Excerpt: Lemon Drops and Lights

He turned brusquely after that, facing away from me and speaking in a lower voice. "Listen, Norah Lynne, I came here today -" I was definitely going to be squished! Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and blurted: "Rock, paper, scissors!"

"What?" He looked at me and our eyes met for the first time. His eyes were light brown and round, I might have thought something of them if he wasn't looking at me like I had just declared the earth to be square. I took another deep breath, closing my eyes again to keep my courage from escaping.

"R-rock, paper, scissors. To decide."

"Heh." He laughed out his nose and I swallowed the lump in my throat as he held out his fist. "Do you know the rules?" He asked patronizingly and I glared at him, not that he would have seen. He bobbed his fist up and down twice before counting: "One, two, three!"

I chose rock. He chose paper. My heart plummeted into my feet. "Well, there you have it Norah Lynne." He turned on his heel for the entertainment section again. I didn't like how he used my full name, and I didn't like the way he just went and did things without considering me. I didn't like him. When I didn't follow he turned, using both hands to mimick a piece of paper folding over a rock. "Norah," he called, stretching the 'ah' part of my name as if speaking to a five-year-old. "Paper beats rock. I won."

"That doesn't make sense." I frowned, unsure of what I was saying but desperately not wanting this to be true. I snapped without intending to and my voice rose so that the other reps turned to look at me. "How about you defend yourself with a piece of paper while I throw rocks at your head!" A moment of silence as everyone digested what I said. Even I couldn't believe it. And then Elijah doubled over with a loud, "pfft!" and started laughing. Shocked, I stood and watched him, was he actually smiling? He didn't seem capable of laughing! My face turned hot again, all my courage fleeing from me, and my eyes started to burn. Why was a such a mess talking to people?!

"Alright. Wow, okay." He breathed between laughing, shaking his head as he did and holding his stomach. "Wow. Just... okay, you win. Foods section it is."

Somehow I didn't feel like I had actually won...