Love and dances - Joel Dawson

Minestrone

Dear Maple,

Not sure what I'm doing at the moment, to be fair, but whatever the result is... I really hope you like it.

The plan was simple. It had to be, considering they didn't have that much time to put into action, so, after everyone had been assigned a small task to clean up the apartment and start decorating it a little bit, Joel took the time to rush over to the small market down the streets to buy the things he needed for that night to work.

"What is all that?" Minnow asked curiously as soon as she opened the door for Joel to come inside after his quick trip to the market. She giggled when he struggled a little to keep hold of all of the groceries in his arms. "What are you gonna do? Are those chocolates?"

"Yeah, I found them when I was grocery shopping." He mumbled, sending Minnow a look for not helping him at all but managing to put all of his bags on the kitchen counter before picking up the box of chocolates Minnow had so kindly pointed out and moving with them toward the living room. "D'you think she'll like them?"

"Yeah, she'll like them." Minnow nodded, following Joel as the young man turned around to send her a smile. "Can I have one?"

At her question, Joel laughed. And, truly, he wouldn't have minded giving the girl one chocolates, but, considering the box was sealed and it looked rather nice for the price he paid for it, he decided it was probably not the best idea.

"Maybe after your sister opens it, okay?" He offered, as Minnow scowled at him a little. "I'm sure she'll share with you. I mean, if she... If she accepts the gift at all."

"Oh, don't worry about it, kid." Clyde spoke up, working on putting on a few fairy lights that the girls had in a box at the very back of one of their wardrobes for Christmas but that they had decided to pull out for the special occasion Joel was trying to make of this dinner. "Maple is not the type to hold grudges at all so if you apologize to her properly, I'm sure she'll be fine."

"You think so?"Joel asked, still a little unsure if he should even be in her apartment, invading her space like that considering she hadn't been wanting to talk to him for a while now.

"I'm pretty sure she'll forgive you even if you mess up this whole night." Minnow shrugged, shoving her hands on the pockets of her jeans as both Joel and Clyde turned to look at her.

"Minnow!" Clyde warned, but the girl just shrugged.

"It's true!" She defended herself. "She really likes Joel so I don't see why he should be worried about her not forgiving him?"

At her words, Clyde sighed, knowing very well that was a piece of information Maple wouldn't have wanted exposed like that, but now that it was done, there was nothing he could do about it, right? Besides, considering the way Joel smiled and clearly tried not to blush too much, Clyde supposed that was something he really needed to hear one way or the other.

"What she means..." Clyde tried to soften the blow a little, even if the bomb had pretty much already dropped. Climbing down the little stairs he had pulled out to tape the fairy lights to the ceiling, the man turned to look at Joel after taking a second to send Minnow a look. "Is that you shouldn't worry, Joel. You're doing a fine job as far as apologies go and if that minestrone of yours is as good as you promise it is, you'll be okay."

"I mean, the guys in the Colony wanted to make me the designated cook after tasting it the first time so..." Joel shrugged a little as Clyde nodded with a smile. "I guess it's kind of good."

"Great." Clyde said, turning around to take a look at the clock in the wall behind him and humming quietly when he noticed how late it was already getting. "But if I were you, I'd probably get started on it, if you want it ready before she gets home."