Perfectly Imperfect -- One Shots

Sweetness

James could feel his heart pounding as he reached for the door and pulled it opened. Immediately his senses were overtaken by the smell of flour, sugar, icing, and fruits. He loved it and took a deep breath; maybe then his heart would calm down and he'd actually buy something this time.

It had been almost two months now that he discovered the small bakery a few blocks from his school and he came three times a week but never bought anything. Although he had the biggest sweet tooth on planet earth, James didn't come for the pastries. Oh no, James came to see the man who baked them and bask in his presence if only a little. He didn't know if the man was the owner or the baker, all he knew was that three days out of the week he was here. James didn't understand at first what caught his attention regarding the guy behind the counter. The guy, the man because he was surely way older than James' 18 year old self, was a tall, rugged, broad guy that stuck out like a sour thumb in the small bakery. He was big and muscly and looked to always wear a frown whenever James saw him. However, the times James saw the baker work behind the glass he couldn't deny the gentleness to him. He treated the pastries with delicacy, something that his body seemed not capable of.

Ever since, James comes to the shop three times a week and never buys anything, too nervous to come forward and talk to the big guy. Many times in these two months James berated himself about being nervous around the baker; he was tall and broad too, build like a football linebacker, so why be nervous? That was still a mystery to James and he felt it would stay that way until the end of time.

There he is, James thought as he looked over his shoulder as he 'looked' around the cake slices. His stomach rumbled and he cursed underneath his breath; he had skipped lunch wanting an excuse to buy something and talk to the guy. The bakery was small and had long tables with small racks filled with sweet breath in the middle of the store. The walls were adorned by displays with cakes, bread, pastries, and all kinds of candy apples.

James grabbed a small tray and went straight for the fruit tarts and grabbed two candy apples. His hands shook as he walked over to the counter and waited to be noticed by the big guy. James swallowed hard as he felt beads of sweat drip down his back and his shaking hands didn't help much.

"Be with you in a sec," the big guy said and James about melted from hearing his deep voice. In the two months since he started 'stalking' the baker, he had never heard the man speak and now he felt addicted to his voice.

James nodded, trying to stand still but he felt himself vibrate from the adrenaline rush. The shaking stopped when he saw a smaller guy come out from the back with a green apron around his waist and a smile on his face. James was confused until he realized that the big guy didn't charge people and his disappointment was palpable.

"That will be $7.50, please." The small guy smiled handing James the box with his pastries and James handed him a ten dollar bill; as he waited for his change, he glanced at the big guy and almost choked when their eyes met.

The big guy was looking at him with a raised eyebrow as he grabbed a pastry from the tray behind him and handed it to James, "here, on the house."

James audibly swallowed and nodded once as he grabbed the pastry and fought the urge to grab the big guy's hand.

"Here's your change, please come again." James nodded and robot-like left the store. He didn't stop until he was almost at his school and took a deep breath; hadn't realized he had been holding his breath the entire time till now.

The door to the bakery closed and Matthew stared after the high school kid that had just left. He assumed he was still in high school since he looked too young to be in college. At least two years younger than me, Matthew thought as he sighed and grabbed a cloth to clean the counter.