Chapter Six.
Tim followed Liz into her tiny dining area. She placed the bag on the table. She looked at Tim and said "thank you so much. Again you really shouldn't have." She continued "but I want to be upfront with you, I am not looking to date at all right now. I don't want you to think I am leading you on. It's just that, well, I'm not feeling very pretty right now and could use some company. If you want to leave, I will completely understand."
Tim looked at her and asked "can we sit?" After they were seated, Tim continued "Liz, you made it abundantly clear when we first met you are not able to date right now. I think that was maybe the fourth thing you told me when we first met. I know you just got out of a divorce. I completely respect that. I brought you dinner because it is the neighborly thing to do. There is too little random kindness in the world. I try to contribute when I can. And maybe it will help offset some of the things I have done in my past. I didn't bring you this to try to, well, you know."
Liz was a little shocked by someone, especially a man she barely knew, being so upfront and honest with her. She wasn't used to it after her previous five years of marriage. She said "thank you for understanding. And how presumptuous of me to think you would be one bit attracted to someone with braces."
Tim responded "with all due respect, that is ridiculous. Liz, you are a beautiful woman. Yesterday you were a beautiful woman without braces. Tonight you are a beautiful woman with braces. That is it, it is as simple as that. Any man would be crazy not to be attracted to you. But they would have to be an as**ole not to respect your situation."
Liz sat there speechless, a slight red hue on her cheeks. Did Tim just call her beautiful? She stammered "well, I, um... thank you?"
Tim could see that Liz was flustered. He changed the subject by saying "so, since you just got those, I bet you haven't tried to eat anything yet. Let me just forewarn you, it is different. But lucky for you, your neighbor Tim knows all about it. I don't know what you like to eat. Or if you are vegan, or lactose intolerant, or anything like that. So, I just winged it." He reached over and removed two styrofoam boxes and a styrofoam cup from the bag and placed them on the table. As he popped the lids open he said "we have mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, and sauteed spinach. I put the gravy for the potatoes in a separate cup. And for a meat we have some baked lemon pepper grouper. And you may hate it all, but it is easy to eat."
Liz looked at the food and said "you are so thoughtful. Did you fix all this? For me?" Tim replied "I did. Hopefully I did a decent job." Liz felt something inside her. This attractive man had gone to the trouble to fix her dinner. She said "I am not vegan or vegetarian or lactose intolerant, or any of that kind of thing. I LOVE fish. And mashed potatoes and mac n cheese. Spinach, not so much. It looks delicious. Again, THANK YOU!"
Tim said "well good, I got lucky. Do you feel like trying it?"
Liz asked "is this weird? That you are about to watch me eat? And have you eaten? I don't want to just eat in front of you." Tim said "maybe it is weird, but life is weird. Maybe I want to be your braces life coach? Maybe that is why I was put on this earth?" Tim laughed and then continued "and I have eaten, I was snacking and sampling things along the way. So, don't feel bad about eating in front of me. The first thing you need to do is remove that wax from your braces." Liz said "oh gosh, I hadn't even thought of that. Let me go to the bathroom." Tim said "you don't need to do that. Just do it here. You aren't going to gross or weird me out. I promise I have seen a lot more gruesome things in my life than a pretty woman removing wax from her braces." Liz thought to herself 'did he just call me pretty? Again?'. She said "no, it isn't even that, I need a mirror." Tim responded "fair enough. But why don't we try something else? If you are ok with it, let me do it for you. Again, just as your braces life coach." Liz looked at him unsure how to respond. She finally said "ok." Tim scooted her beside her and said "open up." As Tim reached into her mouth and removed the first clump of wax Liz felt a shiver go through her body.
Once he had deposited the little balls of wax on a napkin, he moved back over to the chair across from Liz. He said "that wax looks fresh. You can probably reuse it after you get done eating, brushing, and flossing. That is another thing about having braces. Not only is eating different, you will become a pro at brushing and flossing. Because you will have to do it all the time. Why don't you eat, and I will tell you all I remember from high school."
As Liz ate, Tim talked about his high school days. She had already told him it was all delicious. Even the spinach. His story wasn't all about his braces, but he interwove them in his story. He had been a just above average student but had been athletic playing both baseball and football. He relayed his one big braces emergency in high school, when a ground ball had taken a funny hop at third base and instead of landing in his glove had landed in his mouth. He also talked about dating, and that him and his steady girlfriend had braces together for over a year. And that as hard as they tried, they had never managed to get them stuck together. Liz looked up from her food when he said "but probably the worst part of braces for me was the headgear. That bastard made me wear headgear for two of the three years I had my braces. Or tried to make me. I wasn't good about it. That is why it took me three years instead of two."
Liz asked "how bad was it? Did it hurt?"
Tim said "no, not really. Well, at first it did. Like the first two weeks. But it was just the fact that I was, if I do say so myself, a strapping stud. Who then at night was supposed to go home and wear headgear. It was a real dichotomy in my brain. It was just weird more than anything. Looking back, being maybe just a little more mature now than I was then, I wish I had just worn it like I was supposed to and gotten it over with. Just bit the bullet so to speak. But, I was a hormone addled 16 year old. So being a good orthodontic patient was nowhere to be found on my priority list."
Liz weighed what she was about to say. Should she tell him? He was being honest and upfront with her she thought. So she decided to do the same with him. Liz said "I am pretty certain I am going to get headgear. I am terrified of the thought."
Tim said "wow, really. They told you that you would be getting headgear?"
Liz said "no, not exactly. I have never had braces but was wanting to fix a few things in my smile. And I figured this was the perfect time. I'm single, not dating, and making a fresh start. I am working on myself a lot. So I figured why not work on my smile too. But when I heard it would be $7,500 I scratched it off my list. Until I was given an opportunity to get them for free. I signed up to be a part of an orthodontic study. Actually four of us at school did. Or more accurately, three of the other girls jumped at the chance and then shamed me into joining them. So, we are all getting braces for free, but with some caveats. We had to get metal braces instead of ceramic. And we have to agree to whatever treatment they tell us to. No questions asked. Or we have to pay for the treatment. I didn't understand all the nomenclature when I signed up for it. I just wanted free braces. I didn't realize that 'extraoral' means headgear until after I had signed the contract and had gotten my spacers. Tim, I signed up for a study on the effectiveness of headgear on adults without even realizing it. I am such a big dummy."
Tim reached over for her hand. Liz let him take it. He said "you are NOT a dummy. Not at all. No one knows everything. And you having never had braces, who would expect you to know orthodontic lingo? And so what if you have to get headgear? Then you will just be a beautiful woman with headgear. In the whole cosmic scheme of things, it is just a tiny blip, almost imperceptible on radar." Liz realized that for the third time tonight Tim had called her pretty or beautiful. She thought it so strange to hear someone call her beautiful. Nonetheless, it did make her heart flutter a bit.
When Liz finished eating, she said "well, I guess I need to brush and floss. They gave me this big bag full of different brushes, and floss, and these little paddle things. They showed me how to use them all, but I am not sure I will remember how. This is going to be an ugly mess I'm sure. Tim, thank you for dinner." Tim said "if you want me to leave, I certainly will. But first, how about I help you? Maybe show you what everything is, how to use it? It has been over 10 years since I had to do it. But I bet it is like riding a bike. You don't ever really forget. And I can get that piece of spinach out of your brackets." Liz slapped her hand over her mouth. From behind it she said "oh, how embarrassing." Tim replied "Liz, it isn't embarrassing at all. It is just part of having braces. I promise you it won't be the last time you get some food stuck in them. It is just part of it. But, it isn't embarrassing."
Liz sat and thought about that for a second. She was embarrassed at the thought of her neighbor, or was he her friend, helping her. Actually, she was embarrassed about this whole thing. But she realized she might could use some help. She looked at him and said "promise you won't get grossed out? And promise me you won't think less of me or something?" Tim said "I promise not to get grossed out. And I don't even know why you said that last part. Why in the world would I think less of you? Come on, let's go to your bathroom."
Tim watched Liz in the mirror as she brushed. He gave her a couple of little pointers as she did. Then she pulled out the little proxy brush and asked "what do I do with this?" Tim took it and said "let me show you." As he explained that you used it to brush under the wire between brackets he was doing it for Liz. Once again, she felt a shiver go through her body. Once he was done he rinsed the brush off in the sink and said "and it is as easy as that. Now flossing, flossing is a little bit more involved. I had to use a floss threader and run it behind the wire on every tooth. It took SO long. So, I wasn't the best flosser. But, it looks like they gave you the little floss paddles. I saw a commercial for them and think I know how they work. Let me see if I am right."
As Tim flossed her teeth, Liz couldn't get over how strange this whole situation was. But she also couldn't get over how attracted to Tim she was. Once Tim was done, he said "and that is it. Unfortunately, you need to do this after every meal." Liz said "ugh. Well maybe it will help me lose this 10 pounds I have been trying to lose forever." Tim looked at her in the mirror and said "you don't need to lose anything, you look perfect." Liz went silent. Before, she was ready for him to leave. Now, she wanted him to stay. She said "Tim, I have no idea what I am doing. But it has been so long since someone told me I was pretty. Or did anything nice for me. Oh gosh I am rambling." She went quiet as Tim watched her in the mirror. Finally she asked "would you like to watch TV with me?" Tim replied "I would love that."
When they sat down on the couch, Tim sat a very respectable distance away from Liz. In fact, he sat on the opposite end of the couch from her. She wondered if she had read this all wrong. Maybe he really was just being neighborly and had no attraction to her. I mean, despite what he had said, she did have braces. How could he be attracted to her?
As they watched a movie they had both seen they chatted. At one point in the movie the two characters on screen kissed. Liz scooted over on the couch beside Tim. She was afraid he might recoil, but he didn't. Liz looked at Tim and asked "what is it like to kiss with braces?" Tim said "it is different at first. You can't press too hard or the brackets dig into your lips. But you get used to it." Liz wanted Tim to kiss her. She was hoping that question would be the hint he needed. It wasn't. She leaned over towards him and said "I would like to see what it feels like." Tim said "Liz, I would love to be the one to show you. But I don't want to be responsible for something that you regret." Liz looked him in the eyes and softly said "I am not going to regret it if you kiss me. I am going to regret it if you don't."