Chapter 4
She reaches into her gym bag to search for a mirror, and I decide to go for the coffee. Normally, I'd be a little more hesitant to embark on such an endeavor so soon after my transformation, but she's already paid for it, and I don't wanna be rude. I raise the cup to my lips, only for the plastic lid to abruptly clang against the middle of my facebow, the thick section of metal sitting well past my lips, now perpetually parted by the egregiously bulky bands covering each of my teeth. The more I think about it, the more I want to see my reflection. Just how bad is it? Sophie can hardly take her eyes off of them looking for the mirror.
I return to the coffee. I open my jaws, extending my bottom lip forward to try and meet the sipping hole ahead of my headgear. I find minor success, only managing a small stream of smooth tasting cold coffee coating the inside of my mouth. The strange sensation of the liquid seeping around my tongue crib is unexpected, and swallowing produces an audible squelch that Sophie can only find endearing. After another jolt through my body as I suck back the excess saliva produced from drinking coffee right after getting my braces, Sophie finally produces a small mirror and places it into my hands with an expectant look.
I shakily flip open the lavender hand mirror, and the awaiting reflection leaves me taken aback.
I'm left in disbelief. The thick framed glasses are the first thing I notice, but my attention is quickly brought lower to my lips held apart by shining metal bands catching every bit of light in the room. The bands, wielding their sharp brackets, looking just as bulky and obstructive as they feel, seem to work together with the thick facebow to force my mouth into an awkward grin, ensuring my braces, MY BRACES, are constantly on full display for everyone around me. Following the arches of the facebow to their end, my eyes are led to the thickly padded straps encircling my head, awkwardly holding down my normally curled hair, the dark navy contrasting with its lighter color.
As if naturally, I part my jaws, revealing the true culprit of my rumored permanent lisp. A metalic row of curved elongated spikes encircle my tongue, seemingly placed farther back into my mouth than what is normal, facilitating an uncomfortable resting point for my poor tongue. Dr. Blanchet might be right. I won't be rid of this lisp anytime soon. My jaws are brought back together involuntarily, as I suck back saliva through bared teeth, that same jolt sleeking through my spine as my shoulders are hunched up with them.
The mirror lowers with my hand, feeling resigned to defeat. I meet Sophie's stare. She's enamored with my reaction to all of this.
Meekly, I try to speak.
"Stho, now what?"
She smirks, eye still glued to my open mouth.
"Let's take a walk."
6 minutes later, we're in an empty room inside of the sports hall. I'm lifted onto a decommissioned desk in the back left corner. As she pulls me by the hips closer to her, a stack of papers to my right falls to the floor, but she pays it no mind. She grabs the straps around the top of the back of my head and pulls my face towards her as she places her tongue into my mouth.
She pays little mind to my facebow, frantically working her lips around it, determined to not let any part of my braces prevent her continued barrage of frenches. In contrast to her hardened, Olympian physique, her lips are soft. They taste like a salty, peppery fruit. She starts off fast and hard, before dialing back the tempo, only to ramp back up, seemingly looking for the right rhythm. Once it's found, she maintains the intensity, using her right hand gripped around my headgear straps to hold me steady. I try not to get overwhelmed with how fast this is progressing, she's getting breathy. After a brief eternity of deafening ecstasy, she pauses, her breath feeling cold against the drool down my chin and around my lips.
One look at my expression and she hesitates. Her expression shifts. With no lights on in the room, it's hard to make out, but something tells me it's guilt. Shit, did I not look happy? Sure, I'm a bit overwhelmed, but
"I- I'm sorry. Are you good?"
She's out of breath. Her tone is a complete shift from a few minutes ago. I suck back saliva, nodding my head.
"Yesh. Yea I'm okay."
Shit, did I kill the mood somehow?
She looks around before picking me up off the desk, placing me on the floor in front of her before dusting off and straightening the sleeves of my shirt. After lightly straightening my ruffled hair, she toys with her own before opening the door to the hallway, letting a bit of light creep in. She turns back to reach for my hand, hesitating a bit before grabbing it.
"Let's uh... I'll walk you to your dorm."
I continue mentally kicking myself as we walk towards the dorm buildings. Her grip on my hand isn't as assertive as before. What did I mess up?
Once she sees we've reached the dorm building, it seemingly dawns on her our little date will soon end, and she works up the nerve to speak up.
"Um... I'm sorry. What was your name again?"
She's wrought with guilt over forgetting my name?
"Oh... Ish Sshamshon-"
"Samson! Right! I'm sorry. I'm sorry I- I kinda jumped the gun there. Uh..."
She's really beating herself up over this. Think this through, you just got braces, and she KISSED you, how's she feeling right now, there's gotta be a way to salvage this.
"Oh, ish okay! I'm all good. Uhh, I'd love to do it again shometime!"
Oh that didn't come out very graceful at all. Granted, with everything going on in my mouth I can't imagine much of what I'll be saying from now on will come out graceful.
But, her expression does lighten up a bit. There's definitely something eating her.
"Okay, how's lunch tomorrow?"
"Sthure! Abtholutly!"
"Sophie!"
Her head twists to face the voice behind me. I turn back myself.
Dr. Blanchet's eyes are glued to me. For some reason, she's not happy to see me.
"Hey, Mom."
Oh, shit.
"Samson! Good to see you out and about with your new hardware. I hope it's proving a memorable experiece."
Dr. Blanchet's eyes attempt to hide a quiet rage, doing a piss poor job of masking how she really feels about seeing me accompanying her daughter. A thought flashes behind the doctor's eyes, and the hint of a smirk itches at the corner of her mouth.
"Good thing I've run into you here! You'll have another appointment with my office tomorrow morning! There are a few things I'll need to add to your treatment, and it's important these appliances be administered as soon as humanly possible."
I can't help but detect a hint of venom in the word, "humanly", the way she says it. I glance at Sophie, and she's completely avoiding eye contact with either of us. Dr. Blanchet speaks up once more.
"I'll see you at home, Sophie."
Sophie quietly replies.
"See ya Mom."
After the good doctor slowly walks towards the administrative offices, Sophie's shoulders drop. She gives a mixed expression of empathy and shamed excitement. After a beat it occurs to me that I'll likely have an interesting appointment tomorrow, not 24 hours after getting my braces installed.
The things a man does for love.
