Won't Roux Be My Neighbor

Local Flour Outage

He was letting out all of her insulated heat by standing there anyway.

"Yeah, technically my bike could jump your car," she said while closing the door behind him. "But I'm not walking out in the freeze to help you kill yourself."

"Just this once?" Logan asked, shaking off the excess snow from his shoulders. "This seems like something you'd be into. I die. You don't get caught for the assist. Win-win."

"Not happening," Louise called over her shoulder, already gone to get him a towel from the bathroom. She stuck her tongue out at the faucet, its quiet dripping ever-present, as she passed. See, someone could give her a good conversation.

She returned to the living room and indicated to his wet hair, holding the procured towel hostage until he answered her. "What happened?"

"Snow fell off the roof when I was leaving the garage."

"You need to be more careful. It could have been an icicle."

Logan took the fluffy blue towel from her, nodding his thanks. "Why Belcher, if I didn't know better, I'd say you cared."

Drying his hair obscured any view he might have of her face, and she appreciated the distraction from the subject.

They had been dancing around each other for weeks now with looks that lingered and late-night conversations that lasted too long but felt too short. It reached a point where even she could tell where things were headed, ugh, emotionally.

It scared her.

Like a corner of her mind that she chose to veer away from, she instead hung onto the small thread of hope that she imagined the whole thing and that she definitely didn't have a crush on her rival. How embarrassing would that be? Having a crush as an adult?

His face became visible once more, the towel laying loose across his shoulders to catch any stray bits of snow he missed in the bedhead he called hair. Louise couldn't help but wonder if he looked like that coming out of the shower.

Nope, no crush, she thought as she wrestled the towel back from him and asked, "Do you need to change?"

He blinked at her, a sly grin taking over his features.

"Oh, are you finally going to give me my shirt back?"

"I told you I tossed that forever ago." She clicked her tongue and shook her head. "No, I was looking for an excuse to kick you out," she held up the damp towel, "I've already done my community service for the day."

"Well, unlucky for you, the snow just got my head." He fluffed part of his hair then shrugged. "You're stuck with me."

Louise scoffed, tossing the towel into a corner and promising to take care of it later. No one had the energy for laundry during the apocalypse.

She jutted her thumb behind her, pointing to a hypothetical space through her door.

"You have your own apartment to freeze in."

"Come on." Logan ignored her very commanding thumb and backed further into her living room, intentionally away from the door. "You can't honestly tell me you don't want a little company."

"Maybe that is what I'm saying."

"But see the thing is? I know you better than that. You're bored." He emphasized the statement by pointing with his chin to the red solo cup tower she made on the coffee table during one of her lower moments.

After considering kicking the table's leg to let her less than impressive tower crumble, she decided that was too childish. Instead, she blamed someone else for her problems. Like an adult.