Working Out the Kinks (Chain) (3 page)

Whitney set her fork and knife down and picked at her nails, looking uneasy.

“Um, I guess you could call it that.”

“What’s his major?”

She looked up at me again, slightly perturbed that I was trying to keep the topic going.

“He works at the hospital.”

I felt the tension in the air, and I had hoped I could at least get one more answer out of her before things would go wrong for me.

“Is he an intern?”

Whitney folded her arms across her chest, causing the necklace to move and dangle gently.

“Why would you want to know?”

I played dumb. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know…well, I was just making conversation. I haven’t seen you in so long.”

That seemed to change her mood, and she physically relax and then sighed, “No, it’s all right. I know you are just being a friend, Lexi. I’m sorry. He’s a doctor, actually, in the gynecology department.”

I didn’t want another rut to happen in our conversation, so I changed the subject to discussing our class schedules and school in general. Barely five minutes passed when an alarm on her watch went off. It made her jump and groan.

“I have to go,” she said, as she quickly gathered up her belongings.

I tried hurrying as she did to pick up my bag and tray. “Do you want to–”

“I’ll see you in class on Wednesday, okay?”

I wasn’t quick enough in responding, and it didn’t look like Whitney would wait for me to answer, even if I had asked her to. She left the food court and wove her way around others on the sidewalk and headed into the gynecology building.

For a brief moment, I had caught a glimpse of my old friend. The one I shared some of my fondest memories with. Whatever had happened to change her personality, I was more than determined to get her back.

The week dragged by with nothing new from Whitney. She didn’t speak to me on Wednesday when I tried to say hello outside our class. Once more, Dr. Pierce arrived to pick her up and she distanced herself from me quickly. By Sunday, I was grinding my teeth in frustration.

I hated myself for keeping my mind preoccupied with the thousands of things that could’ve been happening to Whitney that weekend. After our lunch on Monday, I knew I wasn’t going to get any more answers from her. So there came option number two, which required a hell of a lot of courage. I made it as far as the sliding doors to the entrance of the 200 building before the butterflies in my stomach kicked in.

It was now or never. I had to do this. She would have helped me, I kept reminding myself.

I made my way over toward the hospital once again, where Whitney and I had gone for lunch. The people walking past me began to change from the normally dressed student to the common hospital worker, wearing scrubs and jackets.

For Whitney.

At first, after I stepped inside, I was a bit overwhelmed. UCLA’s hospital was like a family doctor’s office on steroids. There were so many people bustling around, it took me a moment to locate the directory located on a nearby wall. I studied the information and found the gynecology department was located on the third floor. I found the elevator, pushed the button labeled three and went up. My nerves were causing my hands to tremble, so I clutched onto my bag to make it less noticeable how uncomfortable I was.

When I got off the elevator, I stepped out into the hallway and found the sign telling me which way to go to get to the gynecology department.

Inside the waiting room, there were a few women waiting for their name to be called, and a nurse on the other side of the counter with her head down toward her paperwork. I approached the front desk and she looked up at me with a smile.

“You’re here for an appointment?”

“I was actually hoping to make one? Just for a regular checkup.”

The woman turned to her computer and began typing away.

I cleared my throat and lowered my voice. “I’d also like to request Dr. Pierce for the exam?”

She looked at me and then back to her screen, noisily typing on her keyboard.

“Okay, right now it looks like Dr. Pierce is booked for two months before anything is open,” she explained.

I felt the hard slap of defeat. A lot of things could happen in the matter of two months. I suddenly felt like all of my effort had been for nothing.

“Wait just a minute,” she said, and turned back to the paperwork on the desk, then flipped through a few pages on the file she had been studying. She found the page she was looking for and pulled it up.

“Wow, this is lucky. A patient called an hour ago and canceled her appointment with Dr. Pierce for next Monday. Would that day work for you?”

“Yes, but I’d have to be admitted as a new patient.” My heart began to race with excitement again. The woman nodded her head. “That’s fine we’ll get you set up with a patient ID and you’ll need to have your information faxed over to our office before your appointment next week.”

I nodded my head as she explained to me what I needed to do. The last thing she did was write down my appointment information on a card and hand it to me. When I flipped it over, the name printed was Dr. Eric Pierce, and the sight of it made my hand tremble.

“Do you need anything else?” she asked me.

“N-no, thank you very much,” I replied and stepped away.

On Thursday I made it to the office with fifteen minutes to spare. The receptionist at the front desk greeted me with a calming smile as I checked in and waited for my name to be called. I began to feel restless, sitting there and letting my leg bob up and down frantically. The moment I entered the office, I had been charged with energy, ready to take on whatever obstacles came my way. And then, with time ticking on, my courage started to fade.

Finally, the door next to the front desk swung open and a nurse stood there, reading a file in her hand.

“Alexandra,” she called out. I jumped up and followed her into a back room where she led me into another waiting area.

“Nervous?” the nurse asked me while she took my blood pressure.

“Uh, no, not really,” I lied. She smiled and jotted down a few notes.

“Your heart rate is a little high so I figured you were. It’s totally normal to be nervous but you don’t need to worry. Dr. Pierce is great.”

Hearing his name sent a shudder through me.

“Will you need a nurse present with you in the room?”

“No, I’ll be fine without one,” I answered.

The woman led me to the exam room and began to set up items on the counter.

“Go ahead and take your clothes off from the waist down and put the gown on. Dr. Pierce shortly,” she said with another kind smile.

I nodded and watched her leave the room, shutting the door with a gentle
click
. I undid the button of my jeans and kicked off my sandals. I slipped my panties off and stepped into the itchy paper hospital gown. Taking my seat, I took in the room’s surroundings. My palms were clammy, and my skin felt itchy. A few times during the silence, I almost stood and dressed to leave. But just as I was trying to calm myself, there was a firm knock on the door. It clicked open and then closed once more. I kept my gaze to the ground and saw a pair of sleek dress shoes walk in. They hesitated for a moment and then continued to walk toward me.

“Miss Alexandra Hayes,” I heard Dr. Pierce’s announced.

“It’s Lexi,” I said meekly, instantly regretting the decision to correct him because of his challenging eyes.

“Look up, please.”

He wasn’t being rude, just straightforward. I obeyed and our gazes met only briefly before he looked down at my file in hand. He was just as I had remembered. Light blond hair and deep blue eyes. He wore a doctor’s coat over a white shirt with a crisp, light blue tie snug at his neck. I was able to study his features better as he stood there and studied my papers. He was dashing, with a hint of danger. There wasn’t a hair or an article of clothing out of place on him. Dr. Pierce looked over at me and suddenly, with his eyes fixed on mine, I felt the room closing in.

“So what made you decide to take me on?” he asked with a light grin. The question seemed to hint at something else.

“I was due for a checkup,” I replied casually.

Dr. Pierce turned his attention back to my records.

“That wasn’t my question, though,” he answered, causing me to panic. “I don’t take on new patients normally, and you weren’t referred by anyone.”

“I…well, I’d heard about you.” I tried coming up with the best generic response, but I still felt it wasn’t good enough. He smirked and turned his back to me.

“Lie back and scoot to the edge of the seat. Place your feet on the stirrups.”

I did as he wanted, forcing my wobbling legs to move. Dr. Pierce busied himself with preparing for my exam and then wheeled the tiny cart of supplies over toward me.

“Place your feet on the stirrups,” he repeated, emphasizing each word.

“I’m sorry.” I fumbled as I realized I hadn’t done what he had wanted of me.

Hesitantly, I pushed my legs and placed them into the clothed-covered metal rests that exposed all of me to him. The paper dress I wore blocked my view, but I could see his face well enough when he turned around. He didn’t appear at all phased by what he could obviously see. It was just another gynecology appointment to him, but to me, it was a test.

I threaded my hands over my stomach and closed my eyes.

“Take a deep breath and relax, Alexandra.” Dr. Pierce tried easing my discomfort. Surprisingly his words seemed to do the trick, and I found by breathing deep and slow, I was able to relax. The moment I exhaled my third breath, the cool plastic of the speculum slid into my body smoothly. The feeling caused me to let out a slight moan. Dr. Pierce hadn’t been looking, but the moment I made the noise, his attention was back on me.

“Relax your muscles,” he said, almost in a whisper. Again, I did as he wanted and his hand touched my inner thigh as he worked. This wasn’t supposed to be anything sexual in nature, but having such an attractive man touching me like this was hard not to enjoy.

“When was your last period?” His questions brought the sexual level to an all-time low.

I swallowed the knot in my throat and looked up at the halogen lights in the ceiling.

“About three weeks ago,” I replied after a pause.

The speculum and his hand suddenly left my body, forcing me to suppress another moan. When I looked back down at him, I thought I caught a glimpse of a grin on his lips before he stood up and walked over to the counter to prepare for the next part of my exam.

“So you know Whitney,” he mused casually, keeping his back to me. In shock, I watched him remove the latex gloves on his hands with a loud, snapping noise and toss them into the trash bin in the corner. I felt like a deer in the headlights, caught, and knowing I needed to run or risk my life standing there. And with most of my clothes still discarded on the chair beside me, there wasn’t a good chance I could get out quick enough with my decency still intact.

I mentally told myself to remain calm. To keep relaxed, just as he had told me to do moments ago.

“Yes, she’s my friend,” I said after regaining some composure.

Dr. Pierce spun around on his heel, wearing a new pair of gloves, and returned back to stand between my outstretched legs.