Ellie fell on the bed in Irene's guestroom and lay quietly as she tried in vain to fall asleep. She was wound up and was rehashing everything that had happened with John. She grinned as she replayed the video that Irene had shot on her cell. She'd left the cell on the kitchen counter and had told Ellie to check it out again if she wanted to. Ellie had grabbed it and taken it into her room as they headed off to bed. It was pretty funny she had to admit. John's jaw had, in fact, dropped open. He didn't close it for a few seconds and then, once he did, he didn't look horrified, but rather had a tiny smirk on his face. She smiled and sighed as she watched their hands meet and recalled the buzz she'd felt as they touched. Now she laughed as she watched herself toss the candies back at him and the cute, puzzled look that he gave her. Maybe she should feel bad about what she'd done, as it would have been quite different if the situation were reversed. While the idea of seeing John, naked in front of her door was appealing, if it had been some random man with a bag over his head, flashing her, the police would be involved and she'd probably have kicked him in his jewels and gotten her pepper spray out.
She wondered how she and John would ever be able to actually get together and spend some quality time together in the real world. She could come right out and confess to him and see where that lead, or she could keep her "dirty" little secret and just flirt with him and see how things developed. Or, she could enlist Chuck and Sarah. There were so many possibilities that she decided to just drift off to sleep, and, if she was lucky, she'd dream of him.
--
John couldn't sleep. He kept running the whole "incident" over in his mind. He tried to figure who would do something like that and kept coming back to the realization that it probably wasn't anyone he knew. He'd briefly thought of the two girls from the grocery store, but realized they were the wrong size. Too short and not voluptuous enough. His girl, that was how he now found himself referring to the mystery woman, was a tall drink of water and had long, lean legs and was well endowed without being too top-heavy. That was about all he could get. White female, approximately five foot eight, built well, lean and tall. Conspired with two other Caucasian females and one Hispanic female. As he drifted off to sleep, he figured it was probably some sorority prank, but there was something he felt when their hands had briefly touched.
--
During the next few days, John found himself almost obsessed with trying to find his mystery girl. He briefly contemplated running plates on all ten-thousand plus Toyota mini-vans but knew that would be futile. Like a person with a shoe fetish, he found himself constantly focused on the shoes women around him were wearing. At night, he would lie awake for several hours, when his sleep was interrupted and try, in vain to figure out who she was. And then there was the problem, that "if" he was somehow able to find her, what would he do with her once he got her. Those thoughts always made his mind drop into the gutter, which made him feel slightly guilty.
One day, he was heading over to the washer and dryer section of the store and he noticed a pair of Louboutins walk by. Yep, they were definitely Louboutins. His head moved up slowly from the womens feet, as he checked her out. When he finally looked at her, she had a look on her face that said he was about three seconds away from getting slapped. He lowered his head again and quickly walked on by when he realized she was too short to fit his Cinderella's profile.
"Creep," the woman irritatedly replied as John went by.
As John got the hell out of there, he quickly turned around the corner and ran into Morgan Grimes.
"Dude, what is wrong with you?"
"Get out of my way, Grimes."
"Um, you banged into me Big Guy."
Casey growled and side-stepped Morgan, but Morgan stunningly didn't back off, but rather stepped back into his path.
"Seriously, Dude, follow me. I've got the cure to your problem."
Casey stood there silently stewing but decided to follow the little-troll. Did he know something? had he somehow been involved in the Cinderella prank? Casey irritatedly caught up to him as Morgan walked into the employee lounge and pointed to a chair at the table.
John sat and watched as Morgan fished out some coins from his pocket and bought two grape sodas. He placed one in front of Casey and popped the other and took a long swig.
"Ah, that hits the spot. It's my professional opinion, that there is no problem that a good, cold grape soda cannot fix."
Casey stared up at him in amazement. Here it was again, the L.A. "friendly person" syndrome in action.
"Grimes, I don't have tim-"
"Sit, drink, stay," Morgan commanded.
Casey defiantly opened the can and chugged the contents down. It was rather good, and even though he'd never admit it, ever since Grimes had turned him onto grape soda a year ago during his interrogation, he did, on occasion like to imbibe in the sweet, sugary treat.
"So, what gives?"
"I don't know what you're babbling about Grimes?"
"Don't try and deflect the question. You know what I mean. You're hanging your head and walking around all down-in-the-dumps. I know you and I aren't as close as you and Chuck are, but I can tell that something is wrong. If you want, I can go get Chuck."
Casey swallowed down a gulp the wrong way and coughed and sputtered. God, that was all he needed. Being interrogated by not one, but two uber-nerds. It was time to change the conversation and get Grimes to calm down and back off. Decorum was called for.
He sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm fine, Grimes. It's just a muscle spasm in my neck."
"Oh, those are a bitch. I get them on occasion when I hit the weights too hard."
Casey smirked, took one last chug of soda, tossed the can in the refuse and head held high, headed out. "Well, I've got appliances to sell and stock to load, I'm out of here."
"Glad to help," Morgan called out after him. He still had half a can of soda to enjoy and he wasn't going anywhere.
--
The next few days went by quickly and John was feeling back to normal. He had the morning off and didn't have to report to the Buy More until Noon. He'd gone on an early morning run and had just gotten back. He was checking the camera feeds to make sure everything was okay at Casa Bartowski when he heard a scream. He actually heard it in his apartment first before hearing it on the feeds and immediately recognized that it was Ellie. He quickly switched to the feed in her bedroom but saw nothing. He switched to the hall monitor and saw that the bathroom door was open and steam was coming out. She was in there, and something was wrong. He shoved his glock in his belt and tore out of his apartment. As he ran, he tried to decide how to handle this. Would he use his key and just show up and say the door was unlocked? Should he kick the door in? He decided to just play the neighbor-in-peril scenario. If he were just some random neighbor who happened to hear a woman screaming, he'd kick the door down. As he got to the door, he noted the screaming had stopped and tried the handle. It was unlocked, which irritated him, but he figured she'd left it open by accident. He stepped into the room and called out to her in a loud voice.
"Ellie..... Ellie are you okay, it's John Casey?" He heard her answer him from the shower.
"John, thank God you're here. My water just went from hot to freezing then it just shut off altogether! I have shampoo and soap all over me and it's starting to burn and I can't get the faucet to work...."
He forcefully had to not think about her being wet, sudsy and naked and decided she did need his help. "Do you want me to come in?"
"Um, yeah."
"Do you have a towel or a robe?"
"Oh Damn-it," he heard her muttering before she answered. "No, I just hopped in and forgot my towel."
"Okay, no worries, where is your robe or a towel?"
"My robe is hanging behind the bedroom door, and there are towels in the hall closet."
"I'll get them, just hang-on."
He went into her bedroom and grabbed her robe and then grabbed two towels from the closet in the hall. He let her know he was coming in.
"Okay, I have your robe and two towels. Take a towel from me, I'll turn the other way."
He stepped into the bathroom and backed towards the shower to give her privacy. She opened the door and grabbed the two towels from him.
"I'll wrap myself up. Just give me a second."
"No problem. I'll wait in the hall." He backed out of the room to allow her to cover herself. In a few seconds she called back to him. "Okay, I'm bundled up, can you come in now?"
John walked into the bathroom and noted that she was still standing in the shower but was wrapped in the towels.
"Oh, John, I'm so embarrassed. I don't know what the hell is wrong with the shower. Can you get the water going again? I'm all full of shampoo and soap," she moaned miserably.
He examined the two faucets and noted the water was definitely not flowing. "I'm just glad I heard you. You sure let out a shriek. I wasn't sure if I should come in or not, but the door was unlocked."
"I didn't realize I'd yelled that loud, but the water shifted and it was freezing and just shocked me. Is something broken?"
"I'm not sure what the deal is." He tried the sink faucet and tried to flush the toilet and noted nothing worked. "Ellie, it looks like your water has been shut off."
"Oh damn. He warned me about this and I totally forgot."
"Who warned you?"
"Devon. He told me I'd have to pay the next water bill electronically as he took his name off the bill when we split. He even left me an email to remind me and I totally forgot. Geeze, aren't they supposed to warn you or something before they just shut it off altogether?"
"You would think so. Why don't you come over to my place and rinse off, then you can call them and pay over the phone so they'll turn it back on. I'll wait in the living room. Just come out when you're ready."
John took a seat on the couch and waited for her. In another minute she came out, still wrapped in the towels but now holding her slippers a robe and two more dry towels. She looked lovely but disheveled and for a fleeting moment, she somehow reminded him of his flasher with her robe all tied up like it was.
Casey was thankful that his computer monitor was sleeping but hoped that Beckman wouldn't burst onto the screen. Once Ellie was in his shower, he could turn the monitor off, but he just had to get her upstairs quickly which shouldn't be a problem. "Come on, the bathroom is upstairs." He led the way up the stairs and into his bedroom, thanking himself for being clean and tidy.
"Oh, John, I'm so sorry about all of this. But, I'm glad you were home. I don't know what I'd have done."
"Don't worry about it, Ellie. Take your time, use my shampoo and soap. Just get warmed up and clean. I'll be downstairs. If you want extra towels, they're in the cabinet under the sink."
"Thanks, John. You're a life-saver."
He left her in his shower and went downstairs. He decided to make a pot of coffee in case she was still cold when she finished her shower. He switched off his monitor and looked around to make sure everything was ship shape for having a guest in his home. All was well, so he sat down and waited for her as he sipped his coffee and read the morning paper.
Ellie dropped the sticky, soppy towels to the floor and stepped into the hot shower. For a few minutes, she just stood quietly and let the water fall down on her and warm her chilled body. 'What a fiasco' she thought. She was so thankful that he'd been home as all of the other neighbors were gone in the day at work. She opened her eyes and had a look around his bathroom. Everything was so clean and pristine which she was secretly thankful for. She knew if Chuck lived alone, his shower would more than likely be crawling with mold and goo. In the corner of the shower were John's simple bath products. A back brush hung on a suction cup against the shiny black tiles. There was a shampoo and conditioner combo that appeared to be a simple store brand, not a salon brand, and a bar of soap, which she identified by scent to be Irish Spring. Predictable, plain, simple and all man. She grinned at the thought of Devon's line of hair care and skin care products. He'd used more products than she did. He even had his light brown hair high-lighted by the same girl who styled her own hair.
She squeezed a small amount of John's shampoo into her palm and cleaned up her thick, gooey mess and then rinsed it with his conditioner. She soaped herself up with his soap and then stood for a few more minutes. When she was done, she got out of his shower and stood in front of the mirror as she toweled herself off. She noted his toothbrush in it's stand, the dixie cup dispenser and his electric shaver that was plugged into the wall charging. She resisted the urge to snoop in his medicine cabinet but spied his thick black comb laying on the counter. If she left her hair in the towel, it would dry and be a ratty mess. She really should give it a quick comb through and then it could air dry until she got home to her flat-iron. She doubted he'd mind, so she picked it up and ran it through her silky locks. Now that she was dry, she pulled on her fluffy robe and slippers and draped the extra dry towel over her robe. She used the damp towels to wipe down his wet tiles and glass shower doors.
As she exited his bathroom, she looked around his bedroom and noted how clean and neat it was. There were a few pictures in frames on a dresser in the far corner of the room and she noted a set of weights and a bench in the other corner. She really wanted to walk to the dresser and check out the pictures, but just like his medicine cabinet, she respected his privacy and went downstairs to join him.
"You all set now?" he asked as she joined him in his living room.
"Yes, thank you so much. I hope you don't mind, but I used your comb. I forgot mine and if I don't comb out my hair quickly, it quickly becomes a rats nest."
"No problem, Ellie. I'm glad I was home and was able to help you out."
"You know, I was thinking about that. If you weren't home, I was going to have to go out to the pool and jump in to rinse off. That would have been so gross."
"Well, it sounds better than the other alternative."
"What's that?"
"Using water from the toilet tank."
John actually laughed aloud at the expression on her face. She was obviously aghast at the mere thought.
"Oh, no, that would not happen. It would have definitely been the pool over toilet water."
"Well, you know they claim it's clean and all."
"Ughhh, gag. Nope, a chlorine rinse sounds way better than a toilet tank rinse."
"I made some hot coffee, figured you may be cold. Want a cup?"
Ellie smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Yes, I'd love a cup. I'll take it black."
John poured her a cup and she sat down on his couch. He noted her fluffy terry robe and matching slippers with what appeared to be cats and dogs on the pattern.
She took the coffee from him, and as their hands touched, she felt that same spark that she'd felt the other day when she'd shamelessly flashed him. She looked up at him as he stood over her and gave him a bright smile.
