All For You [New Girl]

1. Fixing

As soon as she knocked on the door to 4D, Claire regretted it. She felt intrusive. She had no real right to bother these people, but she felt like she had no real choice. It was either this or wander up down and the hall for another ten minutes until she got the nerve to do it. She was considering running into the stairwell and hiding when a woman with bangs and wide eyes opened the door.

"Hi!"

"Hi," Claire said quickly, "Sorry, I'm supposed to be in the apartment two doors down but my key isn't working. Do you know who I can talk to? I got the key in the mail and my phone just died."

"Oh, no, don't call him," the woman said. She looked like the anthropomorphized form of deer from Sleeping Beauty. Her doe eyes blinked slowly, long-lashed.

"We'll figure something out. I'm Jess." She smiled invitingly.

"Claire." Claire smiled back.

"Nick!" Jess called behind her, "Can you come here?" Claire could hear someone answer, but not the words. A moment later a scruffy man appeared beside Jess. Nick, Claire guessed. Jess introduced him as such. Nick seemed rather uninterested with the niceties.

"What am I fixing?" he asked.

"I'm just trying to get into my apartment." She tried to look friendly. He scowled. Or maybe that was just his face.

"Do you have a key?"

"Yeah,"—she pulled it from her pocket and handed it over for his inspection—"It's not working. Unless I just don't know how to use a key."

"No, it's probably the key. Jess, do you have one of your hair sticks?" He must be from Midwest, Claire thought. She could hear it in his voice. Sounded like Chicago.

"A bobby pin?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Give me one second," Jess told them. She ducked inside and left Nick and Claire alone.

"You new?" he asked.

"Yeah, just got here."

"You pack light," he observed. She only had one duffle bag and a bag of groceries she had picked up on the way over.

"Actually, they lost my luggage." He started to say something but Jess's return interrupted him.

"Got it!" To Claire, Jess seemed to have a very friendly-customer-service personality.

Nick grabbed the bobby pin and the key and slid them, stacking on top of each other, into the door of Claire's would-be apartment. Claire watched with something between amusement and alarm as he wrestled with the door the way some people wrestled alligators. It looked almost as if he was holding onto an angry bull. But it worked. The door drifted open. Nick took a step back.

"There you go."

"Thanks so much. Do you know if there's a way for me to get into my apartment without having to do... that?"

"I can replace the door handle if you want. This one's busted."

"Oh, that's okay. I can do it if just tell me where the nearest hardware store is."

"You don't want to go there," Jess said, "It's a maze. And it's in a bad part of town." Her wide eyes widened at the thought.

"I'll do it. I can leave now and install it when I get back," Nick said. Claire was tempted to argue, but she was also exhausted.

"Thanks. Do you know what time it is?"

"Like two."

"Six-thirty," Jess corrected. That sounded correct.