But then she felt the excitement and happiness that came from staring into Ryan’s eyes, telling her to not worry so much. These feelings made her feel as emotionally secure as she physically did in Ryan’s arms. And that security was reassuring.
In the spark of the moment she had to react after calling Ryan her boyfriend, all of this went thru her mind and made her decide to move on to just genuinely put Ryan at the forefront of her priority for the evening. Maybe he was the right one, after all. Unfortunately, this thunderstorm of thoughts also made her react absentmindedly by saying the first thing that came into her mind – and her attempt at humor felt just as awkward as it came out in front of the class.
“Well, if she’s The Sugar Fairy,” Nikki said out loud to the class, Delia Gand included, “then maybe my boyfriend will become a sugar daddy from this class.”
The joke fell flat and Delia feigned a quick fake laugh before moving on to instruct the class with an introduction to fine chocolate. Delia’s deviation away from Nikki helped Nikki feel less embarrassed. But even more than that, having Ryan stand next to her gave her the ambiance of security that she needed to move on and focus on their date despite her awkward encounter just now in front of the class.
“You see,” Delia explained, “what most of you consider to taste like chocolate is really the taste of vanilla. Most of the store-bought candy bars are infused with significant amounts of vanilla so that you like their sweeter taste.”
“Hey, Nikki,” Ryan whispered as he leaned over to whisper into her ear, “what happened when Mr. Goodbar and Peppermint Patty had a love affair?”
Nikki had just embarrassed herself in front of the class, so she tried to not draw much attention to Ryan whispering into her ear during Delia’s instruction. But this didn’t stop Ryan from finishing his joke.
“They had a baby, Ruth.”
This lame joke whispered into her ear during a serious instruction instantly made Nikki snort out loud in a chuckle. When some eyes reacted to her sound, she pretended to have just sniffled her nose and continued to listen to Delia.
Delia was now holding up a large bean pod to show to the class. “True chocolate comes from the cacao bean, and this is one of the cacao bean pods.”
As Delia passed the large cacao pod around to the class, Ryan returned to whispering into Nikki’s ear: “Why did the M&M go to college.” He didn’t even wait for her reaction before giving away the answer: “Because it really wanted to be a smarty.”
Nikki actually thought that was a good joke, so it took significant effort to hold in her instinctual laughter.
The cacao pod made its way around the class and finally to them, while Delia had continued instructing the class on the history of genuine fine chocolate. Nikki was genuinely impressed with the size of the pod. Her culinary school had a week devoted to chocolate – it was during this time that she’d learned about Delia. But she’d never actually held a cacao pod, let alone cook with cacao beans. Much of her schooling was focused on the popular forms of chocolate which would attract customers. She was learning, now, that such types of chocolate were normally mixed in with vanilla extract to present a sweeter, more appealing taste. Learning this was fascinating to Nikki, as she tried to maneuver being amazed by Delia’s lesson while trying not to snicker from Ryan’s constant jokes.
Ryan did a great job of being attentive to the instruction while still mixing in personal interactions between them with his coy joking into Nikki’s ear. It wasn’t as though he was being the class clown. Rather, it was as though he wanted to still keep the focus on interacting with Nikki because he just simply couldn’t help but want to connect with her. And the fact that he’d obviously memorized so many chocolate jokes to be able to make Nikki laugh was extremely appealing to her. Ryan had come prepared to give her his attention, and to try to make a subject she enjoyed be enjoyable to him as well.
Nikki turned to look at Ryan, a glimmer of excitement beaming in her eye. It was her turn to give Ryan a hard time, instead of just continuing to stand there trying to not laugh at his random jokes.
“Hey, is this why it took you a week to be ready for this date? … cause it took you that long to memorize all these jokes?” Nikki winked at her date, letting him know she was just giving him a playful, hard time in response.
Ryan reacted with a smile. But instead of returning an innocent jab back at Nikki, what he did next actually surprised her.
“Delia?” Ryan raised his hand while holding the cacao pod. When Delia paused to look at him, he asked, “So are there cacao beans in this pod that you grind up to turn into cacao powder, or something?”
“That,” Delia said with a smile, “is an excellent question.” Nikki was impressed that Ryan was taking this lesson serious despite his jokes. Delia continued: “And that’s a question which, as a professional Chocolatier, I will not be answering.” The class let out sounds of disappointment. “You’ll notice, class, that I told you the history of chocolate making, but I never actually gave away my method of turning the cacao bean into chocolate. If I gave away all my secrets, I wouldn’t be known as The Sugar Fairy, would I?” Delia winked over to Nikki. “But what I have done is brought several bags of my liquidized chocolate recipe. And that leads us to our activity this evening.”
Delia’s class helper rolled in a cart of mini-sized premade cakes and handed one out to each cooking station. Delia continued to explain the activity: “You’re welcome to use my pre-made, liquid chocolate bags – just cut a corner in the side so that you can control how you squeeze the chocolate out. Or, if you open the drawers of your kitchen workstation, you’ll find several other toppings you can use. Tonight, you’ll be decorating these mini cakes. Don’t think of it as a competition or a way to try and impress me. Rather, make it as an expression of your relationship with who you’re here with tonight – whatever form that may take.”
Ryan looked at Nikki with a serious expression, saying that he was inspecting Nikki for what her response would be. Delia’s challenge had obviously weighed on him, wondering what it would make Nikki think, especially after she’d just called him her boyfriend. The look Ryan gave Nikki was no longer one of light-hearted joking. Rather, Nikki saw a new side to Ryan – one which she had hoped he would one day express, back on their date in the art gallery. Nikki saw a sincere expression of emotional vulnerability in Ryan’s eyes.
But still, Delia’s instruction had also given Nikki pause. She initially didn’t know what to suggest to Ryan. The first thing that popped in her mind was out of the question – a wedding cake. She knew she was in trouble, having fallen in love with two men, so she was in no way even thinking about the potential for a wedding with either. Not yet. And she certainly didn’t want to signal to Ryan that an engagement, let alone a wedding, could be on her mind. For this reason, a hesitant look overcame Nikki at Delia’s instruction.
Ryan stepped up to the plate to release whatever awkwardness momentarily entered between them. This willingness for Ryan to take the lead was something that was very attractive to Nikki.
“You know, Nikki, I took you here tonight because I wanted to see you at your craft. I wanted to experience your passion. So, forget whatever the Sugar Mama just told us. Create the most beautiful cake that is within your imagination. It could be a cake for a funeral or wedding – I don’t care. I just want to see what makes you, you.”