The change in scenery was good for Michael as they went to the coffee house for a break. They left Boon after he seemed to put Ashley on edge. He made a point to let him sleep on the top part of the bed tonight as payment for not taking him along. Usually this meant Michael was going to wake up covered in dog tongue, but it was a small price to pay to keep everyone happy in the apartment. 

A few cracked jokes at each other’s expense had the mood pretty good from Michael’s perspective. They were both smiling and believe it or not regular eye contact was now almost achieved on regular bases. Michael was good with people as far as dealing with them, but Ashley had been a tough nut to crack. She seemed to be like the tide as she would rise and fall. He figured this was some sort of thing with her so he quickly accepted it as a quirk. 

The mood was somewhat sledge hammered into oblivion with the introduction of the new barista started and made her way over to their table. Her name was Vicky and she was the kind of gal every mother warns against. Thankfully Michael was good at seeing the red flags himself. Vicky was the kind who enjoyed the spot light. She had what could only be described as a fully desirable body, something Ashley seemed to admire as well.

The problem with Vicky in Michael’s opinion was her personal skill in finding horrible boyfriends. She seemed to have a thing for the bad boy. More than once her then boyfriends would wave a gun around like a money clip thinking it would get them everything they wanted. More often than not this would in fact work; however, sometimes there were much bigger hitters in the clubs and they would be firmly removed. Vicky usually saw this as a good chance to upgrade and start dating one of the guys who threw her ex out. 

This contestant pattern made Michael constantly wonder why she would hit on him. He had none of the characteristics she seemed to enjoy other than the respect thing. While her ex’s respect seemed to mostly be from a fear or power stance his was more or less an artistic. He smiled when he remembered one of Vicky’s favorite lines she would use when Michael was DJ’ing. ‘What else can those fingers do?’ She would ask while working and dancing near him on stage. 

“Well things at the university have been taking a bit more of my time than normal. Michael then started to talk about some of the things he was working on. His face would brighten and he would start to talk with his hands almost as much as his mouth. Quickly after he realized Vicky didn’t seem all that interested and he jumped ship on the conversation by telling her he would try and make it back to her regular club soon. 

When she left Ashley made a comment that couldn’t have been written better for Vicky. Her tone and pause was the perfect balance for the words chosen. “I guess you could call her a coworker…” Michael said with his voice somewhat trailing off. “She is a dancer at one of the major nightclubs in the district. I sometimes DJ for fun and her club is one of the ones that is stupid enough to keep inviting me back.” He was somewhat embarrassed to talk about his hobby. 

“Anyway I wouldn't really recommend you learn her birthday or favorite color. Like most things in that scene they seem to change daily and above all will never remember yours. A weird group seems to culminate to that music. I guess I can’t talk too much since I am the one making it. Still funny to think about I guess.” Michael took a sip of his coffee and then nodded to Ashley’s. “You know Hot Coco would be sweeter. You can get whip cream with it as well. Since you like sugar it seems. Also yea, sitting in my class should be fine.” Michael wasn't going to admit how surprised he was, but he was happy she seemed to want to learn something about him. Considering how people like Vicky saw his field of study he was somewhat hungry to find someone interested in it outside of his fellow Archaeology nerds.

A short while later Michael excused himself to use the bathroom. As he walked back there he felt someone follow him in. “Look buddy it is a single occupan…” He was cut off when the body pushed him against the wall and turned him around. “Woah!” he said and saw a large guy looking back at him. The man didn’t have the whole threat look on, but more seemed worried or restless. 

“Hey I heard you said you were a DJ and that you might know where to get some extra happy for the scene…” The guy was asking about drugs. Something Michael had zero interest or tolerance for. The guy had made the mistake of asking about it, but also made the bigger mistake of pushing him in the bathroom to get his attention. Dealing with this would be best done with a little force.

Michael pushed the guy against the wall and threw his wallet open and closed it really quickly. “Yea they call me DJ COP.” The guy’s eyes went huge. “And I can only assume that you are saying you want to know where you can buy that new song Happy, because if you meant the slang for one of the new street drugs I would have to arrest you.” Michael had done the trick a few times. It always worked considering the people who knew him would never ask about drugs. 

The man quickly removed himself from the back area allowing Michael to do his business. When he returned he saw Ashley was on the phone right outside. He paid for their coffee and a muffin which he started to eat as he walked outside to join Ashley who was just starting to end her phone call. He wasn’t one to pry. He assumed she was giving her family a call considering how serious her face was. When she hung up she brought up the idea of them going to bed. 

“Sounds like a good idea to me. After the night you had last night I’m pretty sure you were supposed to take it easy.” They walked back to his loft and when they got in he showed her to her bed area. He had thrown some sheets up so she had the room to herself. “I will warn you though. If you turn the light on Boon will be able to see a clear silhouette so might be best to learn to dress in the twilight.” He gave a friendly smile as he heard all of his guy friends yelling at him in his head. “I’ll promise to be aware of the same thing of course.”

Michael then exceeded himself from the room and headed back to the kitchen where some of the dirty dishes had been left on the ground for Boon to clean. He put them in the sink and started to clean them while Ashley seemed to get ready for bed. When the dishes finished he took Boon and headed to his own bed near the back of the large space. He turned his light on,having already forgotten about the warning he had just given Ashley, and after changing into his PJ bottoms he remembered he hadn’t really given his new roommate anything to sleep in. 

Looking around for a shirt he grabbed his normal bedtime shirt. On him it was a little big, but on Ashley it might as well have been a sheet or small blanket. He shouted over to Ashley before walking closer. “I’ll just toss it over.” He said and then threw his shirt over the top of the sheet wall. “Night Ash.” He said giving the very unoriginal nickname a go. Michael then went to his own bed and got dressed followed by turning the light off and letting Boon climb up next to his pillow for a good night’s rest. Well at least for the next 4 hours that is.

----

When he woke up he saw that his alarm was only a few minutes away from going off. He always hated it when this happened. Still the clock showed the time 8:56 and soon enough ticked another minute over. When he rolled over he was instantly set upon by a siege of licked. "Awww come on Boon you promised!" Michael said with a light laugh. He struggle to get up, but found the strength after Boon started to lick him again. Standing up and looking down at his pajama bottoms he saw they were as baggy as ever while he made his way to the bathroom. A splash of clean water and a quick use of the toilet had him mostly awake as he reached the kitchen. He tried to stay quiet in case Ashley was still asleep while Boon seemed to park himself right outside of her 'door' which was where two of the sheets met like a tent doorway.