Carla sighed, twirling a strand of dark brown hair around her finger. The only thing worse than waiting for a bus, was waiting for the last one of the night. It always came an hour after the second to last one and there were no restaurants or stores around in which to kill time. All you could do was sit. There were other things...at least Carla had Dan with her. She turned back to him, sitting on the bus stop bench, absently going through his backpack, probably counting his library books, again.
They had just come from the campus library and he was so obsessive about leaving things behind. He flipped through his research texts and with a satisfied sigh, closed his bag, checked to make sure it was closed, and then smiled up at Carla.
"So, when's that bus coming?"
Carla growled under her breath and checked her watch.
"Another 50 minutes or so." She took one more look down the street, a few cars, nothing else. Dejected, she stomped back to the bench and plopped herself down on it. "I hate waiting for this bus."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. I can't wait for my car to be out of the shop, then I won't have to ride with all the other poor, unwashed losers. Oh, and you Carla." He grinned his joking grin and she gave him the finger, showing him her pearly whites in return.
"Yeah, just as long as you give me a ride in to campus when its back."
"Anything you want, babe."
"A ride will suffice." Carla kicked a pebble in front of her, looked up for the bus again, knowing it wouldn't be there, and looked back down at her feet.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
"What?'
"To pass the time," Dan had that look on his face that he got when he thought people should know what he was talking about. Carla looked away from his almost bulging eyes.
"I dunno," she said, kicking another pebble, and then toeing a crack in the sidewalk. "So, um, how's your dog?"
"He's at the vet overnight, surgery."
Carla gave Dan a hard look.
"Is all your stuff in repair shop?"
"Just about."
Carla turned her vision back to the crack in the sidewalk and they sat in timid silence. Carla was bored and her watch indicated no reprieve in the near future. She looked around, traffic was dwindling and there was no one on the sidewalk.