Kim was at the GreenBean just finishing her shift and going over her budget for the month. It looked like she managed to save some, but she needed a better job with better pay if she wanted to save decent money. This constant worry about funds and future ate at her a little, but she was young and hopeful. She also planned to visit that doubly entered shelter over he fall break and she needed to find some time to do so. Her best bet was to ask Jerry or Milton to drive her there.
The four of them made quite a group. Milton was intelligent. Not just book smart either: he saw details and observe patterns of behavior to make conclusions about people that were precise, but never unkind.
Jerry was more oblivious, but he was loyal and funny. And whereas Milton's knowledge of people and their motives often was theoretical, Jerry had a large family and had therefore a lot of practical wisdom of all that human behavior entailed.
Her and Julie fell into an easy friendhsip that involved movies, sleepovers, conversations about future for both of them and lack of mother figures. Julie's parents were research scientists and their passion took them all over the world. At some point they decided it was better if Julie stayed put for her high school years, and that's how she ended up living with her uncle. Julie liked her life now. It was steady and her uncle was good to her. He might have been clueless about young girls, almost women, but he loved her and, in his ways, wanted the best for her. He wanted her to do the Karate and only Julie's complete lack of coordination prevented her from being a martial artist. He also pushed his students at her as possible dates and Julie confined that she really didn't like anyone, who was a Black Dragon. They were sort of ruthless, at least as far as Karate went, and Julie found it to be an indication of a character flaw.
Her ruminations on her friends were interrupted by a ding of the door bell. She was half expecting either Jack, who was sort of coming here regularly, or Grace, who started showing up more often now that Donna stopped coming here.
Instead of either of her regulars, it was a tallish dirty blond guy about her age with cold piercing eyes. He came up to the counter and studied Kim intently, which unnerved her a little. She shook off the feeling and summoned her best polite smile.
"Welcome to the GreenBean. What can I get you?"
He didn't respond and continued to look at her. She held his gaze unwilling to back down. He finally smiled and it was unpleasant and sharp.
"I will have a cappucino. Small." He said it deliberately, as if testing her. Which was strange. His order was not that unusul and she had been making cappuccino a lot lately, because it was Jack's preferred choice.
She went about making it and felt his eyes on her the entire time. The guy was creepy. Not like he was wanted to score with her, but rather that he looked at her like a prey. The drink was ready and she quickly put the sleeve on.
"Here you go. Will this be all?"
He took a sip and made a delighted face.
"This is so good. You are very good. I'd like to know the name of such a good barista." His words were complimentary, but his eyes remained cold and calculating
"It's Kim, but everyone here can make this drink very well."
"Well, Kim, I only had tried yours and it's delicious." He kept looking at her, never letting eyes wonder from her face. So creepy, thought Kim
"Thank you." Go away, you weirdo, Kim plead in her head.
Luckily for her, a customer came in and she went about helping them. By the time she was done with them, the creepy guys had left.
Unfortunately, he showed up several more times always asking her questions about her. She was grateful that she was busy with customers or at least could pretend to restock things. Mike, her co-worker, noticed this and teased Kim for collecting weird obsessive guys, because he insisted that Jack was only coming to stare at her. Which, Kim thought, was patently absurd: Jack was still a very awkward guy, who spoke like he was doing everyone a favor by looking at them. She saw glimpses of a different guy sometimes, like when he divulged some personal details. But every time he did that, he would revert to his stiffest, coldest demeanor and no one, but Kim especially, had time for that.
After the apple incident Jack was resolved to ignore Kim. His plan to avoid her lasted about two days. During those days he was extra grouchy and managed to snap at that idiot Frank, who was so deeply stupid that he tried to throw a punch at Jack. He really shouldn't have done it. In the end, Jack had him on the floor, groaning and moaning.
When the teacher sent him to the principal's office, Jack had the weirdest feeling of freedom. In that moment, when he threw Frank, a petty and stupid bully, on the floor he felt free. He did something he wanted. Something he felt was right, not something that his father would have expected or wanted him to do.
When he reached the office he found himself in the company of Milton, Julie, and... Kim. Julie and Milton caused an explosion in the lab, because they deviated from the prescribed process and Kim... Well, she had the best reason to be there: she defended Jerry against Randy and apparently her Karate skills were enough to flip the guy. So it was that the four of them had a detention that spread over three afternoons, cleaning the labs and the lunch room.
His father was perfunctorily upset with Jack, but ultimately relished the fact that Jack acted like a true man. Jack was allowed reprive from shadowing in the office to do his detention.
Jack dreaded it.
On their first afternoon, he was silent and distant, which Kim seemed to shrug off. She went about the cleaning as far away from him as possible and he only saw glimpses of her. He put his headphones on. Eventually, he noticed her lips moving. Thinking that she was talking at him, he pulled his headphones out and realized she was singing. It was quiet slow singing one does when one doesn't expect to be overheard. It was good. She was good. He couldn't tell her range from this, but she stayed on pitch and the tembre of her voice was very pleasant. He could also tell that she was properly trained.
She noticed him looking and stopped working and singing and he missed the sound immediately.
"Please, don't stop on my account."
"I am afraid you'll judge me harshly. You have musical training, you'll know if I messed up."
"I am not your tutor. I am just a lucky audience. You are quite good."
"Thanks. I should think that I'll be at least decent considering how much time I spent with Ms. Evelyn."
She stopped, looking wistfully, and he knew she was remembering her old teacher.
"Why did you stop? The vocal training that is." He was honestly curious.
"Just had some family stuff come up that took more precedence." She didn't look wistful anymore. Instead a very sad and disappointed expression came over her face. Whatever that family stuff was, it made her unhappy. Jack thought he could understand.
"I hope you can go back to singing. Really. You are talented. You might benefit from more advance training and practice..." He was sincere in this wish.
"I am afraid it's not in the cards for me right now. But enough about me. What about you? Why did you stop playing?"
"Just some family stuff came up." He offered with a half smile and she smiled back, while raising the skeptical brow. "Really, it's true. I also chose to focus on Karate and other athletics. It left little time for music."
"Then, I hope that you don't regret the choice. Nothing is more insidious than the regrets over chances not taken." She offered and went back to cleaning the floor.
He stood there thinking over her words for a little longer.
The next afternoon she was in a hurry and he recalled that she had a shift at the GreenBean. He tried to hurry up too and they hardly talked. He was curious still, because he heard from Brody that Kim took Randy down in a record time. Brody looked impressed and Jack took that as an indication of her skills. Brody trained at the Black Dragons and was a decent martial artist.
His chance came when she looked at the clock on the wall and silently cursed.
"Are you late somewhere? Your shift is not untill later if I recall."
She looked at him surprised and he could have hit himself over the head for revealing that he knew her schedule.
"I need to catch the bus to make it there in time. And I am now late to the bus. The next one is not for another half hour, which would make me late to the GreenBean. I'll just call Mike to let him know that he needs to cover for me a little longer."
It occurred to him then that she didn't have a car. Not just that her car was broken, but she just didn't have one. Her family must be in more dire straits than he first realized. He couldn't stop the next words from spilling out.
"I could give you a ride, if you wish." He offered stiffly.
She looked at him surprised and hopeful. "Really? I don't want to make you late..."
"I wouldn't have offered if it was inconvenient." His reply was shorter and colder than he intended and she looked doubtful, but obviously she needed the ride, so she only nodded.
He couldn't understand why it was that he was always so awkward with her. On the ride to the GreenBean they were quiet and all the levity they enjoyed yesterday was gone replaced with the heavy silence. He could tell she practically sighed with relief when the mall entrance was in front of them. She quickly opened the door and then turned to him.
"Thank you, Jack. It was very nice of you to offer me this ride. Next time you are in the GreenBean your first cappuccino is on me. Have a good day."
She jumped out and was running to the shop without looking back. He was left thinking that it was the first time she actually said his name and it felt good to hear her say it. He was looking forward to collecting on her offer. Which reminded him: she already knew his order...
The third and final day of their detention he was prepared. He greeted her right away and started cleaning side by side with her. He asked her about her recent home in the South. She freely told him that her parents chose it because it was closer to her mom's family.
"So you can say I am a Southern girl, by blood and by where I lived." He thought he heard a challenge in her tone and recalled all the unkind words Donna and Co. have said about it.
"So, I think I can guess your opinion on instant grits." He said with a smile and she laughed in response.
"It's an abomination and no true Southerner would use it." She said dutifully. "But how do you know instant grits?"
"Grandma was a great cook and preferred the original recipes to any new or fusion interpretations. She would even make her own dough for any pasta dishes." He said with a smile because memories if Grandma were always pleasant.
"She was of Italian background?"
"She was Jewish and her family was from somewhere in Western parts of Russian Empire. She used to make kletzki, this sort of mushy dumplings dish. It required making the dough."
"My Nana used to make the peach cobbler from scratch, including the crust. It was such an involved process, but the pie was always so delicious."
"Do you make it?"
"I can, but it doesn't hold the candle to the Nana's."
"It's always the case: no one cooks better than grandmothers and moms." He said it lightly and did not expect the almost instantaneous change in her expression. Her smile faded and she turned away quickly. He could barely hear her quiet response.
"No, no one ever does." She was sad and quiet the rest of the detention. He thought he knew what happened: she was close to her Nana and probably lost her recently. He let her be and once again offered to give her a ride. She accepted it and he chose to follow her to the shop to get the promised cappuccino.
It was a done deal after that. Now aware that the liked her, he couldn't resist her if he tried. He dreamt of her. Some of his dreams were heated and he'd wake up turned on and sweaty. Some were quiet, filled with images of her in his life: in his house, with his mom. In some, he looked for her and couldn't find her. Those dreams were the worst.
He thought that he was hiding his new preoccupation well, but something must have showed, because Rudy mentioned his improved spirits and his mother actually smiled at him now at breakfast. Brody asked if started dating someone from outside the school. Apparently he was so distant and absent minded with Lindsay that she asked him to find out. Jack wasn't sure if he liked others noticing anything. Somehow it took away from this feeling, which was his and his alone.
But the worst came when his father asked Jack if there was something that Jack wanted to tell him. When Jack disclaimed any news or changes, his father sighed.
"Jack, I remember what being young feels like. It wasn't so long ago for me, you know. But you current behavior... It is troublesome. You are unfocused in training and in the office. You picked fights at school. You have been late several times in a row. And your cousin saw you go to the coffeehouse in the mall multiple times over the last few weeks. I think I know whay is going on. What is her name? She must be pretty to get your attention. But, Jack, can you be sure that she likes you back? Can you be sure it is you, and not all that you can offer her, that she likes? Who are her friends? Who are her parents?"
Jack was silent. Internally he was cursing himself for letting this... this interest in a pretty girl affect him so much that everyone noted it. Then his father went on.
"Kai tells his father that you are quite taken with the girl from the coffeehouse. Apparently she is poor as a church mouse. And lives in the apartment... One has to wonder what sort of parents she has. Are they simply down on their luck or worse - undisciplined wastrels?" His father stopped letting it sink in. "I would feel sorry for her too if that was the case. And she may be trying to get out. And good for her if she is."
Another long pause.
"Did you know that she is friends with the niece of the Black Dragon's sensei? Kai's sensei? Did you know that Kai has went to her coffee shop too? What do you know about this girl? It's OK to yearn for companionship... But... Jack, I want you remember that you have obligations and expectations. That distractions come in all forms, even the young and attractive ones."
He left then and Jack sat there in his room for a long time, thinking it all over.
