Lovelanguage: Baking

Chapter 3 - Cookies

You can never know what another person has been through and what they are insecure about. Nathan seems shy too, has he also had experiences with bullying? Is he insecure about being a little chubby? Did I mess it up again by offering my Cookies? It was going so well and now he looks sad? Frightened? I never meant to make him feel uncomfortable! But if I quickly take them away now I'll make it even weirder. Nonono I don't want to mess up this chance at finally finding a friend, I don't want to cry.

When he started to smile, moved, Julie's heart felt like it skipped a beat, she was so relieved.

"I can have one?" he whispered carefully, in disbelief. His voice was soft and left a good kind of ringing in her ear. "Of course, as many as you want" She answered, while whispering aswell.

He seemed like he was contemplating something and then slowly and deliberately moved his hand to take out two cookies. She tried her best not to be disappointed, there were still so many left, but people should only eat portions they are comfortable with. And maybe he'd like some more during the break. Just in case he's going to like the way they taste and would want to spend the break with her too.

He was starting to eat one of them and she tried not to stare, while also trying not to miss his reaction to the taste. When he took the first bite (which he did so slowly and deliberately, it almost frustrated her) his reaction was priceless. He basically melted away at the taste of them, slumping deeper into his seat. She just couldn't keep herself from grinning widely. He ate the rest of the first and then the second one, very fast. "Did you like them?" Julie asked while whispering. But before he could answer the professor loudly put her books onto the table and ended the lecture at about the same time as a shrieking bell announced that it was time to end the current lectures.

While trying to exit the row Nathan stood in front of her, struggling because the students flowing out of the room from higher seats didn't leave any space for him. As some of the last people they left the room and Nathan seemed to walk in the approximate direction of the next lecture hall. Julie didn't know what else to do than to walk kind of diagonally behind him and she felt kind of awkward, until finally in an empty hallway about halfway there he turned around, his face a little red from walking.

"Hi" he said again, shyly waving.

"Hey... Nathan" Julie answered with a little smile, trying to make her voice sound as kind and soft as possible.

"Thank you so much for sharing those cookies with me. They were so tasty! They must've been super expensive ones, if you need me to repay you, just let me know how much."

Julies heart made another little leap; he really liked them as much as it looked like he did. She tried to contain it, but she felt her legs make little hops of excitement.

"I'm so happy that you liked them! They did cost me as much as the respective percentage of the ingredients divided by the number of cookies I made and I can't really tell you how much that is right now, I'm sorry. But you don't need to repay me in any way, shape or form, knowing that you liked them is more than enough!"

"Wait YOU baked them?" he gasped loudly. Julie nodded.

"You're so talented! I legit thought they were bought from some super fancy bakery or something!" then he added very quietly "you're so nice to me... too nice... nobody has ever... why?"

Julie was dumbfounded; nobody had appreciated her just for being kind before. She was usually terrified of annoying someone before even interacting with them.

"...I... don't know...isn't that what people do? Like why wouldn't I... because you're not mean to me I think." She stammered. Gosh, why am I being so awkward? Now it's just quiet, but like the uncomfortable kind of quiet, what do I do now... oh wait he said something before asking why I was being nice right? Oh I remember, he just gave me one of the nicest compliments I've ever gotten... how did I just forget that? I couldn't have forgotten it because it didn't mean enough for me, because just thinking about the possibility that my baking could be considered great enough to be sold in a fancy bakery is makes me blush. "Thank you so much for saying you thought my baking was... professional, it makes me so happy to hear that, honestly!"

In the following conversation he didn't believe her, that she had never worked at a bakery and only baked as a hobby before and she got a chance to explain how she sometimes goes through these phases of getting really deep into building a skill, and what some of those hyperfixations were in the past and Nathan hung closely to her every word. Getting this much attention from someone was new to Julie, but she enjoyed it. Deep in conversation they were walking over to the room of their next lecture and sat down on a bench in front of the room.

The sounds of his hungry tummy made her think, that he maybe held back on the number of cookies he took earlier, but she didn't want to let him know that she heard it, as it seemed like it made him upset earlier. An easy way to solve that issue would be to take them out to eat some myself and asking if he wanted some. That's a normal thing to ask someone right? And I don't really know him yet, but I feel kind of save... should I just try eating one? The thought of that gave her a spike of anxiety and her palms started to sweat. No, I'm not ready. I don't know if he'd judge me. I don't think he would, but I only just met him and I don't think I could emotionally handle if he did make some sort of negative comment. But the doors of the next lecture hall opening interrupted her thought, before she could've figured out what to do next.