"Ouch!" Sydney rolled her eyes at her best friend and flipped over the page of her magazine.
"Francie! You've put up with this for over a week, I'm sure an extra five minutes won't kill you!"
"You try living with this pain and well see how you feel." Francie folded her arms over her chest and looked away from her friend, her gaze focused on the tropical fish swimming around the tank.
"Just because you're in pain, there's no need to take it out on me." The receptionist looked up from the file that she had been reading and glanced at the two women. She looked at them both, her eyes silently telling them to keep the noise down, so that they didn't disturb the other patients. Sydney looked at her and gave her a small, polite smile.
"Besides," she turned back to look at Francie, her voice hushed as she spoke. "If you had listened to me last week when I told you to go and see a dentist, the problem would be all sorted by now, and we would be looking through the racks at Macy's instead of sitting in the dentist's office!" She placed the magazine on the table infront of her and looked back at her watch.
"I would have gone last week but I was busy!" Francie commented, her eyes still glued to the fish tank. "Why is it that all dentist surgeries have fish tanks?"
Sydney laughed and slowly shook her head. "Don't be changing the subject!" She nudged her with her elbow and smiled at her.
The door to the dentist's office opened, and out walked a middle-aged man with his five-year-old daughter holding his hand. The little girl had a lollipop in her hand and a huge smile on her face. Sydney was shocked to see that the child hadn't come out of the room in tears like most children do.
The receptionist picked up the next file and read out the name. "Francie Calfo?" Francie nodded as she stood up, handing her purse to Sydney. "Dr. Vaughn will see you know." She gestured for Francie to follow her as she walked into the Dr.'s office and handed him the patient file.
Francie walked into the room and smiled at the receptionist as she went back to her desk.
"Miss Calfo, I'm Michael Vaughn." He extended his hand and smiled at her.
She gladly shook his hand and smiled back at him. "Please call me Francie." He nodded and motioned for her to sit in the chair. Francie found herself staring at him, amazed by just how cute he was. What are you doing? You have a boyfriend! Will!
"So what seems to be the problem?" He took out a clean pair of rubber gloves and put them on his hands. He pressed the button on the side of the chair, causing Francie to slowly fall back until she was lying down.
"Toothache! I've had it for just over a week now." She looked at him and realized that that had been a mistake. His eyes captivated her; they were deep green and so intense. His hair was tousled slightly, making it look like he had just gotten out of bed. Will! Think about Will!
"Let me take a look." He picked up a small mirror and placed it in her mouth so that he could see all of her teeth. "Yeah, the problem's your wisdom teeth." He removed his gloves and threw them into the bin beside him.
"Will they have to be taken out?"
He shook his head. "No, that's not necessary. I'll just give you some medication that should ease the pain, but you'll have to come back and see me in two days to check that everything's ok." Francie nodded as he stood up and walked over to his desk and wrote out the prescription for the medication that she needed.
"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new or has it just been that long since I was last here?" He laughed at her joke and handed her the prescription.
"Well your records do show that it has been a couple of months since we last saw you!" Francie looked away, her cheeks colouring slightly. She knew that she should go to the dentist more often but she always put of going, until something like toothache happened. "But I did only just start here. I moved from New York a couple of weeks ago."
"Oh, ok." She folded the piece of paper and placed it in the back pocket of her jeans.
They walked back into the reception area. "The pain should hopefully go away in a couple of hours." He assured her, opening up her file and jotting down the medication that he had prescribed for her.
Sydney gathered her stuff as she noticed Francie standing at the receptionist's desk.
"Everything sorted?" She asked, handing the bag back to her. Francie nodded and smiled.
"Yes, you won't have to put up with my moaning for much longer!"
"That's such a relief." Sydney teased, putting her arm around Francie's shoulder and giving her a side hug.
"Miss Calfo, is 2:30 Thursday afternoon ok for you?" The receptionist asked politely.
"Yeah, that's fine." The receptionist nodded and wrote the time down in the appointment book. Michael handed her Francie's file, ready for it to be filed away with the others. He picked another file ready for his next patient.
"So I'll see you Thursday?" He noticed that another woman had joined his patient and his attention turned to her. She was dressed in jeans and a black top, her hair falling loosely around her face, which had minimal make-up but still managed to look radiant. He smiled at her before realizing that his gaze had been on her for far too long. He quickly looked back at Francie to see her nod.
"Yep, I'll see you then."
She turned to leave linking her arm through with Sydney's. Sydney stood still for a minute, her eyes silently studying his face, his hair, his eyes. She finally regained control of her feet and walked towards the door. As Francie was opening the door, Sydney took one last look behind her and was surprised to see that he was watching them walk out. Their eyes locked and there was nothing left to do but smile.
"Ok, who was that?"
"Michael Vaughn."
"He's your dentist?" Francie nodded.
Sydney sighed as she took out her car keys. "I really need to change my dentist." She joked, her lips curved up into a smile.