//------------------------------// // Cooking By The Book // Story: You, Me, and Cozy // by bahatumay //------------------------------// Wallflower looked down at her phone in shock. She pinched her eyes closed, waited a moment, then opened them again, but the text message hadn’t changed. >Want to come over for a bit? Come over? Like, come over come over?  Could it be the opportunity she was waiting for? This could be where it all started! Should she wear something nice? She looked over at her closet, filled with various sweaters that…  She squinted, her eyes flicking over the stripes. Were all her sweaters identical? How had…? She shook her head and looked back at the text. If Sunset wanted her to come over, maybe she’d be touching her under her sweater, anyway. Like she’d want to touch you She shook off that intrusive thought, but then realized that that opened a whole new thought process. Should she wear nice underwear? Trick question, she didn’t have any. She didn’t even have anything she’d call ‘cute’. All her panties were either ‘comfortable’ or ‘shark week’, and the line was blurred. And that wasn’t even getting into- >Cozy Glow wanted to bake something for our meetup today, and I figured it’d be more fun with friends. Can’t turn down free food, right? Wallflower let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. That made more sense, though she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. >>Sure. When should I come by?   Wallflower knocked on the door. Sunset’s house was small, but two stories, so it hadn’t been hard to find. She gently brushed a finger against the leaves of the plant on the railing. It seemed to be doing fine, which was strangely comforting.  Sunset opened the door. “Hey, Wallflower! You’re here early.” “I like free food,” Wallflower said, before realizing that that probably sounded stupid. But Sunset just smiled. “Come on in. Cozy’s just getting set up.” Sure enough, Cozy was in the kitchenette, wearing another frilly dress but this time with an apron on top. “Hey, Wally!” she greeted her over a mixing bowl filled with ingredient containers. “Come to try some of my famous cupcakes?” “Sure,” Wallflower said. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that nickname, but was even less sure how to bring it up, so she didn’t say anything.  “I’ll get a batch of ‘em whipped up in no time,” she said. She looked at the tiny electric oven and giggled. “Half batch, maybe,” she amended, brushing some dust off the top. “Looks like I’ll be thinking small for this one.” “Yeah,” Sunset said with a wry grin. “Living alone, I don’t need much.” “Well, I hope you’re hungry, because Cozy’s on the job,” Cozy said confidently, and she shooed them from the kitchen.  The two sat down on the couch, and had a brief moment of silence.  “She seems… nice,” Wallflower said, mostly because she felt like she had to say something and this was the first thing to come to mind that wasn’t blatantly a lie.  “Yeah,” Sunset agreed. “I guess she had trouble matching with someone, but she and I just clicked, and she requested me specifically. I couldn’t turn that down.”  Wallflower nodded. She didn’t really want to talk about Cozy this whole time. She knew she could figure out a way to switch the conversation. Stupid She hadn’t figured out how to switch the conversation, and after a couple other questions, they had lapsed into yet another awkward silence, and now both girls were on their phones.  There was a slight chance Wallflower was overthinking this and it probably wasn’t that awkward. But it certainly felt that way to her. Wallflower’s heart jumped at the sound of the timer, and Cozy soon emerged, carrying a platter of cupcakes. “I’m not used to electric ovens,” Cozy said with a hint of regret in her voice. “At my old house, we used to have a big natural gas oven, so everything cooked more evenly. I hope these taste good.” “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Sunset said comfortingly, reaching out and taking one. She took a bite, and her eyes widened. “Oh, wow. That is good.” Intrigued, Wallflower took one. She slowly unwrapped it and took a tiny bite. All her doubts instantly vanished in the sweet explosion of flavor. She quickly took another, and let out a soft, subconscious moan of pleasure.  “It’s just a cupcake,” Cozy said, amused. “No need to cream your panties.” Wallflower choked. “What?”  Cozy’s brow furrowed cutely. “I said, ‘frosting’s buttercream, nothing fancy’. Why?” Wallflower shook her head. She must have misheard. Maybe being this close to her crush was affecting her brain. “Nothing,” she said quickly, and she took another bite. “It’s good.” Cozy beamed. She sat down and began to eat one of her own. She was eating daintily, pinky raised and everything. Maybe it was just her inherent distrust of people. Maybe it was just that Cozy was an extrovert, and Wallflower wasn’t. Honestly, it was probably nothing.  But Wallflower couldn’t shake the feeling that something was just a little bit off about Cozy Glow.