God, please. I never want to be plagued by this memory again…
Jay’s wandering wand froze, and I could almostfeelthe frown on his face as he read the NeuroGlyphs that my memory had produced.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that he might be able to read more than just the embarrassment from that memory.
Oh shit… did the glyphs show him that I thought he was attractive?
The symbols and numbers on the screen whizzed as I spiraled, and Jay leaned over my head, meeting my eyes.
I couldn’t read the expression on his face, and my heart was beating so loudly I wassure he could hear it.
“Not that memory, Milo. Choose something else, please. Something less recent.”
Dammit! I hadn’t realized it couldn’t be a recent memory.
My mind went blank as I panicked.
Shit, I needed to pick something else! Now that I was on the spot, I couldn’t think of anything.
The glyphs on the screen continued to shudder and flicker in and out of focus as I struggled to think of something.
“Shh, don’t panic. Take your time,” he soothed me, and Melanie scoffed again.
“He’s clearly not ready! Pick someone else!”
“Strike two, Ms. Larson. Interrupt my demonstration again, and we’re going to have a problem,” Jay snapped, and Melanie made an indignant noise.
“Come on, Milo. You can do this. Pick something from high school, maybe? Something small.”
As soon as he saidhigh school,a plethora of humiliating moments manifested, and I quickly chose one of me walking face-first into the cafeteria doors in front of everyone freshman year.
It was all anyone talked about for weeks, and it was the first time someone called meMurphquake.
“Ah. That’s a good one.” Jay chuckled. “Let’s get rid of that for you.”
The NeuroExtractor beeped again, and I saw a hint of red light as Jay extracted, then erased the memory from my mind.
“All done.” He smiled, removing the wand from my head. He brushed my hair back one more time before stepping away. He came to stand beside me as I sat up and gave me a warm, tender smile.
“How do you feel?” he asked, and I shrugged.
“The same, I guess?”
“How do you feel about cafeteria doors?” His lip was twitching. My face turned red as I imagined what sort of memory I must have given him to delete.
Cafeteria doors?
“Uh… I feel indifferent?”
“Good. Two minutes ago, you would have answered differently.” He laughed, and I smiled at him.
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
He nodded, stepping back and gesturing for me to get out of the chair.
I swung my legs over the edge, but I rolled my ankle slightly as I stood. Gasping, I realized I was going down—again—when Jay caught me.
He steadied me until I caught my footing, and my skin burned under my corduroy jacket where his hands gripped my shoulders.
