Gregory Hepp stared aimlessly into the empty container of Nutella. It was all gone except for a couple of chocolaty streaks left at the bottom, which no one could ever get. “Who ate my Nutella?” he called from the kitchen, but there was just silence. The house was empty. Maybe his mother was buying it at the store right now. The hazelnut and chocolate spread was always a staple at his house for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. Last year, when he was in grade school, his mom would spread it generously on two pieces of toast and sandwich banana slices between them in two neatly arranged rows of three. It was his favorite afterschool snack and especially comforting when Tim Salinas would call him fat. Nowadays, his mother was too busy with work to make it. His new favorite way of eating it was with just a spoon.
*time change
“Greg!” a voice called an hour later from the garage. He opened the backdoor in the kitchen to his mother unloading groceries. “Sweetie, there’s something in this bag for you,” she said handing him a plastic grocery bag. He helped his mother unpack the rest of the groceries, keeping an especially tight grip on the bag for him. He rooted around the bag hoping for the treat he’d been longing for. “Sweeeet!” he said pulling out a new container of Nutella. “This is all for me?”
“Yeah, I know how much you love it,” she smiled. “I got a second jar for daddy and me, so you can eat as much as you like.”
Greg thanked his mom and eagerly ran upstairs to his room carrying the brown container filled with indulgence. He couldn’t wait to sit back on his bed and eat Nutella spoonful by spoonful until his troubles would melt away like the spread in his mouth. Carefully, he pulled back the seal already tasting the hazelnut and chocolaty filling coat the inside of his mouth. As always, the inside of the freshly opened container was glorious. It had the consistency of peanut butter with a perfect swirl in the center where the machine had trailed off. Greg grabbed the spoon sitting by his bed, ready to sink it into the Nutella, ready to taste the smooth richness of this one of a kind cream, when something stopped him.
His reflection sat before him, judgmentally eyeing his every move from the mirror on the closet door. His blonde hair was ruffled under a Blue Jays hat. His beady brown eyes were hardly visible because of his plump freckled cheeks. In fact, he kind of resembled one of those annoyingly high-pitched, animated chipmunks that only made appearances during Christmas. Not the skinnier ones, the fat one, Theodore.
What do you want? Greg asked him.
I want you to stop being such a fatass, snickered his reflection.
Screw off! Am not!
Go ahead, fatso, eat it… I’m sure Josie loves Nutella freaks!
Hastily, Greg put down the Nutella in attempt to silence his reflection. All he wanted to do was smash the mirror into pieces and have his damn Nutella. But Theodore was right-- Nutella wasn’t the way to Josie’s heart. Josie wouldn’t date a fat boy with an overprotective mother; she belonged with a sensitive boy with overgrown muscles. Never had he refused a newly unsealed container, but now the stuff was simply a jar of leaded guilt. It seductively sat on his bedside table filled with an immeasurable amount of love and hate. “Get outta here,” Greg said knocking it out of sight.
***
Josie had hazel eyes and rich brown hair and reminded Greg of Nutella. She sat by him in history class and didn’t like to talk much from what Greg could gather; she preferred texting. During class, she sat with her pink purse in her lap and her hands buried inside her purse typing away on her touch screen. “What’ya got in there?” Greg asked, trying to make conversation during Monday work time.
“It’s a Samsung,” Josie responded shyly, still focusing intently into her bag.
“What’s that?”
Proudly, Josie pulled out a shiny black Samsung Galaxy from her bag. She was probably the only one he knew in 6th grade who would have a touch screen phone, which made him wonder who she might be texting. “That’s a really cool phone! Can I see it?” Greg asked nervously.
Josie smiled at his interest in her prized possession. “Of course!” she said handing it over. Greg barely grasped it in his palm before the teacher gave them both lunch detentions for having a cell phone out.
Now, this was Greg’s chance. He was finally alone with Josie, besides the detention monitor who was extremely hearing impaired. They were practically about to have a lunch date. He could finally tell her how he felt about her; how he longed to touch the waves of her hair, how he adored her shyness, how he wanted so badly to go to Six Flags with her.
“I’m sorry I got you in trouble, Josie,” Greg whispered as they pulled out their lunches. Today, Greg asked his mom to make an especially nutritious lunch to impress Josie. She packed him a low-fat turkey sandwich, a carton of skim milk, and a banana with… a whole jar of Nutella? He groaned as he saw the fateful enemy appear from the paper sack before his eyes. Quickly, he threw it to the bottom of his brown bag.
“It’s okay. What’d ya pack?” Josie asked as he frowned into his sack.
“Oh, my mom packed Nutella but—“
“Nutella? What is that?”
Greg was surprised by her genuine interest. “A hazelnut and cocoa spread”
“It looks kind of like a jar of peanut butter,” she said peering into his lunch bag.
The monitor loudly cleared her throat. “You kids being quiet?” She asked with a mouthful of Taco Bell burrito. They nodded taking a mouthful of food. Josie was eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich with the crusts cut off.
Greg suddenly had an idea. “Well, you wanna try some?”
“Yes, especially if it’s anything like peanut butter.”
He smiled untwisting the container of Nutella. Then, grabbed for the plastic spoon his mother packed and carefully made an incision into the never-been-tasted jar. It was the perfect bite. “Here,” Greg said handing the spoon to Josie. As she mulled over the flavors in her mouth, Greg was strangely nervous. “Wow,” she began, licking her lips. “Now that… that is really good.”
