From that day on, Caleb found another addition to his routine—running by Cutie Pie’s after every trip to the comic shop.
Now, he did his best to play it cool. Just because the cute thick bakeshop girl may or may not have been flirting with him, that didn’t mean that he could just spaz out. History had told him that it would have been the exact opposite of how to handle this situation. In fact, why even deal with his feelings at all? She obviously was pretty enough to get anyone she wanted – ten to one odds, he’d find a way to mess this up eventually. She had to have a boyfriend. Maybe she was gay—not that there’s anything wrong with that.
It’s just… you know, girls like that don’t often go for guys like him.
That didn’t stop him from at least trying to make a new friend.
Every Wednesday, after he picked up his comics, he’d run by Cutie Pie’s. Well, run being the operative word. Spending time hanging out in a bakery once, maybe twice a week for a few minutes wasn’t doing him any favors in the weight loss department.
What—he couldn’t just walk in and not buy anything!
That’d let her know that he was here for something other than sweets!
That would have been way too candid!
Most of the time Cat would be working. It was a family bakery, apparently, and Cat was only one of the bakeshop girls. Sometimes it’d be her and her mom, sometimes it’d be her and her aunt, but Caleb always made sure to step in on the off chance that she was there.
He’d still buy something even if she wasn’t though—those ladies knew how to bake!
All of this wouldn’t have meant anything except Caleb needing stretchier pants. As time went on and he continued to wuss out from shooting his shot, he just sort of settled into the life of a frequent bakery customer. He and Cat would talk about school, family drama, and sometimes she’d ask why Caleb kept coming by—always seeming just a little disappointed when he’d say “Well, you know, you’re right next to my favorite comic shop…”
Until one day, when Caleb waddled into the Rancor’s Nest a little late. He’d had to take a makeup test, and that had put him an hour behind schedule.
Normally he’d walk up to the counter and ask for them to pull his box. He’d been coming in for long enough that most of the clerks would see him walking in and pull it for him, but he’d always make a special trip to the counter for his favorite clerks. This time, however, he was met with an invitation to exit as fast as he could
“CALEB, GO NEXT DOOR!”
The tiny, blue-haired clerk Keeley shouted at him over the slow Wednesday ambiance, the lingering six or seven customers around the shop turning to face the commotion. Keeley dropped her conversation with another customer to storm over in an excited frenzy.
“Wh—”
“Bakery Girl came in here looking for you!” Keeley shouted, waving her arms, “She wanted to know if I’d seen you!”
“Keel—”
“I fucking told you that she liked you!” Keeley reached up and poked him in the chest, “Get your fucking nerd books after you go ask her out!”
“B-But I wouldn’t know wha—”
“THEY’RE ABOUT TO FUCKING CLOSE!” the small woman grabbed him by the waist and turned him around, “GO NERD BOY, GO!”
Caleb hurried out the door and sprinted towards the glass doors of Cutie Pie’s Confectionaries. Unfortunately for him, he was hardly in a shape to do so—he’d only gotten doughier since he added their sweets to his already lacking dietary plan. By the time he’d run three store lengths down, he was exhausted. But if Keeley was right, and Cat liked him back… the chafing would be worth it!
Maybe after he caught his breath.
Looking at the time, maybe not.
He opened the door—the soft ding-dong of the overhead chime sounding his arrival. Cat’s long blonde hair fluttered on the other side of the kitchen wall. Her blue eyes practically sparkled at the sight of the chubby nerd gasping his way into their store.
“Hey Caleb!” she said with a smile, “I was startin’ to get worried about you—you’re never late!”
“Had… test…” he panted, “Phew… ran here… fuck…”
“Well, you got here just in time—we’re about to close up shop for the day.” She leaned on the counter, “I was startin’ to think that maybe you’d gotten sick an’ tired of peanut butter cookies.”
“Huff…never…” he managed a weak laugh, “But, uh… but that’s not… that’s not why I’m here.”
Cat frowned cutely.
“So you don’t want your usual?”
“No.” Caleb answered quickly, “I mean, yes actually but… phew… okay…”
Caleb took a deep breath, his boy breasts soaring as his broad chest inflated. Clapping his hands together and letting it out, he fought against the rabid butterflies that tickled his stomach lining. He went against his softboi instincts, stood firm on his wobbling knees, and took his shot.
“Doyoumaybewannagooutsometime?”
And there was a pause—another one of those pauses that had come to define their relationship so far. At first he wasn’t sure if maybe she just hadn’t understood him (he’d been breathing pretty hard) But slowly, a small smile spread across her face.
“Like… as a date?” her apple cheeks were rosy and pink in a rare moment of shyness, “You and me?”
“Yes.” Caleb gasped, his own face an ugly blotchy red, “I, um… I think you’re really cute. But, you know…”
The doubts began to creep in as he started to backpedal
“If, you know, that’dbetooweirdImeanwecanjustpretend—”
“I think you’re really cute.” Cat’s simple answer stopped Caleb dead in his tracks, “And I would love to go out to dinner with you.”
And just like that, Caleb’s life was never the same again.
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