She remembered the tea he made her. The way he looked at her when she was covered in dust. The way he had stood up to a Dean for her.
"I don't think I can go back to being a Vance," she said quietly. "Not the way I was."
She turned around.
"The jumpsuit was itchy, Arthur. It was humiliating. But it was also... honest."
Arthur took a step forward. "Dishonesty is a survival mechanism," he said, quoting a textbook. "But honesty... honesty is a choice."
"So who are you now?" he asked.
She walked over to him. The sub-basement felt suddenly small. Intimate.
She didn't hesitate this time. She didn't make a speech about being toxic. She didn't hide behind a barb or a joke.
She just reached out and straightened his tie.
"I'm Amelia," she said. "Just Amelia. And I still have a date for Italian food tonight. Unless you're cancelling."
Arthur blinked. He looked at her fingers on his tie. He looked at her face, stripped of its usual haughty mask.
A smile broke across his face—that slow, crooked, devastatingly shy smile that lit up the dimly lit room better than any spell.
"I would never cancel," he said. "I even ironed my best shirt."
"That's your best shirt?" she teased, touching the tweed. "It smells like mothballs."
"It has elbow patches," he defended, looking down at his arms proudly. "They're suede. It's distinguished."
Amelia laughed. It was a bright, genuine sound.
She stood on her tiptoes.
Arthur froze, then leaned down to meet her.
She kissed him.
It wasn't a movie kiss. It wasn't full of fireworks or dramatic swells of music. It was quick. It was sweet. It tasted like cinnamon tea and new beginnings.
She pulled back. Arthur looked dazed. He looked like he had just been hit by a confusingly pleasant truck.
"7:00 PM," she whispered. "Don't be late."
"I'm an Archivist," he breathed. "I'm never late. I categorize time."
Amelia picked up her box of belongings. She walked to the door. She didn't strut. She didn't sashay. She just walked, her head high.
But as she reached the stairs, she turned back.
"And Arthur?"
"Yes?"
"Keep the jumpsuit," she winked. "I might want to visit the basement again. For... inspection purposes."
Arthur turned bright red.
Amelia laughed all the way up the stairs.
