Ironclad Love

Chapter 7

That day during lunch, Thomas walked up to where Elaina was sitting while eating her lunch.

"Yo," Thomas greeted her as he held up a lunch bag in front of her.

Elaina saw someone's feet stop in front of her, but assumed it was another person who would laugh at her. Surprised, she looked up when she heard Thomas' voice and was greeted with a lunch bag in front of her face.

"Hey. Want some?" Thomas teased her as he waved it in front of her face.

"Your limbs need more greasing or something?" he joked as he sat down next to her, noticing her staring at the lunch bag, "Here."

Elaina cautiously opened the lunch bag and saw the eating utensils, yogurt parfait, and metal tupperware.

She took out the metal container and opened it, seeing the beautifully plated steak and rice inside. She looked at Thomas as he opened one of his own containers and started eating while still sitting right next to her.

Elaina looked at him and then back at the food.

"What? Don't like steak?" Thomas asked as he ate, stealing one of her school lunch chicken nuggets.

"Oh no, I like steak just fine. I'm just surprised," Elaina said as she took out the wooden chopsticks and started trying to eat.

"That I can cook?"

"And that you made some for me too..."

"Oh..." Thomas sighed as he finished eating his own lunch.

"Well I did," he said in a slight joking voice as he took the metal contained and chopsticks from her and moved in front of her, "Here, need some help?"

"Oh... mhmm..." Elaina mumbled nervous and shyly as Thomas used the wooden chopsticks to feed her.

"My bad. I didn't think about your arms," Thomas said as Elaina fidgeted with her metal prosthetics self consciously, "Figures wooden chopsticks would be hard since you might break them. I'll bring metal ones that are more durable next time."

"Thank you..." Elaina mumbled.

"Please try not to get my clothes dirty. I want them to stay clean," she mumbled as she ate the bites that Thomas fed her, "Thank you..."

"No problem. I'll be careful," Thomas said self consciously as he nervously, but carefully, fed her.

"How'd you like it?" Thomas asked her as he finished feeding her the steak and rice and handed her the yogurt parfait.

"It was good," Elaina mumbled shyly as she blushed, causing Thomas to blush nervously as well.

"Want me to feed you this too?" Thomas joked as he held out the yogurt parfait and plastic spoon.

"Oh! No thank you! I can do it myself!" Elaina exclaimed nervously as she took the yogurt parfait and plastic spoon from Thomas, uncapped the cup-like container, and started eating it while Thomas watched her, causing Elaina to blush even more as she lowered her head to hide her face.

"It tastes... really good..." she mumbled shyly, "Thank you..."

"Yeah, no problem. The school lunches never looked that good to me, so I thought you might like a change. No offense," Thomas said as he relaxed and continued to steal Elaina's semi-stale chicken nuggets.

"Yeah... Thanks..." Elaina said.

"Here," she said as she held up a bite of the yogurt parfait in a spoon for Thomas, "You made it, so you should have some too."

Thomas blushed heavily.

"Come on... Don't make it weird," Elaina said, almost pleading as she bashfully lowered her head, unable to look Thomas in the eye.

Thomas was once again reminded of the time at the cafe when Elaina had fed him her yogurt parfait as he nervously took the bite.

"Thank you..." he said bashfully as he and Elaina both continued to sit there shyly and finish eating, avoiding looking at each other at all costs. Once they finished eating, Elaina helped Thomas pack everything back up.

"So hey," Thomas said nervously as lunch ended and everybody began walking to their fifth period classes, "I was wondering, would you want to go out with me again? Like maybe this weekend... or something... like to a movie, or the mall, or something... like at all...?"

"Hmm?" Elaina said, clearly surprised as she tried to process what was happening.

"Come on... don't make it weird..." Thomas said as he scratched the back of his head and nervously diverted his eyes.

"Oh... I was just surprised, but umm... I'd love to," Elaina smiled at him, causing his dumb heart to skip a beat.

"Oh, but I've got to go to class now," Elaina quickly finished as she picked up her things and quickly rushed into her Mandarin teacher's classroom as she hid her blushing face by staring at the floor, "Talk to you later I guess."

"Yeah... sure..." Thomas said, somewhat confused.

"I guess that went well...?" he thought aloud.