Chapter 10

"Uh, I'll just um, sort these," Ray stammered as he and Neela stood over his hamper in his room. Neela was being very sweet, but he wasn't sure he'd quite reached the level where he was comfortable with her touching his dirty boxers…he stopped himself mid-thought before his thoughts got too carried away. "Actually, Emily's probably got some laundry that's built up, if you want to tackle that."

"Okay, well I'll go see," Neela said. She tentatively opened Emily's door and saw that she was awake. "Hey," she said when Emily turned and saw her.

"Hi," Emily answered.

"I'm just helping Ray with some chores. Do you have any laundry you need done?"

"Yeah, I think so. There's a basket just inside my closet."

Neela found the basket. "How're you doing?" she asked Emily as she hiked the basket up on her hip.

"Better today. Actually, do you think that while you're here, you could convince Ray to get out for a little while? He could really use it."

"I can try. He'll definitely need some persuading though. It's eleven now, and this afternoon you have a doctor's appointment, so maybe later tonight. In the meantime, I'm helping him get some things in order."

"Okay, well thanks for the laundry."

"No problem," Neela smiled. "You should rest before your appointment," she said as she left the room.

Neela found Ray in the living room with two laundry baskets, one filled with dark colors and the other with lights.

"What?" Ray asked when he saw her.

"Nothing, nothing," Neela said, trying to hide her smile. "It's just…you with laundry," she giggled. "I never thought I'd see this side of you, Dr. Barnett."

"Yeah, yeah…Dr. Rasgotra," Ray said, flashing her a smile back.

Neela quickly sorted Emily's clothes into Ray's baskets. They each took one, and Neela followed Ray out to the apartment laundry room.

Once inside, Ray fished around in his pocket for some quarters. He started filling the washing machine, and added the clothes.

"You don't do this much, do you?" Neela asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Ray asked, smiling ruefully.

"Well, for one thing, you forgot detergent!"

"Ah, well, easily fixed!" Ray said triumphantly, lifting the lid and pouring in the soap with gusto, trying to cover his slip-up.

"Wait, stop! Not so mu—" Neela tried to stop him, but it was too late. Ray hadn't measured out the proper amount, and instead poured it directly from the bottle into the basin. They both froze for a moment, and then looked at the washing machine, then at each other. At the same moment, they both burst out laughing.

"Here, let me finish this," Neela said, taking a step forward. Ray watched as she twisted and pulled several knobs, and finally put the lid back down. The machine roared to life as she did.

"That was…" Ray trailed off as he realized how close they were. He took a small step closer, further closing the gap.

"Good?" Neela said softly, taking her own step closer.

"Very good," Ray whispered. They were inches apart now.

"Great, then you can do the next load!" Neela said cheerily, stepping back and pressing some more quarters into the palm of his hand.