Maze

9

As if it was not so obvious, Edward didn't bother responding to my genius question while he continued munching on his lunch. I mean, I wouldn't even pay an ounce of heed to it too if I were him. Like, wasn't that self-explanatory? Perhaps I should take the plank out of my eye or something.

The stack of sugary goodness shrank as he devoured them endlessly, with a handful of them left. Drawing my lips, my gaze trailed towards him, examining him up and down like he was some museum display. I took note of each and every detail he sported: his long bright bangs covering his bad eye, the somewhat sharp features, and his fair complexion.

Now that he's much closer than usual, he looks much cuter. He might be wearing such an apathetic expression, but I didn't care about that; him being himself was already enough to get me all giddy. Also, the way his face bloated up as he chowed down on his beloved food was... equally endearing as a grumpy chipmunk storing its food.

Alright, alright... that's enough fooling around. Stop being so besotted over him, when you haven't even done anything useful. I slapped—I wished I could slap myself in the face too—my temples and shook my head to clear off all those charming thoughts. I went to this table not to drool all over Edward, but to be friends with him. Let's get on with it.

"Um..." I set out without a deeper contemplation. For some reason, my heart leaped at my own screechy voice. Calm down, just calm down.

Thankfully, Edward's attention was already focused on me from the start. His cheeks were much thinner as he had swallowed everything at once, but I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed. Please, please, Rena, stop going all over his chubby cheeks and say something.

"My mom started baking recently," I said, "You can try them out, if y-you want to. I'll bring them some tomorrow."

My skills at beating the hell out of my growing anxiety were finally getting there, but my stuttering... were still something I absolutely loathed with all my soul. If it was an Oscar-worthy kind of talent, I would have swept over the awards.

Nevertheless, I waited patiently for him to at least say something, no matter how short or long his words were. I just wanted to hear his voice at this point, but I guess fate didn't feel like getting my wishes granted.

Edward nodded, before his teeth shredded out the leftovers. Once a stack of bread, there were now only two left, like he was stuffing himself with bread as an excuse not to say anything. Also, is his stomach a black hole or something?

"Hey, let me get one!" Seb, who had been sitting beside me, suddenly leaned forward and tried snatching one of the loaves closer to him. His friend was quick to thrust his sneaky hand away before he shot daggers at him, but did not resort to any remarks.

"God, share your bread for once..." Seb grumbled before he leaned towards me and whispered, "Looks like Ed's not in the mood... don't push him too hard."

"I figured," I said between my nervous laughs. Seb's right. My efforts might be for nothing, but I shouldn't be forcing Edward to talk.

And so, for the rest of our time, I silently watched Edward obliterating the rest of his bread to smithereens. With only small crumbs left in his tray, he licked the corners of his lips to end his lunch.

Truly the biggest bread fanboy.

***

While my classmates said Mrs. Summers their goodbyes, I clutched my bag and firstly slipped out of the room; the perks of sitting near the door, so no one normally noticed.

After that one-sided conversation with Edward during the lunch break, he continued to predominantly occupy my thoughts. Even the lectures all the teachers had brought out, they failed to distract me. When I went back to Aly and friends, they were already interrogating me like detectives.