Kyle stares at his reflection in the mirror as he wrestles his shirt neatly into his pants. Despite the salience of his hair, he thinks he looks quite professional. He likes to think that the way he clenches his jaw makes him look handsome, if not intimidating.
"Are you ready?" Stan asks from behind him.
Kyle turns around to face him, his grimace quickly fading to a mild grin.
Stan wears a pair of crisp, black jeans that are a stark contrast to the skinny jeans he's usually forced to wear for interviews. They're not overly baggy by any means, but they look comfortable. He has on a sweater with dark gray and navy stripes, which may or may not be what Kyle wore to the party last night. When Stan asked if he could borrow it this morning, despite the fact that they were actively shopping for presentable outfits in Target as they spoke, his excuse was, "Uh, it just looks comfy."
"Yeah, I'm ready."
Stan just smiles tiredly, nodding in response. Marjorine joins them by the doorway, smiling brightly as usual.
"You look great, Kyle! The green was a good choice," She says, stepping forward to pull his shirt up slightly out of his pants. "You tucked it awful tight, though. There, that oughta be more comfortable."
Kyle wears an olive button down with khaki chinos. When he asked his dad for help, he really hadn't anticipated a bank transfer, but the reasoning made sense.
"If you want results, you have to look like you expect results," He'd said when explaining why everyone needed to pick out a new outfit before the meeting.
Gerald's adamance on the subject resulted in their entire party standing at the front doors of the nearest Target at 7 am when they opened. He'd even sent enough to cover an Uber, explaining that he expected everyone to be too tired to drive there that early.
Kyle does a little twisty motion with his torso before nodding affirmatively, thanking Marjorine before stepping into the hall.
"-all the information you need. If it comes to that, you're more than prepared," Leslie turns from her conversation with Wendy to nod at Kyle in greeting.
"How far out are they?" He asks, glancing at his phone to check the time. 9:23 am.
"They should be pulling up any minute. Bebs said the cops were at the house though," Wendy sighs, rolling her eyes.
Bebe drove Kenny back to the house to grab the abandoned Prius because her car doesn't have enough seats for everyone. Leslie offered to go, but Kenny insisted she stay to finalize their course of action. He seemed too excited to "drive a spaceship" for anyone to argue with him.
"The fucking cops? God," He huffs, running a hand through his hair in annoyance. "They really do think they're property or something, huh?"
"I'm afraid so, but we're going to fix that soon enough," Leslie says. Kyle, despite the anxiety regarding the next few hours, believes her.
Wendy's phone dings in her lap. She takes a deep breath before steeling herself.
"Let's do this."
Kyle summons Stan, Marj, and Jimmy from the hotel room and they all head down to the lobby together. Parked right outside the front doors are Bebe and Kenny, who begrudgingly tosses the keys to Leslie when she holds her hand out to him.
The ride in Bebe's car is tense and quiet and Kyle wonders if the other car is the same way. The tension is far different from last night, though. They're not distraught or confused today.
They're determined and confident.
Confidence can still yield anxiety, though, so when Stan nonchalantly pulls Kyle's hand into his own, it's a welcome distraction.
