Not Only Books Need Rescuing

[lifedeathangel]

Once they were at the cashier, Maya set the CD down and then took out some money to pay. Looking up she saw the girl eyeing Michael and she frowned.

[Smiler]

Michael noticed Maya's emotions and, considering he didn't even pay any attention to the cashier girl, other than involuntarily catching a whiff of her emotions as well, felt slightly amused.

As soon as they were outside again, he looked at Maya and asked, "What did that girl do wrong?" - in a tone distracted as if they were going to discuss a movie plot.

[lifedeathangel]

Maya looked at him her eyebrows raised. "Are you telling be you didn't see that? Feel that? She was all over you, well her eyes were, but still."

[Smiler]

"I felt that," Smiler replied. "But why did it make you feel uncomfortable?" He was interested to get to the bottom of Maya's emotions, but would of course drop his attempts if she told him she didn't want to discuss it.

[lifedeathangel]

"I don't know." She said. "I was right there. She didn't even pay attention to me. I was the one buying the CD, but noooo she had to undress the hot guy with her eyes." Maya had never experienced jealousy before and she would deny it if she was.

[Smiler]

"I appreciate the compliment," Michael remarked, twitching his nose slightly to suppress a smile that almost appeared. "So would you have preferred it if she undressed you with her eyes while selling you the CD?"

[lifedeathangel]

Maya laughed. "That would have been interesting, but no."

[Smiler]

"Trust me, she'll probably forget about me in an hour, tops," Michael said. "But what you can really do is think of it this way: unlike her, you already have me, so that should be a reason to feel good, not bad."

[lifedeathangel]

Maya grinned. "Good point. I feel better, now." She said and then looked ahead. "So, am I allowed to undress the hot guy with my eyes?"

[Smiler]

"Definitely," Michael said. "Who am I to deny you that..?" It was curious how their conversation took on a flirtatious direction, but looking back on what they had already said that day, he realized this wasn't the first time it happened. It felt easier to do it with new Maya, now that he could make do without at least some of the cautiousness towards her reactions that he used to have.

[lifedeathangel]

Maya looked at him with a smirk and quickly looked him over, playfully. She then looked ahead. "That's a nice picture." She stated.

[Smiler]

"I'll keep the exhibit open," Michael said, almost automatically finding a response to go with the same idea, and then halted in his step. "Wait," he said. He had a feeling things were beginning to happen too fast for him, but it was just an impression he got by listening to what they said, and nothing more specific.

[lifedeathangel]

Maya laughed and then stopped and turned to look at him. "What? What's wrong?" She asked and looked at him curiously with a hint of worry.

[Smiler]

"It's not wrong, it's just..." Michael glanced along the street, as if looking for suggestions how to formulate his thoughts. "I had a feeling things were developing too fast. It might be just all of this being new for me, so 'fast' wouldn't be the right word, just 'unfamiliar'..."

[lifedeathangel]

"Oh..." Maya nodded. "It's new for me two, you know?" She said with a small smile. "It's all 'unfamiliar' territory, but I'd say we're becoming more comfortable with each other to openly flirt. We're going to the next step."