golden (mileven au)

tiny favor

Hours later, Mike had fully prepared his apartment for the visitors he'd have for the next few weeks. Everything was out of reach and stashed away safely. As long as they didn't pee on his furniture or the carpet in the other rooms, everything would be good.

After giving the kitchen one last look over, he grabbed the two bags of trash he had sitting in the floor to take them out.

As soon as he'd shut his front door, he spotted a familiar face at the bottom of the stairs.

It was her, the girl who lives in the apartment across the hall.

He doesn't actually know her name or anything about her really. All he knows is that she attends the same University as he does. He only knows this because she has the same Purdue parking tag hanging on her rear view mirror in her car.

The two always seem to cross paths, whether it's in passing on the stairs, doing laundry, checking their mailboxes, or even the rare times that Mike does visit the gym near the leasing office.

It's strange, how they always seem to be doing the same things at the same times.

After seeing the girl all of those times though, Mike can honestly say that he finds her to be really pretty. He also thinks that he would like to know her, maybe even be her friend, given the fact that they live right across from each other and attend the same school.

There's just one problem, she seems to not like him, at all.

Every time they do cross paths, Mike will flash her a polite smile or even say hi, but she never answers. On the rare occasion that she does smile back, it's not very bright. Sometimes she just looks away from him, as if he hadn't said a word.

He didn't know what her deal was, but it was clear that she didn't want to be friendly toward him.

Despite her behavior though, he's still friendly toward her, because that's the kind of guy that Mike Wheeler is.

So, as the girl climbed the stairs, he slowly went down them, preparing to greet her like usual. He held his large bags of trash away from her, not wanting to hit her with them or take up too much space on the stairs.

As they passed one another, he smiled politely, but like always, she shoots him a quick look and scurries off into her apartment.

"And I get nothing in return, shocker." Mike mumbled to himself, then proceeded to go on with what will probably be his last peaceful night for awhile.

•

"Okay Mike, you're all set. I put everything by the bathroom door and their beds are in the kitchen." Nancy told him, while running around his apartment like a mad woman. "Oh and I brought enough food so you shouldn't have to buy any."

"Great."

"And make sure you feed them at the times I wrote down! If they get off schedule, they tend to poop more often than usual."

Mike cringed, the thought of having to clean up all that dog poop making him want to throw up his breakfast.

"Just look at the list I gave you, okay? Everything's on there."

"Yeah, I got it."

Nancy sighed, trying to rack her brain for anything else Mike needed to know, but she was all out of things to say.

She then crouched down and called all of them over. "Come here my babies! Say bye bye to Momma!"

The four golden retrievers came running, tongues hanging out of their mouths and tails wagging like crazy. Nancy made sure to give them all her love and tons of kisses.

Mike rolled his eyes at her absurd behavior. "They're just dogs, Nancy."

Nancy gasped, looking down at all her dogs. "He didn't mean that! Mike, apologize!"

"Yeah yeah, sorry dogs."

"Alright, well... I guess I'll be going now." She said sadly, while standing back up and heading toward the front door. "Please take care of my babies, Mike."

"I will try, but no promises."

Nancy narrowed her eyes at him, not appreciating his jokes.

"There is no 'try' Mike, you will take care of them." She demanded, sounding as serious as ever. She stared him down for a moment, then her intense gaze dropped and she pulled him in for a hug. "Okay, bye!"

"Bye, Nance."

Mike closed the door behind her and turned around to find the puppies still running wild, barking up a storm.

"What have I gotten myself into?"