Kintsugi
Part 2
Artemis shifted her bag of groceries as she tried to fit her key into the door of her apartment.
"Need some help?"
She looked up to see a guy standing in the hallway, watching her. He was tall with dark brown hair. His t-shirt was from the engineering department of the local college. "I'm Mitchell. I haven't seen you around here before."
"Artemis. Just moved in."
"Well, welcome, neighbor. I'm just across the hall." He gestured to the door behind him. "Sure you don't need any help?"
"I've got it," she said. She got the door open as if to prove her point. "See you around."
"It was nice to meet you, Artemis," he said as she closed the door behind her.
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"You sure have a lot of books there," Mitchell said the next time they met in the hallway. "What are you studying?"
"I'm doing a masters in comparative literature," she explained.
"I think I know what some of those words mean," he said with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head.
"Says the guy in the engineering t-shirt," she replied.
He glanced down at his shirt and flushed. "Yes, well," he stammered, "sometimes numbers are easier than words."
"I once knew a guy that felt the same way," she said before she could stop herself.
"Yeah? What happened to him?" Mitchell asked.
"He died."
Mitchell froze. "God, I'm sorry."
"Me, too." She hugged her books closer as she opened her door. "See ya later, Mitchell."
"Bye, Artemis."
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"Hey, Artemis."
"Hey, Mitchell," Artemis said as she unlocked her door. She could feel Zatanna staring at her back as she opened the door and led them inside.
Zatanna did wait for the door to close before saying, "Cute guy."
"He's just a neighbor, Zee."
"Still cute. He seems interested."
"Leave it alone, Zatanna," Artemis ordered. She began setting out their take-out food, studiously avoiding her friend's eyes.
Zatanna worked on pouring the wine. "Has he asked you out?"
Artemis groaned. "Can you for forget about Mitchell? I thought we were hanging out. You know Chinese food and bad TV?"
"Mitchell? Mitchell what?"
Artemis shot her an evil look. "Let's get this over with. His name is Mitchell Evans. He's studying mechanical engineering. And he's asked me out for coffee. I said no."
"No? Why?"
"I'm not ready, Zee." Artemis sighed. "I don't know if I'm ever going to be ready."
Zatanna gave her a hug. "There's no timetable here, Artemis. But coffee with a cute, smart guy isn't a bad way to test the waters."
"I'll think about it."
Zatanna gave her another squeeze. "You do that."
Artemis returned her hug before releasing her. "Okay, enough serious talk." She passed Zatanna a box of lo mein. "What do you want to watch first?"
Zatanna named her latest reality show obsession as she settled into the couch. "Please tell me you're watching this."
Artemis gave a snort. "Of course."
"I can't wait to see who's kicked off this week," Zatanna said. "My money is on Gabi."
"You're kidding, right? It's totally going to be Andrew. Especially after what he did last week."
They were still debating various cast members as the opening credits appeared.
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Artemis was still thinking about her paper that was due next week when she found Mitchell trying to drag a large rug up the stairs. "Need a hand?"
He suddenly stopped, nearly dropping the rug. "Artemis?"
"I was asking if you needed a hand."
Mitchell debated for a moment. "Yeah, that would be great."
She made sure that her book bag was securely on her back before she took the other end of the rug. Mitchell grunted with effort as they began hauling the rug back up the stairs. Artemis was sweating by the time they made it to his apartment door.
"Thanks, Artemis," Mitchell said. "I don't think I would have gotten it up those stairs without your help."
"No problem," she said. "Want some help getting it inside?"
"Nah, I'm good." Mitchell put his keys in the lock but stopped. "Hey, let me buy you a beer to thank you for helping with the rug."
"You don't have to do that. I was just being neighborly."
"I want to," he insisted. "It doesn't have to be a beer. It can be coffee or tea or any beverage of your choice."
He could see her hesitating. "I would really like to get to know you, Artemis. On a strictly platonic basis, of course."
She gave a laugh. "Platonic, huh? Pretty big word there for an engineering major."
"So come hang out with me and see what other big words I know."
"Okay, fine. How about O'Malley's tomorrow night?"
He gave her a huge grin. "Seven o'clock?"
"I can do that."
"Beer?"
She gave him an enigmatic smile. "Guess you'll find out tomorrow."
He chuckled as she walked across the hall to her apartment. "I can't wait."