"So Jaune, how was your week?" Winter wondered as she shifted around on her beanbag chair, trying her best to take notes. It smelled like old plastic and had a slightly rough texture that made Winter's arms itch, but she tried her best to ignore it.
Jaune was having as hard a time as she was sitting still, sinking deeper and deeper into his seat with a panicked look on his face whenever the bag shifted. "It was fine"
"What does that mean?" Winter tried her best to keep her hand steady as she put her pen to the paper, but her writing ended up looking sloppy. She made up her mind to type it up later.
"I don't know. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either."
"There must have been some good that happened," Winter insisted, forgetting about the feeling of the little beans moving around under her.
"My older sister bought me some new clothes, which was pretty nice. I found out I'm gonna be in an advanced math class. Only a few kids get into it, so that's cool" Winter caught Jaune's face light up when he mentioned the class, but he reined it in quickly.
"You like math?" Winter pressed, trying to bring that light back out.
"Sort of. I like what you can do with it. You can figure out how to get to space, trajectories of stuff, statistics can be really fun too" Jaune talked quietly, but the passion was clear in every word he spoke.
"Do you do anything with it outside of school?"
"No. I don't think there are many places I can do math problems for fun, " sighed Jaune, any confidence ebbing out of his voice.
"Of course there are! There are math clubs and robotics teams that always need mathematicians. There are bound to be other people who like math there too" Winter couldn't help but get excited the more she talked, but she tried to keep her voice even. She didn't want to scare Jaune, the kid was like a rabbit, too much excitement and he would try his best to run away and hide. Not literally, but he would close himself off for sure.
"I'm not sure, . Isn't that sort of… nerdy?" Jaune hesitated before saying the word nerdy like he thought he was saying a bad word or something.
"There's nothing wrong with liking math, Jaune. That doesn't make you a nerd. Besides, you shouldn't let what other people think to change what you wanna do. If you like math, join a math team. If someone says it's nerdy, ignore them. It's not their life, and they aren't the one doing it after all"
"Yeah, I guess" Jaune didn't sound too sure when he spoke like he was on shaky ground.
Jaune had a small smile on his face, but it was warm. He looked more relaxed then Winter had ever seen him. Winter hoped he took her words to heart, but only time would tell. "Promise me you'll at least look into it, ok Jaune? I think you'll like it" Winter glanced at the clock on her desk, frowning at the time. "Alright, Jaune, times up. I'll see you next week?"
"You should, . Have a good day" Jaune started to stand up, but his foot slipped on the beanbag and he landed hard on the ground. He was cherry red, and Winter had to stifle her laugh.
"Next week, can we not use the beanbags?" Jaune asked looking up at ceiling, still lying on the ground.
Winter held out her hand to help him up. "We'll see. Have a great week, Jaune" Winter smiled at him as he opened the door and made his exit.
Winter looked down at the notes she had taken down and started dancing around her office twirling and hopping like a ballet dancer. She hugged the notepad tightly, dancing with it like they were partners.
Eventually, she put it away in a drawer, a huge grin still on her face after her first time connecting with Jaune. Winter practically skipped out of her office, down the hall and out into the lobby and in front of Amy. "What's got you so happy?" Amy giggled, watching Winter try and calm herself down.
"Oh nothing, I just had my best appointment yet" Winter's voice fluttered, sounding like she was on another planet, and Amy had to laugh.
"Jaune?" Amy asked excitedly, Winter nodded as Amy stood up from her chair, getting almost as excited as Winter. "That's awesome!" Amy high fived Winter and a loud clap echoed through the waiting room, causing a mother and her son to look up at them, annoyed. They both looked at each other and fell back to earth a bit. Amys' face lit up, and she turned to Winter, a sly grin on her face.
"Isn't tonight the game night you've been going on about for two weeks?" Amy asked, sitting back in her chair with a grin. "What's his name again?" Amy coaxed, making Winters face light up
"Qrow. But I told you, it's not like that. I'm helping out his nieces" Winter mumbled, looking away from Amy as it rose another ten degrees in the room.
"Right, helping this guy by going over to his house. By yourself. Of course, that doesn't sound like a date, how could I think that?" Amy chuckled as she watched Winter struggle for an answer.
"I barely know the guy! Plus, I'm doing it for work!" Winter insisted, sounding more like a kid with every passing word.
"I've dated a ton of guys I've barely known. Fun times" Amy sighed happily, looking like she was reliving a dream.
"It's not a date" Winter declared again, but Amy tsked her tongue and leaned back in her chair.
"It's totally a date," Amy said with a wink and a smile.
"Nope. Bye Amy, see you tomorrow" Winter turned and walked away, waving without looking back at Amy.
"Tell me how it goes!" Amy called as Winter walked into the elevator.
Winter's mind buzzed as she stood frozen in the freezer section of Elmos. She figure there would only be one or two cookie dough brands, three if things were getting crazy. But instead, she was looking at at least three dozen kinds of cookie dough. Her eyes went down the lines trying to find the best one for the millionth time, but they all sounded the same. Cookie Delux dough, super sugar cookies, Triple double chocolate chip cookies. She wasn't sure what that last one even meant!
Winter gripped her phone in her hand, silently giving up. She needed help. She opened her phone and called Qrow.
"Hello?" Qrow answered after a few rings. There was some kind of metal noise on the other end that she couldn't place. Winter tried to think of the best way to phrase her question without it sounding too odd. "Hellooo!" Qrow called loudly into the phone annoyed.
"Hi, Qrow!" Winter said in a panic before he could hang up.
"Winter? What's up?" He asked he sounded far away, and there was still that metal noise in the background.
"Remember last week when I asked you about what I should bring and Ruby yelled that she wanted cookies?" She heard a small gasp on the other end of the line.
"Winter, are you bringing cookies?" Came the excited voice of Ruby.
"I'm trying to, but I can't figure out which ones to bring" Winter admitted, looking at the intimidating mountain of possibilities in front of her.
"Bring any kind over, we're not picky!" Ruby told her, Winter could picture her grin with ease.
"We?" She heard Qrow laugh in the background.
"Fine, I'm not picky" Ruby giggled. Then there was a snap, and Qrow started to cuss loudly.
"Ruby, the oil's getting everywhere, grab a towel!" Qrow yelled loudly sounding more annoyed than angry.
"Oops, Uncle Qrow broke the water pump. Gotta go, Winter! See you tonight! Boop!" Ruby said as she hung up the phone, leaving Winter confused in the cookie aisle.
"What's a water pump?" She asked herself aloud, grabbing a random pack of cookie dough.