Southern Hospitality Ch. 01

He could probably say it took a couple more hours to fix again, go almost the entire night without returning it to her. But he knew how bad he felt when he had to go without the internet or his PC for a few hours and just had to hope the protection he had put in place would stop any further repeats.
As his mom started to clean up after dinner he explained to her that he would go and return the laptop to Laura, receiving a casual nod in response. He pulled on his shoes and tucked the laptop under his arm and glanced sidelong at his coat. It was quite chilly out, but she was only next door. He'd just have to be quick.
He stepped out into the twilight of the evening and made his way around the fence to his neighbours. To Lauras. He'd met her many times over the years as she often came to visit his mom for a talk and a catch-up. He would regularly come downstairs from a gaming session to find Laura and his mom sat around a table, splitting a bottle of red and talking. Had she been looking at him in any particular way? Sizing him up? Or were his memories just playing tricks now he had seen what he had?
Hesitant, he stepped up to her door and pressed the buzzer, pausing a little meekly as he waited for her to answer. He felt a little shy after what he had seen, a little awkward. But she wouldn't know he would've seen it, how would she?
After several long moments he heard movement behind the door and adopted his most genuine of polite smiles, he heard the latch click and the door swung inwards. The expression on his face must have fallen away pretty quickly, judging from the way her expression shifted from curiosity to bemusement.
He stood there in jeans and a t-shirt, framing his slender body, laptop under one arm. Laura, however, stood in the doorway in nothing more than a silken pink gown that she had tied at the waist. It hung open slightly, the v-line essentially plunging down to her waist, allowing him to see the warm tanned skin of her chest and naval. She held a half empty wine glass delicately in one hand, her lips, curved up in a smirk, a deep cherry red.