"No, Jason! For the last time, we are NOT getting Shane a puppy for his birthday!" Nate snapped, peering through the window of a designer clothing store.

"I just think he would like one, that's all," Jason shrugged, gazing down the street.

"Why on Earth would Shane want a dog?" Nate gave his friend a weird look, before continuing to walk down the street.

"Why wouldn't he?" Jason countered, following after him.

"Well, for one, he'd never be able to take care of it, you know how irresponsible he is! The poor thing would starve! Besides, we're on the road for most of the year, so he'd never get to see it. Shane just doesn't need a dog!" Nate stated firmly, like it was the end of the matter.

"But we're going to be home for six months in a couple of days. And I know Shane would love the company!' Jason protested.

Nate turned to argue, but was distracted by his cell phone ringing. Checking the screen, his brow furrowed. "Look, I have to get back. Can you please responsible enough to buy Shane a present by yourself?"

"I'm not a child, I don't need babysitting!" Jason was a little irked by Nate's crankiness today.

Usually he didn't mind, that was just Nate going about business as usual. But lately, Nate had been having some trouble getting the label to take the new and improved Shane and Connect Three's new sound seriously, so he had practically doubled his promotional workload to accommodate for the resistance. Jason thought that was all well and good, but that didn't mean he could take his frustration out on everyone around him. Nate needed a hobby where he could release his tension. Jason had suggested Pilates, but the only response he got was that he could shove his Pilates right up his Pilat-ass.

"Okay, don't make me regret this, Jase!" Nate warned before turning on his heel and stalking back toward the direction of the hotel where the tour bus was parked.

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Jason continued to dawdle down the street, stopping to look into windows of various shops, but nothing really held his attention for more that a second.

But walking past the pet store, Jason couldn't help but stop and tap at the lazy bunnies and the flurry of birds in the windows. And as he heard a mixture of barks, yelps and woofs from inside, he completely caved. The bell on the shop door hadn't even gotten the chance to ring before he was inside looking at all the different types of puppies.

The first puppy he was drawn to was an adorable black Newfoundland. It's wagging tail and genuine friendly eyes made him practically go weak at the knees.

"Hi there!" Jason jumped as a perky sales girl popped up from behind the aquariums. "I'm Amanda! How can I help you today?"

"Well, I was thinking about getting my friend Shane a dog for his birthday," Jason smiled, absent-mindedly petting the black puppy in the enclosure.

"That's a great idea! What kind of dog?" Amanda practically bounced over to him, an enthusiastic grin spread over her face.

"Um… I'm not sure," Jason shrugged, inwardly cursing himself for forgetting that major detail.

"Well, you have to make sure you get the right dog to reflect his personality!" Amanda burbled, gesturing towards all the different puppies across the store. "Like this little guy for instance!"

Jason chuckled as Amanda pointed at the Newfoundland puppy who was gazing at him with wide brown eyes.

"Newfoundland's are intelligent, gentle and really docile, and they form strong attachments to their friends and family, and hardly ever fight. They're not very brave, but once the have their mind set on something, they're determined to succeed." Amanda ruffled the puppy's ears fondly.

"Hmm, definitely not Shane. That sounds more like his girlfriend Mitchie to me," Jason shook his head. "What else have you got?"

"Um, well, we've got this Chihuahua. They're apparently all the rage this season," Amanda picked up a fawn coloured ratty looking thing.

Jason hesitantly reached out to pet it, but it yapped at him, then took a snap at his hand. Jason squealed and drew his hand back in alarm.

Amanda laughed and put the quivering creature back with the rest of it's breed. "Or maybe not. Chihuahua's are really saucy, with a majorly pushy attitude. They're pretty adaptable, but they've been known to provoke bigger dogs to fights to prove themselves, or they just don't realise how little they really are."

"Reminds me of my friend Caitlyn. She's small, but fierce, and it would be a huge mistake to underestimate her on your part. And she always bites off more than she can chew, not that she'd ever admit it," Jason nibbled his lip thoughtfully.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Amanda chirped kindly.

"Nah, I wish!" Jason rolled his eyes and moved onto the next enclosure, wrinkling his nose as he saw the puppies inside. "What are these things?"

"Basenjis!" replied Amanda, ruffling the ears of a short-haired, odd looking puppy.

"What's a basenji?" Jason leaned forward inquisitively.

"Well," Amanda wrapped her hands around the speckled puppy and held it out towards Jason, "they're really intelligent dogs, they have superior sight and smell to most others, and they're pretty gentle and quiet, they're not a big fan of strangers. And you wanna know what's really cool about them?"

"What?" Jason's eyes lit up curiously.

"They can't bark! They don't have the rightly structured vocal cords!" Amada gushed as she rubbed the little dog's tummy as it stared at her intriguingly.

"Oh," Jason's face fell. "That isn't Shane's kind of dog at all. He's a singer, you know."

"Really? That's cool. Maybe basenji's would be the drummers of the dog world." Amanda shrugged, releasing it back into it's pen.

"Yeah, probably. I know this drummer, Andy, and he doesn't fit in to the norm, but at the end of the day, he's good at what he does, and we respect that." Jason nodded firmly.

"Awesome. Well, does Shane sound like a poodle person to you?" Amanda pointed to fuzzy little white things prancing around their corral.

"I dunno, what kinda person is a poodle person?" Jason shrugged, but he could already tell from the way these puppies behaved that they probably wouldn't be quite right for Shane. In fact, as he listened to Amanda rattle off their traits, he became more and more convinced that if he put one of these puppies in a blonde wig and sparkly dress, it could easily pass as Tess Tyler.

"Well, poodles are pretty no-nonsense, elegant and dignified dogs. They're really independent, and they don't like other intruding on their territory," Amanda held out her hand to one of them, to which it turned up it's nose and proceeded to chew on the plastic water basin.

"Nope, definitely not Shane," Jason shook his head on moved on to the next lot.

"Is Shane a patient person?' Amanda asked tentatively.

"Patient?" Jason raised his eyebrows. "Well, he can be an insensitive jerk sometimes, and kinda has a short attention span. So no, he's not very patient."

"Oh. You should probably pass the English Setters by then. They're not very intelligent, and very frustrating to train," Amanda waved dismissively at the droopy faced puppies with drool running practically in torrents from their floppy mouths.

Jason chuckled as his petted one of their disproportionately long ears. It's resemblance to Ella was very fitting. Adorable to look at, but not much going on upstairs.

"Yuck!" Jason spluttered as the dog drooled all over his hand. Well, maybe Ella had one up on the Setter. Although he did recall being hit with some flying spit as she screeched and flailed around the first time she officially met Connect Three.

He wiped his hand on his jeans before his attention was drawn to two lively looking puppies playing tug-of-war with a stuffed toy.

"Terriers. Incessantly friendly, they love a good time, but they're inquisitive and not very forthcoming to people they don't know, and if they get angry, you'd better get out of their way."

"That's more like my friend Peggy than Shane," Jason sighed dejectedly, remembering how Peggy was usually so reserved, but when she got mad, boy, did she get mad.

"Looks like we've got a dog in here for all of your friends!" Amanda giggled, bouncing off to serve a mother with a little girl who had just walked in and were peering at the kittens.

"Except one," Jason groaned, looking over the last straggles of possible puppies.

He very, very nearly bought Shane a golden retriever, but in the end he decided that a Golden Retriever was too much like himself, and it wasn't Shane's sort of dog, it was his own. Just like golden retrievers, he's bouncy, energetic and animated, and although he can be a little dopey sometimes, he know where his loyalties lie, and he sticks to his guns no matter what. So reluctantly releasing the wriggling yellow fluffball, Jason groaned and looked over at Amanda.

"No luck?" she asked disappointedly when she met his eye.

"Nah, I just don't think any of these dogs are right…"

And then Jason saw it. The perfect dog for Shane. Excitedly, he pointed it out to Amanda, who reached in and collected it from under the pile of its rambunctious brothers and sisters. Within minutes, Jason had sauntered proudly out of the store with his brand new purchase.

--

"Oh no," Nate's face fell as he saw Jason climb onto the bus with a big box in his hands and an even bigger smile on his face.

"Happy Birthday, Shane!" Jason gushed, putting down the box, pulling out a bundle of black and white fluff wrapped in a red ribbon, and handing it to Shane.

"Wow, Jase! A puppy!" Shane laughed in delight. "What's his name?"

"Her name," Jason corrected, "is Shania!"

"Shania?" Nate scoffed condescendingly.

"What? It's the girl name for Shane!" Jason retorted. "And she reminded me of you!"

He turned and grinned hopefully at his friend, who was chuckling at the little border collie puppy excitedly chewing the ribbon around her neck to shreds.

"How come?" Shane looked up, only to have his attention brought back to Shania as she started to lick his face like it was the best thing since squeaky toys.

"Well, she's energetic, and she likes people she knows, but not people she doesn't. She's got spunk, and I hear she becomes pretty destructive ifshe's not constantly stimulated."

"You got that right," Shane laughed as Shania proceeded to run in circles around the bus, knocking over anything that wasn't stable.

"I got her for you because if you were dog, Shane, you'd be a border collie!" Jason stated proudly.

"Thanks, Jason. I love her!" Shane grinned widely as he picked up the squirming puppy and hugged her into his chest.

"Hey, Jason? What sort of dog would I be?" Nate's eyes lit up in anticipation.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows for a second, before a knowing smile broke over his face.

"Don't be silly, Nate. You'd be a cat."

I've noticed a serious lack of Jason stories lately. Come on, guys, where is the Jason love?
Jason love is review love!
I also have a new poll on my profile, and I would really appreciate if you would go vote for what story you would like to see from me next!