"Peter? Peter Holladay? The dentist is ready to see you now. Second one on the left, okay?"
I looked up from my phone and turned on my best confident-but-cool smile, but Amy had already turned away to field an incoming call. I mooched down the hall trying not to let that sting, but when you're eighteen every time a girl doesn't even notice you're alive you die inside a little. Amy Redden was a twenty-year old blonde, blue-eyed minx with a gymnast's build and come-hither way of looking at you from the corner of her eyes, but man did she ever keep the professional mask on. The only times she ever opened up for me was in my imagination as I made my regular deposits in the spank bank.
Dr. Dettle shooed me into the cramped cube, flapping his hands around as he talked, like always. I grumped hello to his hygienist and slouched into the dreaded chair while he went on about teeth and cavity stuff. He seemed to take every diffident grunt as rapt attention; I just wanted to get my cleaning over and done with.
When he paused for a breath Elena rolled her eyes behind his back and favored me with a smile. "Hello, Peter. Been flossing, I hope?"
"Yeah, sure." I buried myself deeper and let her drape the bib round my neck. She gave me a look and lay out the usual assortment of torture tools.
"You look very nice." Elena had a lilting European accent I'd never been able to place. "Are you going to a wedding?"
"Choir concert." The music department did this thing every year and insisted we dress to impress. I'd hoped to make some kind on impression on Amy today in my white dress shirt, tie and black dress pants. Mom said it made me look mature, and Dad said I'd leave a bunch of damp seats in the auditorium, which made Mom smack him on the arm
hard
. When you've never had a girlfriend you know your parents just say that stuff to puff you up. "We're going to perform at the seniors' home today." But it did lift my spirits that someone noticed, even if it was a typical mom-type observation. Elena was always nice to me.
Dettle had just finished peering at my teeth when Amy poked her head in the door and beckoned him over. He frowned when she whispered in his ear; it looked like a pair of caterpillars playing chicken on his forehead. "Elena, can you... yes? Good, good. Peter, I'll be right back, Elena will get you set up."
Not even a sideways glance from Amy as Dettle scooted out the door. I sighed. I'd have to tell Dad that ZZ Top was full of it; not every girl was crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.
"Would you like me to ask her out for you?"
Uh-oh. I tried not to flinch. "Uh, who?"
"Dr. Dettle. Really, Peter." Elena swiveled the tool tray over and frowned at the door. "Amy is a pretty girl. I can tell that you like her. Why not?"
"Oh, I'm not... I mean, she's nice but I can't... I don't think I'm her type." In ninth grade my yearbook photo got replaced with Napoleon Dynamite and
no one noticed
. Almost four years later my hair was a ginger faux-hawk, the braces were gone, I'd put on some muscle working for mom's landscaping business and used the money I saved for Lasik, but I inside I was still that kid everyone made 'Vote for Pedro' jokes about all freshman year.
"What is not to like? You are smart, kind, and work hard." She pursed her lips, studied me. "You remind me of the actor that plays 'Kinslayer' on that show. You know him?"
"You mean 'Kingslayer'?
Jaimie Lannister
?" I goggled. I couldn't decide which was weirder, that she thought I looked anything Nikolaj Coster-Waldau or that she actually watched Game of Thrones.
"Yes, him, but you know, without his years." She waved off my correction airily. "Anyway, Amy is only a couple years older, what is the problem? All men like pretty young girls. I see you looking at her. Just ask her out already."
I felt panic stirring in my stomach. In the back of my head Amy was laughing hysterically at a gawky high school senior thinking she'd be interested in a date. "I... I'll think about it." In desperation, I threw out a lifeline. "Uh, wasn't yesterday your anniversary? You do anything special?"
In the middle of reaching for a cleaning pick her hand froze. "How did you know that?"
"Last year, I came in just after your anniversary that time too. Your daughters took you out for dinner, didn't they?" I wasn't 100% on the details, but anything that kept my so-called love life off the table deserved special effort. "Sonja and Katerina got you jewelry; Annika gave you a gift certificate for a tattoo place because you told her you wanted to get a butterfly ink, even though Stavos would have a stroke. Did you ever use it?"
The hand hovered over the pick for so long I began to worry
she
was having a stroke. "Elena?"
"All that you remember?"
Uh-oh. Too personal? "Well, you chat when you're working on my teeth, and even if I can't say anything I listen, and you are pretty interesting so I, I..." I realized I couldn't read the expression on her face at all, and decided to shut up in case I was making things worse.
Elena was quiet for several heartbeats. "Stavos doesn't even remember my birthday anymore," she finally spoke into the silence. "He barely pays attention to what I say. But you...