I was a girl with a crush; it was as simple as that.
My eyes had been glued to the news, everyone talking about a man that saved a family whose boat had gone down in the storm we had last night. Everyone was fine, and from the descriptions of the surviving family, who were thanking the man on the camera, I knew it was Arthur.
I’d spent all night and morning working on a project for him, barely taking the time to rest. I blame it on my obsessive nature.
Arthur had sent me a text an hour ago, wanting to know if I’d like to go with him to the winter festival, which started tonight. It was like a carnival, which I never really cared for. But that could have been because I was always alone after my parents left, not to mention all the noise, lights, and people. Big crowds weren’t really my thing.
But maybe having someone there to help focus on would help.
My fingers were quick as I sent my reply back, agreeing to go.
I checked over the chip and build of the robot in front of me. I hoped he liked this gift.
After I was done and was satisfied with my work, I hopped into the shower and got dressed. Choosing something that I thought looked nice on me, and put on some light makeup. Lynn was always trying to get me to go on dates. So, while I didn’t normally focus too much on my appearance, I had everything I needed when I wanted to spritz up my look.
Both Cora and Pops wanted to go to the festival too, so she situated herself on top of my new motorcycle bag on my back, her head poking through the left side of my hair. Pops climbed up and sat his little metal butt on my other shoulder.
I’m once again thankful I made them both light, so my shoulders wouldn’t kill me after carrying them around everywhere.
Arthur’s little gift was in a plain cardboard box. I had no wrappings or bows, but he didn’t seem like the type of guy that would care. He said his favorite type of art was upcycling—and his place had been a mess to prove it. There had been finished and unfinished works of art everywhere. Sculptures, bins upon bins, shelves full of things he could create with. I wanted so badly to look through all of his things, but my OCD kicked in, and I couldn’t handle it.
He seemed to take my objection in stride.
I was meeting him at his house, and hopefully this time around things would go differently.
Nerves ran through me, and I felt a cold nose nuzzle my cheek in support. Cora was scanning me and could tell I was off.
“Thanks. Cora. These are good nerves, I think,” I whispered to her. I hopped into my car and drove the few blocks over to his house, thankful we didn’t live too far away. I hated dealing with traffic.
He was waiting outside for me when I pulled up in front of his bay door. I was glad that worked out okay, too; I still couldn’t believe I melted his door.
He was bundled in a brown leather jacket and a muted yellow shirt beneath. Jeans and boots covered his lower half. He was something else. Those eyes behind those nerdy glasses looked at me with what I would consider happiness in them, and his smile matched that look. It was nice to have those expressions directed at me. My body felt warm and safe.
I slipped out of the car and gave him a little wave hello before reaching back to grab the box.
“I made something for you,” I told him, nerves back again, this time it was because I hoped I didn’t do anything wrong in making this gift.
“Seriously?” he asked, and I nodded, handing it over to him.
“Hey there, Pops, Cora.” He addressed my companions, and Cora simply lifted her head in acknowledgment. She was still a little pissy being around him after he’d dropped water on her. Pops, however, wanted me to be around Arthur more, highly approving of him and the strides I was taking to put myself out there since I’d met him.
He set it down on the ground and lifted the top flaps.
“You build me a robot?” His face held no sort of emotion I could analyze, so I had no clue how he felt.
“Yeah. Um. This is Theodore—I’ve been calling him Teddy. Think of him like your own personal maid. He’s programmed to help organize and clean up. So you can focus on art and have a nice space. He works really well.”
I’d tested him over and over, and he was pretty spectacular. I wasn’t one to leave messes, so I didn’t need one, but if I did, I would have one like him too.
Waiting to see what he thought as he inspected Teddy was so hard.
Then he started laughing—like a deep belly laugh. My cheeks heated up, feeling embarrassed. I shouldn’t have assumed he would like this, just because I would have.
“You built me an OCD robot to help with my hoarder habits. This is fantastic!”
Instantly I felt relieved. He liked it.
“Well, he won’t have too much to do tonight. I spent all day organizing, so you could come inside without having a heart attack.” He picked up Teddy and opened the door for us to come inside.
