#stinga

All these questions, all these doubts, however, fly straight out of her head whenever they’re together. Steven lights up like there’s no one he’d rather be with, and they stay up until dawn, just talking. Inga suspects this is a side of Steven few people ever get to see. Raw, unfiltered, honest.

It’s the Steven she falls in love with.

He texts her dinner Thursday? and she agrees before she can even realize.

Thursday is Valentine’s Day.

It probably doesn’t mean anything. His text only said Thursday, nothing about the special occasion, or a date, and anyway, he’s probably gonna invite other friends along too, like JP – JP always comes with.

Thursday finds Inga in the Tasty kitchen, stress baking. She can’t make valentine’s treats, because the last VDay videos were wrapped weeks ago so she tries her hand at making gourmet marshmallow peeps – it’s about time to start Easter themed videos anyway.

The first ones look more like boobs than chicks and she laughs so hard she forgets her nervousness for a while. It comes back in full force when Steven texts her can’t wait for tonight 😊 and she starts spiraling again. She ends up using the rest of the marshmallow mix to make a small heart, which she carefully wraps in a box and shoves at the bottom of her purse.

It’s not like she’s hoping for a reason to give someone a valentine’s gift or anything…

It’s just… there. Just in case.

JP’s not there when she meets Steven at the restaurant. Neither are any of Steven’s numerous friends. It’s just him, leaning against a brick wall near the entrance, hands shoved deep into his pockets, collar raised against the cold wind. He beams when he sees Inga, holds out a hand to guide her inside.

They’re led to a small table towards the back, very intimate even though the place is crowded with couples. Inga tries not to feel self conscious, acutely aware of the marshmallow heart in her purse, struggling to remember why she shouldn’t get her hopes up.

But Steven helps her out of her coat and pulls out her chair and her hopes skyrocket up. She’s speechless for a bit, trying to hide it by looking at the menu but after a while she can’t help it. Her knees are shaking with anticipation and she feels almost light-headed. She needs to know.

“Um, Steven?”

He looks up from the menu with a grin. “What’s up?”

“Um.” This is stupid. She should keep her mouth shut. Protect their friendship. “Is this a date?”

Steven blinks. “You-you didn’t know?” He facepalms just a bit, chuckling at himself. “I thought it was obvious, since…” He gestures around them at the fancy restaurant, the valentines themed menu, the roses in a vase on the table.

“Oh! I don’t, um. I’m not good at reading between the lines.”

Steven scrunches up his nose. “Sorry about that… if you want we could go to some place low key, grab some pizza, just as friends.”

“No! I mean, um. I’m okay with this being a date.”

“Just okay?” Steven pouts, but amusement gleams in his eye.

“I got something for you,” she blurts out before she can think of backing out. She pulls the small box out of her bag and hands it to him.

He unwraps it gently. “Is that a — ”

“A matcha and gold leaf marshmallow peep — well, this one is a heart, not a peep, but, um. It made me think of you.”

Inga hides behind a curtain of her hair — one of her nervous habits when she gets shy.

“I love it,” he says, taking her hand on the table.

“Yeah?”

“I wish I could bake like you,” he says, rubbing circles inside her wrist. “Maybe you could teach me?”

Inga doesn’t know where this bravery came from but she jumps on it, blunter than ever before. “Free tomorrow morning?”