A Waterfall of Words

Rebecca had made a sudden exclaim as she remembered something that she had forgotten and then turned sideways as she pointed in the direction of the kitchen. In particular she was pointing at the oven dish she had brought, which Anthony had placed on the bar table. She said, "I also brought some dinner." Then she turned back around as she avoided his eyes and awkwardly added, "I don't know if you'll like it or not but I figured that huge body of yours needs all the food it can get. So, if you don't, you can always eat something else after you eat some of my food."

Anthony was again pleasantly surprised and barely noticed the awkwardness in Rebecca's behaviour because of his own excitement. He asked, in a cheerful, excited voice, "You cooked for me?" Rebecca slowly looked up and saw the excited glimmer in his eyes and the big smile on his face, immediately reminding her of a Labrador puppy, which he resembles at these times. Seeing him look at her like that, made her want to overcome some of her own awkwardness or at least put it to the side for the moment, and so she did. Or tried at least.

She said a bit hesitantly, "Yes, I thought maybe we could eat it together...?" But before Anthony could answer, her fear of getting rejected took over again and she quickly added, "Or you can have it alone of course as well." Those words were followed by a high-paced waterfall of words, where she tried to make excuses for suggesting to eat dinner together. All the while brushing the same strands of hair behind her ears as she was throwing out words in a panic. "I mean, if you don't feel like eating with me that is. I didn't bring it to force you to have dinner with me or anything. I just thought if you wanted some company, I could stay and eat with you. There should be enough. Or maybe there isn't? Yeah, it probably isn't enough. I'll just leave I think."

This is when Anthony began to chuckle and grabbed hold of both of her hands as he said, "Hold on. Calm down." Rebecca again slowly looked up at Anthony and stared at him with flushed cheeks, while he was still holding her hands to keep Rebecca from hiding behind them as he talked to her. He said in a calm, gentle voice, with his usual big smile, "I haven't even said anything yet, why are you already rejecting your own offer for me? And you are talking WAY too fast for me to follow. I didn't hear all that jibber jabber but I for one, would love to have dinner with you and there is no way that I would give up an opportunity to eat a meal made by you. So, don't go deciding that there isn't enough food or that it won't be to my liking. Even if there wasn't and even if it isn't, there are plenty of places we can order food from or we could even make something else here together."

If this reaction, which left no room to argue, was not enough to render Rebecca speechless, Anthony's Grand Finale probably would. With unwavering eyes, and a look which showed that he meant each and every word he was about to say, Anthony said, "But just for the record, I don't think there could be anything made by you, that I would not eat. Even if it was burned to a crisp. even if none of the proportions were right or if you had managed to mess everything up, I would still eat every little bit of it with a big smile on my face. Just like I could never reject any part of you, I would never reject anything made by you either."

Rebecca was flabbergasted by Anthony's words. Wasn't this pretty much a confession? Although his words indeed resembled a love confession more than an acceptance of a dinner invitation, Anthony was barely aware that this was what he had done. In his mind he was only busy with reassuring Rebecca and not professing his love for her, which he had planned for a different day in a different way. Nonetheless the words had been said and it was enough to silence the little voice in Rebecca's head that made her doubt herself in that moment. With her eyes still widened and her mouth slightly agape, Rebecca managed to muster up another witty response on the one point she saw room to respond to. With a soft voice she said, "You shouldn't eat it if it's burned. Burned food is bad for you."

Anthony, who had still been holding Rebecca's hands and staring at her intently, was thoroughly surprised by these words and felt his eyes widen before he dropped his face onto her hands as he burst out in laughter. After a few seconds of laughing he raised his head back up and with dampened eyes he said, "Thank you for your concern about my health. But if you say that it is bad for me, I guess you will have to make sure that you don't burn the food you give to me. Because I am not sure I can refrain myself once you put it in front of me."

Rebecca blushed once more before she pulled her hands away and grabbed her mug from the table to prevent Anthony from grabbing them again. She cleared her throat and began blowing on the tea as she tried to take a small sip. Using the tea as an excuse to look away from him and divert their attention. Anthony was now very much aware of what Rebecca was doing and chuckled as he found it endearing, before he grabbed his own cup and started doing the same.