A/N: Phew! First story in years! Been playing harvest Moon lately so it's my current obsession xD
My friend thought GillxMaya would be an interesting couple so…ta-dah? I think it's more of a friendship fic than a romantic one though. Oh well.

Hope you guys enjoy the read! Please tell me if there are any mistakes in it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility or any of its characters!

"Please Gill? Come on! Won't you help?"

Gill straightened the stack of paper on his father's desk, momentarily ignoring his best friend.

Angela gave a little 'huff' which was soon followed by a disappointed sigh when Gill failed to response to it. She decided to try a different approach.

"Gill, it's Sunday, your day off! And on your day off, you should be doing something fun!"

Gill turned to glance at Angela for a second before resuming his work. Gray from Green Ranch recently came in and he needed to make sure the registration was all complete.

"Gill!"

Said boy frowned. Angela sure was impatient today.

"If I said that updating the residents list and confirming registration documents were fun, would you leave me in peace?"

"No! How is that fun anyways?"

"Oh, and I suppose baking would be more exciting? Care to explain?"

Angela gave a big smile. "Because you get to create something wonderful! You start off with just the ingredients, and then you mix them all together. And then viola! You get something beautiful!"

"Synthesis process: using more than one reactant to chemically form a product." Gill spoke out monotony. "Baking is just like chemistry only less exciting and the product is actually edible." He paused. "Unless Maya cooks it."

Angela huffed again. "Someone is being mean today. What's up with you?"

"There is nothing 'up' with me. I merely wish to continue what I was doing before a noisy brown haired farmer interrupted me."

"I'm not that noisy. Luke's louder than me." She mumbled.

"So why are you so insistent that I join you today in baking?"

Before Angela could respond, a small knock was heard. It was then followed by Mr. Hamilton's loud, "Oh! What a surprise! Another friend of yours is here Gill!" Both Angela and Gill turned their heads to the entrance where a peach-coloured hair man entered.

"Hey," he said softly, looking at Angela specifically, a smile growing on his face. "Decided to pop by to see what's taking so long. Maya's getting impatient."

"Chase! How did you know I was going to be here?" Angela asked; surprise evident in her voice.

Chase chuckled before moving to stand next to his girlfriend. "I had a feeling convincing Mr. Workaholic is going to take awhile."

Gill narrowed his eyes. "Mr. Workaholic?"

"Do you prefer Tomato Boy instead?"

Gill glared at the cook while Angela let out a scolding, "Chase, be nice."

"So what's happening here? Is Gill coming to cook with us? Maya's starting to think you ditched her Angela."

"Of course not! Maya's being silly."

Gill was silent for a bit, quietly observing Angel's and Chase's conversation. He was starting to think he knew why Angela was being so persistent today.

"Chase. Today is your day off is it not?" he started off, startling the couple.

"I'm skipping work." Chase responded bluntly.

"What!? You!" Gill was horrified. "How irresponsible! Do you not realize that you do not have the authority to do as you wish? How dare you treat this as something so insignificant that you can just neglect it. You cannot- " Gill paused, finally noticing a small grin appearing on Chase's smug face and Angela cowering behind her boyfriend, shaking from restraint laughter.

"See Angela. Workaholic."

"Hilarious." Gill glowered, sometimes he couldn't believe Angela was dating this guy. "So today is your day off. That explains a lot."

"Explains what?" Angela questioned.

"You just want me to come so you can have some alone baking time with Chase without Maya feeling lonely." Gill directed his answer to his best friend, who was blushing a little.

"T-That's not true." Angela stammered out. "You're my friend and Maya is my friend too. I don't like seeing you guys alone!"

"Oh, so you're playing Matchmaker now."

"No! I just! Well, you see…" Angela was having a little trouble stringing out a proper sentence.

Chase placed his hand on Angela's tensed shoulders. It had the desired effect and Angela managed to calm down and take a deep breath. "Just come Gill. Please? Maybe you can help Maya cook. Chase promised to teach me how to bake an orange cake already."

"I don't cook," was Gill's reply.

"You don't need to know how to cook, just how to read." Both Angela and Gill turned to face the cook.

"What do you mean Chase?"

"Yes, explain."

Instead of explaining right away, Chase asked: "Gill, you wanted to be a teacher right?"

Gill narrowed his eyes again. "That is correct."

"Then why not look at this as an opportunity to try out your teaching skills?"

"As stated before, I don't cook."

Chase shook his head. "That doesn't matter. Maya knows the basic cooking skills," that comment had the other two people in the room surprised, "she's just bad at following instructions. I can remember Yolanda continuously telling to add '1/2 a cup of sugar', but she always ends up adding much, much more for some reason." He said, cringing from past experience.

"Really? Bad at following instructions huh?" Angela paused. "Or maybe just bad at math."

"But that does not explain why you want me to teach her. Or is this your way of telling me to tutor her in mathematics?"

"Don't you see? Maybe you can show her why following instructions are important. Or better yet, try to figure out why she's ignoring the instructions."

"Or figuring out any other reason why she might be so bad at cooking." Angela paled slightly. "I remembered getting food poisoning the day after my birthday."

"…I see."

"So, will you come? Please Gill! You'll be my best friend forever!"

"No. I have more important things to do than to bake with children."

"Children!? I'm only a year younger than you! Chase here is older than you too!"

"You're acting like a child right now Angela."

"No I'm not!"

"Angela, relax." Chase ruffled his girlfriend's hair. "Tomato Boy here is just afraid he can't teach Maya." His comment received a surprised "What?" and a furious "What!?" Chase decided to continue. "I'm not surprised he declined. I mean, I tried teaching Maya how to cook properly. Yolanda tried to teach Maya as well. Unfortunately, we both failed. What are the chances that Gill is able to do anything?"

Angela frowned disappointingly. "That's true. I never thought of that before. I guess she's a hard person to teach!"

"Exactly. So we shouldn't force Gill to do something he will no doubt fail in."

"How would you know I'll fail?" Gill quickly retorted. "In fact, I bet the reason why you failed to teach her was because you weren't looking at things from her perspective.

"To be a brilliant teacher, one must be able to identify reasons why the student is struggling. From there, it is the teacher's responsibility to use different teaching strategies and find the one that works the best for the specific student. Every student is different, thus a teacher must accommodate and modify their teaching plans to suit each student." Gill gave a pointed glance to Chase. "If a willing student is not learning properly, it is most likely that the teacher isn't teaching properly."

Chase narrowed his eyes. He knew an insult when he heard one. "Who said Maya was a willing student?"

"Have you not heard her say she wanted to be a great cook like her grandmother? She's been saying that ever since she was a child. I'm sure a dream like that will encourage her and make her a willing student."

"You wouldn't know. How often do you even talk to her?"

"Enough to know that she wants to cook."

Angela could feel the temperature of the room drop. The atmosphere in the room was so thick, she felt like she was choking in it. "Umm… guys?"

She was unfortunately ignored.

Angela watched helplessly as her best friend and boyfriend argued. What's a girl to do in a situation like this? She peeked into the next room to see what Mr. Hamilton was doing, only to find that he wasn't in the house, or at least this floor, at the moment. Sighing, she turned to face the two boys.

"If you think you're so great then prove it." Chase had his eyes narrows and arms crossed.

"Fine! I'll show you!" was Gill's retort, who equally looked as annoyed as the cook.

"Great!" Angela clapped happily and hurriedly continued. "Glad we finally agreed!" Quickly grabbing both guys by the arm, she hastily dragged them to the door, opened it, and pushed them out. Shutting the door swiftly, she clung onto their arms again before propelling them all towards Maple District.

"I can't believe I fell for that." Gill muttered, sending a glare at the peach-coloured hair cook who was chatting with Angela.

"Fell for what?" chirped Maya, happy to start baking, happy that everyone was here. She was partly afraid that her friends had abandoned her at Angela's house.

"Nothing." He paused. "I guess we're going to be cooking partners today." He gestured to Angela and Chase at the other side of the kitchen. "Those two look like they are in their own little world."

"Yeah…" Maya said softly, idly flipping through Angela's recipe book. "But I'm glad that you're here Gill. I didn't really want to be alone with those two."

Gill didn't say anything so Maya decided to continue.

"I feel like the third wheel when I'm with them. And," Maya took a deep breath and quietly continued, "I'm jealous. I want a boyfriend too. But I'm a bad cook."

"What does cooking have to do anything with you acquiring a boyfriend?"

Maya lightly pulled one of her braids, a habit she does when she's nervous Gill noted. "Because guys don't want to date girls who can't cook."

Gill scoffed. "Then learn how to cook Maya. It's not that hard."

"I'm trying! It's a lot harder than you think!"

"It's just reading a simple recipe," he said, briefly recalling Chase's words, "how hard can it be?"

Maya pouted. "Fine then, let's start. I was going to apologize because you're stuck with me for today but you're being mean!" She huffed angrily. However, her attitude instantly changed once she mentioned food or baking. "So so! What kind of cake do you want to make? Angela and Chase are going to make an Orange Cake so let's try something different okay? Okay?"

Gill was starting to get a headache from Maya's cheerfulness. He still hasn't recovered from the whole situation yet. He took a moment to absorb everything in.

"Oh! How about a shortcake! I really like shortcakes! They taste so yummy!"

"…"

"Have you ever eaten a shortcake before Gill? It's amazing! Really cute looking!"

"…"

"I remember my grandma baking it a few weeks ago! It was soooo delicious!"

"…"

"And I don't think it's that difficult too!"

"..."

"Look! According to Angela's recipe, it seems pretty easy! I'm sure Angela will have strawberries for us to use too!"

"…"

"Wow! It looks soooo good in the picture too, doesn't it Gill? Doesn't it!? It's so cute! I think-"

"Let's just make the shortcake." Gill quickly butted in.

"Okay! Shortcake it is!" Maya cheered and went rummaging in Angela's fridge to find all the ingredients.

Gill leaned against the counter, rubbing his temple to chase away the upcoming headache he knew was bound to come. She was doing that on purpose. He just knew it! What in Goddess' name did he do to deserve this?

He directed his glare once again to Chase again.

Chase remained happily oblivious to the glare that was directed towards him.

Gill sighed and turned to read the recipe. He needed to act professionally here. Patience is the key for success if you want to be a teacher.

Looking at the recipe now, it didn't seem all that bad: some sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, butter, milk, eggs, and the strawberries if desired. Simple enough. He could handle this.

Gill rolled up his sleeves and put on the apron Angela offered him beforehand. He stared at the recipe again while he waited for Maya to show up.

When she did, she startled him with a loud thuwap as she dropped all the ingredients onto the counter. The noise even startled the other pair in the room as Angela fumbled with the egg she was holding and the bowl in Chase's hand nearly slipped.

But what surprised Gill the most was the sheer amount of ingredients Maya got. Surely there was no need for 6 eggs and 4 sticks of butter. The other ingredients he understood because they were in containers, but the eggs and butter…?

He checked the recipe one more time just to make sure.

"Maya," he started carefully. As a teacher, it wasn't good to immediately point out the student's mistakes. "Do you see something wrong here?"

"Huh? Something wrong?" she looked at the area Gill gestured. "Not really…am I supposed to see something wrong here?"

He sighed. Maybe he should try a different approach. "Look at the recipe again Maya, and look at the stuff you brought out."

Maya did as she was told, a frown on her face. "I got all the ingredients…I was careful not to miss any."

"It's not that you're missing an ingredient. It's just that…well, how many eggs does the recipe ask for?"

"Oh, that's easy, the recipe asks for 1 egg."

"And how many eggs did you take out?"

"I took out 6 but that's because I think we need more eggs than that. I mean, the shortcake is pretty big right? How does 1 egg make the cake that big? The recipe probably meant to say 6 eggs."

There was the problem. Chase was right; this girl had trouble following simple instructions. Improvising this early was clearly not doing anything for her. "Maya, if the recipe asks for 1 egg, you only put in 1 egg." Maya opened her open to retort but Gill beat her to it. "Am I clear?"

She decided to try again "But I-"

"Do I make myself clear? Follow the recipe Maya."

"But 1 egg-!"

"Follow it Maya."

"…yes Gill," she said unhappily, gathering the 5 eggs and putting them back into the fridge. This was taking too long. He'll get Maya to put the butter and other ingredients when they were done with them.

Gill took another peek at the recipe book. "Hmm, it says to preheat the oven first but…" he took a glance at Angela and Chase, who were much more efficient and was nearly done their cake. "We'll let Angela and the cook take the oven first."

"Okay." She said, reaching for the last egg she left on the counter. Gill stopped her, reaching out his hand to block her. Maya flicked her head to his direction, a confused look on her face.

"Read the recipe Maya. Did it say to add in the egg first?"

"Well, no but I thought it didn't matter since it was all in the first step-"

"Do it in order Maya."

"But it's all in the-"

"In order Maya."

"Yes Gill."

Maya carefully read the recipe out loud, at Gill's request, before getting her measuring cups out. Gill watched as she scooped some flour with the 1 cup measuring cup. He watched as she dumped it into the big bowl. She repeated the step again. After dumping her second cup, instead of exchanging her 1 cup for the ¼ cup like Gill had expected, Maya dug into the bag of flour with the 1 cup again.

There, another mistake. "Maya, what are you doing?"

"Getting the flour Gill. That's what the recipe said to do." She said with a pout. "I'm doing what you told me to do. The first one is flour."

"Yes, and you're doing a good job on that. But tell me, how much flour does it say?"

Maya checked the recipe again. "2 ¼ cups of flour."

"Okay, and how much did you scoop out already."

"…2 cups."

"Very good. And how much more do you need?"

"Gill! You're treating me like a baby! I know we need ¼ cup of flour left!"

"Then why are you using the 1 cup instead of the ¼ cup?" Gill asked despairingly, rubbing his temples.

"I thought I'll just take ¼ from the 1 cup. That way, I'll have one less thing to wash during cleaning." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't really like washing the dishes."

"No Maya, you can't do that, unless you are miraculously good at figuring out how much ¼ is in a 1 cup. Which I am sure you're not."

"No! I can do it. Watch!" Maya quickly scooped some flour up and brought the cup out to show Gill. He looked down. It was clearly more than ½ of the cup. Gill raised an eyebrow and Maya blushed. "Well, it's only a little bit more, I'm sure it's-"

"The ¼ cup Maya."

"Yes Gill."

The next step was 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Surprisingly, Maya made no mistakes here, or when she had to add in ¼ teaspoon of salt. However, when it came to the sugar…

"What do you mean 2 tablespoons of sugar? Do you know how little sugar that is?" Maya complained.

"The recipe asks for 2 tablespoons and 2 tablespoons are what we're adding in." Gill stated vehemently. Why was the girl being so difficult? He really wasn't expecting his 'willing student' to be like this.

"You don't understand!" Maya wailed. "It's a dessert! And desserts are supposed to be sweet! It needs more sugar!"

"What does the recipe say Maya?"

"What does the recipe say Maya? What does the recipe say Maya? You're always saying that! I know what the recipe is saying but it can't need that little sugar. It doesn't make any sense! I'm sure the book is wrong! Why should I follow the book if it's wrong?"

"The book is not wrong." He was a little angered that she just insulted the knowledge of a book.

"How would you know? You don't even bake!"

"Maya." Gill said curtly, causing Maya to tense up slightly. "Who knows the recipe better? The book, who specializes in baking, or you?"

"Well… the book should."

"Exactly."

"But it doesn't mean the book is right!"

"Maya!" Gill snapped, slamming the counter with his hand. Maya flinched and Gill sighed. His patience was thinning out; he'll have to be careful. "Let's compare this to something else. Let us say you're hungry right now; really, really hungry. However, all I give to you is a cookie. Will you be full after that?"

"Well of course not. If I'm really hungry, I won't get full from a cookie." Maya answered carefully.

"Okay, but what if I said you're wrong and that you really are full. Will you be full then?"

"No. Words cannot fill the stomach up." Maya stated, still a bit wary of Gill.

"So if I said you were full. Would you listen to me and not eat anymore?"

"Probably not. If I'm hungry, I'll want to eat. Besides, I know myself better than you. I can tell when I'm hungry, you can't. I-" Maya paused and then her eyes widened. "Oh...I think I get what you mean now."

"The recipes in the book have been tested out many times. The book knows how much ingredients you need to make the shortcake better than you Maya. Just like you know how hungry you are better than I will. That is why it's important to follow the recipe."

Maya's shoulders slumped. "I guess," she said pitifully. "But Chase and grandma don't even follow a recipe so I thought…"

So, that was the reason. "That is because they practice a lot." Maya looked up to face Gill. "Don't forget, just because they don't use a recipe book doesn't mean they don't follow a recipe."

"Really?"

"Yes." Gill lightly tapped Maya on the head. "The recipe is in here, already memorized and ready to be pulled out whenever it is needed."

"So, does that mean if I follow the recipe and practice a lot, I'll be just like Chase and grandma?" Maya asked with hopeful eyes.

Gill's expression softened unconsciously. "With practice, you may be."

Maya smiled brilliantly and giggled slightly. "Thanks Gill. Thanks for explaining things to me and encouraging me. Chase and Grandma never told me why I had to follow the recipe so I always did my own stuff when they weren't looking. And I never was brave enough to speak to them the way I did with you just now."

And that's the reason why Chase and Yolanda never caught her mistakes. Gill thought to himself.

"Besides," she frowned momentarily, "Chase is really mean sometimes."

"Come on Maya. Let's finish the cake."

A determined "Okay!" followed Gill's response.

"The recipe says to add in ½ a cup of butter."

"1 cup of butter it is!"

"Maya! Didn't I just-!"

"Just kidding Gill!"

The pair didn't even notice that they were the only people left in the kitchen.

By the time Gill and Maya had all the ingredients mixed, Chase's and Angela's orange cake had cooled and the oven had been preheated to 220 degrees Celsius. Maya had both eagerly greased the pan and poured the mixture into it. She carefully slid the pan into the oven and closed the lid. While she did this, Gill set the timer for 15 minutes.

"I'm so excited! It's the first time I put something in the oven that isn't all lumpy or spilling over the pan!"

"Following a recipe isn't so bad now is it Maya?" Gill asked, placing the timer back on the counter.

"Nope! It isn't!"

"You just need to practice to make it perfect. You're bound to make mistakes and when you do-"

"I'll just try the recipe again!" she answered, a bright smile on her face. She swayed back and forth and hummed a little tune to herself.

The other pair, Angela and Chase, stared into the oven, awe on their faces.

"It does look pretty good, doesn't it Chase?"

"If anyone told me Maya made this, I would have outright called them a liar."

"Aww, you guys!" She covered her cheeks with her hands and giggled. "You're making me blush!"

Gill stared. "Was that even a compliment to begin with?"

"Of course it was Gill! Maya did a wonderful job! You too!"

He shook his head and crossed his arms. "I helped. Maya did everything. This is her cake."

"But I couldn't have done it without you Gill! Thanks a lot!" Maya cheered while Gill smiled smugly. He directed his smirk to Chase.

Chase rolled his eyes. "Let's see how the cake turns out first. Maya does have a habit of making things look good but taste worst."

"I'm sure it's fine!" Maya insisted. "But I can't wait to decorate it with strawberries!"

"I love strawberries." Angela piped in, stealing one from the bowl and eating it.

"Even I am looking forward to tasting the cake Maya." Gill admitted out loud.

Maya didn't answer; she was staring at Gill in utter amazement. It got to the point where said boy felt uncomfortable and asked what was wrong. Maya's eyes got wide and glassy before she took a deep breath and answered.

"That was the first time I ever heard another person say they were looking forward to eating something I made." She whispered in awe. "Gill, I was wrong, you really are a nice guy."

"W-What?" he spluttered, clearly not expecting this answer. Angela laughed, swinging an arm over Gill.

"See Gill, you ARE a nice guy after all. Thanks for being a great best friend!"

"I suppose Gill does have a heart."

"You be quiet." Gill pointed at Chase, who replied with: "Well, at least with certain people he does."

Everyone but Gill gathered together to laugh. Even Gill's usually bored expression melted to a content look. Angela was right, Gill suppose, this wasn't too bad.

The four occupants decided to entertain themselves, taking turns telling each other's stories while they waited for the cake to bake. Angela shared the most, telling them stories about her daily life and how she once had to chase after her newly bought chicken. Maya giggled and Gill chuckled.

It was surprising how quickly time passed when they were having fun. Everyone was smiling and laughing until Maya shrieked and got out of her seat, with Chase immediately behind her. Angela and Gill looked at each other in confusion until they noticed the oven coughing up dark, black smoke.

"Oh no, oh no! The cake's burning!" Maya wailed, she quickly opened the oven door and was greeted with a blast of heat and smoke. Chase yelled at her to go outside while Angela went to open all the doors and windows of her house. Gill grabbed Maya and steered her out, ignoring her protests. Chase obviously had more experience in this than he did. He knew when to step back.

The smoke evidently alerted other residents of Waffle Town because Gill could see a frantic Luke and Dale running towards them, Bo following right behind them too.

"Is everything alright here?" Dale quickly questioned, staring inside the house.

"I, I think everything is okay. We were baking and we kind of burnt the cake so a lot of smoke is coming out." Angela explained.

"Is everyone out of the house yet?"

"No, Chase is still inside. He told us to wait out here though."

Before Dale could even step into the house, Yolanda arrived at the scene. "My goodness! So much smoke! Out of the way everyone! Out out!" She shooed and quickly went into the house to help Chase.

"Will a burnt cake burn down a house?" Maya shook a little when she said that. Gill realized he was still holding her shoulders as he could feel her trembling. Before he could remove his hands, Angela gave them both a big and reassuring hug, keep him in place.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Maya. I don't think the house will burn."

"Then why is everyone except Chase and grandma outside the house waiting?"

Gill answered this one. "Large exposure of smoke is bad for your health. It can be even fatal depending on how much you are exposed to." As he finished, Gill noticed Jin arriving with Anissa next to him. He supposed Anissa went to go fetch her husband in case anyone was hurt.

"This is the first time I ever burnt anything. Usually I just undercook it because I'm afraid of the oven catching on fire or something." Maya looked down at her hands in shame, eyes welling up in tears. "Why do I keep making mistakes when it comes to baking? I tried so hard this time too… I was looking so forward to it…"

"Don't worry Maya, it wasn't your fault. It was all of ours actually." Angela frowned thoughtfully. "I don't even remember hearing the timer. I suppose we were too distracted. Besides, it's just a cake right? We'll bake again next week!"

Maya nodded solemnly but Gill could tell she wasn't taking Angela's words to heart.

"It was more than just a cake to me…" she muttered out quietly. Gill was sure he was the only one who heard.

When everything was fine, Angela managed to convince everyone to head home. Gill was slightly surprised at how popular his best friend was. Dale, Luke and Bo had insisted on checking the area in the kitchen for any burns on the wall. Phoebe and her parents told her that if her oven was broken to come by the store and they'll have a look at it.

Angela smiled sincerely at everyone and told them that she'll let them know if anything was wrong. Bidding a good night, everyone finally left except for the original four, Mr. Hamilton, Colleen, Jake and Yolanda.

"Maya dear, it's nearly dinner time. Are you coming back for dinner?" Colleen asked her still emotionally stricken daughter.

Maya stared sadly at her feet but didn't give her mother a reply.

"Actually, I was wondering if Maya could eat dinner with us." Angela asked Colleen, before turning her gaze to Mr. Hamilton. "Gill too. Chase said he'll make us all dinner."

Gill didn't remember hearing anything about that but looking at the cook, he could see Chase had no objections.

Mr. Hamilton smiled, despite what just happened only a few minute ago. "Of course Gill can stay Angela! Just make sure to get him home before it's too late!"

"Yes, Maya too. Can someone walk her back later?"

"I'll ensure she'll get back home safely." Gill spoke up, surprising himself for volunteering to walk Maya home. Colleen smiled at him. Giving him a nod, she left the area with her husband and mother after giving Maya a hug and a kiss on the forehead. Mr. Hamilton followed them as well.

It was awfully quiet once everyone left. Chase scratched the back of his neck. Angela stared worrying at her friend in her arms who was still silent. Gill stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Maya's shoulder. She looked up, stunned, eyes still glassy while the sunset highlighted the tear streaks on her rosy cheeks.

"Come on Maya, let's head to Chase's house."

For a brief moment, Gill thought she was going to ignore him. But she nodded and, with Angela still hugging her, she walked towards Maple District. Gill followed but stopped when Chase quietly called him. "Hey wait, I need to tell you something without the girls listening."

"What is it?"

Chase reached into this pocket and took out a timer. He passed it to Gill and told him to check it.

Looking down at his hands, he flipped over the timer front and back, inspecting it. He didn't see anything wrong with it. Flipping it back to the front, he noticed that the timer was still set to 15 minutes. Eyes widening, he quickly turned it to the side. The timer was still in its OFF state.

He didn't set the timer properly.

It was his fault that the cake burned and that Maya was crying over the loss.

"I'm not blaming you or anything, "Chase started when Gill stayed silent. "But I thought you would have wanted the truth either way. I haven't told Angela or Maya yet and I don't really plan to." He stared at Gill for a moment. "You can do whatever you want though."

Gill's throat felt incredibly dry as he continued to stare at the timer. He tried to swallow the feeling away but it still felt as if there was a lump in his throat. "I'll tell her." He decided. "I prefer her angry at me than sad at herself. The truth is always better anyways. It really was my fault." He paused before continuing. "Despite what you think, I'm not conceited enough to deny my mistakes."

Chase gave Gill a pat on the shoulder. "Yeah yeah. You really are a nice guy aren't you?" Gill swatted his hand away with a sneer and Chase laughed.

"Just be careful with Maya, okay? I consider her as my little sister. I don't want Tomato boy hurting her feelings even more."

"I pity Maya for having a brother like you."

"At least I can cook. If you want Maya to be interested in you, then learn to cook too. Heck, I'll even offer to teach you."

Gill was tempted to throw the timer at Chase. "And here I thought it was Angela who was doing the Matchmaking."

"It's amusing, that's for sure."

Gill scoffed, heading down to Chase's house. "I'm sorry to say, but I'm not interested in your 'sister.'"

Chase chuckled to himself. "Well Gill, time can change everything."

Gill scowled but didn't bother giving Chase a verbal response.

Maya was still quiet as everyone chatted animatedly at the table. And by everyone, it was really just Angela and Chase. Gill wondered if they were trying to cheer her up by acting their normal selves.

It wasn't working.

Angela noticed and her smile slid down into a frown. "Maya. It's okay. Really. Everything fine now, don't you see? We'll bake again, I promise."

Maya turned her gaze away. Angela eyes widened with hurt and Chase noticed. Gill could tell that he was getting sick and tired of Maya acting like this. Chase wasn't known for being patient.

"Maya, you're being childish. Why are you making such a big deal about this?"

She didn't answer Chase's question and he grew even more impatient.

"Maya! Look, this isn't your first mistake so I don't see why you're so stuck up on this whole cake business. Even I make mistakes but you don't see me moping about each failure do you?"

"…It's different this time. This mistake is different." She whispered. The waitress shook her head slowly and looked up to Chase. "I finally thought…that after all these years, I finally thought I would have made a really great dish today. I was really hopeful. I was really, really hopeful." Her face scrunched up as she bit her lip to stop her tears. It didn't work. "B-But again! I failed! I should have never raised my expectations so high this time." She sobbed, choking on her tears. Maya breathed heavily, swallowing large amounts of air in an attempt to calm herself down. Her chest heaved and her shoulders slumped. She managed to mumble out one last sentence, clearly. "I guess I'll never be a good cook."

"Maya…"

Gill looked up to Chase and gave him a slight nod. Chase nodded back and he stood up. Angela blinked when he grabbed her arm and dragged her outside the house, closing the door after them.

It was eerily quiet when the pair left, leaving Gill with a still sulking Maya. The only noise was the occasional sniffle as Maya tried to pull herself together. He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. How to bring up this up? This seemed a lot easier in his head. He was half afraid Maya would burst into more tears and attack him for the loss of the cake. Well, he could deal with her being angry at him; he was getting sick of the tears. He didn't like them.

"Maya." He said softly, in a voice that was so completely different than his everyday tone that Maya looked up in surprise, tears still running her cheeks. "I need to tell you something but you must promise not to get angry or more upset."

"What is it?" she asked, equally as soft but Gill heard a slightly rasp to it.

Gill reached into his pocket and pulled out the timer and placed it in front of Maya. Said girl blinked, rubbing her eyes to get rid of some of the tears her outburst. She gently picked up the timer and, just as Gill had did before when Chase gave it to him, turned it back and forth.

"A…timer?" She took another deep breath.

"Yes, it was the timer we used when we were backing at Angela's house."

"Why are you giving me Angela's timer?"

"I," Gill took a deep breath and turned the timer in Maya's hand so the OFF button was facing her. "I forgot to set the timer on."

"…Huh?" Another sniffle.

"When you placed the cake in the oven, I went to set the timer on, but I forgot to switch it to the ON button. That's why no one heard the timer go off while we were talking." Gill paused and looked away. "That's why the cake got burnt."

"Because…because you forgot to set the timer?"

"Yes. So you seem Maya. It wasn't your fault, or even Angela's or Chase's. I made the mistake."

Maya was silent, no longer crying while she stared at Gill's face to see if he was lying. A quiet "Oh" was all the response Gill got though.

He started to get nervous. He didn't even know why he was getting nervous. Crossing his arms to stop fidgeting, he stared back at the girl. "Say something. I just told you that I was the reason why the cake got burnt. Aren't you angry with me?"

Maya shook her head and, to Gill's complete surprise, smiled while brushing her eyes with her hands. "No, I'm not mad, I'm not sad anymore either. Thanks for telling me Gill. And well…don't blame yourself either. Everyone makes mistakes, right?"

Gill was quite surprised to see how mature Maya was acting, but made sure none of the surprise was evident in his voice. "So you see, it wasn't you who made the mistake, it was me. You can be a good cook Maya."

"No, I'm not a good cook." She said sadly. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. Like you said, if it doesn't come out perfect the first time, I should just try the recipe again." Maya giggled and clasped her hands together. "I won't give up! I'll try the recipe again Gill. I'll make the best shortcake ever! Just you wait!"

Gill chuckled at her enthusiasm. He was glad to see her smiling. It wasn't right for Maya to be frowning.

"Hey Gill." Maya started, a small blush on her face. "Do you think I can ever cook well enough to be…to be someone's wife?"

"With your determination, I'm sure it's possible." Maya beamed and even made Gill smile in return.

"Just remember to follow the recipe the next time you practice."

"Yes Gill!"

It's been a week since the whole fiasco at Angela's house. Gill was quietly relaxing in his house, reading a book. He had a sneaking suspicion that Angela was probably going to call him over for another baking experience. However, he had a feeling he wouldn't mind it as much as he did last time.

He knew he was right when he heard a knock on his door. Quickly standing up to open the door, his father went out for a morning walk; he was pleasantly surprised to see a cheery face waitress.

She bounced lightly on her feet as she gave a big wave to Gill. "Good morning! I hope I didn't wake you up. Angela told me you're usually up pretty early but I was still not sure."

"Good morning Maya and no, I've been up for awhile. Angela's right."

"Great!" She held out a box for Gill to take. "Here, I got you something. Will you take it?"

"What is it?"

Maya blushed. "I um… made another Shortcake because…last time, you said you were looking forward to trying the cake I made…so I…thought I'll make another one…" She tugged on one of her braids nervously.

Gill smiled gently and stepped back from the doorway. "Sure. Would you care to come in and join me?"

"I'll love to! Thanks a lot!"

Gill took the offered box and Maya closed the door when she stepped in. Placing the box on the table, he opened it. Inside was a small shortcake. The whipped cream wasn't perfectly done, some of it sticking out in weird places, and the strawberries weren't perfectly straight but it still looked good.

Though Chase did say that Maya had an ability to make food look good, but taste bad.

He was a little hesitant now.

"Do you like it?" Maya asked nervously. "I'm still not good at decorating yet, but I'm practicing!"

"You did a good job Maya. Let me grab some forks and plates to try this cake out."

"I brought a cake knife to cut the cake!" she chirped happily, brandishing the knife as a knight would with a sword.

"Maya, be careful! The knife is sharp!"

"I know I know! You don't have to tell me that Gill." She giggled as she cut the cake.

Placing a slice in Gill's plate first, Maya urged him to take a bite. Chase's comment was still running through his head, but with Maya's anxious look, Gill shoved the thought away and took a bite.

It was sweet, a bit too sweet for his taste, but he didn't feel sick from eating it.

It was edible.

Gill blinked and took another bite.

"So so? What do you think?" Maya probed, eager to hear Gill's response.

"It's good. But you added more than 2 tablespoons of sugar didn't you?"

"No, I didn't!"

"Maya."

"…maybe…I'm sorry. I only added a little bit more. And it was only the sugar."

Gill sighed but he couldn't help the smile his lips formed. "Next time Maya, follow the recipe all the way until the end."

Maya nodded and took a bite from her slice. "Hmm, you're right; it is a bit sweeter than grandma's cake." She giggled. "This is actually the first time I tried my own cooking." She took another bite. "I'll know for next time to add less sugar. Anyways, Angela's cooking again today, want to come and help me make tomato risotto? I heard it tastes really good!"

Gill chuckled as he took another bite, ignoring the fact that Angela and Chase were trying their hands at Matchmaking again. He listened to Maya go on and on as he finished the slice of cake.

He could get used to this.

- Fin.