“Haven’t noticed, honestly.”
I smirk at her. She bites her lip to hide a smile.
Professional. Keep it professional, jackass.
“Anyway, shall we take this to the bedrooms?”
She blinks. “Excuse me?”
“Upstairs,” I clarify, trying not to thoroughly enjoy the delicate blush rising to her cheeks. “The dorms. Where all the brave little heroes catch their Z’s.”
“Right. Sure. Lead the way.”
The rest of the tour is easy. We fly through the mezzanine, then head downstairs to show off the gym. A few of the guys not-so-subtly flex their biceps when they see Lila panning the camera in their direction. I give a little speech about the importance of staying in shape so that we can be in our best possible form when the people of New York need us, and Lila nods in encouragement.
When we’re done, we claim a secluded alcove of the gym where there are mats for stretching.
“Do you mind if I take advantage of you for a few more minutes?” Lila asks, tapping away on her phone.
I lift an eyebrow. “Take advantage of me?”
She waves off my innuendo without even looking up. “Take advantage of your time, I mean.”
“I’m all yours, Blondie.”
“I want to bang out some short-form content that I can edit up and sprinkle throughout your various social media channels this week. Snappy but informative content, you know?”
“Totally.” I lean back against the wall.
She aims her phone at me again. “Okay, let’s do fire safety tips. Rapid fire, basic advice, but stuff that you’ve seen people forget about. Can you do that?”
“Sure.” I shrug. “For starters, don’t leave candles burning unattended. Not even if you’re in the next room.”
“Good. What else?”
“Replace your smoke alarm batteries once a year.”
“Really? That often.”
“Yes, indeed. And replace the whole alarm every ten years.”
“Got it.”
“Also, don’t microwave aluminum foil.”
Lila furrows her brow. “That’s common knowledge.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Anything else?”
“Our station, and most other stations in the city, have a non-emergency number. If you have a basic inquiry like, ‘What kind of Christmas lights will most likely prevent my Douglas fir from catching fire in my living room?’, we can actually help with that.”
“People could also Google that.”
I purse my lips at her. “Oryou can get a direct answer from a professional.”
“Fair enough.”
