Baking Bad

Chapter 3- Panties and Pastries

The song for this chapter is Loverboy by You Me at Six for reasons that will become apparent later on...
I'm picturing Nathaniel looking similar to Douglas Booth
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Since the beginning of the term, Maddie had constantly been butting heads with her lab partner Nathaniel Evans.

There was just something about him that rubbed her up the wrong way. Maybe it had something to do with the new girl plastered on his arm, like a stubborn piece of mould on a kitchen wall, every time he walked up to the main campus building, or maybe his 1977 Low Rider Harley-Davidson he kept obnoxiously parking in the parking lot, blocking Maddie's Vespa so that she was forced to chain it down a side street where it had received numerous scratches and bumps from less than careful drivers or maybe it had something to do with the cocky air he always seemed to be secreting out of his very pores.

But whatever it was, whenever Maddie found herself around him, she constantly found herself resisting the urge to sucker punch him in the jaw in an effort to wipe the smug smirk off his chiseled face. One look at him made all of the inner peace Maddie had gathered after being dragged to multiple yoga classes by Sophie, vanish away like the scented oil in an incense burner.

And so it was with a sudden rush of irritation that she spotted the familiar had in the corner of the lab and she made her way over to him, zeroing in on him like a heat-seeking missile on a cartoon plane.

"Maddie!" He exclaimed, beaming at her as if she was a long lost friend that he hadn't seen in years. "How are we doing today?"

"Don't push me Evans!" Maddie all but growled at him, slamming a copy of their updated thesis on the counter next to his chair.

"Well something's got your panties in a twist!" He cheerfully exclaimed, an infuriating innocent smile spreading across his face. "I've always pictured you as a panties wearer. Am I wrong? Or do you prefer briefs? Thongs? Granny pants?" He had the gall to wink at her suggestively "Commando?"

"Don't ever bring my panties into conversation again Evans." Maddie snarled "Or I will show you how skilled I am at using scalpel. Besides, you know why I'm furious, would you care to explain why the data presented in the new chapter of the thesis is everything you collected, instead of my research like was agreed upon?"

"And I'm sure it was very nice data too." He murmured to her in a soothing voice, as if she was a little child throwing a temper tantrum in a Walmart aisle. "The thing is... I had a chat with the department heads and we feel that my research is better suited to the topic presented."

"Bull!" Maddie hissed. "A few minutes on Google between sessions on Farm Frenzy doesn't count as research- in fact one of the test monkeys downstairs could probably do that and get higher score on that game to boot!"

"How your words wound me." Nathaniel replied, leaning back on his chair casually. "But I want to know whether or not the monkey could persuade the Dean to publish his research... I would imagine that that would require a great deal of charisma and charm. Not many people could do that, one would think." He popped his lips and leant back further in his chair, seemingly unaware, or uncaring, of Maddie's clenched fist that had started quivering behind her back.

"A monkey would probably be a great deal easier on the eyes though. " She shot back, but knew that it was a total lie- Nathaniel was an exceptionally good-looking male specimen- tall at 6'3 but built as well, with dashing sea green eyes, high sculpted cheekbones framing wavy brown hair, a rougish smile and charm slicker than an oil spill.
She imagined that it didn't take much for him to persuade the faculty to accept his work and claim the credit for it.