They soon found the dog, huddled in a corner behind the shed. The poor thing looked as though it hadn't eaten in days and it's coat was dirty and in places, matted.

"Here boy, come on. Don't be scared, I've brought you food see?" Amity coaxed it with a cookie.

"How do you know it's a boy?" Benji asked, smiling down at her cutely.

"Well girl doggies don't usually have those" Amity pointed to the dogs exposed nudity.

Now it was Benji's turn to blush.

The dog whimpered and began to crawl cautiously towards her. It was obviously too starving to be so timid.

"Come on" she repeated soothingly.

The scared dog ate the cookie hungrily, savouring every bite. After it was done with the plate it licked all over Amity's hands and arms. It seemed to like the taste of Benji's shoes too. It went from the shoes to Amity's arms and at one stage even attempted to lick her face.

"Up you come" Benji said as he pulled Amity away from the wild dog's tongue.

"Shouldn't let him do that till he gets checked out"

"Oh Benji he's beautiful. I want to keep him. Will you take us to the vet so I can get him…" Amity stopped as she realised her mistake. Benji was busy, he had a whole new album to help produce. She couldn't ask him to take time out to take her and her new mangy pooch to the vet.

"Well I know there's a vet not far from here. Let me just get my keys" Amity couldn't believe her ears.

"Benji thank you!" she would have hugged him had Joel not leaned out of the window that very instant.

"Benji! Get the fuck back inside, we need you! Whose dog is that?"

"A Stray!" Benji called back

"Am- found him, we're taking him to the vet so I may be awhile!"

Joel seemed to consider for a moment and then it appeared that someone inside had called him back.

"Hold on!" he yelled before ducking inside.

Amity suddenly felt a little rotten.

"If you have to work, then you should work…I'm sure I can find the way on my own"

"Forget it!" Benji said, like it was nothing.

"All the other guys take time off for their problems and there girl…"

"Hey! Paul wants to go too!!" Joel shouted down, cutting Benji off.

Amity wondered if the next word that would have come out of Benji's mouth, had he not been interrupted, was going to 'girlfriends' but decided not to give it too much thought.

Just then, Paul burst through the backdoor and ran through the garage to meet them.

"Benji, Joel want's you upstairs." He said puffing.

"If you want, I can, uh, take Amity to the vet"

Benji who seemed to have be studying Paul and sizing him up, smiled and turned back to Amity.

"Is that cool?" he asked

"Yeah" she replied weakly.

"Drive safe then bro" He threw Paul his keys and then with one last wicked grin, dashed back inside.

After an hour of waiting to be seen, then a further 2 hours for the nurses to clean the dog up and give it it's vaccinations, they were nearly ready to go home.

"He's had a pretty rough couple of weeks," The vet told Amity.

"He's a lucky dog that you found him when you did, I don't think he would have survived the week"

"So apart from the under nourishment he's fine?" Amity asked hopefully.

"Well, it will take a while, but I'd say that with you looking after him and regular check ups, he should be as good as gold again in no time"

"Thank you so much, can I see him now?"

"I'm just having the nurses take his weight and prepare his medicine for you to give him at home, they'll also have the ownership papers ready for you to sign"

"Is there, like a pet shop around here so I can get him a few things…like food? You see I'm kinda unprepared," Amity admitted sheepishly.

"Of course, there's a pet shop out around the back. Maybe your boyfriend would like to help you choose a collar" Amity was about to correct him but failed to see the point. It seemed the world was in on getting her together with Paul. And maybe they were all right? He did care enough to bring her all the way down here.

After choosing a collar, Amity headed back to the counter in time to see Paul paying for the vet bills.

"Paul, what are you…?"

"Forget about it, it's nothing," He said shyly, while doing his best to shove the receipt in his pocket before she could see it.

"Paul how much was it? I'll pay you back," she said tearing at the paper in his hand until he let it go.

$886!!!!

"Forget about it, really" he insisted and although Amity knew that she should pay him back right away, she couldn't help but get the feeling that this was what he really wanted.

"Here he is!" said a fat jolly male vet-nurse and lead the dog out to meet Amity.

Amity couldn't believe her eyes! Under all that dirt, a truly beautiful dog had been hiding. He bounded up to her with such renewed joy and vigour that Amity began to cry. She wrapped her arms around the dog's neck as he muzzled her ear gently.

"Here are the papers, if you could just sign here, here and here," The nurse said, producing a pen.

After she did as she was told the nurse turned to her with a smile.

"Congratulations! You've just become the proud owner of a male Rhodesian Ridgeback pup"

"What shall I call him?" she asked Paul as they made their way back to Benji's jeep.

'How about expensive' thought Paul, and then felt utterly ashamed of himself.

"Oh I can't wait to show you to Benji!" Amity proclaimed to the dog.

"Why Benji?" Paul said quickly, maybe a little too quickly because he received a strange look from Amity.

"Because Benji and I kinda found him together," She replied.

"Oh" Paul said, doing his best to conceal his relief.

The car ride home was done mostly in silence because for most of the journey Amity was deep in thought. Apart from the fact that she now had a dog that she had nowhere to keep, since she lived in a second storey flat with her cousin, she was also thinking about why she had so badly wanted to show Benji the dog. Sure, he had kinda helped her find it but not really…why had his name been so close to her lips? Why had he been on the top of her mind?