I slowly opened one eye as the sunlight crept between the blackout curtains in my room. I hated it when the creases let the light in, it defeated the whole purpose of the thick fabric.
I grunted and turned on my side so my back was facing the window and put a pillow over my head. I had been dreading this day since last week. Plus, I had had a not so productive late night at the studio last night and was feeling frustrated.
I was trying to go back to sleep when I heard the quiet rumble of my cell phone vibrating on the night stand. I grunted again and decided to ignore it. Twice more did the contraption shake, breaking the peaceful stillness of my morning.
I rolled onto my back, took a deep breath and reached for the phone. Three text messages from a certain nosy best friend lit up the screen.
“Hey bestie, rise and shine! Remember your appointment at 10AM, Luv ya!”
“Hey bestie, you’re not getting out of this. Remember, 10 AM, Luv YA!”
“JC would you please answer me already? I made your appointment last week and you are not getting out of it, so get your ass off your bed, RIGHT NOW!”
“Ugh Autumn”, I grunted again, sitting up on the bed. I rubbed my eyes softly and stretched both my arms over my head cracking my back. I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The damn phone started buzzing again.
I picked it up and saw “MOM” flashing in the screen. I rolled my eyes as I pressed the green thingie on the screen.
“Hey mom,” I said through gritted teeth. I absolutely knew what this was about.
“Hi honey! Autumn messaged me earlier,” I rolled my eyes again. “Just wanted to remind you about your appointment today.”
“Mo-ooom,” I protested feeling like an 8-year-old again.
“Joshua, stop it! You cannot afford to get sick, you are a pain when you do,” she replied earnestly.
“Yes mom, I will be getting my flu shot today.”
“Okay honey, call me later, I love you,” she said in her usual chipper self and hung up the phone. I groaned. The mirror in the bathroom covered in fog from the shower.
After my shower I jumped into my favorite jeans, t-shirt and hoodie, I picked up a bright trucker hat, did a quick glance in the mirror and went downstairs. There was smell from recently brewed coffee coming from the kitchen, I smiled to myself and thanked Sylvia, the maid, in my mind.
After a cup of coffee, I looked at the clock, 9.30AM. With usual LA traffic the drive to the Medical Center in West Hollywood wasn’t long so I sat on one of the breakfast table’s stools and clicked my heels. I decided to get going, if I was doing this, I might as well get it over with.
I drove slowly, browsing through radio stations and not settling on anything. Shaking my head at some of the music that was popular these days. 15 minutes later I was there. I pulled up into one of the free parking slots near the entrance. I got out of the car. I was moving a lot slower that I needed to. I walked through the big glass doors into the posh foyer. Big leather chairs around a sparkly, glass table, huge wall to wall carpets. I walked up to the front desk to check in.
“Hi, I have a 10AM appointment with Dr. Gold for a flu shot,” I said, pulling my hat down over my eyes.
“Oh yes, Mr. Joshua Scott,” said the lady in the animal print scrubs. I laughed softly to myself. Autumn still believed my real name would catch too much attention and still made appointments under my middle name. Like anyone was still checking on me.
“Dr. Gold had to attend to an emergency so his fellow will be taking his place, Dr. Carolano,” she said. I shrugged it off in agreement. Whatever would get me out of this place faster. I took a seat on one of the leather arm chairs off the front desk. I grabbed a magazine and flipped through it, not really paying attention, with some jazzed down version of an Oasis song playing in the background.
I looked up suddenly. A woman, a little younger than myself, with dark brown straight hair down to her collarbone, wearing a white lab coat was coming this way. She was wearing big purple rimmed glasses, red lips. I silently hoped she was not my doctor. I hated it when I got girl doctors because I was such a fucking coward around needles, especially when they were pretty, like she was. She picked up a file that was handed to her by the woman in the animal print scrubs.
“Mr. Scott?” she called out. FUCK.
I stood up slowly, “Please follow me.” I followed her slowly. The palms of my hands already feeling sweaty, my mouth dry as cotton. She led me into an exam room, a wide desk with two chairs in front of it, and on the other side of the room a stretcher lined with a brown colored paper. She asked me to sit on the stretcher, which I did, heart pounding. I proceeded to take off my hoodie.
“I’m very sorry Dr. Gold couldn’t be here, but let me assure I am more than capable to tend to you,” she said and slowly looked up to me from the file in her hands.
That’s when I saw it, the slow realization, the sudden widening of the eyes, the dilation of the pupils. She had recognized me.
It took her only a second to gather herself, which I admired, and went back to her very professional demeanor. She proceeded to ask a couple of questions about past illnesses and family history.
“So, the last time you had the shot, when was that?” she said walking over to a cupboard and taking out some gadgets. She walked up to me as I answered “Last year I had a very bad cold so I got it then.” She told me she was going to take my temperature and measure my blood pressure.
She grabbed my arm and lifted it as she wrapped the cuff of the gadget around my bicep. I could see her struggling to not look me in the eyes. Her hand even lingered a little longer than usual on my arm. She cleared her throat and started inflating the thing, at the same time putting the stethoscope rubber things into her ears. After she was satisfied with the reading she took everything off and scribbled something down on the file on the table.
“Ok, everything looks very good,” she said finally looking into my eyes, smiling. “I will now prep the shot.” She walked over to the little fridge under the desk, tied her hair into a bun and took some vials and a syringe. My heart started racing.
I exhaled loudly. “I’m sorry,” I told her, “I hate needles, bear with me.”
“I know,” she said, quickly looking away from me and cringing a little, as if she regretted having given herself away. I smiled to myself, she had definitely recognized me. Which made this worse… or better, I don’t know.
She took the vial and very skillfully filled the syringe. Without looking at me she said, “If you would uncover the area, please Mr. Scott.”
So, I reluctantly stood up, fumbled a little with my belt buckle, got it undone, undid my pants, rolled them to half ass and bent over, over the stretcher.
I could hear her walking over to me slowly. “um,” she said and stood beside me for a second.
Then, in one swift move, she pulled up my t-shirt sleeve, rubbed an alcohol pad on my arm, inserted the syringe, pushed the liquid in and took it out. I turned to look at her with a bewildered look on my face, mouth wide open, not really knowing what had just happened.
She looked at me holding back the laughter, “The flu shot goes in your arm,” then she leaned back, looked at my bare behind, “Nice butt, though… Mr. Chasez,” she said as she started to walk away, giggling.
