When I Look At You

Chapter 4

Leigh shows up the next day as you're coming in from your run with a legal pad of ideas she had throughout what was left of the night. You asked her if she slept at all and she dismissed your concern by asking if you thought you could use anything for the book. You take the notepad and look it over. "You've read my books, haven't you?" It was clear by the specific moments she tries to bring parallels to that she knows the story better than most.

"I wanted to get to know you better," she replies.

"I guess that means I can finally admit that I've read your blog. It's good," you compliment while keeping your focus on the page.

Leigh smiles, "You really think so?" You nod and she tells you how much she appreciates it. "Anyway, should we start where we left off?" She grabs the notebook with a pen sticking out of the end. The look you give her makes her laugh, "What? I told you, I don't mind helping you with this."

"No it's not that."

"Then what is it? Something on my face?"

"No, it's perfect."

"Uh-oh, good thing I'm wearing a belt today," she pokes fun and now you're confused. "Nevermind," she dismisses your expression. But then you realize it's because you made a comment about her not being able to keep her pants on due to a compliment from you. It makes you laugh. "Y/n what is it?"

"I just got back from a run," you state as if it was obvious. She doesn't catch on. "I need to shower before we start working. Unless you want to deal with the smell." You sniff yourself and make an exaggerated expression of disgust that elicits a giggle from her.

"Right, go shower, Stinky. I will just uh, I will make us some breakfast. What do you have around?" She gets up from the sofa to walk to the kitchen and you're too late to stop her from opening the refrigerator. Her mouth drops open and her eyes are wide with amusement. "I thought you were joking, Y/n!" Inside were the few items she had joked about you having and the carton of eggs. "We definitely have to go shopping at some point today, this is not the way to live." You scratch behind your ear, slightly embarrassed by the way you've been taking care of yourself.

"Taylor... Well she did all of the shopping. I guess, I just didn't think much about it," you explain as you pick at the dirt under your nails. You look back up and Leigh has no sympathy on her face for you. She can tell that there is some other reason your refrigerator was so bare. So you drop the grieving act. "Okay, I don't like stores."

Leigh shakes her head, "Shower, I'll go over to my place and make us some brain food, we'll work on the book for a few hours, and then you and I are going to the store."

You straighten up into a soldier stance and salute to her, "Yes ma'am!"

She lets a laugh escape at your playfulness and you smile, "Just get in the shower already." You do as she says and walk to the bathroom. Leigh lingers around your place a little longer and collects a few things to throw away. She takes the bottles of spirits that were left on the coffee table from last night and notices that one of them is empty. She frowns and tosses it into the garbage. After what she learned about you last night, she couldn't imagine being able to fall asleep without a little help with something like that on your mind.

By the time you get out of the shower, Leigh is returning with a lunch bag of food. She sets it up on the kitchen table. She was glad to see that you had clean dishes. The rest of the house could indeed use a cleaning day, but she wasn't going to say anything to embarrass you further. When you're dressed, you join her and thank her for the meal. She waves it off as nothing but you make sure she knows how much you appreciate it, along with everything else she has been doing for you.