Won't Roux Be My Neighbor

Lady Sticky Fingers

Chapter 1: His shirt

"Come on, Louise. I promise it's just me."

"Your promises mean nothing. Turn around."

Through the peep hole, Louise saw Tina heave a great sigh, hold her arms out, and turn 360 as instructed. No babies hid behind her back or toddlers giggled at watching their mom twirl.

"Kids?" Louise called anyway. "Are you there?"

When the hallway remained silent, Tina dropped her arms with a huff, exhausted by the third degree.

"See? I'm alone. Please open the door."

"Alright." She unlocked the door but crouched in case she needed to block anyone from running into her apartment between her legs. The move was unnecessary, but she offered no remorse while standing back up to meet her sister. "Can you blame me after the stunt you pulled?"

"I know, I know," Tina placated. "I was going half-crazy, but I shouldn't have foisted my children on you without warning. It was sneaky and underhanded of me."

"Well don't say it like that. It almost makes me proud of you."

Tina smiled in that small way she did, and the two let the subject rest. Besides, she had about a month's worth of apology tiramisu to plow through in her fridge.

"So why are you here then?" Louise asked, offering to let Tina in but the bespectacled woman declined.

"I just wanted to swing by and drop off Logan's shirt," she said, producing the folded clothing.

"The one that-"

"The one that Ava threw up on, yeah."

Nose wrinkling, Louise refused to take it from Tina's extended hands.

"I washed it," Tina sighed. "I promise."

Regardless of her earlier doubts, a Tina Promise was better than most. Louise relented and grabbed the shirt while her older sister continued.

"I tried his apartment first, but he's either not there or learned from you not to open the door to me."

"He's at Caleb's. There's a big WWE match, and they watch it together," she explained offhandedly.

Tina squinted at her funny but didn't follow up. Louise returned the favor, squinting and shrugging at the other's look. With another sigh, Tina dropped it.

"I'm sorry. I would stay to deliver it myself or talk, but Griffin's got an appointment."

"What's the test this time?"

"Allergy."

Nodding, Louise held up the shirt, and patted it. "You keep your mind on that. I'll take care of this."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Tina thanked her again with a hug, which was a disgusting show of affection but nice. Waving goodbye, Louise shut her apartment and looked down at Logan's shirt.

It was a simple, cotton thermal. Solid red because did he even own other colors? Signs pointed to no.

Rolling her eyes, Louise considered just hanging it on his doorknob or, better yet, dropping it on the ground in front of his door. Boom bam, task complete.

But what if he got pissy about it and demanded something stupid like Tina rewash the long-sleeve? Her sister had enough on her plate, and Louise wouldn't let that blond moron bug her any more than necessary.

Without looking, Louise tossed the thermal into the first drawer she came across. Logan would get it back eventually.

A Louise Promise didn't mean the same thing as a Tina Promise anyway.