Stars and Cinnamon Buns

Baby steps and winds of change

Several days have passed since the party, and everything has seemed normal, the same as before - emphasis on the word seemed.

If you aren't familiar with the café staff, you might not notice anything different - just some young adults bumbling around with coffees and croissants. A trained eye, however, could pick up on the differences.

Espio was behind the counter getting orders and, after their drinks were ready, placed everything on a tray Slushie could take to their table. Maximum efficiency, fast queues. Usually, the exchange of empty and full trays went without much hassle, without any contact - it's easy to just slide them along the table. After the party, however, Slushie was starting to pay attention to the way Espio was handling the trays. So much space for his hand, the entire tray, but somehow he managed to pick the spots that were closest to hers. Did he do that before? She wasn't sure. Was he doing it on purpose? No idea.

What she did know, however, was that she didn't have a good reason to back out. She didn't full on go and touch his hand - that would be too much right now - but she didn't shy away, either. She might even have started to initiate some physical contact herself, poking him to get his attention or playfully smacking him with any object she was holding. Maybe they really did break some walls at the party.

~

Before, if someone came into the break room, Slushie would swiftly finish her food and run away, not wanting to stay and battle the possibly awkward silence. Maybe a bit rude, but that's what social anxiety does to you.

Now, after the party, she didn't leave just as fast. It was the most apparent with Espio, since before she would try to leave before he even entered the room. Now she tried to "subtly" spend more time with him, be closer to him. She was so obvious, but maybe Espio was just as oblivious, clearly happy but not thinking much about it. The two shared some more or less small talk, be it about the day, their food, their friends, whatever they felt like.

One day, however, the topic of eye contact came up.

"Did you notice that one bird girl had different colored eyes? One pink, one blue?"

"Yes, when I took her order. It's called heterochromia, I think."

"Yeah, it's so cool. I used to draw that a lot, wished I had similar ones, heh."

"It does look interesting, separates one from the crowd", he said, earning a nod in response, but realized something.

"Wait, don't you have trouble with eye contact? How did you notice?"

"A-ah, it's a bit easier with other girls", she grinned awkwardly. "Probably a self-confidence thing, I had a bad experience back home. Anyway, looking guys in the eye is a lot harder."

Espio was about to ask her about it, maybe comfort her, but she continued without prompting.

"That made it sound worse than it was.. I'm doing a lot better than before, though."

"That's good to hear, but it clearly still affects you. Is there any way I can help?"

A simple sentence, yet somehow it almost brought tears to her eyes.

"I-i don't know...maybe? Just you being aware of the problem is helping a lot. Some people can get mad about it, call me rude or whatever."

"Could practice be of help?"

A skip of a heartbeat, then a shy laugh.

"Probably, but", she definitely wasn't looking for excuses, "just the thought of it is stressing me out. I mean, I can barely look you in the face!"