The flex of his strong arms captivated my attention as he carried one of the heavier boxes from my second-floor apartment and loaded it into the trunk of his car. Brow beaded with sweat, tank top stretched to the limit and riding up his lower back, he lifted his eyes as I struggled to carry another box downstairs and took it before I could trip.
“Sorry,” I said, noting his particular care of the box of breakables I’d just handed off.
“Don’t be. You’ll end up hurting yourself if you’re not careful.”
“Guess I’m still a bit humble over this whole situation.”
“Hey,” Guy said, patting my cheek with the cut-off gloves he wore. “Don’t be. I wanna help. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He smiled and bumped his forehead against mine before starting back up the stairs. “How many more boxes we got?” he asked, casting a glance over his shoulder as he stepped off the final stair.
“Uh… three, I think.”
“Three boxes?” he asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I asked because we’ve only brought two down.”
I apparently wasn’t quick to disguise my embarrassment, as Guy’s lips pulled down into a frown. “Ah” was all he could say.
I chose not to offer a comment and instead followed him into the apartment. As usual, I had to warn him about the slight rise from the platform into the doorway, otherwise he’d end up tripping and landing face-first on the woodwork flooring.
“You really got to put up with a lot of shit from these people to live in a place like this,” Guy commented, crossing the short distance to the living room, where he crouched and tested the weight of each of the boxes. “This place reeks of courthouses and easy settlements.”
“I didn’t want to bother filing a complaint after all the shit I’d been through.”
“How long have you been here?”
“This’ll be my third month.”
Guy frowned. “You told the landlord about all the damage though. Right? Pictures and everything?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry—I covered my ass on this one.”
“I don’t doubt you did.”
Guy’s pale expression brightened into a smile when I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him. “Thanks for everything,” I whispered, no longer caring what kind of impression I gave off.
“Don’t thank me,” Guy replied, patting my back. “Let’s get the rest of these boxes in the car and get you home.”