Food Courting

Chapter 25: Howdy, Partner

"Alright, I think we got everything," Farron said much too soon, comparing their full shopping basket with their list. "Was there anything else you were looking for?"

"Uh..." Cora racked her memory for something, anything, to use. "Bread."

Farron turned to her, brows furrowed. "Bread?"

Cora's nod was confident, but her mental groaning said otherwise. "Yeah. Not like a breadwinner rematch, or anything. Like...pastry stuff. There was a bakery my...I used to go to. I was thinking..." She tried to recall how much cash she had left. "Maybe I could treat you to something."

While it was Cora's haphazard attempt to stall, her improvisation brought up a good point. Farron had spent a lot of time and money on Cora over the past couple weeks, and Cora hadn't done much in return. Getting something for Farron was the least she could do.

Farron tilted their head, their eyes still narrowed. "Are you sure? You don't have to."

But Cora was already nodding, now more confidently than before. "Absolutely. I love their dan tat—but you can get whatever you want, of course."

After a few more silent seconds of worrying they wouldn't agree, Farron smiled. "Okay then. If you insist."

Cora beamed—then, when Farron left to pay, began scrambling through her phone to look up the bakery's address. While she knew what it looked like, it had been ages since she last visited, and she had to be standing in the general vicinity to recognize it. For all she knew, the bakery she was thinking of went out of business.

Luckily, they were still open. Even better, there was only one dollar sign by their name.

But the bakery detour would only prolong the inevitable, and the pressure weighed down on Cora's shoulders with every step she and Farron took towards the store. Sure, that could have been partially attributed to the heavy shopping bags she was carrying, but Cora knew the main reason.

"Cora, wait up!" Farron called from behind her.

At the sound of Farron's breathless voice, Cora froze—then, after realizing Farron was no longer beside her, turned around.

Farron jogged up to her, grinning and seemingly unaffected by the bulging shopping bags in each of their hands. "I'm not one to turn down a good workout, but at least let me stretch first. I know you're excited, but my legs aren't..." Their smile faltered. "What's wrong?"

Cora tried to gulp, but her mouth was dry. "N-nothing."

"It's not nothing if it's bothering you like this. You've been distracted all day." They paused, studying Cora as if her eyes would reveal the answers they were looking for. "I want to be able to help you. Will you let me?"

Cora couldn't keep her eyes from widening before averting them to the ground. She had no idea what expression she was wearing, but if it was enough for Farron to notice, then she clearly wasn't hiding her nerves as well as she thought. Her internal fretting was one thing, but making Farron worry as well? That wasn't at all what Cora wanted.

With each silent second between them, the pressure built, pushing against Cora from the inside and out. She couldn't do this—she couldn't face rejection again. She hated the possibility of unnecessarily embarrassing herself. She hated being at fault for ruining something good.

But she couldn't lie to Farron. The thought of letting them down? Cora hated that even more.

"There's something I wanted to ask you," Cora said before she realized it, her gaze still fixed on the sidewalk between them. She took a deep breath. It had to be now. "Can we... Can I be your girlfriend?"