The newspaper, the local radio, and the buzz around the house all said the same thing. A large black grizzly bear had attacked a group of Elk hunters overnight, and the locals were more than riled up.

"Drew," Dad said, folding his newspaper over. "I don't want you going out into the woods until they have dealt with this situation. Mr. Harvey assured me this morning that the town would have it under control before sun-down."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aiden through the kitchen window. As he pointed at the barn, his eyes were stone-cold pissed. The spoon in my hand dropped and made a sound that caused everyone around the table to look up.

Pushing my chair back, I stood up. "I've got to go, Dad." Running to the hallway, I grabbed my hoodie and flew out the door toward the barn.

Aiden stood over the cub. "What have you done? He can't stay here. Tell me you know that?" Aiden said.

"Billy," I corrected, "Billy can't stay here."

"Don't personalize him for me. It's a bear, Drew; it's dangerous."

Billy flopped onto his back and rolled around on his belly, and I lifted my head with a smug smile.

"He's not a dog, Drew. In 15,000 years, bears have not undergone the same level of domestic integration."

I snorted a laugh. "One might say the same about you, walking around with your dead rabbits."

"I didn't kill that rabbit! And you won't be laughing when sweet Billy Bear gnaws a hole in your face," he implored.

Pulling his glasses off, he rubbed his eyes before placing them back. "How will you take care of him? You don't have the first clue about raising a bear cub or teaching it the life skills it will inevitably need when you must rerelease it."

"Google," I said through a grin. "And stop saying the word 'it.'"

"Google?" He shot me a look that said I'd better be joking. "Did you not hear the news this morning?"

I sighed, sitting down next to Billy. "Do you think?"

Aiden nodded. "Yeah, I think she's looking for her cub, and I don't think she'll stop."

"What do we do?"

"We have to take him back, Drew."

I looked at him, horrified. Knowing I would need to at some point, I didn't expect it to be this soon.

Aiden knelt beside me. His hand rested on my knee. "Right now, my dad is holding a meeting organizing the biggest hunt of his life. If we don't return Billy, she'll get killed, and Billy will have no one."

"A hunt? Is that even legal?"

He shook his head. "The fact he doesn't have a license for bears will not stop him. Do you know the price of a bear trophy to a hunter? He won't stop," he repeated.

"Fine," I conceded with a nod. I hated the fact Aiden was right. "But it must be today to give them time to make it into the mountains. But he needs food first; he looks too skinny for a bear."

Aiden looked too dumbstruck to respond, so I continued anyway. "Look, just get your phone, and we'll both search for the answers on what they eat together; you have a phone, right?" I glared at him and shook the cell phone in my hand.

"Yeah, I have a phone. It's back at the house." He pointed behind him.

Pausing for a moment, I read something else in his eyes. Connecting the dots, my jaw dropped wide open. "It's attached to the freakin wall, isn't it?" Turning away, I started laughing hysterically.

"Dude shut the hell up!" he bit back, standing straighter. "We don't all have cell phones, y'know."

"Listen, I'm sorry." I swallowed my smile. "Please, just help me."

His eyes soul-searched mine for another ten seconds before he started nodding. "I'm not sure why I'm helping you, but I will. But we take him back after that's the deal, take it or leave it."

***

Aiden pushed a shopping cart through the cream-painted aisles of the grocery store. We bee-lined past rows of toilet tissue, washing liquid, and laundry detergent until we came to the Fish counter. When we had what we needed, we proceeded to the checkout. The clerks' eyes moved with suspicion between Aiden and me, back and forth, as my giant salmon, a packet of gum, and skate magazine all proceeded up the conveyor belt towards her.

Walking out with our shopping bag, we headed down the town's high street. It took me a moment to realize Aiden wasn't with me. Stopping, I turned around. Aiden stared at his reflection in a shop window. What he did next surprised me. He took his glasses off and stared at himself again.

My eyes glanced up at the shop signage and back to him. "You wanna try contacts?"

He nodded shyly.

"Okay, I'll show you how this works. I dumped my glasses back in Junior year." Pulling on his arm, I led him through the shop.

A whole hour later, Aiden emerged from behind the curtain with a wide grin and a newfound twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

I was awestruck. Aiden trumped the hottest guy at my school.

"How do I look?" Aiden said.

He looked fucking adorable. Running a hand through my hair, I thought about deflecting the sudden nerves that had sprung from nowhere with a joke, but my mouth was dry, and my ability to form a coherent sentence was gone; then, I grinned. I couldn't help it; the store temperature had risen by 10 degrees, and my cheeks were red hot.

His smirk grew into a full beaming smile, and I tore my eyes away from him.

"Okay, I guess," I said. "Come on, let's go."

Riding back in the car with Aiden, I kept glancing at him periodically out of the corner of my eye. He looked different without glasses on, and I couldn't stop myself.

Aiden concentrated on the road ahead. "You're staring at me," he said.

"It's just... you look different, is all."

Shaking my head, I chuckled and focused back out of my window. I didn't need to turn back around to know he was watching me.

I remember when we camped under Orion. A lifetime had elapsed since then, but one counted in single figures. Did Aiden remember too? The canopy of stars lifted the shadows from his face as he constructed a fire, built our tent, and made us a meal.

That's the day Aiden misunderstood, but he hadn't. Not really. I wasn't ready to see. An unblemished memory. Mine. His. No one else.

You lived in my past, and Aiden was a bubble in that darkness. With Aiden, I didn't need to be mindful that the dark would jump. Oh, Squirrel Boy, do you remember?

"Hey, Drew, remember when we went camping that time?" Aiden's head tilted to one side, and he smiled.

"No."

I don't know what's wrong with me.

When we arrived home, we both went straight into the barn. Billy was pottering around, but as soon as he heard the rustling of the shopping bag, he lifted his nose and sniffed the air. Aiden took the bag from me, grazing my fingers as he did. Unpacking the salmon, he laid it down in front of Billy. He pawed at its flesh, ripping chunks off and guzzling them down.

"Drew, it's time now."

He's Not a Dog

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