September- Mike glanced outside

Mike glanced outside. "I get off the stop after yours. Great aunt's. She expects me 'home' eeeevery weekend." He rolled his eyes.

"Does she fuss and pet and call you her 'dahling'?" asked Zach, trying to lighten the mood.

"Just about," confirmed Mike, "but she's the same to everyone, even my dad."

"And how old is your dad?" asked Zach with a smile.

"Thirty-something," said Mike, after a moment of thought. "He doesn't come here often though...usually's with his girlfriend somewhere back home or on business trips."

"You're not from around here?" asked Zach, who was becoming increasingly fascinated by the sort of information he was receiving. Morbidly fascinated.

"No, I'm from Minnesota. Came here for college. Great aunt decided to be nice and take me in." Came back the answer.

"Is it nice there? Minnesota, I mean," continued Zach, figuring that he'd better leave the potentially depressing questions and leave Mike to volunteer the information when he's ready.

"I guess so," replied Mike. "I miss Fluffy."

"..." said Zach, who was trying to make a connection between Minnesota, Fluffy, and the person known as 'Mike'. "Is Fluffy your dog?"

"Yeah," said Mike, smiling for the first time, "rottweiler puppy."

"Sounds cute," commented Zach, who didn't really know anything about dogs, but felt like it was the appropriate thing to say. You can't go wrong using the word "cute" with a name like "Fluffy," right?

"It is." Agreed Mike, pulling on the signal cord. "Your stop's next."

"I know, thank you," said Zach, who was marveling at the sorts of conclusion he was reaching regarding Mike's personality.

"Freshman, right? I'm in Fowler's," Mike offered.

"Calais Hall," returned Zach cautiously, as the bus pulled into his stop. "Guess I'll see you around then."

"Later, Zach."

"Bye."

Zach got off. Mike slouched back to his original position.
_____________________________________

On a note about the name "Fluffy", I thought I should mention it's the name of Hagrid's three-headed dog that nearly took Snape's leg off. :-p
Cute, isn't it?