Lovelanguage: Baking

Chapter 13 - Way back Home

Oh wow, talking to Nathan is soo nice after talking with Noah this morning. There were so many misunderstandings and I made him feel weird and I didn't mean to and I feel so sorry for that, but it was just like I didn't know how to communicate in a way that was clear for him and so I thought a lot about it and managed it in the end, but it was somehow stressfull... or tiring... whereas with Nathan I don't really think about what I'm saying, it's just so nice. Is this how extroverted people feel all the time when talking? If so, I get it now! I love having Nathan as a friend... he's really someone... special.

Historical Research was actually quiet a complicated class, which required a lot of attention, so they didn't really have a chance to talk. Which made Julie even happier, that they'll get to spend the afternoon together. But she was also a lot happier than before, just by having the chance to be near him again. After many pages of her notebook were filled and some time passed the lecture was done and both of them walked towards the trains. Talking about the classes they've had so far and how they liked them. Conversation was easy and together they drove to her apartment building. When they were only only three stops away she started getting nervous again. But before she could get into her head about what he might think of her tiny apartment her thoughts got sidetracked by his tummy loudly demanding food with a growl, which gave her that weird, fluttery feeling again.

"Oh that reminds me, I can cook us something when we're home. Is there anything you're craving?" She tried to say it with a kind smile and her calmest, friendly voice, to let him know that it's okay and nothing he needed to be ashamed of, but Nathan had already started to blush.

"Mmh... I don't want to be an inconvenience, what would you have made, if I wasn't coming?" He asked shyly.

"I hadn't really thought about it until now" Julie admitted. "But I've got groceries at home for Pasta Carbonara or Bolognese, for Mac and Cheese, Chicken Nuggets, Fried Rice, some Chicken Breasts I could turn into something, Peas, Spinach, Ground Beef..." Nathan started to get an excited sparkle in his eyes.

"Oooh Pasta sounds awesome... would Pasta Carbonara be okay for you?" asked Nathan and Julie nodded excitedly.

"Yees, I'm looking forward to that asw... oooh, Nathan quick we need to get out here, that's our stop!"

Nathan jumped up from his seat, stopping the doors of the train from closing and when Julie had hurried out, he followed. After crossing the street and walking for a little while they stood in front of a 6 floors high, boring looking, brown building in the part of the city, that was definitely not intended for tourists to see. Julie unlocked the door and immediately walked towards the stairs, which she usually took, but then she looked back at Nathan and stopped. He had already started breathing heavier during the walk from the station, but would be too shy to ask her to take the elevator instead for sure. So she walked past the staircase and pressed the button for the elevator to come down instead. She didn't look back so that Nathan wouldn't feel like she made that choice for him, but she would've loved to see his face to get a feeling if he was happy with her choice or upset about it. This way she was only able to hope it was the first option.

When they arrived on Julie's Floor, she finally got to unlock the door of her new little home and welcome Nathan in.

"It's really small, especially compared to your home... it's basically all one little room except for the toilet, but I like it here." He looked around and smiled, so she continued.

"Okay so up there is my bed, it's lofted, which is super cool, I always wanted that as a kid and underneath is my desk, where I have my PC and where I also draw sometimes and am going to study when exams get closer in time and then here on the other side is a little sofa, which is super comfy and I have a table in front of it, so that I can sit and eat here, since I didn't have space for a kitchen table or something like that, but usually I just eat at my desk, if I do... since I'm usually alone here and eating in silence isn't fun, but I also don't have a TV, so I just watch YouTube on my PC... but that means there's space for this cute little plant on the table, which I haven't killed yet... Yay!" She noticed that she started talking super fast, but he just looked at her and looked super happy to listen, so she just continued: "And then next to the sofa is the door to the bathroom... which you probably already guessed, because I just said it's all one room except for the bathroom and there's only one door here, but yeah... this next to it with the tiles on the floor is the super tiny "hallway" into the kitchen which is just one little row with a fridge, stove, dishwasher and about four cabinets in total, two of them being up there, so there's not really that much space to prepare food, so I bought this slim Ikea Table to put on the other side underneath the window, which is where I prepare the food I cook. And that's about it... oh and when you look back towards the door we came into... there you can see the mirror and little wardrobe I use to look presentable enough for society. Oh and there on the floor in front of the mirror, next to the shoes is my make-up... don't pay too much attention, it's really hard to keep a space clean that has this little storage space. ...Aaand that's it haha, home tour completed!"

She looked back at Nathan, but he didn't look at the shoes or Make-Up she just talked about, like she expected, he was looking at her with the biggest smile and she just had to smile back.

"Thank you so much for inviting me! This is so exciting, I love it!" said Nathan. Julie bounced and clapped a little, excitedly.

"Aaah I'm so happy that you like it! But now first, I'll make us something tasty!" Both of their smile got even wider.

In the kitchen she fastly got to work, slicing up the bacon, cooking Spaghetti and creating the sauce. At first Nathan tried to help, but because he was bigger than Julie the tiny space was even more difficult to navigate for him than it was for her and he usually just blocked the things she needed to reach so he eventually settled for sitting in the little hallway nook, looking a little embarrassed, but she assured him, that any second person in this little kitchen would make it hard to reach anything or organize the work in a way that the second person would be helpful and that he shouldn't feel bad please. Which didn't seem to help much.

She was unsure about the portion size at first, but since she had gotten to know his appetite already... but also didn't want to overdo it and potentially hurt his feelings, she decided to go for a portion that would be right for four adults... which was also the maximum she could do with the Spaghetti she had left at home. And within the next few Minutes the air in the little apartment started smelling better and better.

Nathan, who really wanted to be helpful put the dished on the table in front of the sofa and Julie was really happy with how the food came out, she really tried her best, as it was so much more fun and meaningful to be cooking for another person aswell. But when they both sat down and she was expected to put some pasta on her plate she was overwhelmed with nervousness and stopped. Nathan looked at her, waiting... She felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked concerned.

"No... I... I don't think I can... I think I'm too nervous to eat at the moment, I'm sorry."

Nathan shook his head: "There's nothing you need to be sorry about! Do you..." He looked and sounded a little sad while suggesting this: "Do you want me to leave so you can eat?"

"NO!! No no, please don't!" Julie said, maybe a little bit too intense. "I'm sorry, but if you'd like to stay, I'd be really happy about that, just start if that's okay for you..."

Nathan still looked concerned: "Ookay, but it's really important that you eat something today too, okay? Maybe once you've relaxed a little bit later?" He looked her directly into her eyes, with his beautiful, deep, brown eyes. Julie was so conflicted, one half of her wanted to never look away, for his eyes to be the only thing she'd ever see from now on, whereas the other half screamed for her to blink or look away, as this eye contact was soo intimate, too intense, she felt uncomfortable. She looked away and nodded: "Yes, I'll eat later... I promise."

With that Nathan started to put the Pasta onto his plate and the first bite made him happily sink deeper into his side of the sofa, like he did with the first cookie during the first lecture they had together and it filled her heart with happiness.

"Oh wow, this is even better than it smells, how is that possible?"

Julie smiled and thanked him for the compliment, as he ate fast, while still being careful to not be messy on her furniture. As she had nothing better to do, she asked him if he wanted some more and put it onto his plate, when he nodded. That process repeated a few times until the big bowl of Pasta was empty and his belly tested the strength of the buttons of his shirt and showed a little in the spaces in between the buttons. Julie's eyes were so fixated on it and her face started feeling warm... but when she cought herself she was able to gather all her willpower and look away.

She wanted to avoid Nathan noticing that the bowl was empty and feel like he needed to apologize, so she quickly brought up a topic that would distract him: "You wanted to see some of my art right?"

"Oh yes, absolutely, I'm so curious!" He quickly answered.

She went over to her drawer of drawings andsketches and made sure to not take the one of him with her, instead she put it all the way down in the pile. She showed him some of her favourites, one of a bird drinking from a flower, one of a mermaid with her head only half submergedin water and a bunch of other ones. He was blown away at first and was super interested in them afterwards... she could not have wished for a better response.