Almond Boy

Almond Boy - 3

Elliot, just in case Emma comes, doesn't let his stuff sprawl across the bench. He drops his backpack on the ground and reaches down to grab all of his stuff, setting it on his lap.

Today, he brings out a sketchbook, and a refilled bag of almonds. 

Emma walks by and sits down next to him, lifting up her legs and bringing them close to her chest. 

"Hey, Almond-Boy."

Elliot's eyebrows quirk up, but he doesn't look at her. "Almond-Boy?"

"I find it fitting," Emma says, shifting so she can grab some of her schoolwork. 

Elliot shrugs and goes back to sketching. "I've had worse, I guess." 

He pops in three almonds at one time, and Emma watches as he munches on them, hyperaware of the sound it's making - even if his mouth is closed. 

"How are the almonds?" she asks, sounding a bit sarcastic. 

"They're good." If Elliot caught the tone in her voice, he ignored it. 

Emma shrugs and crosses her legs and begins working on homework before asking, "Can I try one? I've never had an almond."

"You've never had an almond!?" 

Elliot gasps as if she just admitted to slashing the tires of the principal's car. Emma jumps up in surprise at his reaction. He came to life like Pinocchio when he became a "real boy".

Emma's face glows red and she chuckles a little bit through her sheepish smile. "Uh, no, I haven't." 

Elliot takes one of the almonds in his plastic bag and tosses it at her face.

"Hey, that hurt!"

"The idea was you were supposed to catch it in your mouth." Elliot tells her, laughing as he pops an almond in his mouth and begins drawing again. 

"Well, now it's tangled in my hair, thanks," Emma tells him as she begins pulling at her strands of hair, trying to get out the almond in her curls. 

"Strawberry blonde might taste good with the almonds."

Emma laughs and finally gets it out, brushing it off slightly and eating it, biting it in half, then eating the rest of it. 

"Not as bad as I thought they were, but I still don't like them," she says. 

"That's how I felt too when I first started eating them."

Emma's eyebrows furrowed together and cocked her head to the side. 

"Well, why'd you make yourself eat them, then?"

Elliot chuckles and flips back his sketchbook, closing it. He tilts his head back and forth, trying to think of a way to explain. 

"Well, Emma, why do people force themselves to drink coffee till they like it?" he says, deciding this might be the best way to explain. 

"Because they know it helps them wake up in the morning - they need the caffeine. At least, that's what I did when I first drank coffee. That and overload it with sugar." 

Elliot laughs, and it shocks Emma how deep and quiet it is, yet it seems to shake his entire body. It's a lovely laugh, she didn't expect him to have it though, but it suits him well. 

"Exactly. Think about it that way; well, without the sugar part." 

Emma frowns at this and stares at the almost filled to the brim bag of almonds in Elliot's hand. Almonds are Elliot's coffee beans, she supposes. 

But why does he need them?