Chapter 1

"Hey Mittens." The white shepherd found the cat stretching in her bed located next to the sofa in the living room. It was a warm, late summer morning and sun was out bright and early.

"Good morning, Bolt," she yawned before beginning to groom herself.

"I uh, need to ask you something-" he hesitated. Mittens caught him looking down at his paws while he sat. Just then, they heard Penny calling for Bolt.

"Come on, Bolt! We need to get to the studio. We're going to be late!"

Only then, he finally looked at her in the eyes, "-after I get back tonight."

"Uh, okay," she gave him a soft smile, "don't forget."

Penny called again. "Right," he said, "see you later, Mittens."

Strange, the cat thought, he seemed hesitant. I wonder…

Bolt felt preoccupied with his thoughts the whole day. He actually ended up missing some of his marks at the studio because he was so distracted. His plan was to ask Mittens to get it over with, but he psyched himself out of it. Now it was going to bother him for the rest of the day, not that it wasn't bothering him all week already.

Bolt sat outside on the front porch staring up at the moon, lost in his divided thoughts. A part of him was hiding from Mittens or at least hoping she had forgotten by now that he was going to ask her something. He felt silly and stupid for even thinking about it and still kept trying to talk himself out of it. Yet, at the same time, another part of him kept telling himself to just ask her. He didn't have much to lose. Either way, he didn't understand why he was so discombobulated with all of this.

"Bolt?" A voice surprised him and caused him to jump. He was so deep into his thoughts he didn't even hear the cat approach him.

"H-hey Mittens. You startled me." He turned to look at her and saw her grin and laugh softly.

"Why? It's just me," she joked. "How was the studio today?"

Bolt breathed out a brief feeling of relief. Maybe she did forget. "It was okay."

"Just 'okay'? There must have been something that was interesting. Hey, that reminds me, what did you want to ask me tonight?"

Bolt suddenly felt his heart beat faster as he had a mini panic attack. "Oh, I… uh-". He looked looked down to his paws. He didn't have a backup plan for this. What does he do? Should he just ask her? Was he going to make something else up? He failed to think of anything on the spot. Suddenly, he realized he was taking too long to make a decision and he probably looked like an idiot anyway just sitting there and not saying anything.

"Well? What is it?" Mittens couldn't help smiling as she knew he was hesitating again, whatever it was he wanted to ask.

He looked up again with a slight frown. "It's nothing."

"Oh, come on. I know you're lying, Bolt. I promise I won't get mad," she tried encouraging him. What is it that can be so hard to ask?

"Well…" It looks like there was no way out of it now. "Will you…-" he paused when he tried looking in her eyes. He felt himself lost in her gaze and then he realized he couldn't look at her while he asked. He looked down to his paws again. "-go on a… date with me?" He only then realized how fast his heart was beating, and he was sure he was blushing. He stopped breathing as he suddenly forgot how while he waited for the cat to respond. Then he heard Mittens giggling to herself.

"You dumb dog," she rushed up to hug him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She squeezed in tightly to him and it took Bolt a few seconds to realize he should hug back. He felt slightly out of it, but he hugged back tightly, wrapping his arms under hers. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, but it felt amazing, unlike anything he felt before.

"Of course, I'll go on a date with you. But, why ask now? I mean we see each other every day already and we already do a lot of things together."

"I know, but…" The dog hesitated again and Mittens hated it.

"Why are you so scared to tell me things sometimes?" She teased. "You should just always tell me what's on your mind."

"It's just… you mean a lot to me Mittens and I want to show you how special you are to me." Mittens suddenly felt herself blushing.

"Well," she whispered, "I can't wait then."