Chemistry

Creep

"Shit, I'm so late! Chloe, can you put the coffee on?" Rebecca shouted as she jumped from her bed and scrambled from her room to take a shower.

"Can't, I'm late too! Sorry love, I have to go right now! Later!" her roommate called out as she left the flat in a hurry, slamming the door behind her as she went.

"Dammit!" Rebecca dashed across the flat - devoid of clothes - to fire up the caffeine machine. If it weren't for her precious morning coffee, she'd be a wretched beast of a woman during her full day in the lab.

Without a second to prepare, the front door of her flat opened and she had nary a napkin or dish-cloth to preserve her modesty.

"Chloe!! Don't come in! I'm naked in here!" Rebecca shrieked while she considered wrapping herself in a rubbish bag to cover up.

"It's me," his deep, sultry voice revealed his identity without him having to. "Chloe said I could just come in."

"Oh Jesus," she hissed, pressed against the back wall of the kitchen and out of eye sight. That was the one time she was grateful for the closed off entryway of the flat. His long, slender fingers poked round the corner and wiggled in a sort of salutation.

"Why are you naked, Rebecca?" His voice was laced with flirtatious curiosity.

She blushed and contemplated how much force it would take to just bust through the wall behind her and into the shower. "I was making coffee...both Chloe and I are running late...I still have to shower and somehow make it to the lab in time."

He chuckled at her plight and fought every urge to come round the corner, scoop her up and hide away with her in bed for the day.

"Go shower, I'll get your coffee ready."

"But--"

"Just go. I won't peek."

"Please," she whimpered.

"Promise," he covered his eyes with his hands. "Go ahead."

She dashed out of the kitchen and slammed the bathroom door once she made it there. He heard the water kick on and took it as the go-ahead to enter the flat. Starting her coffee, he also began packing a lunch for her with things from the refrigerator. A quick moment later she emerged in her hospital-issue blue scrubs, looking flushed and harried.

"That was embarrassing," she huffed as she wrestled her damp curls into a knot atop her head.

"And adorable," he smirked and handed her a thermos full of coffee. "I thought I could give you a lift to your lab. Sorry for coming unannounced."

"Considering I'm running late, a lift would help me immensely. We have to go now, though--shit! I have to grab a lun--"

He held up her lunchbox, packed and ready to go.

"My god, you're a lifesaver," she gave the front of his shirt a tug towards her and kissed him. She flushed and reached up to run her fingers through his hair, gently grazing the angular plane of his cheekbones, then letting them come to rest on his chest. After allowing only a moment of making out she broke away and jumped into action again, putting her card-key lanyard around her neck then grabbing her cell, bag and keys. Ben, however, was stunned in his place in the kitchen, right where she'd left him.

"Come on! We have to go!" she chuckled as she grabbed his arm to drag him out of the flat.

***

"Who's the fellow on the bike?" Eric asked as soon as Rebecca got settled in her lab space for the day.

"A friend," she intoned as she kept her eyes trained on the specimen under her microscope. "Why were you watching me?"