Uhm...Hi... Can you reach that for me? (Malcolm)

[Jennifer Joy]

Jen was shopping for groceries. More importantly baked goods. She was forever running out of the ingredients necessary to make the many baked goods she always had to appear to have. Eggs, vegetable oil, and the mixes. She had to have a full shelf, she never knew when she was going to be baking.

The problem had arisen when the mix she wanted was on the very top shelf. She may have been tall, but she was still unable to reach the top shelf at the grocery store. It was horrible in the fact that she was too small for that.

She was just about to grab the nearest taller person when she spotted her friend. " Malcolm?!" Perfect. He could reach the mix she needed. Blushing just a bit at her predicament she walked over, the cart staying where it was, marking her spot. "Can you help me please?" Jen tilted her head and gave a soft smile to her friend.

He was tall. He could help.

[Malcom Black]

Malcom never had an issue with reaching the tall shelves. There were a couple of reasons for this. One: Malcom was a pretty tall guy, so rarely had troubles reaching anything. And the second was because, when you had telekinesis, it was really hard to limit what you could get. So grocery shopping for Malcom—especially when he was alone—was painless, quick, and easy, and possibly involved the area around him looking like something from Matilda. Today, however, was a crowded laundry day, so nothing was flying around. Instead, he was politely pulling things from shelves and studiously avoiding the alcohol and games sections. He’d been examining the dubious nutritional benefits of Frosted Flakes when he heard his name. He turned about, and then was startled into a grin when he saw Jennifer Joy. He’d run into her once or twice—and once had even been literally—and liked what he’d seen of her so far.

“Yeah, sure,” he said after a moment of silence as he’d gathered his thoughts—always a difficult task for him, as his sister would claim—and then grinned at her. “Always. Good to see you, Jen! Uh. What is it you were wanting?”

[Jennifer Joy]

Jennifer sighed as she looked up at the brownie mix. Why did they have to put it up on such a high shelf? Didn't they know shortish people baked too? Frowning she crossed her arms and glared up at the box wishing it would come down. She wanted to make brownies, was that so hard to do, or ask? All she wanted was the mix. But no, it had to be put on one of the higher shelves, right where she couldn't reach it. She really did have horrible luck when it came to such things. And more importantly she had to ask Malcolm for help. Jen wasn't used to asking for help.

It wasn't that she didn't like him, it was just embarrassing. Jen wasn't the type to have to ask for help. She had seen him around a few times before, not many, but a few, and was surprised when he had run into her, quite literally. Luckily no harm had been, so she was glad she was able to now ask for his help. "Thank you." grinning up at him she pointed towards the brownie mix. "I need three of the Hershey's brownie mixes, two dark, and one milk chocolate." She would be baking the afternoon away.

[Malcom Black]

“Three brownie mixes?” Malcom pressed his lips together in a low whistle, but it was meant to be friendly as he offered her a grin. “Do you have company coming over or something? That’s a lot of chocolate. One day I’ll have to make you brownies. When I have time, I make them from scratch.” With cinnamon for some added flavor, because although Malcom did enjoy chocolate as much as the next man, it wasn’t quite the same without some complexity to the flavor. The shelf was a little high even for his height, so he shrugged, reached out with his mental third and fourth arm, as he called them, and pulled the mixes down and put them into the cart. It was efficient, right? However, realizing she might not be used to telekinesis, he offered her a sheepish smile.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he said, then wondered why he was apologizing. He wasn’t really sorry, after all. Hm. “Well, sorry for not warning you. Do you need anything else while we’re at it? Keg of beer to go with the brownies? Though that might be more of Sean’s style…”

[Jennifer Joy]

Jen nodded grinning. Yes, so she liked baking and she liked sweets. "Hey! its not all for me!" Smiling she tilted her head looking at him. "I happen to know a couple of kids on the children's ward that have a birthday coming up, and then I have to bring a plate for the staff room and I kind of want some for myself." Grinning she raised an eyebrow looking at him. "You bake?" Somehow she couldn't believe it.

Grinning at the boxes floating she smiled. "It is quite all right, hey if that works then it works." Shaking her head at the questions she smiled. "Nope, no beer, I don't drink." Grinning she looked over to Malcolm. "you know Sean?" She waited for him to walk with her as she pushed the cart towards the dairy, needing eggs and milk and some chocolate syrup and chocolate chips.

[Malcom Black]

As she rattled off everything and everyone that she was baking these for, his brows climbed higher and higher, until eventually he was staring at her with what seemed to be a mix of amusement and disbelief—and yet, somehow, he was also pretty impressed. Why wouldn’t he be? This woman thought of baking things for the children on her ward AND remembered to bring some for the staff. Now Malcom wasn’t a nurse, but he did work with kids, and he recalled guiltily that he hadn’t ever done anything like that at all. Mind, he did look the other way if someone wanted to slip out on their birthday to have some not-strictly-legal fun with alcohol, but other than that…huh.

“That’s really nice of you,” he said at last, then grinned, unable to resist. “Positively sweet, even.” He smiled in apology of the pun. He also looked relieved when she didn’t mind his use of telepathy, and when she waited for him, grinned again so he could walk along with her. He could finish his shopping later. “But yes, I bake. A bit. Used to help my mom out in the kitchen. And now as a bachelor—” and a veteran, who craved all the good food he could get “—well, someone’s gotta do it, right?”

“Hey, neither do I!” That was a plus. The program recommended surrounding yourself with people who didn’t drink, and since she didn’t, then she wouldn’t mind if he invited her out to—

--then again, he was probably getting ahead of himself.

“I do,” he said cheerfully. “I work with him. And he might’ve even been around when I went to school—can’t remember. I don’t know him WELL, but I’ve seen him around. How about you? How do you know him? And what else do you need for all these brownies?”

[Jennifer Joy]

Jen smiled as she grabbed random things that she would need for the baking. More eggs, and veggie oil, along with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce. She glanced over at Malcolm and had a small smile on her face as she looked at him.She blushed a bit though and looked down. It wasn't too much was it? " Sorry I just like baking." It wasn't as if she was going to baking all day everyday, just enough to make more people happy. Chocolate always made people happy. It was that simple.

Jen gave a small giggle at the pun. Hey, it was bad but it was funny. "Ok, that was bad." Smiling she looked over towards him giving a grin. "But you get an A for effort." She hoped she wasn't delaying his shopping though. "feel free to get what you need while we go this way." There, crisis averted. She had to stifle a laugh though when he said he baked. He just... didn't seem like the type who could bake. "Let me guess, your a whiz in the kitchen too." Yes that was supposed to be a joke, take pity other malcolm, Jen isn't used to flirting indadvertedly.

Well it was good to know that he didn't drink! She wouldn't have to worry about him getting drunk, or worse, getting her drunk. Of course she didn't drink because of her medicine, she wasn't supposed to, but he didn't know that.

She supposed he wouldn't know that for a while, at least not until she knew him better.

She tilted her head as she looked towards him. It really was a small world. " Oh you work at Hammel?" Jen tilted her head and smiled. The psychologist had mentioned working there. "He came into my favorite diner after a night shift I worked, and he was coming in for breakfast." Grinning she looked towards him."Interesting conversation." He made for an excellent conversing partner. Jen gave a small grin before turning and looking down at her list. "Eggs, Veggie Oil, chocolate chips, both white peanut butter and dark,along with Hershey's syrup and chocolate chunks." She had developed a perfect recipe over the years for brownies. "Oh! and milk."

[Malcom Black]

“Me too,” he agreed. “I’m just not used to someone grabbing that much.” Or that much chocolate, either. Malcom liked chocolate just fine, although it wasn’t too fond of him, but he couldn’t say that he liked it as much as Jen did. He kept noticing the large pile of things she was adding to her cart, most of which were chocolate related. Well, that was…interesting. And good to know. Malcom wasn’t sure why, but it was good to know.

“Thanks, kind lady.” He sketched a bow in the air and laughed, then rolled his eyes. “I’m really not. I just got good at baking ‘cause I had to help my mom. Cooking was a different matter. I never was any good at that.” He winked. “But I could learn to be if you’d like.” Malcom wasn’t really any better at flirting. “Rusty” would have been the proper description, possibly even leading into rusted over. But he was trying.

She knew Hammel? He wondered how. Well, if she’d known Sean, that might’ve been an explanation for it. He decided not to worry about it. He’d just shown he was a telekinetic and she hadn’t cared. Why start worrying now?

“I do,” he said. “Security guard. And that’s….nice.” Frankly, he’d always avoided the psychologist. Gambling addictions and such weren’t the kind of things he wanted cluttering up the other man’s head. Now that he was clean, so to speak, he thought he could ease off that. Sean seemed nice enough. “Milk? M’kay.” He went to fetch that, and returned with eggs as well, as they were close together. “That’s a lot of chocolate. This is your recipe, huh? And peanut butter too? Do I get some of this for helping?” He couldn’t help looking hopeful.

[Jennifer Joy]

Jen grinned over at him with a smile. " It is actually a fairly common occurrence at my house." That and baking. Baking was almost everyday as well. She was just so glad to be able to bake, and be able to keep herself happy. Chocolate made everything better. It could solve all the world's problems in one single night.It was probably one of the world's most driving forces towards peace.

Smiling she nodded her head. "It really is much appreciated." She was quite happy with the way things were turning out and nodded towards his bow. Malcolm was funny and kind. She liked him, she really did. "Oh, I am sure you are not that bad." If he lived on his own he couldn't be that bad. One had to feed himself. That much was known. "Why are you offering to cook for me?" Jen giggled and stuck her tongue out at him. "You don't need to learn anything. I am perfect ably able to make myself a dinner."

He certainly was funny. She always found herself smiling when she was around him. It was sort of odd but it was also fun. Somehow she wasn't quite sure what was going to happen at the end of all of this, but if he wanted to come help her bake she wouldn't mind. Not at all.

Somehow he seemed hesitant in answering her. She wasn't sure why but oh well. It was what it was. This was obviously something between Malcolm and Mr. Neville. It was their personal matter and she wasn't going to stick her nose into it. That was just something waiting to happen if she did. Smiling she nodded as he went to fetch the milk, also the eggs and crossed it off her grocery list." Thank you Malcolm." Thanks was due and it was well given. "Of course you get some for helping." She smiled and tilted her head. " What type do you want?" She wondered as she perused the isles looking.

[Malcom Black]

Malcom laughed. “I really am that bad. Just ‘cause I live my on my own doesn’t mean that I can cook! For two years I lived purely on Chinese takeout. It was really bad for my health. I’m sure I’ll recover eventually.” He was mostly joking on that one, and tried to show it with a wink. Then he blinked at her at the question. Had that been what he was…? Well. Yes. Yes, he supposed it was indeed. In spite of himself, his lips twitched into a smile. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, I think I am. And I think I’d also like to invite you to dinner. Or, you know, cook for you as dinner. That would work too.”

What in the world was he doing? He was in a program. He was generally considered a screwup. What in the world made him think that asking a pretty and successful girl to dinner was a good idea? Nothing. Well, the worst thing she could do was say no. He thought she was too polite for anything else.

“Hm. Dark chocolate. Maybe without the chocolate chips, though? I love chocolate but I think that might be an overload for me.” He offered her a grin. “And what would you like in return? To prove my baking skills?”

[Jennifer Joy]

Raising an eyebrow Jen looked at Malcolm as he continued to tell her how absurdly bad he was at cooking. Somehow she did not believe a minute of it. "Well, you just need some good food then don't you." She was already planning out what he could make that was easy and what was edible. At her question he seemed surprised and just as Jen was going to say never mind he butted in and said yes. Well... that was unexpected. "You know I was just teasing you right?" Tilting her head she looked over at him with a giggle. "But, if you are really offering sure, I would love to have dinner with you Malcolm."

No, she didn't think it was a part of a date or anything like that. It was just two friends hanging out. Why wouldn't she want to go. Besides. she could see how bad his cooking really was! Giggling she surveyed the taller man.He really was a nice person. He had yet to meet Little Bear though, so she was a bit anxious about that. She wondered if he even liked dogs.

Nodding Jen tilted her head towards him. "Dark chocolate brownies it is." Dark chocolate was good for you! It made your heart healthy. Besides, they were good enough without the chocolate chips. "Well thats up to you to decide. I'm not the one baking them." Grinning she smiled and moved own the isle. "I like just about anything."

[Malcom Black]

Malcom was pretty sure she didn’t know that he wasn’t inviting her to dinner as a…friend. Or he wasn’t sure he was. This was a bad idea on so many levels. He was, by all accounts, not particularly stable on any front and had a nasty tendency to backslide. Relationships were a bad idea. But…he liked her. And even if it started out or stayed as friendships, he couldn’t stand the idea of not giving it a chance. For whatever reason. So instead of trying to correct her or take it back, he just grinned at her like a loon.

“Great. Uh. How does Wednesday sound?”

He laughed. “Is that so? Anything, huh?” He made a mental note to check out what his sister recommended for women. If he asked his mother—oh, jeez, he didn’t dare to ask his mother. She’d have the whole family there asking to meet the girl, and that was the last thing she needed. “Well. Be warned, I might just make anything. Uh—”

His damn phone was ringing, and he checked it, then offered Jen an apologetic smile. “I gotta go. I’ll see you around. Wednesday, maybe?”