Delilah's Dog Days

Delilah Chanson rolled over in bed, a little bit excited, and hopped up and made her way to her closet, picking out her clothes for after her shower. The newly-graduated 18-year-old was home for an extended period of time the first time in almost a year as her parents, a successful lawyer and a wealthy business magnate, always sent her to a private boarding academy to ensure she had the best possible education and supervision since they were typically "too busy" for her. She may not have agreed or appreciated the choice, but given that she was promised a place at her father's business, effectively as CEO-in-waiting, she thought she could stomach it and get through it. And, now that it was the beginning of summer break, she would get to run around her home town, party a little bit, make a few trivial mistakes, "date" a boy or two and be ready for college in the Fall.

Strutting into the private bathroom attached to her room in naught but her underwear, the black-haired girl smiled at herself. She was conventionally attractive, blessed with good genes both in appearance and intelligence areas. She was near the top of her class and probably could have done more if she'd wanted to, but passing with much better than average was more than enough for her. Her father, Thomas, definitely would have disapproved of her "going easy" on her education goals, but he didn't need to know she wasn't giving her all. She leaned onto the countertop and plucked and prodded at her face, pulling some stray eyelashes or un-smearing some missed makeup from when she'd hastily gotten ready for bed and fallen into it after her entire day of travelling to get home after the school year ended. Peering closer at her hairline, she could see her brown roots coming in and figured she'd have to go get her hair re-dyed soon or go back to her natural brunette. Either way, it was a question for later as she peeled off her panties and stepped into her standing shower. The hot water washed away any travel soreness and the shower being restocked with all her favorite products was a welcome treat.

Working a loofah over her body, she got a good look at some stray bruises from athletic accidents. On top of her academic success, she was an accomplished track and field runner and participated in sprints and hurdles at the national level. A few recent slip-ups and a clipped hurdle had given her some bruises to remember the struggles and joys of competition, even if it had ruined her chances at one more run at nationals this year. Still, all that had left her with a toned, fit body. Her hands ran over her perky C-cups, turning to look at the mirror visible through her glass shower door and examined her buttocks. She lifted a leg, turned, bent over... if she was going to be tearing some clubs up, she had to make sure she was spotted immediately and every guy likes a fit girl. She couldn't quite make up for her more petite build, barely 5 feet and 6 inches tall, but with the right outfit, a fresh haircut and styling, and some exotic makeup... well, she probably wouldn't need to use her bedroom very often this summer. She was thrilled to be able to finally cut loose after being at her boarding school all year. The all-female school was quite strict with curfews, visitors and relationships, and certainly spartan on "night life" activities.

She turned off the shower as steam was filling the room. She steps out and dries herself off in a hurry before slipping into some comfortable and casual clothes. She wasn't planning on going anywhere this morning or even afternoon so she might as well save makeup for tonight. Heading for the kitchen downstairs, she could hear her parents already clinking away and chatting over breakfast.

Her father, a freshly-graying man with streaks of maturity running through his jet-black hair was already dressed in slacks with a white shirt tucked into it, sipping coffee and eating through some pancakes. Her mother was in the kitchen with a casual look about her but Delilah could already tell she was going somewhere today, judging from the pins and curlers in her hair.

"Good morning, graduate." Thomas said over his coffee, grinning at his daughter as the high school graduate entered the kitchen dining area. The large house had a more ornate dining room for bigger meals but the kitchen itself had an island fixture for eating at. Delilah slid onto one of the stools there with a proud smile on her face as her dad greeted her and her mother slid a plate of pancakes in front of her. Decadent.

"Thanks, dad! And, mom, thanks for the pancakes!" She says cheerfully as she starts grabbing fixings and her mother moves over to lean on her dad's shoulder, smiling thinly.

"Delilah tells me she passed near the top of her class, but I reckon the girls above her weren't also in the running for nationals. I'm sure the college team will be happy to have her. You were on it too, weren't you Marissa?" Thomas asks, looking up at his wife. The brown-haired woman snickers and lightly claps her husband on the back of the head.

"You know I was a cheerleader, not one of the athletes. That's why you were always staring." She chirps back as she moves to tidy up breakfast, her meal clearly already eaten based on the used dishware.

Thomas chuckles before taking another sip of his coffee and turns to Delilah, his daughter. "So... two months and then you're off to your university. Have you gotten any course materials yet? Contacted professors? I'm already arranging your residence..."

Delilah sits up a bit straighter, her face turning a bit sour. "Um... I was planning on taking the summer easy... you know, like I have done every summer before this? It's a good way to unwind, and I've already been talking to some of my girlfriends and-"

Thomas sets his cup down aggressively, a loud clack cutting Delilah off and glaring at her. "No, you most certainly will not be doing any of that this summer. In previous years, your mother and I allowed you to take the time off assuming your summer coursework was done, but now you're slated for university and things will get much more serious from here. Assuming you ever want to actually succeed me in the business and take over there, you're not going to get to play around and waste your time anymore. That comes after you finish your education and can make the space for it."

Delilah sat there slack-jawed as her father put a hard veto on all of her summer plans. That meant no late nights out, no secret parties with questionable amounts of unquestionably inadvisable alcohol, and no...

"That's not fair! I worked hard all year and I don't get even two months to relax after it all? Not even a few weekends!?" Delilah barked back, slamming her palms on the polished granite countertop which only sparked her mother's ire, making the lawyer turn and glare at her daughter as well, but it was her father who cut back first.

"Young lady, this isn't up for debate. You're not going off and wasting time getting drunk with your "friends" and ruining your reputation before even getting on campus. No. I won't allow it." Thomas says, his gaze cold and firm and clearly indicating that he wasn't giving her an inch here. "Your mother and I are paying your tuition, ensuring you have a place to live that isn't filled with underage drunks and college predators, and guaranteeing your future in the family company. The least you can do is be grateful and not fuck it up."

Her father was getting a little red in the face until Marissa comes over, laying a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. He sighs and clenches and unclenches a fist before she speaks, their daughter red in the face and about ready to scream. "Both of you, calm down in my kitchen. Thomas, go and get to work. I'll explain things here."

Delilah glares at her father as he leaves, returning the stare while Marissa places her hands neatly on the countertop. "Your father is correct, you're not going to spend your summer flirting with boys and partying every night. You'll spend it here getting ready for your semester and, when you're all ready, we'll be doing a family vacation for a week or so. This isn't the time to play around anymore, this is the time to get yourself ready for the big leagues. Remember when you said you'd make it to those, during your softball phase? This is that. Deal with it."

Delilah, fuming, slams her hands on the countertop again and stands, sending her stool skidding away as she stomps back upstairs to her room. "I can't believe this! You two are impossible! I'm... fuck! I'm going for a run!"

The teen goes right back to her room, leaving her breakfast untouched, and strips out of her comfortable casual-wear and into some athletic shorts and a stretchy tanktop before putting in some athletic earbuds and putting on some music before making her way out of her parents' house. Though, mansion would be a bit more accurate. She storms right past her mother as she finishes tidying the kitchen and steps out into the front yard. A perfectly-manicured lawn, hedges, shrubs, trees, and rock features all exude wealth as she storms down the winding pathway to the street some distance from the two-story, nine-bedroom and six-bathroom house. A large house...

She huffs as she gets in a quick stretch and starts running to clear her head. Surely... they could be convinced to not lock her in the house and ruin her summer... right?

As she starts jogging along the street, she gets a good look at the small changes that had happened to the neighborhood over the year. The neighborhood in question was a massive gated community for affluent people. Each house, similar in size to the Chanson's home, had an acre or more of space around it where landscaping and grounds keeping was effectively a competitive sport for the residents of the area. Each home wound up being about a minute's jog away from the next one as half of a property bordered the next. The large, interconnected and well-maintained streets and sidewalks were an ideal place to go running and clear the mind. Delilah could feasibly run for an hour and not pass the same house twice as the suburb on the edge of the city sprawled out with some nice parks and a small shopping center to boot. It was little more than a couple cafes and eateries and an artisanal grocery store but it was more than enough to supply the posh residents of the area. Most of Delilah's neighbors were all plenty elderly and the community here made retirement pleasant.

The natural brunette comes to a panting halt at the far end of a park from her parent's home and catches her breath. She looks around to admire the early-summer blooms on display. Trees were lush, flowers were lively, and, by happenstance, she found herself across the street from that house. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but contrary to every other house in the neighborhood where the facade of the house, the lawn in front of it, and even the street beyond that were ornately-maintained to display wealth, this house took a more private approach. Tall hedges and a closed gate hid away the majority of the property and from what she could see through the barred gate, it focused much less on affluence and more on practicality. The driveway, for example, had a nice loop in it to make driving in and out easy, an extra-large garage, and in addition to the front steps to the porch, a ramp fed into it from the side. Practical. On top of the house's out-of-place normalcy, she barely knew the man who lived there. Delilah had grown up in this neighborhood and knew almost everyone from all the community mixers, meetings at events and parties, or even just passing by them as she had trained over the summers for her athletics programs. But this house and its owner were more of a mystery to her.

She knew the owner was a man, younger than most around here, and that was about it. She'd seen him from time to time running with an adult German Shepherd, one of Delilah's personal favorite breeds, and as a kid she'd always asked her parents for one of her own. They denied her request, of course, but perhaps that denial had been why she always looked around for him when she went running. Maybe that was what drew her this way subconsciously. The late-teen stood back upright, resting her hands on her head to open her airway and pant, feeling the irritation of her parents' ludicrous summer rules simmer at the back of her head. She sneered down at her phone as she tried to think of how to get out of all of this when she felt like she was being watched, or like someone was trying to talk to her. She pulls an earbud out and turns, all but bumping into a man standing behind her with a leash in his hand.

"See something you like?" He says, a bit of a teasing tone to his voice as he looks down at her. He was tall, maybe in his mid-forties or early, early fifties and wore a sweat-stained running shirt, shorts, and sneakers. Not far off from Delilah's own outfit. He carried a leash in his hand and Delilah was just about to reply when she felt a thing bump up against her leg and brush past, batting her leg with its tail as a healthy, happy, excited German Shepherd moved past her and nuzzled up to its master, this man.

"W-wha! Ah! H-hi! Sorry, I was a little distracted!" Delilah says as she pulls out her other earbud and tucks both into their case while the Shepherd barges past her and into the man's arms as he kneels down to meet the canine.

He grins up at her and waves a hand dismissively. "No no, I was just teasing. You were staring at my front gate for a while there, is all. Now, hold still, buddy... you're... no- no, stop squirming, you-"

The man quits talking to Delilah and starts trying to grab his dog's collar and clip the leash back to it before finally standing and calling his dog to heel which it tries to do but doesn't do a very good job, instead sitting a bit ahead of its master and wagging its tail like mad while staring at Delilah with its big, wet tongue hanging out of its mouth. Clearly, man and best friend had been out for some exercise too...

"Your... oh! This is your- I'm so sorry, I didn't realize, I was just trying to catch my breath is all. Really sorry... uhm, w-well, I'm Dee! I mean, Delilah, my friends call me Dee." She says as she extends a hand to shake his, frankly pleased to finally be making his acquaintance. She'd seen him for years while growing up, long as she could remember really, and this was the first time she was meeting him and exchanging pleasantries.

The tall man was rather handsome by her metrics. A nice, shaped jaw. Muscular in all the right ways, definitely more of a runner than a gym-nut with massive muscles and steroid abuse. The way he firmly held his dog's leash indicated specific care and control over the animal...

"Matthew." He says, shaking her hand before nodding at his dog, "And this bundle of poor manners is Whiskey."

A little memory tumbles in Delilah's head and she hums. "Sorry if this sounds weird... but is this the same dog you always had? I, uh, I grew up around here and always saw you running around and-"

"The experience is mutual." He interjects, gesturing vaguely at Delilah and her running outfit. She blushes at being recognized.

"R-right! I guess I did used to run around a lot... I competed in track and field at my school, see? But, uh, is this the same dog? I thought it looked a little different..." She replies, trying to ignore the fact that he seemed to know her or at the very least recognize her. But, given the nature of all the people who lived in this neighborhood, it was unlikely he didn't know who her parents were at the very least...

Matthew raises an eyebrow and chuckles but slowly shakes his head. "Should I be worried? A girl I've never met knows more about my dog than me. But, no, this isn't the same dog, it's her pup. Poor ol' Brandy passed earlier this year and I've been raising her boy Whiskey without her since. He's a good dog. Sometimes, ain't that right, boy?"

The "boy" in question turns and tilts his head while looking at his master, those pointy ears flopping over and his tongue lolling out upon hearing his name and something approximating a compliment causing his tail to only wag faster. The man chuckles and shakes his head.

"He's a good distraction to keep me occupied when I'm not on trips... but he's going to be a bit of a problem this summer... I've got a string of trips planned and my usual boarder won't have him yet. Too young, too frisky, they say. So now I need to find someone to stay with him, which means having them in my house... it's all a bit of a pain..."

A tiny light bulb pops up in Delilah's head. Her neighbor needed someone to stay, presumably alone, in his house, with his dog, and out of her parents' house? She steps forward, perhaps a bit too eagerly, and bleats out, "I can watch him! I'd love to!"