Trying to break the ice again, she brightened artificially. “So Daniel, what’s your ballot key?” Her voice pitched high with a forced cheer, fingers fidgeting with the hem of her damp sleeve. “Mine is… This is me, Juniper!” She immediately regretted the sing-song delivery.

Daniel looked up from the file he was reading, that barely-there furrow appearing between his brows. He studied her for a moment before answering. “I just say my name and date of birth.” He shrugged. “That’s all you really need to do.”

“Right. Of course.” Yeah, ok Mr. Big City, she thought, suppressing an eye roll. She shuffled the papers in front of her with more focus than necessary, her face warming as she turned back to her stack.

They fell into a rhythm after that - passing documents, comparing notes. Each time their fingers brushed, her eyes… slightly rising into their lids, betraying what she couldn’t say. The third time it happened, she could have sworn his touch lingered a fraction longer than necessary, his fingertips dragging ever so slightly against her skin before retreating.

She watched his hands move with precise control over the papers, long fingers arranging everything just so, so different from her own scattered approach. As she took stock of his particular appendages, she noticed how methodically he worked… each document placed with deliberate care, fingers precise in their movements. When he reached for the next file, she forced her attention back to her own stack, unsettled by how much she’d been noticing.

The silence stretched on, punctuated only by shuffling papers and the storm hammering against her windows.

She cleared her throat, desperate to fill the quiet that seemed to crackle between them. “So Daniel, did you go to college?”

He paused mid-reach for another document. “Umm, yeah,” he replied, the obvious hanging between them… as he was literally an attorney. The way he glanced up at her through his lashes made her wonder if he was trying not to smile.

Oh yeah. Jeez… hmm. Her face heated. She scrambled for recovery.

“Yup, I went to ‘Old Lou’ - go D team, wooooo!” she covered quickly, cringing internally at her own enthusiasm. Her hand gesture of celebration fell awkwardly between them.

“Old Lou?” His eyebrow quirked up slightly, and now he definitely was fighting a smile.