"I don't have a spatula."

"Is that a no? Is he still a puddle? Do I need to go find him and scrape him off of the floor?"

And there he is! He sits next to Bella and gives Savannah a smug look.

"... Oh my god did you actually manage it?"

"Eeeee!"

"It took a little prodding."

"Sorry, Bella," he laughs. "I am pretty terrible at this in general."

"I may need to revise my estimation of how intimidating I am."

"I have no experience at this! At all!"

"I don't either, so there's only so far this fact will take you."

"Yes, but he is Darren and therefore easily embarrassed."

"I've noticed." She pats his arm.

He smiles at her. "It's part of my charm?"

"I do find it strangely endearing, but who knows, that might wear off after six months or something."

Darren snorts. "Hopefully not, that would make tutoring you awkward."

"Maybe in six months fewer things will prompt embarrassment. It can be your project of personal growth."

"Yay, self improvement!"

"Yaaaay! I don't know if you could borrow my technique to useful effect, though."

"Probably not. It's okay, I'll figure it out. Probably."

"The alternative is to continue being easily embarrassed forever."

"I've managed all right so far, so that's not too terrible."

"But the opportunity cost, Darren. You are spending so much time being embarrassed. What if you lose lots of valuable time, being embarrassed, and it is just the margin by which you could have created world peace or something?"