“Damn it! Of all the times to play up.”

Ash reached across her and waved her own fob in front of the panel and the glass door slid open. They burst into the foyer and straightened up, eyeing each other before dissolving into laughter. “I am so wet,” said Ash, shaking her hands.

“Title of your sex tape,” retorted Chloe. She wiped rain from her face and pressed the button to call the elevator.

“Good one. So, who gets the first shower?” They each had their own bathroom, but the hot water pressure in their flat was so low, only one of them could shower at a time.

The elevator announced its arrival with a “ding”, and they got in for their short ride to the fourth floor. “You go, but be fast,” said Chloe. “I’ll make some eggs or something.”

“Breakfast for dinner? Will you marry me?”

“Yeah, well, consider it a reward for being so awesome today. That event, Ash, you killed it.” Her bestie beamed at her, just as the elevator said, “Fourth floor,” in a sexy voice that had never made any sense to Chloe. Why would anyone hire a voice-over artist who made arriving at the fourth floor sound like she was announcing an orgasm or something?

*

“Delish. Thank you,” said Ash, as she stood and took Chloe’s plate from her.

“It was just eggs, Ash.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have to make them.” Ash loaded the dirty plates into the dishwasher and started cleaning up the rest of the kitchen. “Hey, so I was going say something before, but I’ve been going back and forth, and I wasn’t really sure until today, but …”

“Say it …” Chloe’s words turned into a yawn.

“What do you think of Carl?”

Chloe cut her yawn short and peered at Ash. “Well, he’s fantastic at social media, but I’m guessing you don’t mean that.” What did Ash mean exactly? She’d only just come out of a long-term relationship and this was the first time she’d mentioned another guy.

Ash continued her clean-up. “He’s kinda sexy, don’t you think?”

Chloe decided to keep her reply light. “Uh, no, not really. And if you think so, then you don’t want me to think so.”

“Hah! You’re right. It’s just … I caught him watching me a couple of times tonight, and did you see how weird he was acting when we said goodbye?”

“Sorry, Ash, I must have been too shattered to notice Carl’s unobvious flirting.”

“He’s incredibly smart, like incredibly.” Ash draped the wet tea towel over the handle of the oven door, flicked off the kitchen light, and re-joined Chloe on the couch.

“You’re incredibly smart too, Ash.” Ash shrugged her shoulders, her usual way of deflecting a compliment. “Anyway, I haven’t worked that closely with him,” continued Chloe, “but props to him for that Insta campaign for tonight. It was pretty impressive.” The campaign had been unreal, but Chloe was tempering her enthusiasm for all things “Carl”. If she’d been a betting person, her money would be on Ash getting back together with her ex.