Tic Tac Toe

Doctor's visits always sucked. James didn't enjoy a pretty much complete stranger poking and prodding at him, asking personal questions, and generally invading his personal space. It was a necessary evil and he knew it, but he didn't have to enjoy it. Besides, this was the third doctor this year. Moving around a lot meant no permanent doctor, which sucked.

The doorbell softly chimed, announcing a visitor to the waiting room. He turned his attention to the door, which seemed infinitely better than the dull parenting magazine he'd awkwardly taken from an expectant mother. A lady with painted blonde highlights and a handbag large enough to carry an infant walked in, followed by a bored teen boy and an anxious teen girl. The kids couldn't be younger than 14 or older than 17, so right around his age.

Not that James cared. He wasn't going to talk to them. They were complete strangers, and James didn't do strangers. That's why his mom was sitting in the chair to his left, playing some puzzle game he didn't care to see the name of. She was going to talk to the doctor. Some people might think it ridiculous that a 15 year old boy needed his mom at a doctor's appointment, but James didn't care in the slightest. He was not talking to a complete stranger. He would rather die, thanks.

The sensation of something falling on his foot startled him out of his thoughts. It wasn't heavy and didn't hurt a bit, it just took him by suprise. The girl who had walked in a few moments ago had dropped her wallet on his foot. It'd fallen open, revealing the Girl's name was Cyliss and that her ID expired on July 8th of 2023. "I'm so sorry about that. It just slipped right out of my hand," she giggled shyly. She reached for it, but James stopped her, handing it to her.

A beat of awkward silence fell between the two. He watched her fidget nervously, opening her mouth to say something, then pausing. "I ah," she began. "Um, thanks. My name's Cyliss. What's yours?"

She offered her hand. James shook her hand, but didn't reply to the question. To be truthful, he couldn't force the word out of his throat if he wanted to. The idea of speaking to this admittedly gorgeous girl made his hands shake a little.

He pulled his hand away before she noticed, turning his attention to the magazine in his lap. His mom noticed the change. She tapped his knee, right where the denim in his jeans had torn. Three quick little taps with the tip of her professional baby pink nail. "You good kiddo?" She asked softly when he looked over. He nodded to the girl beside him, still seemingly waiting on an answer from him.

His mom produced a small whiteboard and a purple marker. "Remember what Miss Alice told you? Write when you can't speak kiddo." She whispered. He nodded and took the proffered supplies.

James turned so he wouldn't bump her, writing in small, careful penmanship. 'I'd rather not say, sorry.' He set the board and marker in her lap.

Cyliss read it, then wrote back. 'You have really pretty handwriting.' In large, loopy letters.

'Thanks. So do you.' He replied. His mom set another marker, fuschia in color, on his leg and he offered it to Cyliss. She wiped the board with the sleeve of her dark green jacket, then drew a tic tac toe board. 'X or O?' She scrawled beside it.

James made an X in the first box to his top left. She made an O beside it. The game ended in a cat.

'If I win the next round will you tell me your name?' She asked after she carefully erased their game.

'Maybe.' He replied. She nodded, then drew an O in the center of the square. He drew an X above it. The game continued, James winning.

'Sorry. I guess you won't find out.' He wrote.

'Another round? The psychiatrist is taking his sweet time.'

The note made James giggle. Really, it was more of a nose exhale, but it got the the point across. 'Of course. If you win, I'll tell you my name. But I'm really good at tic tac toe, so it may take you awhile.'

'We have nothing but time, stranger.' She wrote back, making James laugh again. This time he set up the board, making the first move. He claimed the bottom right square. She took the top right, and the game continued, ending in a cat.

'New idea. If I can make you actually laugh, you have to tell me your name. Or write it for me.' She wrote. '

I don't understand why you want it so badly, but sure. I'll bite.'

Cyliss pulled out her phone and showed him some memes. The last photo wasn't a meme, it was a picture someone had taken of her. She was beaming about something and holding up a little aloe plant in a terracotta pot. The sun made her hair look like spun gold and illiuminated her eyes, making them look like the water at Lake Michigan. It was the prettiest picture of a girl he'd ever seen in his life.

She blushed and swiped past the picture. "Sorry. I have no idea how that got in this album."

'No worries. It's a really pretty picture.' He assured her. He resisted the urge to tell her how pretty he found her.

'Thanks. My friend took it. I just went through a rough breakup. Ex cheated.' James frowned.

'That really sucks.' He wrote back, unsure of how to comfort her.

'Guess she had something I didn't. Mental stability.' Clyiss wrote back.

Jimmy laughed. Almost startlingly loud to him, but an honest to God laugh. 'I'm sorry. Absolutely nothing about that is funny, but depreciating humor is.' He scrawled quickly.

Cyliss laughed too. It was soft and breathy, but still sounded absolutely musical to him. James kind of wanted to make her laugh like that all the time, but he kind of also wanted to hold her hand and tell her she's pretty. That thought made his heart skip a bit.

'You won.' He wrote on the board, then cleared his throat. "My name's-" he began, but was cut off by a nurse.

"James Rothens?" The nurse called, looking around the waiting room. His mom rose. He gestured for her to wait, then scrawled his cell phone number on Cyliss' hand with the purple marker. He felt tingles where they touched, confusing him and making his palms sweaty.

James found himself hoping she'd text him or something.