Imagine Me Darker

Chapter 14

"Jack, who were you really talking to?"

Shit shit shit shit. I stand there, looking right into his eyes, willing him to forget about it all.

"You know what, fine. We can talk about this later, but we have to go. The doctor is ready for us."

I breath a sigh of relief and walk with Mark to the room again. When we walk in I see a man at the computer. He is tall and broad,his head balding. He looks up at me and smiles, and I feel myself retreating into my jacket again.

"Good morning,"the doctor says, holding out his hand, "I'm Doctor Artland."

"Hi," I reply, shaking his outstretched hand. The Doctor then goes to Mark and shakes his hand.

"I'm Mark. Sean's boyfriend," he introduces confidently. Mark has always been more comfortable telling people about our relationship. I always have been nervous to show public affection, just in case there is someone who doesn't support people like us. I look at Mark as he watches for Dr. Artland's reaction. To my surprise, he smiles and nods to him.

"So," Dr. Artland continues after we take a seat, "Sean William McLoughlin, right?"

"Yeah."

"Date of birth?"

"February 7th 1990 "

"Perfect," he says, "Okay, now we just have to do a couple of quick tests."

It takes him ten minutes to check my height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. Then, the questions start.

"Have you ever been depressed?"

"No."

"Have you ever thought about committing suicide?"

"No."

"Hmmm," he mutters, flipping the page, "Okay. Heres some more. Have you ever been sexually active?"

I blush and reply, "Y-yeah."

"Have you had more than one sexual partners?"

"No."

"Did your current partner have more than one sexual partners?"

I look at Mark and he answers confidently, "Nope. He's my one and only."

The Doctor chuckles and scribbles down our answers. Ten minutes later, his questions cease.
"Okay," the doctor starts, putting down the clipboard and giving us his full attention, "What brought you here today?"

Mark tenses up next to me, and I glance over to him. He meets my eye, and we both freeze, neither of us wanting to bring up what happened.

Mark shifts in his chair the replies, "Umm, well, you see Doctor..."

He looks very uncomfortable, and the doctor nods. I furrow my brow. Am I missing something?

"Sean, I'm going to send you with the nurse to do a couple more tests," Dr. Artland says.

Frowning, I turn to Mark. Okay, I clearly missed something here.

"Just head out to the hallway and the nurse will show you what to do."

Slowly, I stand up, glance at Mark-who gives me an apologetic look-and walk out of the room.