Moving the Problem Around

[Michael Miller]

Michael was in pain. Last night, he went to bed with a headache, hoping it would go away. Only, it didn’t. He woke up that morning with the same throbbing pain. Added to that the stiffness in his neck, what probably caused the headache to begin with, and he really didn’t want to do anything at all today. Going down to the cafeteria had been a real torture. All this noise. Somehow, he survived it, and not only he did that, but he also did not give his pain to someone else. He also didn’t while in class. But now, that idiot was really testing his patience.

He really should have headed back to his room and take every acetaminophens he could find, but Michael hated solitude. Even in his condition, he preferred to be with people. Sure, no one was really paying attention to him at the student lounge but at least he was not alone. Although, right now, he sort of wished he was.

The couple was not paying attention to him. He was simply sitting the other side of them, trying to read. Trying being the word here as the boy kept flirting and bragging about himself to the girl. Whether or not she liked it was not the point, it pissed Michael off. Something just didn’t go right with him. Must be his tone, it just made the headache worse. Or maybe it was just the fact he was dousing someone else with attention while he was sitting right next to him. Possibilities were endless.

As the boy laughed one time too many, Michael couldn’t take it anymore. “Hey, whatever she wants, get a hint or piss off, either way, do it elsewhere man,” he let out, making sure to touch the skin of the guy and passing on his pain to him. Michael sighed of relief after that. He rolled his shoulders, moved his head and a smile showed up. The pain was completely gone. He let Casanova deal with a terrible headache and stiff neck.

TAG: Madelena Engel

[Madelena Engel]

She had him wrapped around her little finger. He was completely and utterly out of his mind for her. For ten minutes, that was. Right up until some smart-ass decided to get involved. Whatever he had just done to the boy (whose name she had already forgotten), had made him get up and leave without another word. He didn't look good, either.

"What's your problem?" Maddie glared at the guy from two seats down. She had been looking forward to seeing where that would lead. Now she was just pissed. Her salad was completely unappetizing.

She huffed angrily, before looking back up at the guy close to her. She tilted her head to the left, surprised by what she saw. He was actually... Quite attractive. Not at all a bad second choice. Perhaps all was not lost.

Quickly, she shifted to the seat over so that she was next to him and gave him her loveliest smile. She crossed her legs and let her hand fall a little off of her lap, so that it would brush his knee.

"Hi," she began, pumping all the attraction pheromones that she could into this new conquest, "I'm Maddie. What's your name?

[Michael Miller]

So, the girl apparently loved the attention to Mister Not-So-Subtle. She was pissed at him for chasing her little boyfriend away. Hey, he never said he had to stop, only that he should go elsewhere. The equivalent to ‘get a room’. At least her little Prince Charming proved useful. The pain was all but gone. If he scared him off, it was not his problem. That guy needed to grow a pair if he ran the moment an older student told him to bugger off, something Michael doubted he’d love him to help with. The girl too might not like it.

Anyway, he had forgotten about her, figuring she’d go pouting someplace else, or try to get her boy toy back just to be the one hearing the ‘not today, I have a headache’ bullshit, but she reminded herself to him. She was still there. He studied her as she introduced herself. How old was she? It was hard to tell. He could easily say she was younger than he was, but she seemed to try and look older so it was hard to tell.

She was smiling at him and Michael knew what that smile meant. He offered that same one whenever he wanted something out of someone. And seeing how he just chased away her eye candy... “Oh darling,” he began, leaning towards her with a matching smile, only perhaps with a lot more mischief in his eyes. “I’m afraid you’re barking at the wrong tree here.” Destroying her plans was somehow more satisfying than he would have thought. He leaned back against his seat, pushing his book aside, his devilish smile still on. “But you can call me Michael, Maddie.”