I remember getting the prompts of cookie jar and lecture hall and thinking, “I’ve got nothing.” When I finally sat down to right this story I felt like I fell in love with the idea just as the characters fell in love with each other. I hope you enjoy it too.
This little meet-cute is a 4 minute read.
THE COOKIE JAR
"Whatever you've got, we're sharing." A large, strong hand was outstretched on top of my notebook without me even seeing the face of the person it belonged to.
It had been a panic move, made by a panicked freshmen in her first week of school. I had my first class for Psych 101 and I was starving. I'd never been in a lecture hall, or in a real college class yet. I was running late thanks to a late night of overthinking every last detail of... well... everything. I had no time to hit up the dining hall on the way to class. I threw my hair into a ponytail, scanned the dorm room and grabbed the first thing that looked like it could help a hungry girl out.
It was a cookie jar, filled with chocolate chip cookies mom and I baked together the night before drop off. This was survival. There was no room for shame.
I had picked this seat in the middle of the empty back row of the lecture hall on purpose. There's no question this guy saw that and chose to sit next to me anyway. I swallowed the bite of cookie, keeping my eyes on the professor in the front of the room, and reached back under the chair beneath me into the cookie jar. I hadn't planned on sharing, but since it was clear I had been called out, I saw no other recourse. "Here," I said as flatly as I laid the cookie in his palm.
"Ooo chocolate chip, my favorite!" he whispered, leaning in close smelling of the shower he must have just run from to get here. He was still warm. "You're a life saver."
I kept my eyes on the front of the room and my notebook. I didn't understand any of the rules of college yet. Would a secret cookie jar be enough to get me thrown out of this place? I felt lucky to be there. I was waiting for someone to come up to me and say, "Sorry Lena, we made a HUGE mistake, you don't belong here. We don't even know how you got in!"
I muttered, "Uh huh," while scribbling some note about Freud, but spelling it "Frued." The cookie thief grabbed my pen and corrected it for me.
"The vowels are in alpha-order," he whispered and I knew I'd never spell it wrong again.
"Thanks," I whispered. I wanted another cookie. I figured there was no way I was going for it without sharing with Mr. Hands All Over My Stuff, so I reached down and grabbed two. "Still hungry?"
He yanked it out of my hand and said, "Yesss! How many do you have under there?"
"I brought a cookie a jar," I whispered. Again, survival leaves no room for shame.
He laughed out loud causing the entire room — including me — to look his way. I nearly choked on my cookie. What was this guy doing sitting next to me? Athletic build, shaggy (as I suspected) just-showered hair, hazel eyes, golden skin and teeth so white he looked like he just finished filming a toothpaste commercial. He was looking at me. I blushed. Taking stock of the situation, it was feeling more likely I had missed lecture entirely and was still in my dorm room dreaming. He turned to the front of the room and shouted, "Apologies, professor!" He turned back to me, put a finger in front of his lips and said, "Shh!" through a smile.
The professor did nothing to show she heard this apology except to continue her sentence exactly where she left off. I gasped. Was he acting like I was the troublemaker here? I couldn't help but mirror his smile.
He leaned over and wrote on the top of my notebook, “I'm Cal.”
I wrote Lena right next to it. He whispered, "Hi Lena, it's very nice to meet you. Can I call you Cookie?"
This time it was me that almost laughed out loud. To save myself, I leaned over, hid my face in my lap and dug deep into the cookie jar once again, grabbing two more cookies. "I'd expect nothing else." I gave him one of the cookies and munched on the other, unable to stop the blushing or the smile.
"I hope you're in all of my classes this semester," Cal said extending his large, strong arm around the back of my chair. Everything else in the room disappeared and I wanted to lean back and sink into his warmth, but my insecurities woke up and started yammering on like they had been having a secret coffee break with Extra Caf cups in hand. Just like that, the shame was back in the game.
This guy could never be attracted to you.
Wait till he sees how non-athletic you are.
Everyone loves cookies, this has nothing to do with you, Lena.
WHO BRINGS A COOKIE JAR WITH THEM ANYWHERE?!
I was shaken out of my shame spiral by the swinging of my ponytail. Cal was playing with my hair. I looked at him. He was already looking at me. "Please tell me you're single," he said.
I felt my eyes go wide, but everything else was numb. I muscled out a nod.
His smile lit up the whole back row. He squeezed his arm around my shoulders and said, "Nice!"
And it was.
Four years later, as we sat in folding chairs in the quad wearing burgundy caps and gowns under the blazing sun awaiting our names to be called so we could get our undergrad diplomas, he elbowed me to look under my chair. There was a cookie jar underneath filled with chocolate chip cookies and topped with a ring. When I looked back up he was crammed between the chairs, on his knee. "Whatever I've got, I'm sharing. You interested?"
Leave a Comment and Don’t Hoard this Story!
What are your thoughts? Was the ring too much? Should it have been a key to an apartment instead? Have you ever brought a cookie jar to a lecture hall?
If this is your first time here…
Don’t forget to subscribe so you get all of my story hoard delivered right to your inbox every time a new piece is released!