Based off a post GEORGESALAZARS made on her tumblr blog @/incorrect-kleinsen
https://incorrect-kleinsen.tumblr.com/post/620182646017982464I

I know not much about farmers markets. roll with me here

--

[Evan's POV]

Week 1

I parked at the site of the local farmers market, which takes place every Saturday outside the community center. My mom and I run a tiny farm out in country, and she finally convinced me to come here to sell all these products.

At least we can finally make a profit off of them instead of trying to stuff them down all by ourselves.

I had rented a tiny stand at the market for the next three weeks to sell the products at. I wasn't really exactly sure how I was supposed to attract customers, so, for today, I decided to just stack things nicely. Everyone likes nicely stacked things.

I stacked the strawberry containers on the right, then put the blueberries beside those, and then three small watermelon at the end, covering up the most of the stall's tiny shelf.

I heard someone walk up to me and scoff, "How am I supposed to do business with you if I can't see your face?" It sounded like a young male's voice.

I didn't say anything, and instead pushed a singular stack of blueberries to the side a tad, just enough for me to fit my face in. I saw that the man was actually more of a boy, probably 16 or maybe 17 (but that's a stretch). I bet he went to my school. I wondered why I never noticed him?

He had brown hair and glasses, he looked like the typical geek kind of person.

Kinda cute.

He looked sort of surprised at first, when he saw me. Made me wonder if he recognized me from school. Maybe he was one of those kids who lurk in the shadows and just know everyone from a distance?

He regained himself and crossed his arms, looking away, "My mom sent me here to fetch some blueberries." He said defensively, "How much?"

Oh. I hadn't really established prices. Maybe that was something my mom should've taught me to do.

"Uhh..." I droned, trying to peek at other stalls to find some sort of reference to base my prices off of. Too bad the stalls were so close together. I couldn't see anything but colorful produce. "Dollar per pint?"

The boy looked at me with a mix of pleasure and surprise, "Dollar per pint? What a bargain!" He exclaimed, fishing out a dollar from his pocket and poking it through the tiny hole I had made for my face.

I handed him the pint and he started walking away, "Uh,, come back again soon!"

Week 2

Business didn't do so well last week. After the boy left, I got like... maybe three more customers? They seemed to like my prices, though, so hopefully they went and told their friends.

I hadn't even finished staking everything, when the same boy from last week approached the stand, "Hi again." He greeted, even though he didn't say hi last time, so this isn't really an 'again'.

I nodded, "Hi."

He nodded and looked around awkwardly, as if trying to figure out what to say, "So... you got blueberries?"

I nodded and showed him the blueberry pint I was about to add to the stacks, "Great." He said, handing me a dollar, "Then I'd like another pint please."

I took the money and handed the pint to him. "Moms, am I right?" He said, not showing any sign of moving, "Apparently this stand has the best blackberries, and she really wants me to buy them."

I nodded, not really paying attention. "That's nice."

The boy looked away for a second before saying, "I'm Jared."

I paused my stacking and looked up at him, slightly confused, "...Evan." I eventually responded.

Jared nodded and picked his blueberries back up, "Well, I should get back to Mom." He said, before whispering, "You know how they get."

I nodded, as if I knew how they get, and Jared walked away.

Week 3

Business did a lot better last week than it did the first week. Mom was right, this was a great idea! We must be getting so much profit.

I just finished stacking the last watermelon, when, of course, Jared approached. "You again?" I asked, smiling. Three weeks in a row this boy has come to buy stuff from me. He's the only repeating customer I've had all this time.

He smiled back, "Yep."

"Blueberries?"

He laughed, "Of course!"

I handed him his pint as he gave me the dollar bill, "Blueberries are my favorite." He said. Weird, I could've sworn he said blueberries were his mom's favorite. Eh, I probably don't remember correctly.

"I like them, too," I said, shrugging, "But I'm more of a raspberry fan, personally."

He nodded, "Good choice, good choice. Do you grow those too?"

"No," I shook my head, "Mom says they're too much of a hassle."

Jared smiled, "I get that. My father used to have a raspberry farm, but then we shut it down and moved here. Lack of profit."

I nodded, "Can't relate." I joked.

Jared just raised an eyebrow at me and said, "Pretty sure you can." Before walking away. That left me confused. Because of course I'm making a profit! I sold out last week! People were buying left and right!

I finally got a chance to look down at the dollar bill he had handed me. It wasn't a 1. It was a 10.

"Jared!" I called after him, hoping to get his attention, "This is-"

He just turned around and gave me a thumbs up, and I realized he had purposely overpaid me.

I turned the bill over and noticed a stick note, with very sloppy handwriting. It was a phone number.

I flushed instantly, because that is one weird way to give a phone number. Annnd because a cute boy had given me his phone number. Oh, god, I hope he didn't give it to me platonically.

Week 4

I told my mom that business was doing good, so she let me rent the stall for another three weeks.

I parked my car in the community center parking lot, and got out to start unloading the produce.

"Need help?" I turned, startled by the sudden voice. It was Jared.

I couldn't tell if him appearing out of nowhere and offering to help was sweet or borderline creepy, but I didn't dwell on it. "No, I think I'm fine. Thank you."

He shook his head, "No, I don't think you are."

I looked at him, watermelon in hand, "What do you mean?"

"Have you studied your finances lately?" He asked instead of answering my question, "Because I think there might be a flaw in your economic plan."

"You don't even know me." I defended, "You don't know how we're handling our money."

Despite my somewhat obvious anger, Jared stayed cool and smooth, "No. But I know you're getting ripped off."

I recoiled, "What?" I exclaimed, "By who?"

He smirked, "Yourself." He said, "Those prices are outrageously cheap, and the products are so... not cheap. I wasn't lying when I said I liked your blueberries."

"So?" I yelled, getting slightly defensive, "Things can be cheap and still taste good!"

Jared shrugged, "I wasn't lying when I said my dad had a raspberry farm, either." He explained, "And I know that producing fruit requires more money than you're making."

I just stared at him. I was still angry, but the problem was he was actually making sense.

He smiled, noticing my mood shift, "I can help."

"I already said, no thank you." I said quietly.

"Not with the load." He said, "With your prices." He shrugged casually, "I'm sort of an economic master."

So I let Jared help. He raided all of my prices from one dollar to, well, more than one dollar. He helped me sell, too. He's a pretty good marketer. Even after people got upset with the price change, Jared still somehow managed to sell it to them.

We ended up selling out and actually making a profit.

The market started lighting down, and Jared fanned himself with money, "You smell that?" He said, "Smells like cash!"

I sighed, deciding to get to the point, "How percentage?"

He looked taken aback, "What?"

"What percentage of the money do you want?" I elaborated, "I mean, you did help with sales."

Jared shook his head, tossing the money across the stale in my direction, "Keep it," He said.

I shook my head, skeptical, "You're lying."

"No," He said, "I'm a kind person."

He stood up and gathered his things to leave, "Oh," he said, right as he existed the stall, "Maybe you can pay me in blueberries next week."

"How about a date?" I asked, before I could stop myself. "Like, tomorrow? Lunch at... I don't know..."

Jared smiled and chuckled softly, "I'd actually really love that." He said quietly, "Lunch of Feefee's Cafe?"

I didn't even know what that was, but that made it all the better. I nodded furiously, "Yeah."

He nodded, "It's a date, then." He started walking away, but he turned back around at the last moment, "Yeah, I assume you are pretty cute."

I never asked him if he thought I was cute, but I guess he was just answering his own question.

---

Published 6/6/20
Word Count 1580