Bloom

63. confused chocolate milk

Zephaniah

"Okay, I've been waiting for way too long. We need to try the typical Dutch waffles now." Haven looked thoughtful, her eyes lingering on a specific spot. Once I turned my head to there, I saw a small stall, a man with an apron tied around his waist rolling some dough.

He placed it in some sort of toaster specifically made for those waffles, steam erupting from its machine when he opened and closed the lid. The smell that lingered near the stall was amazing, and not eating those packed lunches made me hungry faster.

"Do you want to try them?" Haven asked, fishing her wallet out of her backpack already.

"Yeah, okay." I nodded, remembering uncle Samuel had told me that they had tasted really good. Besides, I wouldn't decline food, unless the structures or taste wouldn't be nice. "Stroopwafels?"

"Yeah, that! You did research." Haven chuckled softly, and I breathed out in relief.

"I wanted to beat you once. With Amsterdam knowledge. It was a joke, though." Biting my upper lip to try and hide my laughter, I looked away when we made eye contact.

Haven's expression stood playful, therefore when she rolled her eyes, I knew she didn't mean it seriously. "You won, you won."

"My treat." Haven gave me a soft smile, I thought she was pretty. "Hiya, can I get two of those waffles?" Haven pointed at the so called stroopwafels, chuckling when she was about to speak up again. "Stroopwafels. Did I pronounce it right? I think I was pretty close!" I stifled a laugh beside her, to which she nudged my arm.

"Ouch!" I frowned, my eyes blinking a little faster. Pretending to be hurt, I saw how Haven gulped, her eyes widening and apologies leaving her mouth. "It was a joke." I said quickly, my expression unsure. "About.. my autism. Was that inappropriate?"

She handed the warm, interesting, large waffle looking cookie that came with a red and white checkered paperbag, to me. "Actually, I'm really glad it was a joke." She admitted, the both of us smiling at that.

While Haven started eating right away, I touched it with my fingers, getting used to the structure. It was still rather warm so I waited and stared at the checkered paper bag instead. It wasn't squared, it was made in the shape of a triangle.

"Oh." Haven sighed, shortly humming. "Oh, yeah. This is good. This is really, really good!" She cheered, doing a happy dance in front of me. "You should try it, Zeph! Oh.. yeah, it is pretty warm. Sorry, I just dove into it like I always do."

I bit my upper lip, hiding my laugh. Blowing off some steam, I took a bite myself, the soft, yet extremely delicious flavour filling my mouth. The waffle looked hard, but once you bit into it, it was soft, the caramel, syrup-py looking substance tasted better than the grilled chicken sandwich and that coming from me- was a pretty huge thing to say.

"And?" Haven said right away, startling me a little as I was lost into my own moment. Her blue eyes stood curious and her gaze was rather intense, shying me away. My cheeks blushed, something that hadn't happened in a while around her. I thought so, at least.

Looking away, I took another bite, thinking of what to say. "It's really good I- I really like it." For some reasons, I stammered, my mind getting a tiny black out. I frowned, I didn't understand why it happened and that frustrated me in some ways.

The phone call from Dad last night had made me feel rather confused. He had told me to take in the consideration that feelings towards a specific girl could grow, in any way, at any time. The topic didn't come out of nowhere. Obviously, I had asked him about it, Haven being on my mind last night way too much.