Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

He was definitely not a pro at this.

His movements were awkward, sure, but the real kicker was his method of squeezing dish soap on each and every bowl and plate. Under Roseanne's bewildered gaze, he looked up with an innocent expression and asked, "Isn't this how it's done?" Roseanne was speechless.

"If you don't mind, maybe you could show me?" Corley cleared his throat. "Back when I lived abroad, I usually only used a couple of dishes at a time, so I'd just put a little soap on each..."

"There's really no set way to do dishes, and there's more than one way to use dish soap. It varies from person to person. The main thing is to get the dishes clean. However..."

She shifted gears, "From a conservation standpoint, it might be better to squirt some soap into the water, dissolve it, and then use a sponge to wash everything. Rinse with clean water afterward, dry them off, and you're set."

"Is that how it's done..." Corley listened and followed her instructions.

Just as he was about to dissolve the dish soap in water, Roseanne suddenly spoke up -

"Wait!"

Corley stopped.

"Use hot water."

"Oh, right!"

After cleaning up, the two lingered for a bit before noticing it was getting late. They said their goodbyes to Madeleine.

Corley: "I drove here. Need a lift?"

The subway had stopped running by that hour.

one to play coy. "Thanks, that'd be

in the

me 'senior' or just Corley. Or you could just use my first

"Sure thing, Mr. Sullivan."

you doing this on

innocence: "Just habit, I

me whatever you

make

...

hour later,

me at the entrance

"You're not going home?"

by the lab. Got some

pry further, just stopped the car at

out,

waved: "Take care on

"Will do."

Roseanne reached the lab, it was

process and tidying up her workspace, it was nearly midnight. She turned

entering its pre-summer rainy season. It been drizzling

days.

streetlights, the rain looked like fine

were nearly empty, with just the occasional car passing

dark night felt

her umbrella and stepped