"Mum said she'll come and pick you up, so she'll probably be waiting for you when you've finished." Madeline said to him. Malcolm nodded absently.
"I still can't believe you're going! It's your birthday Malcolm!" his sister exclaimed.
"It's not like I'm doing anything." He shrugged side glancing at her where she walked on his right.
"And that's another thing," she said gesturing at him with her hand "you're 17 today Malcolm! You should be doing something fun!" he smiled at her and shook his head.
"Maybe this is fun for me." He said simply.
"Riiiight." She said. "I'm sure it is."
"And even if it isn't me and Jen can always play eye-spy or something." He said sardonically.
"Eye-spy?" she said incredulously. "Hang on, who's Jen?" Malcolm grimaced. Ooops. Deciding denial was the way to go, he replied.
"Who's who?" he said distantly.
"Jen." Maddy said stressing the word. "You said, 'me and Jen can always play eye-spy or something'. Who's Jen?" she asked again. Malcolm rolled his eyes and reluctantly answered.
"Just this girl at the hospital who has appointments the same time as me, next door." he said, attempting to speak dismissively. Madeline saw straight through her brother.
"So what's she like?" she asked innocently. Malcolm shrugged and didn't say anything. Madeline waited a few minutes, and sure enough he spoke up.
"She's American." Madeline raised her eyebrows at this, Malcolm had always seemed to take onboard everything their father had to say about Americans, 'slackers', 'crude', 'impolite', 'arrogant' blah blah blah, it was all crap of course, but he always seemed to listen when her father started one of his rants. "She's funny, you know sarcastic, and smart, and . . ."
"Pretty?" she asked innocently, Malcolm shoved her in the side. She laughed as she regained her balance. "Well, is she?" Malcolm just ignored her. Madeline rolled her eyes.
They continued walking in silence for a minute or two when they reached Graceman's Madeline turned to say goodbye to Malcolm when he spoke.
"She's beautiful." he said quickly before walking quickly running up the steps and through the double doors of the building.. Madeline smirked and shook her head, and made her way to the café round the corner to meet her friends.
Malcolm walked leisurely out of the lift an down the corridor to the waiting room. He ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach when he noticed the waiting room was empty and sat down heavily in a seat opposite the doors to Dr. Lieberman's and Dr. Heather's offices.
Minutes passed that felt like hours. After running out of imaginary things to brush off of his jumper Malcolm took to, not staring at the door, or past it or though it, just staring, not seeing anything. Consequently he didn't really notice when someone came out of the room, or hear the protests coming from the occupant still within, or the keys being hastily shoved in the lock.
What snapped him out of his stupor was when his vision was obscured by the familiar face of a pretty young girl, with startling green eyes and chocolate brown hair who was smiling mischievously at him.
"Jen?" he said curiously sitting up. She stood up straight and continued to smile at him. Frowning he looked from the door to the keys in her left hand and back to the door again. "What are you up to?" he asked cautiously as he stood up and watched her suspiciously. She continued to smile serenely at him.
She took a step forward and her smile turned quickly from mischievous to seductive in a second. Before he could even blink her soft lips were on his. It was a few seconds before he hesitantly responded and he felt her smile onto his lips.
"Happy birthday Malcolm." She whispered.
He felt her right arm snake round his neck, pulling his head down closer and deepening their kiss, running her hand trough the short strands of hair at the back of his head. Unconsciously he slid his arm around her waist and gently pulled her closer so their bodies were flush against each other. Vaguely he registered the sounds of the keys hitting the floor and felt her other arm move to rest on his shoulder.
Hearing a strangled gasp they slowly moved their lips apart. Malcolm saw her glance to the left and then back, but he kept his eyes on her face and her bright green eyes. She smiled at him and gave him a chaste kiss before she extricated herself from his arms and bent down to pick up the keys she had dropped. He watched her as she glanced round the corner and looked both ways down the corridor.
"See ya' around Mal." She said with a small smile and stealthily made her way round the corner and out of sight. Only then did Malcolm's gaze shift across to the person who had interrupted them, and onto, horror of horrors, his mother. Even worse, his furious mother. Audibly gulping he opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it.
"No wonder you weren't complaining about these sessions anymore." she hissed. "I don't know what kind of place they're running here, letting residents run around unguarded like that." she said furiously. Malcolm could imagine what she was thinking. That her son had caught some 'crazy disease' from some loony nutcase girl when he was supposed to be being cured. He ground his teeth together angrily.
"This is the last time you will be coming here Malcolm." She said and began dragging him by the arm toward the elevator. He sadly glanced back at the waiting area, knowing it was unlikely he'd ever see it, or Jennifer again.
Still, he thought smiling, that was the best birthday present I've ever had.
The End
Hello beautiful readers!
Thank you for all the reviews of my little side story! Drakcr, The Libran Iniquity, lieutenants-lady, HoVis, Saz, Tobie Holloway, Tata, JennMel, and FantasySci5 Much appreciated! So thank you! If you enjoyed this please review one last time and make my day!
And if you liked Jennifer's characterand want to read more of her when she's all grown up, and seving on enterprise with our boys and girls, or like the Jen/Mal relationship, read 'Skeletons' and 'Back to Normal'! They rule! Seriously! (i'm soooooooooo modest aren't I?)
For now, au revoir, and don't forget to REVIEW! thanks x x x
