hope// 5SOS

4

Bella

"Good morning," Calum smiled, sitting at the table with his coffee.

I managed a smile, from last nights events, but inside I felt sick.

"Sweetheart, Michael is just giving you a cleaning and I'm just gonna check your teeth. I promise I'm not doing anything today,"

"What about braces?"

"I know it stresses you out but I'll only start talking to people if you need to have them. It depends how much your mouth has moved,"

I nodded and got a bowl out, starting to make porridge.

"Can you hold my hand?"

"Yeah, please don't stress about it," he said sadly, putting his cup in the dishwasher.

He went upstairs to get ready while I ate.

I started thinking back to yesterday, and how fortunate I was to find people to care so much about me.

They'd talked about wanting to visit England before, but I never expected me to be invited or for the trip to even happen.

A holiday had been something I'd always dreamt of.

I ate as much of my breakfast as I could stomach, then went upstairs and got changed. Luke came into the bathroom while I brushed my teeth, kissing my head and hanging a new towel up.

"You're more than welcome to come to my office after, I finish early so we could go out and get Harry a present,"

"Ok,"

"You'll be fine, I promise,"

Calum let me sit in the front with him, Michael in the back on his phone. My knee was bouncing, and I was fiddling with the bobble on my wrist, trying to distract myself.

Calum rested his hand on my knee, trying to stop it bouncing as we arrived at the hospital.

"I'm gonna check your teeth first, and I'm sure there's nothing wrong, then Michael will just clean them while I hold your hand. Again, we have the hour so just take a deep breath,"

I nodded and we got out the car, sighing in and heading to the office. They made sure everything was clean again, then put gloves and masks on.

Despite not wanting to, I sat on the chair and closed my eyes as it went down.

"Ok sweetheart, do you want headphones in or anything? I'm not gonna speak to you at this point,"

"Yeah, please,"

He gave me his phone and I put music on, listening to the music and looking up at him. When he nodded, I opened my mouth for him.

Faintly, I could hear him calling out numbers to Michael but I had my music too loud to make it out. I felt him check my gums, then my fillings, before gently getting me to bite down.

I felt sick, but I knew he was working as quickly as possible.

He took my headphones out and turned the light off, pulling his mask down.

"You did such a good job, and they're almost perfect. That was nothing to worry about see?"

"What about braces?"

"We'll talk later baby girl, I need you to stop stressing so much and I know it's hard, but we aren't out to hurt you,"

"Please hold my hand," I said quietly, rubbing my eyes.

"I will, take a deep breath, the worst part is over. There's just a bit of inflammation that Michael can easily help with so you can stop hunching your shoulders," he assured, squeezing them and letting Michael sit down.

"I'm gonna try and get straight through this, but if you need me to stop then raise your hand,"

I nodded and looked at Calum, squeezing his hand.

"It's ok,"

"I want music,"

"Alright, I'll give you my pointers. Brush more gently up here," Calum said, playfully poking my cheek, "and more down there,"

He gave me the music back and held my hand as Michael started the cleaning. As usual, it was uncomfortable, but Calum made sure to comfort me as much as possible.

As he reached the bottom, I felt a lot of pressure and squeezed my eyes shut- he stopped immediately.

"Is that sensitive? It's where all the problems were before,"

"It's loads of pressure,"

"I'll be careful, you can't let it stop you brushing though,"

I kept my eyes shut as he carefully cleaned the area.

After that, I was a little hesitant, but soon I was allowed to get off the chair. Calum took no time pulling me in for a hug.

"Go and find Luke, you're going into town right?"

"Yeah, i think so,"

"Get a softer toothbrush, and some sweets. Tell him its my order,"