Fortitude

5-Familiar

Everything cleaned up, I served the pancakes and poured the milk into the mugs.

Does she even take milk?
I should have asked that before embarrassing myself.
Wait.
I'll use that as an ice breaker.

"Uhm, sorry about that, I forgot to ask, do you take milk?" I managed to shake out placing my can of assorted tea bags in front of her next to her plate of pancakes.

"Yeah, I do... oh and thank you so much for the pancakes, you shouldn't have,"

"Anything for the lovely designer,"

IDIOT! My conscience screamed as I mentally face palmed myself turning on my heels to get the mugs, not at all eager to see her reaction.

I need to relax.
I hope she doesn't raise a complaint against me.
Especially to dad.

"Oh my goodness these are good!" She exclaimed after swallowing her first bite. Something lit up inside me at her compliment.

"Thank you, I usually add vanilla extract to my pancakes, "

Her raised eyebrows clearly asked your pancakes?

"Yes, I cook, quite good at it, or so I hear,"

What are you talking about?

"Not gonna lie, this," white painted nails pointing at the pancakes with a pause, "is amazing."

There it was again, that choking, burning, uneasy sensation in my gut.

"Thank you," I coughed out.

Classy.

"So, how about you tell me what you'd like me to help you with?" She asked.

Oh yeah.
That.

"As you can see, my living situation is a bit... rough,"

She chuckled as her eyes squinted in the process and I didn't miss noticing her long lashes. Looking closely at them, I could tell that they weren't fake like the rakes all the city girls have on their faces these days. That would have looked odd on her as she had a minimalistic style. All she had in her face was crystal clear glossy lip gloss, or was it my oily pancakes? There was a birthmark near the corner of her bottom lip that weirdly made her face more attractive. A slim necklace hung on her neck with a tiny pendant resting a little below her clavicle. My eyes then trailed back up to her face. Her eyes were the type of brown that looked black in the shade but would definitely be hazel brown in the sun. A tiny nose piercing added a bit more sparkle to her countenance.

I went ahead describing what I needed help with, intending not to weird her out by my gawking. With every statement, she nodded, taking notes on a tablet she'd pulled out of her bag in the process.

"Would you like any structural modifications to your living space?"

"Huh?"

With a polite smile she went on, "What I mean by that is take your doorway for example, " stopping as we both turned to face the small hallway with an arch at the entrance to the living room. "The Victorian arch looks like it was added by the previous home owner because the paint is a bit fresher at that spot and it's shape doesn't go with the modern structure of your apartment. "