Page 40 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

"I gathered. Are you going to be much longer?"

"I'm washing my hair, Marcus."

"Right. Great. Hair washing. Very important." No answer. The water keeps going. I start pacing. "Alexia. I need to be at Undertow in a clean shirt in ten minutes, and said clean shirt is in the bathroom, not to mention my razor, which will make my face presentable."

Nothing.

Fuck it.

I open the door.

"HEY!" she yells, voice muffled by the water.

"Relax. It's just me, I can't see anything, it's a wall of steam in here, I'm basically walking blind—" I pause. "Are those Little Mermaid underwear?"

"I'm going to freaking kill you!"

"You'll have to get out here first, and frankly, if you're so caught up about me not seeing anything, then you're safer in there. But sure, come out if you want."

I get to the sink, turn the tap, and start lathering up before she can produce a counterargument but then⁠—

“AHHHH!!! Oh my god, it's freezing! MARCUS!!!”

“Yes, Lexi?” I say, muffled through my shaving cream beard.

"You've stolen all the hot water, turn it off⁠—"

"I need it to shave, this isn't optional! Have you ever shaved with cold water? Might as well scrape my face off!"

"That's how it feels right now, except it's my whole body! The cold water is like pinpricks all over!" She must have adjusted her hot water because even less trickles into my sink.

"Turn the cold water off then! And it'll get warmer," I suggest calmly.

"What cold water? It's off! Why would I turn the cold water on? It's already basically Arctic levels of freezing in here⁠—"

I sigh and turn off the hot water. There's a pause, then a small noise of relief from behind the curtain. "Better?"

She sniffs. "Marginally."

"You're welcome."

"You give back the water you stole in the first place and now want appreciation?"

I start running the razor along my face, ignoring the way the hair pulls. "I gave it back, didn’t I?”

"After taking it!"

"That's called kindness. You're welcome," I say, through a grin.

"That's called a war crime!"

I laugh. I can't help it. Being around her makes me giddy, the back and forth, her intelligence, her dry humour, the way she never lets go of a challenge. It helps that I can tell she's holding back her own laughter, that I'm not in this alone. Although...it might be safer if I were.

"You could've waited," she says, quieter now. "I was almost done."

Guilt tingles on my newly shaved skin and I feel myself softening as well. “I did wait, Lexi-Lou. I waited for over half an hour. I wouldn't have come in if I didn't absolutely need to."

"I'm sorry. I'll try to go faster next time." She sounds genuinely sorry, and it hits me hard. It wasn't really that big a deal, not worth making her feel bad over.