"How did I know, the second I started painting my nails, you'd appear" she swung the door open and started blowing on her fingertips.
"Sorry for the inconvenience" he said, almost with a smirk.
"Would you mind dropping them in the dining room for me?" She asked with the kind of politeness you would treat a relative stranger.
"If you insist" he headed for the dining room, now with a decent idea of the layout of her house. "You opening a smokers lounge or something?" He joked, turning back to look at her.
"What?" She had missed the joke.
"The Jazz" he said, referring to the music echoing through the ground floor of the house.
"Oh" she said. He could see she was almost embarrassed. "I just like Jazz" she clarified.
"Same. Although I haven't listened to a lot of Chet Baker. Which is surprising given he's so popular" he said, referring to the song. He could see in her expression that he'd impressed her.
"Right"
"You don't need to look so surprised" he frowned, watching her bite her lip.
"And you don't need to look so pleased with yourself" she joked back. "Have you been to the Jazz bar in town, off the high street, near the Thai place?" She asked.
"No, usually don't like those kinds of places" he said.
"Same" she laughed. "But it's a pretty good one. More music than singing. Except Tuesdays, they have a girl in every Tuesday that says she sounds like Eartha Kitt. She doesn't" she smiled.
"We'll see" he said, unconvinced.
"You'd probably have to break out a fancier pair of jeans though." She failed to hide her smirk.
"Goodnight Rachel" he rolled his eyes and headed for the door.
"Wait" she requested, before slipping past him and into the lounge, returning a moment later. "Here" she said, handing him a CD with her unpainted hand.
"That's okay-" he protested.
"You can give it back" she rolled her eyes, blowing on her nails again.
"Okay… thanks" he said. "See you Monday".