Tamed

2

"Come on ref free kick!" my brother yells violently towards the TV, "Aw come on! These refs are getting payed!"

I just laugh, this is a natural occurrence in our household at this time of the year. Yes, it is footy finals time and all of my family usually come down just for this day to watch the grand finale. So this year my brother Dylan has come back from his college experience in America to watch the finals here in Australia in our theatre room that my dad built for this time of the year only. My family take this holiday very seriously. 

My brother was accepted into one of the many sport colleges in America to play American football. He gets one extra week off each year to spend with his family because of the distance between the countries. He get all the normal holidays off as well but he uses his one week extra off to come and watch the footy final.

Dylan gets all his looks from our dad, they have the same dark hair and hazel eyes the only difference is dad is sporting a beer gut whereas Dylan is buff from playing sport. 

I sit back and look around the lounge room at all of my other relatives. There are my grandparents and a few of my aunts and uncles along with their children and of course all of the usual friends who come to cheer with us. The grand final usually ends with either an angry family or a happy family and afterwards we usually celebrate with a barbecue cooked by the men and we eat out in the summer sun. We sound like the typical Aussies.

Ryder is curled up at my feet because my mum has a special policy about no animals on the furniture. He just sits there not moving or barking and when I get up he follows me not disturbing anyone. My dad was going to make me tie him up outside because of the last time we had a dog, but that conversation didn't go down very well with me. 

"Sweetie can you please come here?" My dad calls me from the lounge room. 

"What's up dad?" I say smiling sweetly being the amazing daughter that I am but instantly dropping the smile off my face when I see the serious expression on his face. 

"Look I know that this might make you upset but in a few hours everybody's coming over for the footy and I would like it if you tied up Ryder in the backyard please." He said looking at me with a sympathetic face. 

I started laughing at him and his gaze hardened, I patted him on the shoulder, "Dad, you're so funny." 

"Please Alex your mother doesn't want it attacking one of our guests like last time," he said with pleading eyes. 

"Yeah look dad, that's not going to happen. Ryder hasn't done anything wrong." I explain not letting my voice rise. 

"Alex if that dog attacks someone it could be worse than last time."

"You're going to have to trust me, he is not going to do anything ok and I'm not tying him up outside and mum is just going to have to deal with that." I walk away without letting him say anything else. 

Ryder isn't going to hurt anyone I will make sure of that. He hasn't shown any signs of being a vicious dog at all since getting him and not every dog is the same. They need to realise that not all dogs are the same. 

I look back down at Ryder and see that he is now looking up at me with those green eyes that never fail to amaze me. I lean down to pat him on the head but before I can reach him the doorbell rings signalling that there is someone at our door. I look at around but no one gets up to get the door so I stand up to open the door with a sigh. The door bell rings again. 

"I'm coming!" I yell slightly annoyed that I had to get up to answer it. I turn the handle allowing me to see who is standing outside the door. It is a couple around my parent's age and a guy around my age. The boy has blond saggy hair that looks a bit dead but he has amazing blue eyes, I'll admit he was quite attractive.