Leo pulled back so he could look at me. Once again, his eyes were wide, but he looked surprised more than alarmed.
“Unless you don’t want to,” I added. I hadn’t planned anything for this date and maybe Leo was happy to walk and talk, but I heard that doing an activity on a first date was a better way of getting to know each other.
Not that I’d been on many first dates. Most of my previous “dates” consisted of me talking to a guy at a bar or student event, being mostly sure he wasn’t a serial killer, then taking him home to fuck.
“No,” Leo began slowly. “No, I’m happy to go. I’m not doing anything else this afternoon. I mean, apart from working on my upcoming assignment, but a puppy cafe sounds way more fun.”
“Okay,” I said, trying not to look obviously relieved.
“From memory, I’m pretty sure it’s in this direction.” Leo pointed north, and we started to make our way through the leafy campus.
“I’ll pull up the directions,” I said, fiddling with my phone.
We passed the modern languages building and continued down the brick path. Some of the bricks were engraved with the names of important alumni and donors.
“How old are you, by the way?” Leo asked.
I told him I was twenty. Leo was in his second year, like me, but he was nineteen. “I’m turning twenty this year,” he told me.
We discussed why we chose Lygon U as we left campus and made our way through a quiet suburb with a huge park and several big mansions converted into smaller apartments.
Leo admitted that a big reason why he chose to study at our university was because it was his parents’ alma mater. “They hyped it up for me, and I suppose the architecture program is pretty good too.”
I explained my own reasons.
“Lygon Uni Love Letters?” Leo echoed.
“That was only one of the reasons!” I said loudly, which did nothing to discourage his laughter. “I was obsessed with it in high school and had this delusion that university would be exactly like a rom-com. Don’t judge me, okay?”
“I’m not judging you,” Leo said. “The page is pretty entertaining to read, although I wonder whether some of the stories are fake.”
“Some probably are,” I say. “There are ones that are really outrageous.”
“I wonder if anyone’s ever actually gotten together because of the letters, though,” he says. “Some of them are so vague. Like, “dude who was at the tram stop wearing Docs and a crochet cardigan. U single?” Like, that just describes every male Arts student.”
I grin. “Maybe it’s not common, but LULL has produced relationships. People have met because of it, at the very least.”
“Really?” Leo asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “I mean, just look at us.”
Leo was silent a beat, and I noticed a tiny crease forming on his brow before I was distracted by my phone chiming.
“According to the map, our destination is on our right,” I said after glancing at the screen.
I gazed at an unassuming building; the only thing that indicated it was any different from the residential homes on either side was the sign with painted paw prints announcing it as the puppy cafe.
“That was fast,” I said and led Leo inside.
2
We were hit with the noise of chatting humans and yipping puppies when we opened the door. In the reception area, a woman wearing an apron decorated with various enamel pins of dogs welcomed us and explained that the entrance fee included one drink as well as optional snacks for the dogs.
Leo and I decided to buy the basic dog treats package to feed the puppies. Leo put his card down before I could protest.
The employee passed us a packet of dog treats and then explained the rules, including that we weren’t allowed to pick up the dogs, but they could come to us and crawl into our laps if we wanted. She also told us to take our shoes off and put them into the cubby before going into the main room and that inside, there would be a counter for us to order our drinks.
“Leo,” I murmured as we took our shoes off. “You should’ve let me pay.”
