Monday, December 7, Gifted and Talented

Dr Kessler was a monster, at least in Michael's opinion.

His parents could say whatever they liked on the matter, whether it was about the dentist's good manners or how highly he was thought of in the community, but Michael knew the man was a sadist with numbing agents – too much or too little was his style, and Michael was purely relieved to have been given the lesser evil of too much.

Come on, good manners and respect in the community? You could class Hannibal Lecter under the same categories.

As Michael crossed the cafeteria, rubbing his numb mouth and cursing his 'good' doctor for having him miss his ride to school with Mia and his first two classes, he bumped into someone as he passed the salad bar.

About to apologise and move on, he only noticed it was Mia when her familiar scent hit him right between the eyes. Maybe missing his morning limo ride with her had sensitized him to her citrus-strawberry combination, he didn't know, but he was too stunned to say much else other than the words tumbling out of his mouth.

"How are you doing?"

Christ, he sounded like such a skeeze, unable to hide the breathiness of his voice, but Mia, blessedly, didn't seem to notice.

"Fine," she sighed, smiling a little as she picked up the salad tongs from the bar. "How was your dentist appointment?"

Michael shrugged. "Dr Lecter– uh, I mean, Dr Kessler, he found a cavity. He gave me some novocaine so he could fill it and my lips are still numb, but apart from that..."

Mia nodded and her shining blonde hair bounced around her face in a way that really captured his attention, in the same way pointing a laser at a wall might capture a cat's. He was so distracted he hardly noticed Mia's glazed expression, or pretty much anything else that occurred in the space of time that he spent wondering how soft her hair would feel between his fingers.

He only snapped out of his daze when Mia turned bright red, looking past him, and squeaked, "Hi!"

Michael, on instinct, turned and echoed the greeting, thinking it might be his sister, but, on seeing who it really was, wanted to tear back the word and shred it into a thousand fluttering pieces.

Kenny didn't even bother to reply as he walked past with his lunch tray, not even to Mia.

Screw you, too, bud.

Mia suddenly turned into a stuttering, jittery mess and began fiddling with her usual chickpea and pinto bean salad, sending tomato slices into the lettuce container and cucumber cubes into a bowl of dressing.

Michael decided to leave before he made her any more uncomfortable. "See you."

He got his bi-weekly double with cheese from the burger grill and sat with Judith to eat it, talking about the next Club meeting and tweaks to their program.