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Eric Bittle was a morning person, and not one of the annoyingly bright ones either. He made everyone else in The Swallow happier when he was at the front of the house. Or bakingfor that matter. Maybe it was the Southern Hospitatlity or just his natural sunshine. Due to this, it was easy to be drawn in by him into a conversation and to enjoy it.
But today Eric would be face with a challenger to his kindness. One of the many regulars of the establishment was coming in today. One Jack Laurent Zimmerman Zimmerman. Jack was never outright rude to Eric. He was actually very polite. Eric just knew that Jack disliked him. So sometimes when there was one of the other members of staff there Eric would hide in the back. Today he was going to have to stay outfront, because Dex was fixing Betsey again.
Jack entered the coffee shop with one of the other regulars Larissa(who had told Eric to call her Lardo) and one Shitty. Eric still didn’t know what Shitty’s first name was. All he knew was that it started with a “B”.
“Eric my man! How are you this abysmal Tuesday morning?” Shitty asked when he was at the front of the line.
“I couldn’t be better!” Eric exclaimed with a grin. Well that was a lie, if Eric could get Jack to smile then he was going to be great.
“Do you have any pie today?” Lardo asked immediately.
“I ALWAYS have pie. Today’s special is a maple sugar pie. It’s a recipe my mother sent me.”
Shitty practically groaned, “You are a godsend Bittle. Can I get two pieces? One for me and one for this fine lady right here.” Lardo rolled her eyes as Shitty paid for their pie. After serving them their pie, Eric turned to Jack.
“And let me guess, medium black French roast?”
“Yes, and if there’s any left could I get a piece of the maple sugar pie?”
“Why Jack did I finally get you to try one of my pies?” Eric’s smile was almost as wide as his face.
“I guess.”
“Well then it’s on the house.”
“No I can’t do that.”
“Nonsense you take your pie an sit with Shitty,” Eric said handing him a larger slice of the pie and a fork. “I’ll get you your coffee in a jiffy. You sure you don’t want a little room for cream or sugar?”
“Maybe a little.”
“You’re being adventurous today aren’t you?” Eric teased handing off the coffee. Jack nodded a little, slightly stuned and walked over to where Shitty was telling a joke to Lardo and she smirked. Eric lamented the fact that the little progress he had ade was dashed(seemingly). And as Bitty puttered around behind the counter, he tried not to look like he was being a busybody. Meanwhile, Lardo and Shitty were slightly judging Jack.
“What?”
“When are you going to ask out the lovely baker; Mr Eric R. Bittle?” Lardo asked.
“I’m not going to.”
“Why not? You’ve got an ass that won’t quit, and I’m sure Eric would like to get behind it,” Shitty said with a mouthful of pie.
“I’m done with having a casual relationship,” Jack said not meeting their eyes. Clearly talking about he-who-must-not-be-named.
“So? That doesn’t mean that Eric wouldn’t be down for that.”
“How do you even know that he’s single? As attractive and nice as he is, he’s probably been dating someone for several years and any day now he’s going to come in with an engagement ring on his finger,” Jack finished his rant and put a piece of pie in his mouth. The flavor burst on his tongue, and he remembered when he was young and his grand-mere would take the same type of pie.
When Jack opened his eyes he found that he was being stared at by Shitty. Shitty just shook his head slightly, and Jack ignored him. Eric chose that moment to walk over and smile ever so cautiously smile at Jack. Jack felt his heart beat faster in his chest, and when Eric smiled. Jack’s palms got sweatier.
“How was your guys’ pies today?”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Eric Bittle you are a god amongst men,” Shitty said.
Eric smiled and replied, “Shitty! You’re going to make me blush,” he turned his head to the side when he asked Jack, “And what about you Jack? This was the first piece of my pie you’ve had. And granted it could have been better, the crust took awhile to come out right and…”
“It was the best piece of pie I’ve ever eaten,” Jack said with a small smile. Eric felt his face flame up and he quickly looked away and to Lardo.
“How’s your art piece going?”
Lardo gave him a knowing smirk, but humored him by saying.
“I’ve finally figured out, how to get the lights for the center piece.”
“Well you let me know if I can be of any help,” Eric replied with a friendly smile, before walking directly to the back(into the kitchen). In the back Eric put his face directly into his hands. He had thought that Jack could not get anymore handsome and then he had smiled ever so slightly, and Eric wanted to kiss his face.
“Eric? Are you okay?” A worried voice came from over by the stove and Eric looked up to see a heavily freckled face.
“I’m okay Will.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I was just feeling a bit heated, and wanted to cool down.”
“By standing in a hot kitchen?”
“Yes.”
Will didn’t say anything else, but went back to fixing the old oven. Eric had affectionately nicknamed Betsy. He stood there a moment longer appreciating just how pretty Jack’s smile was. When he felt his face go to a normal color, he went back out to try and serve coffee and maybe some pie(probably pie) no one could resist an Eric R. Bittle creation.
Jack was nowhere to be seen when he got back out to the front, and he felt disappointed in himself that he had had to flee. Eric realized himself that he would hold a full conversation with Jack. Maybe even get his phone number.
‘One stop at a time Eric, baby steps,’ Eric thought to himself about this while he was puttering around.
Early the next morning, Eric got up early so that he could go over and start baking this new recipe for Macarons. Eric turned on what he called “Pre-game playlist” it mostly consisted of Beyonce, in order to motivate himself, and remind himself that any bad day he was having would eventually be over. In short summary, he was in a good hopeful mood. His mood only improved when Jack stepped through the door with a camera in his hands.
‘Finally! A conversation starter!’
“Jack! I didn’t know that you were interested in photography!”
“It’s more of a hobby than anything else. I just like taking pictures.”
“That’s a really nice hobby, and its making me realize that I don’t really know all that much about you. Why don’t you tell me more about yourself? Unless that would make you uncomfortable of course. In which case you don’t have to say anything.”
“Its fine. I don’t have any classes until noon today.”
“Are you a college student?” Eric felt a little bit awkward about that, but then Jack said,
“In a way. I’m working on my PhD in history. I want to work as a professor.”
“What part of history are you studying?”
“The American Civil War with a concentration on the history of Canada’s involvement in it.”
“Oh you mean the War of Northern Agression?” Eric said batting his eyelashes. Jack’s eyes widened to an almost comical width. His mouth opened and closed his mouth minutely. Jack opened his mouth, but Eric interrupted his aborted movements by teasing,
“I’m kidding of course. Just making a joke about my southerness.” He finished his line with a smile.
“You had me worried a little there Eric.” Calling it that might be a dealbreaker. The moment the words finished leaving his mouth, Jack realized what he said, and his ears flowed up.
“Dealbreak-er? W-What deal would we be breaking?” Eric managed to get out. Lord have mercy, Eric thought he might faint. And there was a few customers turning their eyes towards the spectacle. Holster and Ransom stopped what they were doing behind the bar and gazed riveted by their exchange. Jack had stopped moving and nervously Eric began speakin,
“Uh…there’s no deal…I mean not to say that you’re not handsome, because you are. I really like your hair and accent, and you’re nice, even though I don’t know that much about you…” Eric’s flustered voice got more and more Southern and then he just stopped talking because Jack had suddenly(and gently!) grabbed Eric’s face and brought his face in to kiss Eric gently on the lips. To Eric, it was a perfect first kiss and he stood there for a second, just touching his lips. On the other hand, this made Jack extremely nervous.
“Sorry I’ll…just…leave…” he said inching backwards. And after fully turning around he almost got to the door before he was stopped by Eric saying,
“You should at least get my number before you leave!”
When Jack turned around Bitty was smiling and walking out from behind the counter to hand Jack a scarp of paper with Eric’s number being hastily scrawled across it.
“Give me a call, and we can set up our date.”
And Eric went back to tending the bar, and Jack was left feeling happy and he sat down at one of the stools at the bar to chat with Eric while the day went on. Both of them content with being in each other’s presence.