Doug shows up

Scott didn’t see anyone, so he started walking. He knew his way around town, it was only a couple miles to the Franklin Inn, it wasn’t fancy, but it would work. He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and started to head East when he saw an old Camaro pull in, it was in good shape and had a new paint job, dark blue on the bottom, baby blue on top, it was a good looking classic. Scott was surprised when it pulled up in front of him and a guy with sunglasses and slightly thinning hair got out.

“Scott, is that you?”

“Doug? Who’s car did you steal?”

Doug came up and hugged Scott, “Dude, it’s been way too long. I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Honestly,” Scott replied, “I didn’t plan on ever coming back.”

“And yet here you are.”

The old friends smiled at each other.

“Dude, you look good, you left here scrawny and pimply, what happened?”

“Celebrity trainers, Botox, you know, the usual.”

“Well it’s good to see you still have your lame sense of humor. Throw your bag in the trunk and let’s get out of here.”

“Thanks man, you able to drop me off at the old inn? I need to get a room.”

“Not a chance, I got a spare room you can stay in. No way am I letting you stay in that rat hole.”

“Look, I love you Doug, but if you try to fuck me again, I swear I’ll tell your mom.”

Doug laughed. “Same old Scott.”

Scott climbed in the passenger seat, Doug’s car was immaculate, but he had always kept his cars like that.

“Did you ever read that guys who keep their cars this clean are psychopaths?”

“Seriously Scott, it’s great to see you, but what happened man? You really did disappear after you enlisted. Complete silence for almost four years.”

“You knew I signed up for four years.”

“Yeah, but I figured I’d see you again before it ended. I mean, I get why you left, but you could have called, written, something.”

“I couldn’t at first, then I got caught up in a bunch of stuff and after that, I guess it had been long enough that it was more awkward to reach out than to not.”

“That’s a load of crap, Scott, you tell me nothing and expect me to act like it answered all my questions. What happened to you?”

“I got married.”

“The fuck? You have a wife?”

“No, but I did.”

“Seriously?” Doug was incredulous, “You have kids?”

“No, thankfully I wasn’t dumb enough to have kids with Amanda.”

“Amanda, I have a name at least, I assume it went bad.”

“Yeah, she was cheating on me, ended up making a video about it, ‘When my husband is deployed,’ it was great.”

“Damn, that’s rough man.”

“She knew I would see it. I had stuck around while she cheated on me, so she had to up the ante to get me to leave.”

“Seriously?” Doug pulled into the driveway of his parent’s house, one of those fancy pre-planned monstrosities from the housing developments for people with too much money and no taste.

“Wait, I thought you said I was staying with you?”

“You are, I rent the basement.”

Scott snickered.

“Don’t you dare man.” Doug looked at him with a face Scott knew well, the face that let you know Doug was about to get upset if you made fun of him.

“I didn’t say anything.” Scott said, putting his palms up.

“Yeah, but you were about to.”

“I mean it’s perfectly normal for a young, successful man to live in his Mom’s basement.”

Doug had popped the trunk, and with Scott’s teasing he threw his bag at him. “You can sleep in the garage with Suzie’s dog, asshole.”

“Doug, come on man, I’m sure it’s a hot bachelor pad.” Scott was still laughing. Doug smiled.

“You’re still an asshole, but it’s good to see you man, come on, dinner will be soon and the family will be thrilled to see you.”

“I don’t have any clean clothes Doug, I can’t really clean up for dinner.”

“Just wear your uniform, you know how my mom gets, she’ll eat it up.”

“Alright man.”