I raised a brow as the dog wiggled his tail and walked away with the girl. I think I did see a smiley, and it looked awfully familiar. I wouldn't confuse it with anything else, I'm pretty sure.

I entered the house pretty much lost in my own thoughts. Yet they almost got vanished when I saw Clay with plastic bags over his feet. What is wrong with him..

"What the fuck is that?" I laughed, cringing at the crinkling sound as he walked.

"Protection," he looked excessively proud of his creation, "from the worms."

"I told him to use condoms, he didn't listen." Nick shrugged.

"It wouldn't fit!" Clay raised his voice and I saw a smirk appear on his face before he continued his sentence, "My feet are too small for the condoms I use."

Me and George literally almost gagged at what he said, yet Nick found it hilarious. And as they all engaged in a conversation, my eyes caught the lizard that was somewhy sitting in a bowl of water.

George noticed my confused face expression and cared to explain. Yet the explanation was something I'd rather not hear.

"She ate too much, and the warm water is supposed to help her not get constipated."

Never in my life would I think a constipated lizard would be in the book of my problems. Yet here we are. Waiting for it to shit in the water.

I nodded with a displeased face, seeing him get back to the previous conversation all three of them were having. That made me isolate myself in the bubble of my own thoughts once again, trying to resurface the look of the top the dog was wearing and make sure I've seen it correctly before saying anything to them.

And seemingly I got too carried away, not reacting to the mentions of my own name when Clay tried to talk to me.

"Eliza!" He raised his voice, calling me by my full name probably cause he thought I didn't react cause me and the lizard shared the same name.

"Yeah?" The train of my thoughts broke apart immediately.

"What's wrong?" His voice was so much softer now that he got a reaction out of me.

There was no point in hiding the reason behind my strange demeanor. Even if the smiley was a result of hallucinating, I think there might be a connection between all the late night barking we'd been having going on and the dog that girl had.

"I was just thinking," I shook my head, "does anyone other than your family have your address?"

Clay frowned. And even the conversation between George and Nick froze for a second.

"What do you mean by anyone?" He tilted his head.

"There was a girl with a dog outside your house. And the dog was wearing dream merch I think?" My voice got up in pitch a little bit at the end of my sentence from uncertainty.

But seeing that his expressions still stayed confused rather than scared or in realization, I got a bit relieved.

"I don't know anyone I don't trust that has my address." He shook his head, "Only family and very close friends."

"Is someone stalking us?" George's face clouded up.

"What.. what are the chances of a stalker finding my house?" Clay was back with his analytical thinking.

"I don't know, pretty high turns out." George shrugged and an argument sparked between the two.

Soon their voices turned to background noise when I noticed that Nick was way too silent the whole time. I looked at him and there was something worrying about his stare that wasn't even directed at something that was attention worthy. He was just looking. Without even blinking once.

Using the opportunity of having Clay and George enclosed by their own arguments in the heated conversation they were having, I got up and tapped Nick's shoulder. Walking towards the kitchen, I was hoping that he'd get the hint and follow me.

Fortunately he did get it this time. And even when we were away from their voices, Nick still looked noticeably anxious, which made me speak without even thinking twice about it.

"What did you do?" I made sure to make my voice hearable only to him.

"I'm just paranoid, it's fine." He tried to shake it off.

"Paranoid about what?" I continued putting pressure on him, knowing damn well that he was hiding something.

I really thought he'd put on a fight and end up not telling me anything about what was bothering him. But he gave in easily, which was probably because his secret really did bother him alot and the pressure of it was too much to handle alone.

"Remember when I would leave pretty often during the time I was looking for a house?" Nick spoke hurriedly.

"I do." I raised a brow, waiting for the rest of the flashback.

"I know I'm gonna sound crazy, but I swear I saw a girl follow me back here a few times. I thought I was going crazy, but I don't know anymore."

When he said he thought he's going crazy, I started to relate to him. I had no idea if the smiley face I saw was really there or if was just a plot of my imagination.

"Did she have a dog with her?" I asked.

"No..? No, I don't think so." Nick narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.

"Did she have red hair?" I was trying to recall the most dominant features the girl had.

"How am I supposed to remember? I don't know, I barely even looked at her," Nick complained, "all a saw was a female following me. Made me feel pretty good at first, I thought I was getting ladies, but I don't know.."

I sighed, tired of the conversation even though it had just started. I'm sure it's all just a coincidence and the smiley face was just the dog's white fur on the black fabric. It could happen, right?

If anything, we should be relieved that it was just a girl walking her dog and not a maniac trying to hunt us down and kill us. Besides, I doubt she will ever come back again. The little rendezvous between us was a little bit too awkward and unpleasant to happen again.