Her hands were sweaty as she gripped the quill, making the page beneath her rested palm bend with the presence of moisture.

"Ugh," she groaned, feeling that the properties of the parchment were entirely unfair, this being the tenth one she'd ruined in a half hour. "For pity's sake."

"Muttering under our breath to ourselves are we?" A male voice from behind made Jo jump in her seat.

Turning around she cried clasping a hand to her heart, "Goodness! Are you trying to send me to an early grave!?" before giving him a good bat on the arm for his trouble and shuffling in her seat to continue writing.

"Well I'll just open the window to clear the stuffy air and your head, shall I?" Laurie asked whilst performing the action. It was a short struggle but he finally forced the little wooden panes to budge and he instantly took an exaggerated breath of the outside air, all the while knowing Jo was watching him.

He really was the most irritating and loveable neighbour, she decided, refocusing on her work before he caught her staring when he turned around with raised eyebrows. Jo felt rather than saw him move across towards her, kneeling beside her short seat to read over her shoulder.

"Do you mind?" she asked archly, pausing her scribbling to look at him in the corner of her eye. He really was terribly close.

"Oh!" Laurie scooted closer, draping his arm across the back of her chair and consequently trapping Jo between her desk and his large form. "Not at all, Jo! Thank you for asking though, very thoughtful…" he trailed off, eyeing her manuscript and trying very hard not to grin widely at the expression he guessed her to wear.

Jo took a few sharp breaths and decided that ignoring him would be the best way to continue. It was only twenty seconds later, or so she guessed that Laurie began clearing his throat in the loudest manner possible, leaning his head nearer to her ear as Jo struggled to maintain the curves of her 'g's and 'y's.

"Yes!?" she finally gave up, turning her head to find him looking back innocently, inches from her own frustrated face.

"Well, actually, would you mind moving your hand slightly? It's a little hard to read, Jo dear."

She thought she was going to break the nib in two.

"Teddy, go away."

And Jo turned around and continued writing, at a pace she hadn't done since the idea for the story had popped into her head three days ago. She was racing along merrily, pleased that her few harsh words had silenced her troublesome friend and that the speed wouldn't allow him to catch up when she was interrupted once more.

"My girl, you've spelt 'intimate' wrong. It's with an 'I' in the middle, not an 'e', see?" Laurie prodded the mistake not two sentences behind her present one, his hot breath in her ear.

"Listen!" Jo snapped, whirling about to face him again only to find he'd moved closer, if that was possible, which made her promptly turn red. His breath hit her cheek in warm waves as his eyes seemed to move at the slowest pace possible down her face to stop at her lips.

Why is he looking there? Jo wondered in a panic as he readjusted his hand from the page, somewhere behind her.

"See, I've fixed it for you!" He said once his hand had settled again and Jo looked at him in confusion for his eyes were still fixed upon her mouth. She looked behind her, not ready to completely let him off the hook again and saw the neat little line through her 'e' and the pointed 'I' that hovered above it on the right.

"Well! So you have!" Jo exclaimed, turning back to face him when she found his gaze by her neck. Ridiculously close to her neck. "Is it warm in here or is it just me?" she asked, bringing a hand up to cover where his stare lingered.

"You're skin is rather flushed," he noted seriously, prodding her shoulder with the arm that lay across her seat. "But then heat does rise," he said smiling, wriggling his brow and grinning at the shot of red that burned into Jo's face.

"Teddy!"

"What? We're in the garret!"