Eggshells

The very first time that I had ever met seen Jake Masliah was when I was 15 years old. He was 17 at the time, but I didn't learn that until a later date. He worked the Fresh Market that was about 20 minutes from my house and I stopped by occasionally with my mother after we had just finished thrifting at the various Goodwills and other secondhand shops that littered 4th street. That specific time, I was looking for raw, unprocessed honey, and I had remembered that I wanted it right before my mother wanted to checkout. The cashier, who just so happened to be the manager of that branch, sent a lanky blonde kid to help me find it. At first glance, he looked basically average, but then I truly noticed him. His sandy blonde hair was neatly cut and brushed to one side. His grey-blue eyes, enlarged by the black rectangular frames of his glasses, stood out from the barely sun kissed tone of his skin. I had felt pathetic when I realized it, which wasn't much of a surprise, seeing as that was how I always felt. He led me over to the aisle silently and as we walked back to the register, he asked why I wanted unprocessed honey. Being as naive as I was at the time, I didn't know how to respond in any other fashion than:

"I...just like honey, I guess."

He had laughed at the nonchalant statement, which confused me a little bit. When I reached my mother again, she had asked me the same question that Jake had asked me less than a minute before. Before I could think up an actual logical response, he had answered for me, using my same exact words. My mother gave him an odd look before muttering under her breath.

The only words I made out were, "Honey is for bees.".

After that, he made an offhand comment about how I looked tired. I had just shrugged in response. I zoned out as I made another comment, but came back to Earth as he finished talking and then I nodded in response. He asked us if we needed help getting our things out to our cars. I shook my head no, took the bags from him, and fled as soon as my mother paid.

I caught him earlier, as we were walking through the store, too. It was the first time a guy that looked to be around my age didn't look at me in disgust. My mother said he was checking me out, too. For some reason, it made me feel better to know that at least someone besides me family thought that I was at least mildly attractive.