| Amelia is outside number 3116, seated on the back of a bus bench. She has her phone in her hands and is using it while she presumably waits for the next bus to come along. It's just about 12.30 in the afternoon.
Having dressed up to go out for a run or something like that, Michael comes down the driveway of 3118, stepping a bit slowly as he places a bottle of water on a belt so he can carry it with him. Starting to move in the direction that's going past that bus bench now, a bit slowly.
Sensing movement out of her corner of her eye, Amelia turns her head. She shields her eyes to the sun and gives Michael a little grin. "Where did you come from?" Clearly she wasn't aware he lived around here since she herself doesn't. Amelia, with her crisp English accent, lives in a loftier locale.
Coming to a stop as he hears Amelia's words, Michael offers a brief shrug in return. "Depends. How far back should I go?" It's said a bit lightly, before he chuckles a little. "If it's only right now, that house over there." Pointing towards his home, before he grins. "But if we're talking long-term, I'd have to say Minnesota. How about you?"
"Minnes-ota." Amelia says the word with her odd foreign accent, making it sounds funny. "I have no idea where that is. Sounds exotic." She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. "It's Mike, right? I think we have a class together. I'm Amelia and I'm from this bench right now, but originally England." Her mouth tilts into a lazy grin.
"Not that exotic. Colder than here, though." Michael offers another grin, before he nods, "That's me, yes. And I think I remember seeing you around at class." Another grin is offered, before he adds, "England? I think we landed there once when we were visiting my grandparents. Only at that big airport, though."
She motions for Michael to come a bit closer. "Colder? I miss colder. This place makes me feel like I am going to wilt sometimes and there was no proper autumn and winter...pfft, that was not winter." Amelia grins, "Sorry, the weather...I'm English it's our thing. Big airport? We have a few of those. Heathrow probably though, its one of the five largest in the world."
"Hey, I agree about the winters. Back before we moved here, the winters were when one could go outside and skate much more often." Michael replies, with a grin now, before he nods, "Heathrow, yes. We landed there, then a few hours later took another plane to Sweden."
When he moves closer Amelia is able to lower her hand since he's blocking out the sun for her. "Sweden? Why would you go to Sweden? It's full of midges and the booze is freakishly expensive thanks to all those taxes. Plus, their pizzas are weird." Clearly she's a well seasoned beer and pizza traveller.
Michael chuckles, "Hey, have you ever tried our wonderful pizza with ham, pineapple, banana and curry?" A wider grin now, "It's actually quite good. And my dad's from there, so we go back every other year to visit the family." Another smile is given now.
"That sounds really....odd. If I ever get there again I'll see if I can try it," promises Amelia. "Your dad is Swedish? That's cool. I guess that explains the name. I just figured you were Yanks with names from ancestors who emigrated like most everyone else. But if your dad is actually proper born in Sweden that makes you half." Not that Michael isn't aware of his own geneology.
Michael grins and nods, "He came to the US to study at the University of Minnesota and play hockey for their team, but then he met mom." A brief pause, and a chuckle, "But it's nice, being half-Swedish. Helps for learning languages too, since my parents insited we'd learn both of them."
"I bet it does. I love languages. I feel pretty limited by the school and what it offers. I was taking far more back home." Amelia briefly glances at her phone to check the time. "So how did you end up out here?" She grins at Michael, "In California I mean, not standing beside me."
Michael smiles, "They are quite interesting. And it helps to know the local language when you go somewhere, right?" Another brief pause, before he shrugs, "Dad got a job for the newspaper here. The sad thing is that I had to stop playing hockey, for a team, that is. But at least I could still play football, which is good."
"Hockey? Oh you mean ice hockey." Amelia nods her honey-hued head. "To me hockey is field hockey first, ice hockey second. I played it back home. Well and for the school here too. Season is over though, which again is odd to me. It's year round pretty much in England not just an autumn thing like here." She reaches up to adjust an earring. "Why not just play for a local team instead of a school one?"
"That's a good question. I guess we didn't find any teams when we moved here. But if I find one, it might be good to do so again." Michael replies with a grin. "Always helps staying in shape, doing more than one sport."
Again she checks her phone for the time and looks down the street to see the bus turn onto it. "That looks like it's my ride," says Amelia as she hops down and stands up, holding out her arm for the bus driver to see. Looking back over her shoulder she says to Michael, "Enjoy your run. I'll see you back at school next week, I'm sure."
Michael nods as he hears that, offering another smile. "Looks like your ride's here, yes. It was nice talking with you. See you back at the school." Offering a half-wave now, before he starts putting on the headphones for his music player, to get ready for the run.3
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