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professional bench spotter, he spotted us a place to sit by the fountains.  Dragging me to our bench, he sat me down and arranged our junk food before plopping down next to me.  By the way, he didn’t say a word to me through this strange Junk Food Shopping Spree.
    “Do you really like mall food?” I ask.
    He turns to me as much as he can without disrupting the delicate balancing act of junk food.  My eyes go straight to his hair, dark brown with those unruly wavy locks dipping into his forehead again.  It looks soft and perfectly imperfect.
    He pulls my attention away from his lush hair as he explains, “It’s not about the mall food but when you’re at the mall, you have to eat mall food.  It’s a rule.  You weren’t going to tell me what you wanted, I had to take the liberty and make some choices for you.  Next time you should speak up, there’s good stuff here.  Remember, I have three sisters, a mother, not to mention Gabby.  She’s such the queen of shopping, she created a profession out of it.  I was basically raised at the mall until I was old enough to stay home by myself.  But we’re here to people watch.  There are stories to be told, Leigh.  You just need to loosen up, sit back, relax and let the mall food inspire you.”
    I sit here and stare back at him as he digs into his Hot Tamales.  He can’t be serious. 
    “I don’t understand,” I say.
    “Pay attention.  Look around.  Pick someone and tell a story about them,” he explains. 
    “Really?”
    “Yes, really.”
    I look around as I dunk my pretzel into icing.  There are some really crazy looking people at the mall.  I guess I should make an effort.  He’s been really nice and he did buy me all this junk food.  Although, I don’t like cheese popcorn because it makes my fingers yellow, so I’m thinking about asking him to trade because I love caramel popcorn. 
    “Okay,” I start.  “See that old lady over there?  Her name is Edith and she’s shopping for her five grandchildren.” 
    Tony’s eyes slide to me as he raises one eyebrow while kind of frowning at the same time. 
    “What?” I ask, now frustrated with him.
    “That’s the most boring mall story I’ve ever heard.  You’re not trying very hard.”
    “Did they teach you this in law school?” I ask, frowning back at him.  “Fine.  You go since you’re the expert.”
    He sighs and says, “All right, I’ll show you how it’s done.”  He looks around for inspiration and I can tell by the look on his face he’s found his target. 
    “You see that middle aged couple over there?  That’s Bernie and Louise McShickelton.  Louise is a hoarder, to such an extent that Bernie has sent in multiple applications to those hoarder reality shows but they’ve always been turned down.  Not only that, but she shops so she can hoard.  She’s such a hoarder, he can’t support her hoarding habits any longer as a golf pro, so he built a meth lab in the cart barn at the country club where he works.  He cooks meth when he’s not giving golf lessons.  He calls his new business McShickelton Meth, but his double life is stressing him out.  That’s why he’s losing his hair.”  He looks back to me as he dips another chip into fake cheese and says, “That’s how you people watch at the mall.”
    A giggle erupts from my chest and I can’t stop smiling.  His eyes immediately go soft as his gentle look sweeps my face.  He brought me to the mall to make me think of something else today and I can tell by the look on his face, he’s feeling success.  He smiles back at me while I bite my lip because I can’t stop grinning from thinking about the meth lab cooking golf pro. 
    “I think I get it,” I say. 
    “Good, gem,” he answers quietly.  Smiling at me, he asks, “You wanna to give it another go?”
    “Sure,” I answer and sit back to take a deep breath.  But first I reach over Tony to grab a handful of caramel popcorn.  As I munch on my