He followed Ryan down a steep driveway terminating in a well-loved brown two-story that had seen its best days sometime before 1992.Celeste stood on the porch, dressed in a strappy skirt and blouse that made them look like a Final Fantasy character.
Celeste and Ryan kicked up a casual conversation as Celeste led them into the house, gesturing for them to remove their shoes on the threshold.The front receiver was made of old, dark wood, featuring a kitschy sculpture of a fat Pulcinella.
On a plush little bed at the end of the hallway were two small dogs: a prim sable papillon and a crusty-eyed white blob that was shivering with a violence hitherto unknown by mankind.
“Hi pups!”Ryan greeted with an enthusiastic grin, racing over to the shaking dog and bestowing it with pets.It wheezed in satisfaction.“Didn’t you say Mémé was going to take Bonbon to Paris with her?”
“Nah, she decided against it.Mom convinced her that the takeoff would probably give him a heart attack,” Celeste said as Marin approached the dogs’ pillow as well.
“He looks… like a very wise old man.”Marin did his best to compliment, patting the ancient dog on the head.
“Yeah, he’s like a thousand years old and has more benign tumors than teeth, yet he continues to live against all odds.”Celeste shook their head in amazement.
The papillon beside Bonbon nudged up towards Marin’s hand as well, slow flicks of its tongue brushing the side of his fingers.He grinned and gave the smaller dog a scratch behind his ear, much to its delight.
“Who’s this little one?”Marin asked.
“Ah, that’s Kerby—he was a gift from my mom for making it through grad school,” Celeste explained.
“Kirby?”Blake asked.“Like the little pink Nintendo guy?”
Ryan leaned over, scratching Kerby under the chin.The papillon squinted his eyes, lips rolling up into a dopey smile.
“Nah, it’s short for Kerberos—Hades’ dog,” Celeste corrected.Blake snorted.It was anextremelyapt name for one of the smallest, sweetest-looking little animals he’d ever seen.
“What kind of dog is Bonbon?”Blake inquired.
“I think he was a Maltese when Mémé got him five billion years ago, but I’m not sure if he legally qualifies anymore,” Celeste said.
“How’re your mom and Mémé doing?”Ryan asked.“Is their trip going well?”
“We had our weekly family Zoom meeting earlier today.Mom was drunk before noon and, as always, Mémé’s still your biggest fan,” they told him with a smirk.“She tried to book a ticket back to America when I told her you were coming over.She said to serve you the loose leaf tea, none of the bagged crap.”
Ryan laughed, scratching Bonbon behind the ear.“Sounds like her.”
Celeste made a dramatic sweeping gesture with their arm and performed a grandiose exit into the hallway.As their small group migrated, the sound of clicking followed them down the hallway, Bonbon and Kerby trotting alongside them.Taking pity on the elderly dog, Ryan leaned down to scoop up Bonbon, tucking him close to his chest.
Celeste led them into the den.They descended upon a minibar and extracted a few beers and Buzzballz as promised, passing them around.Ryan set Bonbon down on a doggy bed in the corner, Kerby snuggling up next to the Maltese a second later.
“What time’s the Uber coming?”Ryan asked, hopping over the back of the couch.Celeste checked their phone.
“Around nine thirty,” they informed him.“We’ve got a bit.”
“Bet,” Ryan said, cracking open his beer.“Man it’s been a minute since I’ve had this brand.It’s got me thinking of high school, you know?”
“Those were the days,” Celeste laughed, joining him on the couch.
“Where’d you go, Marin?”Ryan asked.“You from around here?Celeste said you went to college together.”
Shit, Blake thought.He’d already told Matt that Marin was a foreign exchange student.There was no telling if Ryan would find out about that as well.
“Uh,” Marin said.
Celeste looked panicked.“Cal Poly SLO, class of 2020!Man that was a crazy last semester what with the lockdown, huh?”
“Lockdown?”Marin echoed, perplexed.
Ryan didn’t hear him, and he continued.“Did you two know each other from the dorms?I helped Celeste move in back in like ’16, maybe we met briefly?”
