Table For Two

22 - Harvey

So I may have downplayed things to Ali. The truth is that dogs actually terrify me. I don't know why but they do. Always have done. And getting bit by one certainly didn't help. Then being told that I am being ridiculous for being afraid of the thing that bit me as I was growing up just made it worse. I still flinch just hearing a dog bark, let alone meeting one. And now I was going to meet Ali's dog. Who is a Rottweiler. A big dog. Notorious for being dangerous.

This can only go well.

We head out of GBK and down towards the bus station where we cross the river and dip underneath the railway bridge and then into an underpass beneath the main road. We turn left out of the tunnel and then within a couple minutes, Ali is pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the front door. I hear a deep, bassy bark as we enter and a giant hulking mass of shadow emerges from the other end of the corridor which immediately goes directly up to Ali and presses their snout against his leg. He kneels down and starts scratching behind the ears and kind of cooing at them. Which I would find totally adorable if I wasn't so goddamn terrified.

"This is Athena" he says looking up at me and I smile back. Or at least, I try to. My face feels like it's frozen in fear and my heart is pounding like a steam locomotive trying to break the sound barrier. It must have read as clear as day on my face because Ali told Athena to stay and came back to me, taking my hand in his.

"Hey... I can put her out back and we can just go upstairs and chill if you want" he says and just offers me that sweet smile of his and I just want to melt into his arms and stay there. But I gather myself. He's not gonna put Athena out of sight every time I visit and I don't want him to think he has to. I squeeze his hand.

"N-no... it's okay just... need to take it slow." I manage to eke out from beneath the multiple layers of suffocating panic.

"That's fine. Here's what we'll do. You're gonna kneel down with me. I'll get her to come over and she'll sniff our hands. We'll hold out the one I'm currently holding so she recognises my scent. She'll be able to differentiate between me and you. But if she can smell me then she'll likely see you as a friend. Okay?"

I just nod. I'm guessing he has done this before as he seems well practised. We both kneel down and Ali beckons Athena to come and she does, padding across the floor breathing heavily. She starts sniffing our joined hands and my heart is hammering inside my chest so hard that I think it might just explode like dynamite. As if at any moment this big, muscular, brutish-looking dog will decide I'm it's next meal and just lunge for my throat or something.

But she doesn't. She sniffs. Stops. Sniffs some more. Stops and looks at me before yawning and nosing her head onto my leg. I realise then I'd had my eyes screwed shut. I blink them open and see this big head just resting on my leg and I'm shocked. Like, properly shocked. The anxiety was slowly dissipating. But this was a good start. I look to Ali who is utterly beaming and chuckling.

"Well if you couldn't tell, she likes you."

I just laugh. Probably a little maniacally. And enough that Athena takes her head off my leg and just looks at me like she thinks I need help. I mean, I do but it just makes me laugh harder. Ali starts laughing too and Athena just huffs, walking back down the hallway to whence she came.

"Holy shit... holy shit" I say in between deep, panicked breaths. Ali strokes the back of my hand as it trembles.

"I could be wrong but I think that is the first time I've heard you swear out loud."

"Uhh... Yeah. I try not to."

"Wouldn't want to tarnish your golden retriever boy reputation huh?"

"You did not just call me a golden retriever"