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Hank was making what felt like his fourth trip around this goddamned mall. Ever since he’d busted his glasses moving to Denver, Hank had to resort to his old prescription, and he couldn’t deal with how difficult it had been to navigate this labyrinth of a mall with this damned headache and blurry vision to find the one glasses store supposedly in here. The mall maps were impossible to read without his proper glasses and the stares of the groups of families and other shoppers waiting behind him made him too anxious to get a good look. So here he was, passing by the food court for the fifth time.
Okay, enough was enough. Hank should just ask somebody and get this all out of the way. Looking at the crowded food court, he was hoping to find someone friendly looking and isolated enough that…There! Hank had spotted a guy sitting alone at the edge of the food court working on a laptop. He had short cropped hair and a millennial pink sweater –a guy wearing a sweater like that had to be nice right?-- but more importantly, perched on his nose was a pair of glasses.
Mustering up his courage, Hank began to make his way over to the man. As he approached, his vision became less blurry and the image became less… rosy. The guy was glaring at his computer and muttering something to himself. While Hank appreciated the matching pink nail polish and hair, his hands were also heavily tattooed along with, well, pretty much all of him. Hank wasn’t gonna say it didn’t look good , but Hank was always intimidated by people like that. He hated conflict and what if this guy didn’t want to be bothered or was busy and Hank was—
“Hey man, can I help you?”
God, Hank must have walked too far because the guy was looking at him. Hank tried to explain himself but he couldn’t seem to find the words. Instead he just pointed to his glasses and stammered out something to the effect of “new here…very lost”. Hank was fully prepared for the guy to tell him off but instead, the man flashed him a dazzling smile.
“Oh yeah, this place is a real maze, let me help you.” He said, starting to put his laptop away.
“Um, you. don’t, have… to, I. uh, can just uh–”
“No, what, it’s no biggie!” the guy said with an easy laugh and sparkling smile. He scribbled one last thing on a piece of paper and got up. Man, Hank didn’t even know teeth could be that white.
-
After going around a couple corners and down a floor, Hank found himself at the front of a small and fairly unremarkable store just called “Glasses and Eyewear”.
“I–I don’t know how to thank you,” Hank said, overjoyed he’d finally be able to see again.
“Yeah it was my pleasure man, no need to thank me.”
“No, please let me buy you a coffee or something or at least just tell me your name!” Hank said, hoping he didn’t sound whiny.
“Hah, it’s alright man, you can call me Matthew.” And then, eyes narrowing somewhat, he said, “Well there is one thing.”
“Oh yeah of course, anything!” Hank was getting a little nervous again. What if Matthew asked him for money? Or a kidney? He certainly didn’t seem like that type but…
“Would you wanna go on a date sometime?”
Huh? What? Hank could feel the heat rising to his face. What was happeni–
“I’d love to redeem that free coffee, just text me when you’re available.” The shorter man approached Hank, whose brain was completely overloaded. “And just so you know, you’re mad cute,” Matthew whispered, slipping a piece of paper into his hand before vanishing into the crowd.
Hank stood there, face bright red and completely unsure of what to do, but at least this time, the dizziness wasn’t from his glasses.