A Hefty Job for One Man

[Logan Go]

Did she know? He couldn't tell if she was screwing with him now or if she was just making things up! Laughter welled up; he couldn't stop it. The idea of a strip club being drab was humorous but then she went on to say it got interesting after dark and that's when he lost it. Setting the box he held down, he let himself just laugh, no suppressing it, no hiding it.

"Oh really? That is when things pick up!"

Logan grinned at her, not even noticing the poor woman's exhaustion. Man, if she was guessing, she really ended up saying just the right thing. Strip clubs were drab during the day, no word of a lie. That wasn't Logan's jurisdiction though. He worked during the evenings, when things were rowdy.

"How'd you know?" he asked. "Did somebody tell you?"

[Hana Choi]

The stack of boxes shifted a little as she leaned. Clearly, she was putting too much of her weight into them. He startled her a little in his mirthful laughter. Either he found it amusing because nothing interesting happened after dark or being she was dead on. Sure enough, he confirmed the latter. Hana grinned innocently and straightened herself.

This was it. The final trip. His laughter provided just the energy she needed to survive it! She owed him so much after this. Who knows where she would be without him right now? Probably passed out on the stairwell, where he might have still come home and simply thought she was a homeless beggar.

She began to take a step around him when he asked how she'd known. He referred to his job, she supposed. Wow, I must really have nailed it, she mused. But, what did he actually do that would be drab during the day and poppin' at night? Night shifts? Was he just now getting home? He did look exhausted himself. Guilt mixed with curiosity. She was not sure if she could or even should keep up this game.

With a sideways smile, she hummed in a questioning tone. "Is it a secret?" She gave a playful shove to his shoulder, "You have me wanting to stalk you for real just for answers, Logan."

[Logan Go]

Aha! So she didn't know anything! Somehow that only made it all the more humorous to him. How did she strike it right on the head without even knowing? Maybe her subconscious tossed him into that category. The kind of guy who stuck around in a small town for no reason didn't have a lot of choices, now did he? Logan wasn't a farmer or rancher of any kind and while most teens had a stint at the Happy Burger in town, they didn't stay long. It was never a lifelong career choice.

Not... that stripping was, either. Right now it paid the bills but Logan was going to age eventually and when he did, nobody was gonna see that on the club stage.

"Nope," he said. "Everybody knows me. I work at the club on Center." He waggled his brows. "You know the one."

[Hana Choi]

Hana's face made an obvious 'Ahhh' expression. Carrying on with the renewed energy he had given her, she swiftly slipped past him once more. She only hoped the scent of her hard work today did not waft behind her in her haste. One final trip! her mind sang excitedly.

Knowing he would follow, she carried on the conversation. "I know of the club, of course." Well, she knew where it was and that drinking happened there. She left town the summer after graduation and had only returned for holidays. She never had a relationship with the night life in Hazleton. Consequently, she had only her experience in Portland and Sacramento to aid her ideas of his occupation. She imagined him behind the bar or serving. She would tip double to a smile like his.

"I've never been," she admitted - now being truthful and leaving their goofy jest behind for the moment.

Being that there was only one box left at the foot the stairs, she had no qualms about dragging him along with her. She trotted down the stairs and swooped the final box up into her arms.

"I should come by and visit some time."

[Logan Go]

"Oh right, you left before you were old enough to go, right?"

Hana was gone before the whole night life phase. Did she have one while she was studying or did she take her schooling seriously? He liked to imagine she had a friend or two that took her out for a good time. Nobody could live life without having some time to themselves, whether it was out dancing or even just sitting in with a book. Not that Logan was the latter type of person but he knew an introvert or two. Half the town was made up of them.

"You should!" he said, encouraging her to come by and see him in his element. "I can even get you in free and you're pretty. You're sure to get a lot of free drinks, too."

He paused, then looked at her one last box, the one she'd picked up for herself.

"I can take it, if you want."

[Hana Choi]

Hana only nodded sheeply that she had left before she was old enough to go. Sure, she had a slightly less bookish friend that tried to take her once. However, Hana was too honest for her own good and had told her mother about it. Needless to say... she did not go.

Her grin reappeared at his encouragement to visit the club. She truly had only been to a club once or twice and knew them to be fun with the right people. She only needed to find friends to go with her now!

"Good, because everything I had was spent on surveilling you and making myself your neighbor."

An flattered blush put at bay, Hana had turned to humor to keep her composure. Shifting the weight of the box, Hana smiled sheepishly once more at his offer to take her last box. She thanked the stars that she had run into him and that she had the chance to be his neighbor. Though he had been one with the jock crowd, she never knew him to be anything but amiable. He was kind and had already come to her aid in a pinch. She felt like she owed him the world in that moment.

"Is that really okay? I'm afraid I won't be able to walk tomorrow, but I don't want to wear out all my neighbor-panic-passes so soon after moving in. Then, how am I ever going to get into clubs?" She moved closer, hesitant to hold the box out to him.

[Logan Go]

"Here, just let me."

Logan took the box from her, countering her hesitation with his confidence. He smiled at her to reassure her that it was fine. It wasn't like he was obligated to do any of this; he decided to do it because he wanted to. There was nothing to it for him to pick up boxes. To stay in shape for his job, he was a regular at the gym. It would take more than a few hikes up and down the stairs with boxes to wear him out.

(Although he definitely would sleep well tonight after his shift and the box moving!)

"Oh don't worry about that. You'd be able to get into the club even without me. But... you'd have to pay the cover charge." Which he made sound like a big deal but it wasn't. "And it won't be as fun if I'm not there to show you around."

He winked.

"I know all the cool corners and people."

[Hana Choi]

The box left her hands all too willingly, leaving her swimming in a sea of relief. It washed over her like no ocean ever had. Well, she had never been to the ocean, so that simile was anything but an exaggeration... Still, her face lifted as the box lifted from her fingertips and into his capable arms. She was not blind to the hard work he put into his body. She knew it was not truly a struggle for him, but that did not stop her from feeling guilty for putting him out of his way. Lifting boxes was hardly any fun for anyone, she imagined.

Hana smiled knowingly when Logan stated she could still get in a club. She had only meant she could not as a joke following her statement that she had used all her money stalking him and moving here. But, it was not necessary to correct him. If the joke did not land, it clearly wasn't amusing enough. They couldn't all be winners.

"I'm not surprised. I have no memory of you absent of 'cool people'"

In no particular hurry, her feet navigated around him and to the stairs slowly and gracefully. Being that it was the last box, it was about to be the end of their conversation. It was the most fun she had all day. Granted, walking a snail's pace up stairs with a box in tow would only be more work. So, she picked up her steps to a reasonable pace to lead him back up the stairs so that he could relieve himself of the dead weight.

"I'm not sure about the cool corners though... I don't think I ever found them. So, I'm glad you would be there, or else I still may never find one."

[Logan Go]

"Maybe I'll have to jog your memory, then!" He half smiled in her direction. The box he held wasn't so bad, not really heavy at all. Plus, it was the last one and knowing that the task was almost done made him nearly buoyant. That and the present company, of course.

Not that being lumped in with the cool people was a problem for him. Mostly what he said was in jest. It would be nice to get to know Hana better, though. Now that they were neighbors, there was a chance that they could develop at least a friendship. Watch something together, share dinners, that kind of thing.

...Was that getting ahead of himself?

"Well," he said, tilting his head with a conspiratorial glint in his eyes, "the truth is, the corners are where the cool people hang out. At first, you think it's the ones dancing in the middle of the club, right? But the ones in the corners, they're the ones really taking it all in, and they have all the stories."

[Hana Choi]

Hana smiled and listened quietly as they ascended one final time for the day and Logan explained his perspective of cool people in clubs. Frankly, it was fascinating. She had never considered it from that point of view before. She wondered where she fell on his spectrum of cool people. All she knew of clubs was from tagging along with college friends. People were reckless and wild, and she had been on that side a few times. Though, usually she was the one making sure everyone drank enough water and had a safe ride home. She preferred to get drunk when she knew she had a reliable ride herself - which was almost never. That left her with drinking at house-bound parties, which she could not complain about. She rather liked it that way.

By no means was she afraid of a new experience though. In fact, she relished the idea of getting an entirely new experience in a familiar place. That was also why she was feeling suddenly more excited to be moving back home. Old faces making new appearances in her life. This boy who she only vaguely knew as a teen could very well prove to be an amazing friend as an adult.

Hana paused in the middle of the second flight and shot him a playful smile. "So, if I come and sit myself in a corner, people will think I'm cool?"

She failed to hold back a 'heh' of a choked chuckle. She knew too well that isolating herself in a corner would result in the more unwanted attention. That is, at the average club... she had no idea what she was getting herself into here.

"Maybe I'd get my 'no one sticks baby in the corner' moment and my Swayze will come sweep me off my feet?" She laughed silently at herself and gazed up at the sky. Loose locks from her braid tickled her cheeks in the wind. "I've been doing this all wrong all along!"

[Logan Go]

"Uhhh, we-elllll...." Logan scrunched up his nose for a second, sliding his gaze away for a moment. It was a good question but... When he slid his gaze back to look sidelong at Hana, he half smiled and his tone was light and airy as he added, "Here's the thing... That's my idea of cool. But not everyone's gonna think it is."

That was his confession of the day: the cool kids were the wallflowers with all the stories. They were the deep thinkers, the ones that observed. When Logan went clubbing for himself and not for work related reasons, those were the people he was most attracted to. He had questions and he also found some kind of joy in coaxing people out of their shells.

"Do I get to be the Swayze?" he joked as he watched the wind sift through Hana's hair. Good thing his arms were wrapped around a box or he might've done a stupid thing and brushed her hair behind her ear. "Or is that spot reserved?"

[Hana Choi]

Hana giggled in spite of herself. She, of course, meant none of that seriously. So little of what she'd spoken since he had arrived was any level of truth. She was honest in saying she never actually wanted to leave Hazleton. She loved her home town. There was something about it that called to her. She was comfortable here, despite the excitement of city life. It just was not as welcoming. That was exactly what Logan made her feel now. It had not been a full day and she felt right where she was supposed to be. Welcomed.

"Well at least-" she cut off, having begun to speak right as he did and willingly let him take the floor. Little did she know, he would use that floor to slide in another sly probe at her love life status. If he was asking twice and felt the need to re-frame it like that, then he must have been serious when he asked the first time.

Her smile did not waver at first, as it truly was flattering, but then her mind wandered. This boy saw her for the first time in 6 years and jumped straight to asking if she was taken. If he was honestly asking out of interest of dating her himself, which she was beginning to suspect, she had little hope that it was genuine and thought through. How much could he possibly know about her? Perhaps she was more attractive than she gave herself credit for, but it was not the part of her she wanted men to notice. Growing up, she watched her mother go in and out of hasty marriages where neither of them truly considered whether what they felt was real or lust. Time and time again, Hana watched her mother's heart get broken, name changed, financial struggle, and having to move homes. Consequently, Hana was cautious about the whole process.

Hiding the flicker of her smile caused by her thoughts behind more shy behavior, she brushed stray hair behind her ear, looked at her feet and started up the stairs once more. She could not help but to turn and smile warmly at him once more. After all, if she was right and it was inquiries fueled by lust, he did not seem like the type that would deceive her and hurt her intentionally. She could not blame him for being fooled by his own feelings. In fact, she often admired those that had the courage to leap on what interested them so readily.

"The role has grown cob webs by now," she answered - meaning that it very much was not reserved.

At last it was upon them. The final trip and the final steps toward her door. Hana reached to accept the box from him so that she could place it atop the last boxes they had placed.

"I can't thank you enough, Logan." Her bubbly voice had faded. Her body aching to lay down and give in to a well deserved nap. "What could I do to make it up to you?"

Her arms crossed over her stomach and she toyed with the soft fabric at her sides. She was about to offer a hug - something she rarely did growing up, but had become a habit after college. However, she wasn't certain if it would just lead him on unnecessarily. She wanted to keep him as a friend and not ruin it just because she was terrified of becoming her mother...

[Logan Go]

"Sounds lonely when you put it that way."

Cobwebs. Did that mean she hadn't dated in a long time? Maybe she just plain wasn't interested. After all, it wasn't like she knew he was a dopey idiot that had a crush on her back in school. And a lot might have changed since then. They were adults now, with different and new weights on their shoulders. Logan wondered what hers were. Since he had hinted at asking her out a couple times now and Hana didn't seem all that receptive, he decided to just... leave it alone. He knew when to go for what he wanted, this was true. But he also wasn't aggressive enough to push a newly arrived Hana into something she clearly didn't want.

Maybe once she had time to settle into her new life, he could try again. Or maybe he could help her out, find somebody. Or maybe she just didn't want anybody. Logan tried to remember if she dated in high school and what kind of people she dated. But it was mostly a blur now. Maybe she had come back here for an old love. Logan honestly didn't know.

"Hm." How could she make it up to him? Now that the last box was settled amongst the others, he was able to playfully tap his chin as if in deep thought. "You know... You don't owe me anything. I wanted to help." His impish smile faded into a more soft, genuine smile. "It's been rough, right? If you need some time to rest, I'll leave you alone. But... if you get hungry, I'm ordering a pizza. You're free to come join me if you want."

[Hana Choi]

An idle scratch at the base of her head and awkward smile was her only response to his comment as she placed the final box. By all means, he was right. It was lonely and she only had herself to blame, but she did not let it hold her back from living her life. Instead of spending her time on apps and at bars trying to pick up the first hot thing that gave her any kind of attention, she aimed to find joy in what she already had at her fingertips. Like the forest... It was vast, beautiful, and harbored so many secrets she could only dream to acquire. The forest would always be right where she had left it, albeit changing every day, and it would never leave her.

That wasn't to say she had no interest in dating, or Logan for that matter. Hell, the man was more gorgeous than he had the right to be. He always was. Hana simply wanted more proof that the person in question saw her for more than a warm body.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, Logan gave her a little faith back. He wanted to help, he said. In fact, he was being considerate of how exhausted she must be and how empty her fridge absolutely was and invited her over for pizza.

"Well, I'd probably fall asleep at your doorstep at this point, but..." An idea flashed across her features. "Wait."

Hurriedly, Hana scurried to the kitchen where she had left her folder full of information on the apartment complex. Her hair was beginning to unbraid itself - the tie had fallen off somewhere along the last trip upstairs. She tore a small blank corner from one of the flier and scribbled hastily with the pen she had from the front office from signing the prior damage report form. Upon returning, she was taken aback for a brief moment about the look of him in her doorway with the fading light behind him. It was an image that would take effort to forget.

She held out the paper with two hands, a courtesy learned from her mother's culture. On it was her cell number. "I'll take a nap. You can call me when your pizza gets here. If I wake up, I'll come join you. If I don't, mmmm..." She grinned like a child, "Then, my body is telling us both it needs more time."

[Logan Go]

"Okay," he said, in a tone of definite curiosity as she told him to wait. Wait for what, he wanted to know. Was she weighing up the choice to eat pizza with an old high school acquaintance or sleep? It wasn't like he'd blame her for choosing to sleep. She did look tired, as if all she needed was to close her eyes and she'd be asleep in seconds. He was about to tell her as much, that they could take a rain check on the pizza, but she tore around her new place, finding paper and pen.

Logan continued to watch her curiously as he leaned in the doorway. What was she going to do with--ah. Smiling, he took the properly offered paper and bowed his head slightly in response. Her number. He didn't even have to ask for it. Not... not that she needed to give it to him. He already knew where she lived. She knew where to find him, too. Still, he couldn't stop smiling as he tucked the number carefully away into his pocket.

"All right then. I'll do that." He stood awkwardly and dumbly in the doorway for another long moment then realized that she was probably waiting for his dumb ass to go so she could take her nap in peace. He stepped back, out of the doorway so she could close it without him blocking the way. He slid his hands down his backside, thumbs hooking in the catches of his jeans out of habit.

"All right," he said again, like a brainless idiot. "I'll call you when the pizza shows up then. And if you come by, you come by. Until then... Later, Hana."