For Someone Else - original fiction
Jul. 17th, 2009 12:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libra_travellerFor Someone Else
People aim to please. They don’t always intend that bit of work for their neighbors or coworkers. Sometimes it’s for family. But people always aim to please themselves. They choose a career if not for satisfaction than for the money or convenience. Even those people they fall in love with, they stick around at first because they like how they feel around them. I’m not saying that there aren’t selfless acts, just that most choices and daily activity are self-centered. Which is why it completely threw me when my girlfriend bought me a puppy.
We live together and she absolutely hates dogs. Not only is she slightly allergic to them, but she can’t stand how needy and affectionate they are. Her grandparents had a dog and she couldn’t stand visiting them for that very reason.
I know that I made a fuss about wanting a dog, probably to the point of harassment. I had doggy calendars in my office at home. I would ooh and ah at every dog I passed on the street. But I never begged her for one. I accepted that it was something she wasn’t interested in and I loved her more than the chance of having a pet. I’d long ago gotten used to that dream never happening after years of pleading with my parents.
As the little darling jumped about in my lap I gazed at my beautiful caring girl and wondered foolishly if this was it. I was afraid she was giving me this pet as a goodbye gift. Or worse worried that I had somehow made her feel so insecure in our relationship that she felt she had to give me this as a peace offering.
I desperately wanted to accept the gift at face value. To believe that she just wanted to make me happy. But how could I when I knew it would just make her miserable. But she was smiling at me and the dog was so cute. So I made a compromise. I told her first that I loved her and we could try owing this pet for a few months. And if in the end she didn’t love having him in our home, we’d find someone else to take him in.
She told me I was being silly, but kissed me and agreed. I suppose that when it comes to pleasing the person you love, it’s only right that that person hopes to please you as well.
People aim to please. They don’t always intend that bit of work for their neighbors or coworkers. Sometimes it’s for family. But people always aim to please themselves. They choose a career if not for satisfaction than for the money or convenience. Even those people they fall in love with, they stick around at first because they like how they feel around them. I’m not saying that there aren’t selfless acts, just that most choices and daily activity are self-centered. Which is why it completely threw me when my girlfriend bought me a puppy.
We live together and she absolutely hates dogs. Not only is she slightly allergic to them, but she can’t stand how needy and affectionate they are. Her grandparents had a dog and she couldn’t stand visiting them for that very reason.
I know that I made a fuss about wanting a dog, probably to the point of harassment. I had doggy calendars in my office at home. I would ooh and ah at every dog I passed on the street. But I never begged her for one. I accepted that it was something she wasn’t interested in and I loved her more than the chance of having a pet. I’d long ago gotten used to that dream never happening after years of pleading with my parents.
As the little darling jumped about in my lap I gazed at my beautiful caring girl and wondered foolishly if this was it. I was afraid she was giving me this pet as a goodbye gift. Or worse worried that I had somehow made her feel so insecure in our relationship that she felt she had to give me this as a peace offering.
I desperately wanted to accept the gift at face value. To believe that she just wanted to make me happy. But how could I when I knew it would just make her miserable. But she was smiling at me and the dog was so cute. So I made a compromise. I told her first that I loved her and we could try owing this pet for a few months. And if in the end she didn’t love having him in our home, we’d find someone else to take him in.
She told me I was being silly, but kissed me and agreed. I suppose that when it comes to pleasing the person you love, it’s only right that that person hopes to please you as well.
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no subject
on 2009-07-17 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-07-20 01:11 am (UTC)