“See? He can’t relate. He was just a friend for you, made to order.”

I looked up at Jake sharply, an expression of curiosity (and a little anger) on my face. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Jake quickly backtracked. “Well…:” He sighed. “I wasn’t always the most outgoing person either. But we moved a lot, so I sort of had to be.”

“In the beginning I wasn’t good at making friends, but I had to learn or I might never have had them. I’m just saying, you never really when through that. You just had Max.”

Now I was angry. “Are you saying that Max is some kind of…developemental flaw of mine?”

Jake quickly saw what he had done. “No! No, I didn’t mean that. I just meant that you were lucky, is all! I mean, maybe you wouldn’t have adapted even in my situation.”

This wasn’t really helping, and it must have been evident on my face, because Jake sighed and shook his head.

“Never mind. All I really meant was, maybe you should be friends with people you can relate with more. You know…like me.”