[Twenty-Somewhere] Episode 11: Dr. Dashing

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After a brief trip home for the holidays, MJ is back in the UK and ready to start the research portion of her graduate studies. Well, sort of ready.

“Come on already!” Felix raps her door again impatiently.

“Alright alright!” MJ appears in a huff, glaring at him as she turns to lock up her room. “You know, I’ve been six hours behind for the past two weeks. You should be thankful I woke up at all this morning. It’s 1 a.m. inside my brain.”

“Then we should probably get you some coffee, huh?”

MJ nods like a bobble-head.

# # #

Felix pops into the comic store next door while MJ waits in line for her coffee. The mohawk-ed server seems to be taking his sweet time. With a pout, MJ checks her watch. She’s already lost one lab, she doesn’t want to do it again.

At long last, the Mohawk calls out, “Grande iced terraza!” and MJ steps forward to collect her drink. But she isn’t the only one.

“Oh, pardon me,” says the person whose hand is wrapped around hers on the coffee cup. He backs away and smiles. “Ladies first.”

MJ swoons. Not only is this guy a gentleman, he’s gorgeous. And American, she realizes from his lack of accent. Everything about him says “California beach” — his sandy blond hair, his blue-as-ocean eyes, his Hollywood-perfect look. In fact, she wonders if maybe he is an actor shooting a movie here in England. But she doesn’t remember seeing any camera crews nearby.

She takes the coffee and gives him a shy smile. “Thanks.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he says in a warm, deep voice. He looks at the clock and chuckles. “I’m already twenty minutes later than I wanted to be. What’s another one or two?”

She laughs. “Same here.”

For a moment she considers asking for his number. But when she sizes up the situation — she’s late, he’s late; she’s a student, he’s an actor or a model or a Greek god or whatever — she loses her nerve. “Well, see you around.”

See you around? She immediately feels like an idiot. She’s never going to see this guy again. Because fantasies don’t count.

But he says, “See you around,” back. And waves. She nearly bumps into another customer as she reluctantly walks away.

# # #

“OH MY GOD,” she exclaims when she finally finds Felix in the Japanese manga section. “I think I’m in love.”

“Anime’s your turn-on, huh?” He shrugs. “Me too.”

“No!” She smacks him on the back of the head and then leads him out the door. “I just met the most incredible guy at the coffee shop. He was positively dashing.”

“Dashing? Who are you? Did we fall into a Jane Austen novel when I wasn’t looking?”

MJ ignores him. Easily. She’s too busy daydreaming about her coffee shop encounter.

# # #

When they get to the lab, their supervising doctor has yet to arrive. The older grad students use this as an excuse to goof off, even though their projects are well underway and they already know what to do. MJ, Felix, and the two other new group members wait in silence.

After a few minutes, MJ glances around nervously. “Dangit, I gotta go to the bathroom.”

Felix laughs. “That’s what you get for ordering a grande instead of a pequeño.”

She shoots him a withering look before going off in search of the loo.

# # #

When she returns several minutes later, the older students have dispersed throughout the lab. The younger students are still waiting, but they’ve moved to a new area. Felix motions for MJ to join them quickly.

“Is Dr. Abrams here? Did he notice I was gone?” she asks.

Felix shakes his head. “Apparently Dr. Abrams was invited to be a guest professor at Princeton. Yesterday! They’ve got his protégé filling in ’til he gets back next term.”

“Hmm. Okay…”

“The guy apologized for being late and said he’d be right over, he just needs to check in with the older students first. I don’t think he knew anyone was missing.” MJ breathes a sigh of relief. “But I’ve got a bad feeling about this guy,” Felix adds in a whisper.

“Really? How come?”

“First of all, his name. Jacob Storm? Seriously? It’s not like he was born on Krypton.”

MJ snickers. “Okay, it’s kind of a goofy superhero name, but that’s his parents’ fault, not his.”

“True. But he was also late to his first meeting with us.”

She shrugs. “When you’re in charge, you can do what you want.”

“Yes… But on top of all that, look at the guy!” Felix points at a tall man in a white lab coat.

MJ scrutinizes the back of his head, which is all she can see. “I don’t see the problem.”

“Oh, you will when he turns around. He’s like a sixteen-year-old Ken doll.” Just then, the man turns around. “Hey!” Felix protests as MJ pulls him down behind a work station. “What the hell is wrong with you?

“He’s the guy I met at the coffee shop!” MJ hisses.

“Are you serious?” Felix shakes his head. “Now I know why I had a bad feeling. This is a little too Grey’s Anatomy.”

MJ glares.

“What? It is!”

MJ slowly rises, peeking over the work station. “No, it’s not. Because I didn’t sleep with him, or kiss him, or even meet him at a bar. And I’m not going to. I am not going to get involved with my lab supervisor.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what Grey said too. But then she succumbed to the eyes and the hair and the–”

“You are so not helping.” She takes a deep breath and stands back up. “I am a serious student with serious ambitions to seriously help the world. I am not a flaky primetime soap character.”

“Sure thing. Whatever you say.” Felix stands as well, and pats her on the back. When Dr. Storm turns to face them, he notices her sharp intake of breath. “But just so you know, I’m buying Season 1 of your life when it comes out on DVD.”