66 Emily the Mother Hen

Emily thought about Justin's less than stellar eating habits on and off the whole time she prepared the lasagna. He was always taking care of other people but no one ever took care of him so when he said he hadn't eaten anything all day her nurturing instincts kicked into gear. He stared at her incredulously after her offer to make him lunches for school slipped out.

Forcing herself to remain calm, she said, "I don't see why not. I'm already packing them for myself. What's one more? I used to pack lunches for my siblings all the time."

"I usually buy lunch on campus—"

Mortified by his rejection, she quickly backtracked. "That was out of line, forget I said anything."

He gazed at her with one of the softest expressions Emily had ever seen. Her traitorous heart slammed against her rib cage.

"I was going to say I usually buy lunch on campus so at least let me give you the money I would have spent anyway to cover the cost of the food. If you really have time for it I'd love to eat home cooked food more often but I don't want to inconvenience you."

Inconvenience her? For that kind of smile she would gladly take on any kind of inconvenience there was.

"It's no inconvenience. You get real food and I don't have to worry about you as much."

Justin's brow furrowed. "You worry about me?"

Crap. How was she supposed to explain herself? Emily had vaguely worried about Justin on and off the whole time she had known him because he went through periods of looking like the walking dead but since getting to know him better and realizing how terrible his eating and sleeping habits were that worry increased tenfold.

"Duh, that's what friends do," she said as nonchalantly as she could muster.

Since the last time she saw him Emily's mind had gone into overdrive analyzing every interaction they ever shared to see if she really liked him or not. A conclusion had yet to be reached but she knew one thing: she cared about Justin in a way she didn't care about any of her other friends. She wouldn't offer to make lunches for just anybody, bad eating habits or no.

Daring to peek at his reaction, she saw a content smile on his face that gave her the sudden urge to hug him. The timer for the lasagna went off, sparing her from acting on it as she sprinted into the kitchen.

"Do you need me to get plates or something?" he asked as she bent over to pull the piping hot dish from the oven.

"Cabinet on the left, thanks!"

By the time Emily located a spatula the table was already set. She coughed to hide her laugh at Justin's expression. He was practically drooling over the scent wafting through the kitchen.

The second she placed a piece on his plate he began wolfing it down, regretting it immediately as he exclaimed "Hot! Hot!" and opened his mouth to let the heat escape.

No amount of coughing could hide her laughter now. He looked ridiculous but at the same time there was something endearing about it.

A blush crept up his neck. "Sorry, it was too good and I couldn't wait."

"You're fine," she reassured him.

Exhibiting more caution, Justin stabbed a bit of lasagna with his fork and blew on it several times before putting it in his mouth. He ate the rest of the piece before Emily was halfway through hers and requested seconds. That was gratifying. Who didn't like having their cooking appreciated by others?

"I was planning on packing myself some of this and finding a microwave on campus for lunch tomorrow. Do you want that too?"

His eyes lit up at the prospect of more lasagna. "Yes, please! And really, I'm not picky. I'll have whatever you're having."

They cleared off the table and headed back to the couch where Justin started to put the finishing touches on her website, claiming he wanted that project done before he went to bed so he could focus on other things once the new semester started tomorrow. Completely engrossed in his code, Emily was able to study him unnoticed as she pretended to be on her phone.

Based on how often he blushed, she already knew he had an expressive face that contrasted his reserved nature but as she spent more time with him she was exposed to a variety of facial expressions she had never seen before. He made a lot of weird faces when he was concentrating. She wondered if he was even conscious of it. They were actually pretty cute.

Come to think of it, these days Emily thought just about everything he did was cute. She wasn't sure if she liked him though because all the other crushes she had before didn't start as friendships.

She saw them, she interacted with them, she liked them. Cut and dry.

Being friends for a couple years…how was she supposed to know if her recently changed feelings were serious? Was it only because she was lonely and jealous that the wrong girls were ending up with truly nice guys or did she actually like him for real?

She didn't have a reference point so she couldn't be sure. All she did know was that she wanted to spend more time with him and wanted to ease his burden a bit. He seemed to wear out frequently…and faint a lot.

Hopefully, giving him more regular access to healthy food would help him out. Maybe she could suggest they work out together to build up his stamina…but she had no clue how to bring that up without sounding completely rude.

Sometimes the poor guy had the aura of a twig on the verge of snapping. At the very least, spending more time with him would help her be sure he was taking care of himself, especially with this new project that stressed him out going on.