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“Thank you,” I mumbled. “For the coffee and for driving here without any explanation,” I sighed and let my breath loose, feeling a weight lift from my shoulders. “And for listening.”
He nodded. “You can call me anytime, you know. I’m always here to listen. Friendship is never off the table.”
I tilted my head and looked at him, locking my eyes to his. He wiggled his eyebrows, and his smile grew. He was handsome and seemingly perfect.If only he could kiss.
I sighed and shook my head. “Why are you so perfect?” I asked.
He laughed at the remark. “Oh, trust me, I’m not.”
I bit my bottom lip, narrowing my eyes and trying to read his mind. “I have a question,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He raised his eyebrows, ready for anything I spat his way.
I paused, not exactly knowing how to phrase it. I wanted to know why the spark we had felt in the bar disappeared, but why he felt I was his reason for pulling himself out of a depression. But I couldn’t just ask that, could I? That was too bold, too much of a statement for a man I just met—for one I knew hardly anything about yet thought about and wanted to know more of.
I chuckled. “Never mind.” I smiled. “Maybe I’ll ask someday.”
Milo’s face showed disappointment, and I instantly regretted not asking.
“Maybe someday. I hope so,” Milo replied, giving me a smile as he opened his car door and traveled around the front to the passenger side, opening my car door for me and holding out his hand. I took it and let him help me out of the car. He pulled me into his arms, giving me a warm and comforting hug. “I hope to see you soon, Madeline.”
I nodded against his hair and then pulled away. “Someday soon. Thank you again, Milo.”
I watched him climb in the car before heading back into the dorm room, knowing Ophelia wasn’t home yet and that I would yet again be alone, but this time it felt different. The test result didn’t feel quite as daunting, and my brain wasn’t as fuzzy. I felt relaxed and warm. A new friendship was budding, a new support, one that I didn’t see ending anytime soon.
He drove off, giving me a final wave through the window. I took a deep breath, taking in his words.It's not the end of the world. Find your light.
Chapter Six
-Milo-
Present day
The ceiling at Madeline’s dental office featured a TV, one that showed me how theProperty Brotherswere restoring their next project. I tried my hardest to ignore Madeline as she hovered over me, her fancy glasses she called her “loupes” hiding her eyes, and the small light attached to them shining down on my mouth. It was hard not to watch her eyebrows furrow and pinch as she measured around my gums.
“Three, two, three.” Pause. “Three, two, three.” Pause. “Three, two…” Longer pause.Shit.“Five…” Madeline punched my shoulder as she removed the mirror and instrument from my mouth. I closed down quickly, ready to get a lecture from her.
“Milo,” she began, “You have a pocket. Are you using your Waterpik?”
I sealed my lips tightly and shook my head, looking up at her through her loupes. I craned my head to look at her assistant, Jamie, sitting at the computer. Jamie was smiling down at me as if she knew I never even bought a Waterpik.
“Milo.” Madeline spun in her chair, grabbing a handheld mirror and tossing it in my lap, hitting my belt buckle with a clang. I lifted it up and watched as she continued to call out numbers, sighing when she came across another five and a few fours.“If you don't use your Waterpik…or floss for that matter…these pockets are only going to get worse.” She jabbed me with the probe a few more times while I watched the small silver instrument go in and out of my gums.
“Well, stop poking them and making them worse.” I smiled at her.
She shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed. Even with her loupes, shield, and mask covering her face, I could tell she had a smirk, shaking her head at my stupidity. An eye roll was happening, even though I couldn’t see her eyes very well. I knew the annoyance was there, and that fact alone put a smile on my face and a chuckle in my throat.
I lowered the mirror to look up at her, catching her gaze above me through her loupes.
“It doesn't work that way, Milo…” she grumbled. I heard the instruments hit the tray, and she spun in her chair, grabbing her scaler to begin the torture on my teeth. “I’m either going to have to see you more than every six months or get you to use the Waterpik.”
“I mean, I see you almost every day, so you can just clean my teeth then,” I joked.
She punched me again. “Milo, you idiot,” she said under her breath. “Jamie, will you walk out a prophy and propose another cleaning in three months?” Jamie shook her head, giving a small chuckle, and began tapping away on the computer in front of her. I knew Jamie well enough to know that the chuckle wasn’t meant to be rude. She knew our dynamic. Teasing was just something that happened in this office.
“Three months!” I exclaimed, tilting my body in the chair to look at her, my eyebrows furrowed—obviously very annoyed with the change in my appointments.Stupid gums,I grumbled at myself and settled back into the chair, hanging my arms off the side in disappointment.
“Yes, Milo, three months. Then we’ll figure out your home care skills and maybe…maybe…go back to six months.” Madeline scoffed once she saw my position and lightly punched my shoulder again. “Oh, stop being dramatic.”
