, Mort. Like it was meant to be.”
“Yeah, I hear ya, Marge…” Mort took off his cap and scratched his head before taking a wrench from the table. “But sometimes… maybe it’s not always meant to be.”
Cheddar entered the front door and headed for the kitchen, her hunger finally catching up with her as she hadn’t eaten anything all day. She turned the corner and sighed when she entered to find her parents at the table, casually watching a video together on Maw’s smartbone before looking up at her.
“Hey, Cheddar Biscuit! How was your night?” Maw asked with an innocent tone, but the coy expression on her face told Cheddar that she knew exactly what really happened after they left the party.
‘Great, now I have to break the news to them, too…’
“Well, he… he’s not coming back.” Was all Cheddar could manage to say as the tears returned again.
“What?! What happened?” Her parents both asked in unison as they instantly stood up from the table, their hearts skipping a beat as their first immediate assumption was that Cheddar was implying that Colby somehow died.
“He… skipped town.” As their daughter said this, Maw and Paw’s hearts settled a bit, though there was little solace in this news either.
“But… why would Colby do that?” Maw asked herself aloud, trying to think of a reasonable explanation or some kind of misunderstanding. Cheddar sniffled, having never felt so pathetic and vulnerable before.
“I guess he… got what he wanted from me.” The little white Beagador covered her face with her paws in shame as she softly cried into them in front of her parents.
“Got what he… o-oh.” Her suspicions confirmed, Maw circled the table to embrace her daughter, petting the top of her head in an effort to comfort her. “I’m so sorry sweetie… you’ll be okay…”
Paw, however, stood up from the table and silently looked out the kitchen window above the sink. His teeth began to show in an uncharacteristic snarl the more he thought about anyone hurting his little girl. Especially someone he trusted. Someone he cared for as if they were his own son.
*SLAM*
Maw and Cheddar made a startled jump as Paw’s clenched fist loudly smacked the kitchen counter, rattling a few dirty dishes still in the sink.
“...Paw?” Cheddar asked, having never seen her dad this furious for as long as he could remember. He was always the most-happy-go-lucky one in the whole family; she couldn’t recall a single moment when he wasn’t smiling.
Paw clenched the edge of the sink with his paws, his eyes closed as he took several slow and deep breaths. After the third breath, he finally let go of the sink and turned back to Cheddar before approaching her in a hug.
“Sorry about that, girls. I didn’t mean for you to see that.” Paw let out one more deep breath to vent any remaining anger as he and Maw held their daughter together. “I’ll always be there for you, Cheddar. Always.”
After several silent minutes, the three finally broke the hug.
“Do you want us to make you something to eat, Cheddar? Anything you want.” Maw tried her best to put on a happy face to cheer her little girl up, but it was no use.
“Sorry, Mom. I… I don’t really feel like eating anymore,” she replied before leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs. All Cheddar Biscuit wanted to do right now was wallow in her own self-pity.
Several hours later, Tag slowly opened the door of the dimly lit bedroom to find her big sister lying on her usual spot on top of the family bed’s headboard and facing the wall. She could hear the sound of the somber kazoo music Cheddar was listlessly humming into the little piece of plastic from down the hall.
“Hey… Cheddar Biscuit?” she asked quietly, hating to see her usually funny and silly sister like this.
The music stopped, but Cheddar didn’t say anything.
“You… don’t have to do my chores anymore… okay?” Tag continued, giving her sympathy for what happened as Maw and Paw had gotten her up to speed earlier.
“...Thanks, Tag.” Cheddar finally responded after a faint but audible sigh.
“I’m… sorry about what happened.” Tag felt tears coming, as she was also sad that Colby was gone. Although she had only known him for a month, it already felt like she had lost a big brother. She couldn’t believe he’d ever abandon them. Not after what he’d said to her. “M-maybe Colby didn’t run away. Maybe he just -”
“Tag. Enough.”
“Okay. I’m sorry,” Tag sniffled, taking a small step back out of the doorway.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
“...Cheddar?” Tag spoke up again after a few more moments of silence, not moving from her spot.
“Yeah?” Cheddar kept staring at the bone-patterned wallpaper inches in front of her as her foot swung idly off the side of the headboard.
“...I love you.”
“...I love you too, sis,” Cheddar sighed despondently.
There was yet another long and awkward silence. Tag knew she wasn’t very good at this kind of thing; it wasn’t often where she’d ever see someone so utterly heartbroken that it seemed like nothing could make them feel better.
‘If I was sad, what would Cheddar Biscuit do… she’s the one who’s always cheering everyone up when they need it.’ Tag thought to herself. Suddenly, a light went off in her head - she just hoped that this spontaneous idea of hers might work. Without a word, she left the room and went straight downstairs to the kitchen, taking a spare pie tin from the lower cupboard and filling it with canned whipped cream she had found in the fridge. “If there’s anything I know Cheddar Biscuit likes, it’s clowning around!” She said to herself before grabbing one of Cheddar’s many clown-noses from the junk drawer and placing it on her face, returning upstairs to find her sister hadn’t moved so much as an inch from her spot.
“Hey Cheddar! Look at me!” Tag called to her sister, commanding her attention with a honk of her red nose. When Cheddar turned her head, she saw her sister standing at the edge of the bed with a cream pie in her paws and a clown-nose on her face. Tag tossed the pie several feet up into the air, landing it cream side-down squarely on her own face and covering it in white sugary goop before removing the pie tin. “Ta-da!” Tag said with enthusiasm with a honk of her cream-covered nose.
Cheddar Biscuit was in a stunned silence; by pure coincidence, Tag had just done the same thing for her as Cheddar had done for their mom so many years ago.
She got off the headboard, a small smile finally returning to her face wet with tears as she gave Tag a tight hug. She was getting whipped cream all over her shoulder and cheek, but she didn’t care.
“Thank you, Tag… thank you so much for that.” Cheddar began to laugh a little at the way she and her little sister were alike, with Tag returning her hug.
“So you’re happy again?” Tag’s tail began to wag as she licked the excess cream off her lips.
“Well… maybe not ‘happy’, but… I do feel better.” Cheddar finally broke the hug, giving Tag a sisterly kiss on her cream-coated cheek.
“By the way, Cheddar, don’t you have a show tonight?” Tag asked, suddenly remembering what day it was.
“Oh, yeah…” Cheddar looked away, thinking for a moment. “I was going to just have tonight’s performance canceled, but… maybe you’re right. The show must go on.” She quoted as she faked a smile, though inside she wondered if she’d even have it in her to put on an act tonight - not a circus act, but an emotional one.
“Ladies and gentledogs, prepare yourselves for a show the likes of which you have never seen before!”
As Muttfield gave his opening speech in his usual bravado, Cheddar sighed to herself from backstage. Even now, she still couldn’t help but feel anything other than disgruntled and irritable as her fellow clowns were called onto the stage. Everything about being here reminded her of him - this was where she met him, after all. Where they had so many dates together. Where he’d watch her rehearsals and performances from the audience. It all felt like such a waste of her time and energy now, thinking back on it.
“...And last, but certainly not least, introducing the one, the only, the amaaazing Cheddaaar Biscuiiit!”
The crowd cheered as Cheddar unicycled out onto the stage, though the cheers slowly became quieter and quieter as she did so with no visible sense of whimsy or silliness in her whatsoever. Every movement she made was apathetic and uninterested, like she clearly wanted to be anywhere but here right now.
The rest of the show didn’t fare any better, and the crowd was eerily silent as the clowns performed their acts accompanied by the song played on the old-timey tack piano in 3/8ths-time. Every time Cheddar unenthusiastically blew up a balloon animal, she would only remember the unicorn she made for Colby and intentionally pop it with a needle. When Cheddar put a cannonball into the cannon, she tilted it back out onto the ground anticlimactically with her foot before it even had the chance to be fired, with the confetti firing straight onto the ground as well. Whenever she did any kind of pogo-sticking or trampolining, she simply jumped several inches off the ground in place with no effort or motivation to do any tricks of any kind. And to top it all off, when the time came for her big finale on the tightrope, she rolled to the middle and slowly juggled each torch one… at… a time.
“Ta-da.” She said flatly before rolling her unicycle back off the tightrope and returning down the long ladder.
The entire tent was so quiet that crickets could be heard, quite literally so.
“...I didn’t like any of that!” cried one random dog in the audience, followed by the sound of growing boos from many others as Cheddar left the stage before the curtain-call. She had wanted so badly to put on a normal fun-filled show, but she just didn’t have the strength to give it her all tonight, or even her half. She just wanted to go back home.
Mort and Marge entered the Barker house to find Cheddar Biscuit at the kitchen table with her head resting on her folded arms as she moped in solitude.
“Hey, Cheddar…” Mort gently rested a paw on her back. “We, uh…”
“We saw your show tonight,” Marge finished her husband’s thought. “We promise we haven’t looked at what’s inside, but… we think this is for you.” She handed her granddaughter an envelope simply labeled ‘Cheddar Biscuit’. It was written in Colby’s handwriting, which Cheddar recognized instantly.
“Wh-where did you get this?” she asked nervously, taking the envelope from her grandmaw and inspecting it closer.
“We found it on the seat of the car you built for Co- I mean, him,” Marge corrected herself. “We were going to give it to you sooner, but we figured you might need some space after what happened. But after seeing your, uh, interesting show tonight, well… maybe you should find out what it says. At least you might be able to get some closure.”
“Yeah… thanks…” Cheddar gave her grandparents a weak smile as they gave her a supportive pat on the back before retiring to the living room with Paw and Maw for the night.
Cheddar stared at the envelope as she sat at the kitchen table. She stared at it for a long time, a carousel of emotions constantly spinning in her mind.
“...Gimme a break.” She finally scoffed angrily, ripping the envelope in half before crumpling up the two pieces together and throwing them in the trash can by the counter. If he had something to say to her, then he should have said it to her in-person. Nothing he could write to her would be a good excuse for what he did, she thought.
Nothing.
Cheddar Biscuit shook her head in silent fury, looking away from the can. She swung her legs back and forth absentmindedly from the chair, her feet unable to reach the floor with her short stature. The kitchen clock was ticking. Ticking. Ticking.
She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know what was in that envelope. Cheddar quickly stood up from her chair, rushing to the trash can and taking the ball of paper before returning to the table and unfolding it. She took out the ripped halves of paper from inside, pressing them flat and piecing them together. As she did, she noticed she could see small wrinkled dots scattered across the paper, like they had been wet. She began to read.
Cheddar Biscuit,
I really don’t know how to begin this letter. There’s so much I want to tell you, but I don’t have enough paper or time. Everyone says that I saved you that day we first met, but it was really you who saved me. You brought my laughter back, and I’ll be forever grateful for that. You always had a way of making me smile, and before meeting you I thought I would never smile again.
I wish I could be a Barker, but I know now that I can’t. I only ever end up hurting the ones I love. I can’t make you go through that. I’m going away forever, somewhere I’ll never be a danger to anyone ever again. I’m going to miss you. All of you.
Tell Grandpaw I loved listening to his stories, and Grandmaw that she rides a sick motorcycle wheelie. I want Maw to know that I loved her cooking, and Paw that his doorbells are really cool. Make sure Spike stays safe out in space, it can be deadly up there. Tell Gilber I think his stick collection is awesome, and Tag that I know she’s going to be the fastest racer of all time. And I’m sure Yip won’t remember me when he’s older, but I’m positive he’ll grow up to be as amazing and loving as the rest of you Barkers.
I love Pawston, I love your family, and
I love you.
I really wish I had told you that sooner.
I’ll never forget you. But I want need you to forget about me. Keep living a happy life without me, even if I can’t live one without you. You’ll be okay.
There’s a lot of things I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand about this world, but one thing I do know is that in this whole weird universe,
you are the only thing that makes any sense to me.
Please, don’t come looking for me.
Love,
Colby Barker
A tear fell on the paper, followed by more as they began mixing into the dried tear stains already left on the letter from the night before. Cheddar Biscuit kept reading one phrase in particular over and over again:
‘You are the only thing that makes any sense to me.’
The Barkers turned their heads as they sat on the couch watching the television together when they noticed Cheddar Biscuit holding two torn pieces of paper in the doorway and softly crying.
“Cheddar?” Grandmaw stood up from the couch, ready to comfort her granddaughter if she needed it. “So, what did the letter say?”
“Colby… he…” Cheddar sniffled. She wasn’t sure if she was crying tears of happiness or sadness anymore. “He loves me. He loves all of us.”
“Well then what’re you standin’ here talkin’ to us for?! Go after him! Go, dog! GO!” Marge pointed in the direction of the front door.
“Y-yeah! I’ll just-” Cheddar turned around as her tail began to wag, but stopped before she could even leave the doorway, her tail drooping again. “No… I can’t. He… he said not to go looking for him.”
“May I see the letter?” Her grandmother asked as she came to her side, and the rest of her family soon curiously huddled around Cheddar as well.
“Uh… sure.” Cheddar handed her the partially-damp halves of ripped paper, and Grandmaw began to quickly scroll through it with the others peering over from behind.
“...Colby wants you to go after him.” Marge finally stated after a moment of silence, handing the letter back to Cheddar.
“What? Grandmaw, what do you mean? How can you be sure?” Cheddar asked, looking up at her with the faintest bit of hope still left in her eyes.
“Ya gotta read between the lines, kiddo.” As Marge said this, Cheddar squinted at the papers, rotating them left and right as if to look for some kind of secret hidden code.
“‘Between the lines’?”
“Not literally, but look. The way he signed his name.” Grandmaw pointed to the bottom of the paper that read…
“...Colby Barker.” Cheddar said aloud, starting to understand what her grandmaw was trying to say. “He still considers himself a Barker!”
“And do you really think he would have written such a heartfelt letter if he wanted you to forget him that badly? If he actually wanted you to forget about him, he would have told you to go f-” Marge stopped herself as she glanced at her grandpups Tag and Gilber, who were standing right beside them. “...bark up another tree. So forget all that ‘if you love someone, let them go’ nonsense, it’s all a bunch of hooey. You need to fight for the ones you love.”
“Well… you do make a good point…” Cheddar took a deep breath to focus her thoughts and feelings about all these new revelations. She had made her decision. “...Okay. I’m going to go find him.”
“That’s my girl.” Grandmaw and the rest of the Barkers wrapped Cheddar in a big family hug. “We'll all head out first thing in the morning.”
“We can take the blimp, we’ll cover more ground that way.” Maw added confidently with a nod of agreement from the others.
“N…no. I should go find him now. He’s out there somewhere, Mom. All alone.” Cheddar Biscuit shook her head, turning to face the doorway. With her faith in Colby now restored, she felt she needed to do whatever it took to make things right again. “I have to do this on my own.”
“Are you sure, Cheddar? It’s already pretty late.” Paw looked out the window, pointing out that it was already completely dark outside. “And it might be hard to find him in the dark like this.”
“Do you have any idea where he might even be?” Grandmaw asked, to which Cheddar thought for a moment before shaking her head again.
“Not that I can think of… but I have to try. He didn’t take the car, so he couldn't have gone too far...” Cheddar’s heart sank when she remembered she had asked her grandparents to dismantle the car she had built for him. “The car!”
“-is perfectly fine.” Grandpaw gave her a reassuring smile. “We took a bit of it apart, but as soon as we saw that envelope on the floor, we figured you might need it in one piece, so we put it back together. With a little… ahem, tinkering, that is.”
“Your grandpaw and those rocket-boosters.” Grandmaw rolled her eyes with a smirk as she lightly nudged her husband.
“Oh, like you’re not the one who suggested ‘em in the first place!” Mort nudged his wife back playfully.
“Thanks, Grandmaw and Grandpaw.” Cheddar sighed a breath of relief as she looked back to the front door. “I have to go now. I have to find Colby.”
“Well, okay Cheddar.” Maw said as she gave her little circus star another motherly hug. “But promise that you’ll drive safely, and when you’re tired you make sure to stop and get some sleep. Keep your cellbone handy, and if anything happens you can always call us for help.” She gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Now go bring our Colby back. Tell him the Barker family’s not the same without him.”
“Okay, Mom. I will.”
Cheddar’s eyelids drooped a little as she stared at the dotted yellow lines on the road passing her by. Now that she was on the road, she didn’t actually know how to go about looking for Colby. Her Paw was right; it was very dark out. And she had absolutely no idea if she was even going in the right direction. Her eyelids drooped again.
‘I can’t… stay awake… much longer…’ She thought to herself as she pulled over to the side of the road, already having somewhat regretted her decision to be so hasty. But she knew it was better to arrive late than to never arrive at all, as the saying went, so she reluctantly rested on her side in the car seat and began to drift off to sleep.
“I love being high up like this. All of life’s problems seem so much smaller from up here.”
Cheddar Biscuit heard memories of Colby’s voice vividly as she began to dream. She found herself sitting on top of her mom’s giant yellow blimp again, with Colby sitting next to her and looking far off into the distance as his arm wrapped gently around her waist. “The world looks more colorful from up here.”
Cheddar opened her mouth, but nothing would come out when she tried to speak. When she blinked, they were suddenly flying close to a large mountain dotted with glittering pink crystals that shined like diamonds in the sun.
“Pink Peak, the mountain that’s covered in the sweetest pink sugar-rocks in the whole world,” Colby said as he looked at the mountain.
Cheddar tried to respond again, but she was still completely mute. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him too, but it felt like her voice had been taken from her as punishment for not saying it sooner. And now, she might never get to tell him. Instead, she simply nodded in response to his question. Colby finally turned to look at her, his head leaning in closer.
“Reminds me of you. Sweet… like… sugar…”
Cheddar Biscuit awoke just when she felt Colby’s lips press against hers, but as soon as her eyes opened… he was gone. She sat up in the car, tiredly squinting her eyes as the rising sun shone in her face; it was morning. As she remembered her dream, she let out a loud gasp and immediately turned on the engine.
“I think I know where Colby is...”
“...I just hope I’m right.” Cheddar muttered to herself as the base of Pink Peak was getting closer and closer. She had no guarantee he would even be here as it was nothing more than a hunch, but something about her dream strongly felt like it was giving her a sign, as if fate itself was trying to guide her in the right direction. And Cheddar Biscuit was one to believe in fate.
When she finally reached the base of the mountain, she parked the car on the flat ground and hopped out; she knew there was no way it would make it up the steep incline without overheating the engine.
And so, the little white circus dog began the long climb to the top. She ran uphill for as long as she physically could, picturing Colby potentially at the top as her one and only goal. Her finish line. Even when her legs and lungs were screaming at her to stop running, she kept on pushing forward as though her life - a lifetime of happiness - depended on it. The more Cheddar Biscuit thought about how much she needed to see him again, the more she was sure that Colby was the only dog she would ever love.
Higher and higher still up the mountain she went, passing by more and more giant pink sugar crystals as she approached the snowy summit. She began to shiver at the rapidly-cooling temperature as she climbed up the vertical rocky walls even higher in altitude towards the peak.
Suddenly, Cheddar’s heart skipped a beat when she heard a faint but familiar sound from the top.
*Honk-HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-Honk*
It was the sound of the doorbell her dad had given Colby before their first real date.
She forced her small legs and arms to move with all her might as she scaled the rocks even faster, eventually pulling herself up to the very apex of the pink sugar-dusted mountain. She heard the noise again, looking up to see a familiar yellow dog with brown hair facing the other side of the mountain as he stood alone, holding a small horn-shaped doorbell in his head as he looked down at it.
*Honk-HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-Honk*
Cheddar Biscuit’s tears of joy froze against her white cheeks as she stood up, her weak legs wobbling slightly beneath her as she panted heavily.
“Colby… Colby…” She exhaustedly spoke between breaths with determination, and Colby turned around in surprise - with tears on his face as well.
“...I told you not to come looking for me, Cheddar...” He finally said after a brief pause.
Cheddar Biscuit’s brows furrowed a little, but she said nothing as she still struggled to catch her breath.
“...But I’m so glad you did.” Colby ran to her, picking her up in his arms in a tight hug and lovingly swinging her back and forth as they softly cried together before planting a warm kiss on her cold back lips.
“Did you mean what you said? In your note?” Cheddar Biscuit asked, breaking the kiss as she looked deeply into Colby’s green eyes and hoping to hear him say three certain special words in-person.
“Every word. I…” Colby swallowed as he set her back down, his mouth suddenly feeling as dry as a desert. He knew exactly what she wanted to hear.
“...I love you, Cheddar Biscuit.”
“Say it again.” Cheddar replied as she looked up at him. She had chased him up an entire mountain to hear him say it, so now she was going to make him work a little to hear it back from her. “I need to know that you mean it this time.”
“I love you. I love you. I love you. I LOVE you. I lo-”
Cheddar Biscuit suddenly silenced him with another kiss as she lept back up into his embrace, this one even more passionate than the last. The warmth of their lips set their hearts on fire amid the frozen wind, her tongue greeting his in a slow and loving reunion; he’d earned her forgiveness ten times over.
“I love you too, Colby.” She responded as their lips parted momentarily, and the kiss resumed once again.
“You kept the doorbell.” Cheddar pointed out with a tearful chuckle once their kiss had finally ended, and he set her back down.
“Yeah… it got me thinking about what your dad had said when he gave it to me.” Colby looked down at it in his paw again. “That I’m…”
“A hero.” Cheddar finished his sentence. “My hero. The only reason you left… it’s because I told you that you were the reason I fell, wasn’t it?”
Colby only nodded in shame and regret.
“I didn’t want to give the impression that I was blaming you.” Cheddar pulled Colby down by his wrists to her head, tilting her head down and pressing her forehead against his. “I was really thanking you. Whether you were the reason I fell or not, the whole reason we met is because you’re still the one who saved me. That’s what matters.”
“I’m so sorry, Cheddar… I didn’t want to leave you all, but…” Colby wiped his eyes. “You have no idea how terrifying it is for me to let myself love anyone again. To let myself feel safe. I felt like a dog chasing a car - always pursuing happiness, but not sure what I’d do with it even if I caught up to it. If anything bad ever happened to you because of me… I could never live with myself. I was scared. I was broken. I was alone for so long… but I’m tired of being alone. I’m tired of running. Tired of having nowhere to belong.”
“You’re never going to be alone again, Colby. Not if I have any say in it.” Cheddar Biscuit said before she gave him another kiss. “The Barker family isn’t the same without you. We love you - I love you - and that love… it’s unconditional.” She wrapped her arms around him in an embrace.
“We are where you belong. You don’t have to run anymore.”
Colby broke down and wept into Cheddar’s shoulder as she rubbed his back with her paw. He never realized just how badly he needed to hear that.
“Please, promise me you’ll never leave us again. Okay?” Cheddar rubbed her cheek against the side of Colby’s head affectionately, feeling so grateful that they were together again. “Don’t ever make me live a future without you in it.”
“I promise.”
Hardly a minute had passed as they resumed their kiss before Cheddar Biscuit began to feel an intense chill as the cold wind hit her from her back. “Now can we please get out of here? How are you not freezing to death?!”
“Oh, I don’t get cold.” Colby showed her his paw as he casually emitted little neon-green sparks from his fingertips. “Plasma.”
“Oh, right… you’re gonna have to explain that one to me later.” Cheddar smiled weakly as she took his paw, already feeling his warmth as they began to leave the icy mountain top.
“I’ll tell you everything, when we have the time. It’s a long story.” Colby looked at Cheddar Biscuit, holding her smaller paw in his. “By the way, how’d you know I’d even be up here?”
“...Destiny showed me the way.” Cheddar replied with a smile.
With that, they returned to the Barker house, and everything was going to be okay.
The dog from another universe finally found a place where he belonged. Where he could finally feel safe.
Colby Barker was home.
