Summer never ends discussion

The house/ restaurant of the Winthrop family.

Alyssa dragged Hadley up the back way to her family's apartment. She sat him down on a stool and started pulling out different dishes from the fridge. She went straight for the sweets first and cut up small pieces of dessert and set them on a plate. She handed him and fork and looked at him expectantly. "Tell me what you think and don't be shy okay?" She said, leaning on the counter and resting her chin in her hand.

Hadley almost laughed at that last comment - "don't be shy"? Had Melissa met him? - but took a bite of a small piece of cake anyways, chewed carefully, and swallowed. "It's... good." The truth was that it was a little too sweet - the frosting should probably be a little less thick and sugary - but he wasn't sure how to say that. He decided to go for it anyways, realizing that no one would benefit if he didn't say what he really thought. "The frosting is kinda sweet to go with the cake. You could add some sort of sour flavor to complement the cake, and maybe add a little less to the top. But that's just what I think," he added quickly. "I mean, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know much about cooking."

Alyssa took a bite as well and her eyes lit up. "You're right!" She exclaimed and whirled back into the kitchen to fer something to write his suggestion down. She grabbed a pad and scribbled it down before turning back to him. "Okay, what about this one?" She asked, setting down a wedge shaped cookie with black sprinkles baked into the top.

Hadley picked it up and bit into it. He chewed carefully and decided to tell Alyssa what he really thought without holding back, because after all, it had worked out fine with the cake. "Well... Again, it's good, but the sprinkles are a little overpowering. There's just... a lot of sprinkles, maybe you could add a little less?"

Alyssa nodded thoughtfully and scribbled some more on her pad. "Sounds like everything is a little too sweet." She said mostly to herself. "Okay try this." She said and pulled a bowl of red, white, and blue pasta out of the refrigerator. "I can't get the taste on this quite right, maybe you can help me." She said, pushing the bowl towards Hadley.

Hadley raised his eyebrows at the color of the pasta, but took a bite anyways. "Ah!" he said, raising a finger in a "eureka" moment. "It needs cheese. I don't know, it would just taste better with cheese." He took another bite, then nodded. "Parmesan, maybe. Or blue cheese." Hadley nodded, then looked at Alyssa. "I mean, if that's okay. It does taste pretty good already, so maybe I'm wrong."

Alyssa grinned at Hadley. "Well aren't you just chocked full of culinary advice." She said happily and grabbed the parmesan and blue cheese out of the refrigerator. She separated a little of the pasta and took a bite after adding some cheese to it. Her eyes lit up when she tasted it with the crumbly blue cheese. She sprinkled more of it into the pasta bowl for later.

"Well, I mean, I like food as much as the next person," Hadley said, fiddling with a salt shaker on the table mindlessly. "I wouldn't say I'm... a culinary-type person, though. I don't really cook." He studied her reaction to the revised pasta. "So you approve then?"

Alyssa nodded emphatically with a smile on her face. Her smile faltered and she chewed her lip. "I'm sorry if I'm bugging you with all of this. I don't really have anyone else to test stuff on since I know what everyone's tastes are around here. Getting critiqued doesn't help at all if you know what they're going to say before they've even tasted anything."

"It's fine," Hadley assured hastily. "I mean... I didn't bring that much money with me. It's nice to get a free meal. Not that I'm mooching off of you. Although... I guess I kind of am, but I don't mean to. It's fine, I mean, it's like a deal." He really didn't mind - the food was good, after all. He was glad to help Alyssa out.

Alyssa smiled again. "Well if you want more you're welcome to it." She said, gesturing to the food. She rolled her neck and grabbed a glass from the kitchen cabinets. "Would you like anything to drink?" She asked and pulled a jug of apple juice from the refrigerator. She poured herself a glass and looked at him for an answer.

"Ah, sure," Hadley replied, taking another bite of the pasta. "It really is better with the cheese," he added, then blushed a little. "I mean, not that it was bad before or anything, but it's just better. In my opinion," he said, then took another bite. Shut up, Hadley.

Alyssa pretended to get all offended before cracking a smile. "Don't worry about it Hadley, I know not everything I make will be five star quality no matter how much I wish otherwise. I can handle rejection." She said with a sniff, pretending to tear up before laughing. She got him a glass and poured some juice in it then sat next to him, turning the stool so she could look directly at him.

((UGH. For some reason my Goodreads has decided to stop notifying me. Hopefully it'll start working soon. So annoying!))

He shrugged and took a sip of the juice. "Well, you might not think it's gourmet, but I think it's pretty good. Better than anything I could make." This was true - Hadley's family had never been big on cooking. They always preferred to eat out, which might be part of the reason why he was so good at deciding what was missing from Alyssa's dishes. It was kinda funny - he could eat food like a pro, but couldn't tell the difference between broiling and boiling.

"Yeah well I've been cooking almost since I could walk." Alyssa mused. "My mom used to hold me up and have me mix pancake batter." She said then smiled. For some reason it didn't feel weird for him to be there. Which did seem weird.... She had only met him that day and struck up a conversation with him for wearing his sweater on a hot day. And now he was in her house, eating her food. She shrugged it off, Hadley didn't seem like the serial killer type and he was a nice guy.

(It's okay, I was having problems with that for a while too)

Suddenly Hadley stood up, a feeling of awkwardness washing over him. "Um, I should get going." He told himself he didn't want to overextend his welcome, but really he knew it was because he didn't want to have to make any more small talk. For a person as shy as himself, meeting a stranger and then going to their house on the same day was exhausting. "Thanks, this was fun." He offered a smile and turned to leave.

"Oh. Well if you have to." Alyssa said, a bit put off. She followed him to the door and fiddled with her shirt. "Um thanks for the help with the food." She thought of something and hurried into the kitchen where she pulled out a few drawers until she found a post it note and a sharpie. She ran back to the door before he left. She scribbled on the post it note and grabbed his hand, sticking it on his palm. "There, that's my way of writing my number on your hand without actually writing it on your hand. Why don't you call me and we can hang out again? You know, if you want to. It was fun." She smiled and stuck the sharpie in her pocket.

"Uh, sure, okay," Hadley said quietly, nodding. "Sounds good. Thanks for the food and everything. I'll see you... sometime." He tilted his head, a small smile appearing on his face. "Maybe next time I see you I won't be wearing a sweater in 100-degree weather." With that, he turned and started down the steps out of the apartment.

Alyssa laughed and waved as she watched him walk down the steps. She turned and walked into the kitchen to put their cups in the sink. She also rinsed off the dishes she had given him to use. Once the dishes were done she tossed the sharpie on the counter and walked to the living room. She threw herself on the couch and sighed. Even in the apartment it was still hot and the AC wasn't working very well with the renovations going on downstairs. She idly wondered if Hadley would actually call her. She hoped so.