Alice stood up and admired her work. She had just finished cleaning the fireplace, and was pleased with how clean it now looked. She looked at her hands. They were completely covered in charcoal. Her baggy T-shirt and camo pants had been decorated similarly. She wouldn't be surprised if flecks of it had decorated her face too. But, before the girl could begin washing the soot off, she heard a loud crash come from the room next door. She jumped up, startled.
"What the-?"
The girl threw the double doors to the library open. It only took a second for her to recognize what was wrong. Dozens of books littered the floor in front of one of the bookshelves. Henry was sitting in the midst of the mess appearing rather defeated.
"What happened!?" Alice asked, gawking.
"Iggy is what happened," Henry replied grimly.
"Iggy?" Alice quirked an eyebrow.
She had only been living in the Bolet mansion for a few days now, but she never recalled seeing anyone but Henry in the house. Who on earth was Iggy?
"Uncle Bruno liked to keep a lot of exotic pets around," Henry explained, "One of them is an iguana named Iggy. I've been trying to catch the little guy for years now, but he's too quick. He was sitting on the bookshelf just now when I tried to grab him, and well...I guess I got a little too eager. He knocked over half the books before the shelf broke and rest of them came crashing down."
Henry sighed as he began to clean up the mess. Alice went over to him and began picking up books as well.
"Oh you don't have to worry, I'll get them," Henry stated.
"I don't mind helping," Alice answered, "I mean, it is what you're paying me for." A humorous smile played on her lips.
"I guess I can't argue with you there," Henry replied, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Alice reached for one labeled "The Eye of the Beholder" not realizing that he was doing the same. Her hand lightly brushed the top of Henry's for the briefest moment. She sharpy pulled her hand back.
"Sorry!" She apologized.
"It's alright," He assured, seemingly unfazed.
Alice tried to match his expression, but she could feel her face grow a bit warm. She tried to shake off the feeling as she payed more attention to which books she was grabbing.
It didn't take long for the two to form two neat piles. Alice looked up at the bookshelf.
"I can probably fix that tomorrow," She suggested.
"That'd be great if you would," Henry seemed relieved, "I've never been very good at fixing things- Hey you've got something on your face," He interrupted himself as he pointed out a smudge of charcoal on Alice's chin.
Alice rubbed at it, but it only made the mark more prominent.
"Did I get it?" She asked.
"A little more."
She rubbed at the mark again.
"How about now?"
"There's just this tiny bit-"
Alice used her whole hand, aggressively trying to scrub it off.
"Now?"
"Well- here lemme just-"
Henry reached down and placed his hand under her chin, using his thumb to rub off the last bit.
"There. Now you're good," He announced.
"Oh, t-thank you," She stammered, surprised by the action, "I'm gonna go finish cleaning the parlor."
Alice then retreated into the other room, again trying to ignore the warmth gathering around her face.
The next day the purple haired girl got right to work on fixing the shelf that had collapsed yesterday. Securing her toolbelt around her waist she examined the damage. Fortunately, it was the type which had adjustable supports. Two of the supports on one side had broken off. All she had to do was unscrew two extra supports which weren't in use and move them to where they were needed.
Henry was in the library today too - it seemed as if he were always in the library working. She wasn't quite sure what his job was, but it had to have been one where he worked from home since he rarely ever left the house. This was also Alice's explanation for why he was so pale.
Although, there were times when he seemed to just disappear. For example, one time she saw Henry in the parlor as she was sweeping the steps. When she got to the top of the steps, however, she saw him leaving his room. Things like that made Henry seem all the more of a mystery to Alice. She really couldn't get a good read on him. Sometimes he seemed nice, like yesterday, but other times he seemed like he didn't want anything to do with her. It was all very confusing.
Alice glanced over at Henry nervously. She hated to bother him, especially while he worked, but she was in need for another hand.
"Henry, could you help me a second?" She finally asked, as she began unscrewing one of the supports.
Henry got up from his workspace and walked over to the girl. Alice was standing on top of a short step ladder, since the shelf was higher up than she could reach.
"What do you need?" He asked.
"Sorry to keep you from working, but could you hold onto these screws? It'll only take a few minutes for me to fix this, but these screws are so tiny, I feel like I'll lose them."
"Sure."
Alice relaxed at his compliance.
She handed Henry the first two screws before unscrewing the others and handing those to him as well. Once she had the first support in place she asked Henry for one of the screws. He held it up to her and she screwed it in. Then she asked for the other. Henry held it up for her, but this time she was so focused on not moving the support that she didn't look behind to grab it. She grasped at empty air for a bit. And then reached a bit too far as she turned to look. The step ladder wobbled as she continued to lean to one side until, suddenly, she lost her footing and slipped right off.
Luckily for her, Henry was right there to catch her. Unluckily, his reaction was a bit delayed, and he lost his own footing trying to catch her. The two tumbled to the ground rather ungracefully.
"Ouch," Henry groaned as he found himself now lying on his back with Alice on top of him.
It took a few moments for Alice to realize that her face was pressed into Henry's chest. Upon recovering from the shock she pushed herself onto her hands and knees.
"Oh shoot, I'm so sorry Henry!" She exclaimed. Crap, now he'll really be mad, she thought.
"It's alright," He said, wincing a bit. Then he looked down and his eyes widened, "U-uh, Alice, c-could you get off of me?" He stammered, suddenly turning his gaze to the side.
"O-oh, right." Her cheeks turned pink as she realized she was still straddling Henry's body underneath her.
Alice rose to her feet. Henry got up as well and held the screw out to her.
"I believe this is yours," He commented, refusing to look at her straight on.
"Thanks," She responded, and then turned to set the step ladder back up.
Alice tried to ignore the awkward tension now hanging in the air. Crap, I think he's mad at me now. She thought, cursing herself for not keeping her balance. He didn't even look at her when they got back up.
What Alice didn't realize was that Henry wasn't mad at all. In fact, he was just as embarrassed as she was. However, the root of his embarrassment wasn't just due to the awkward position the two had found themselves in. Rather, it was the fact that today Alice had worn a rather loose V-neck, and when she was bent over him he could see right down her shirt. Not that he was trying to look or anything. But, it wasn't like he was trying not to look either.
Henry quietly returned to his workspace, his face slowly getting redder and redder, trying to erase the image of her lacy white bra from his mind.
