☰ - Ryan drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel the whole drive over to whatever music he had playing on the stereo. He was so careful. He was probably notoriously a terrible driver, he had written off his last car, and his current car - a 1976 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, like-for-like for the Smokey and the Bandit car - had already undergone serious body work because he’d destroyed the front bumper and undercarriage, the last thing he wanted was to have to call Brendon from the impound to say he couldn’t make their first real face-to-face meeting in 13 years because his dumb-fuckin’-ass totalled the car. Truth be told he was nervous, he didn’t know how he was going to be perceived after all this time but he was relieved that Brendon had agreed to let him bring Dottie and Elwood - as moral support for him if not for the lie about having nobody to look after them. Captain could take care of himself; he’d find a spot in the sun and sleep all afternoon.
When the car slowed, Dottie stood up on her hind legs, front paws on the drivers seat and she poked her head between the seats from the rear, looking through the windshield to see where they were, her oversized ears hanging on Ryan’s shoulder. He looked anxiously at Brendon’s house through the window, as if he was having doubts about heading up to the front door at all.
Right on cue, Dottie licked his cheek as though she were encouraging him, and Elwood let out a long, loud yawn and huffed, as if he were complaining about how cramped he was in the back seat. “Okay, sheesh,” Ryan shut off the engine and started to get out of the car. Dottie jumped with very little grace into the drivers seat and Ryan put her leash on and picked her up to put her on the ground. Elwood was much larger, than Dottie, so getting him out was a lot more cumbersome.
Dogs leashed, car locked, he took them to Brendon’s front door and instructed them both to sit down, crouching down to meet their level, “I know you will, but please behave. We are guests. Bogart and Penny aren’t as big as you, so don’t go galumphing around them,” he told Elwood, “you big lug.” He scratched Elwood beneath his chin as though they had a mutual understanding, and Dottie offered her paw to him as if she understood the agreement too. Either that or she was telling him to stop stalling and announce himself already.
With that, Ryan stood up again, straightened himself up and knocked on the door, his heart rate immediately picked up in a way that made him want to retreat back to the safety of his own home and the life of a ghost.