A Brush with Love(7)

Harper stood as Dan walked toward her, shoving her textbook into her backpack.

“Hi,” she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

“Hi.”

Dan’s eyes were locked on hers for a long, beautiful moment before a loud throat-clearing drew his attention away.

“Sorry to interrupt this, uh, eye contact, but I’m Thu.” Harper’s friend stuck her hand out toward Dan, but Alex grabbed at it with such speed that everyone flinched.

“Sorry. Hi, I’m Alex—Alex Huang. Dan’s roommate … Alex Huang.”

“Smooth, Alex,” Dan mumbled, and Alex shot him a dirty look.

“Aaron, was it?” Thu asked with a furrowed brow, continuing to shake his hand. Alex’s face fell in confusion, but Thu broke into a grin before continuing, “I’m just fucking with you, Alex Huang. It’s nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Dan,” he said, offering Thu a small wave before turning his attention back to Harper with an uncontrollable smile. “Ready to do this?” He gestured toward the lab, and she nodded.

They shot quick goodbyes to their friends then moved through the doors.

“I’m sorry again about this morning. I promise we can power through this and I won’t break anything else.” She gave him a sheepish grin.

“Don’t apologize. Accidents happen. I’m excited to work on it.” He followed her down the aisles to her workstation. She glanced over her shoulder at him.

“You’re excited to redo something you already finished?”

“Well, no. I’m never really thrilled to do anything in here, but word on the street is you’re quite the oral superstar.”

Harper stopped in her tracks, and Dan almost plowed into her. Her eyebrows shot up behind her bangs, making her eyes comically wide while her mouth opened slightly in a small O of surprise. Dan cringed, waving both hands in front of himself.

“No! No. No. I mean professional oral superstar—holy shit—No. Stop. Oral medicine—superstar. Dental prodigy. I’m trying to say I’m excited to learn you—From!—From you. That came out weird. This is weird. I’m … weird.” Dan clamped his mouth shut so hard, his teeth rattled, and he looked around the room for a window to throw himself out of. Anything to end the misery.

Harper’s lips pursed as she tried not to laugh, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment.

“You are weird,” she said at last, her grin winning out.

Dan ran a hand through his hair and let out a shaky sigh. This wasn’t off to the best start. Harper recovered her composure and sat down at her station, indicating for Dan to pull up a chair. He rolled one up next to her and watched her grab the different instruments and materials without a trace of hesitation in how the pieces would work together.

Dan was captivated by her hands. They moved with such grace and determination, like a concert pianist’s fingers dancing along a length of keys. Dan couldn’t help but compare them to the bruteness of his father’s from the few occasions Dan had actually paid attention to his work. His dad’s hands had always moved with impatience, as if every step was an inconvenience to his end goal as he barked out orders to Dan or one of the dental assistants. But Harper’s were soft. Intentional. Fascinating.

“So, we’ll do a few alginate impressions on the mannequin first. You’ve used alginate before, right?” she asked, her voice taking on a businesslike tone.

“The powder that you mix into a sort of putty for impressions? Yeah, I think that’s what they used last time during the demonstration.”

Harper nodded then stood to lower the fold-out mannequin. It sat between them, its eerie, vacant eyes staring blindly at the ceiling and a gaping mouth filled with fake practice teeth poised in a silent scream. Dan grimaced.

“All right, let’s see what you’ve got.”

Dan’s eyes shot to Harper. She gestured at the counter now covered in various dental tools and mixing instruments. Insecurity rippled down the back of his neck to the tips of his fingers at her expectant look.

Lab work was not one of his strengths—he had yet to actually discover any strengths in dental school—but he didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of her.

“Do you have any advice?” he asked, reaching for the alginate packet and squinting at the directions.

Dan’s attention shifted as Harper nibbled on the corner of her full bottom lip while she thought.

“It’s cliché, but the best thing you can do is practice and practice and practice, until it’s the easiest thing in the world. And then practice it a couple more times.” She gave him an encouraging smile. “It’s also important you dive right in. Don’t overthink it, just do it.” She leaned her hip against the counter and waved her hand over the supplies. Dan took a deep breath and nodded.

He measured out the alginate into the mixing bowl and added the water. He stirred it vigorously like he’d watched Alex do, trying to look like any of it felt natural. He slowly and carefully scooped the goo into the impression tray, making sure to fill it edge to edge.

Positioning himself behind the mannequin, he paused to carefully align the tray then pushed the putty against the upper teeth.

And nothing happened.

Pathetic. His father’s voice snapped like a whip across his psyche.