hope// 5SOS

28

Bella

As we walked through the doors, the smell overwhelmed me. Calum grabbed the form and quickly filled it in while I sat down with Harry.

He held my hand, kissing it.

"You're gonna be fine, it's only Mali. Harry's mum is gonna bring you to the hospital and you just come to my office. As soon as I'm done with a patient, I'll pop in and see you," Calum said, giving me the paper and kissing my head.

"I'm scared,"

"It's nothing to worry about, it won't hurt. Just don't choose yellow bands," he smiled, "You're gonna be okay,"

I watched him leave, my heart beating faster as the clock ticked. Everything felt louder, and I hit my head on Harry's shoulder to try and block everything out.

"You'll still look beautiful, and I'm gonna hold your hand the whole time,"

"Don't judge how they look,"

"I won't, no one is,"

The door opened and Mali poked her head out, smiling and beckoning us in. Her room was a lot nicer than the reception, with less posters round and a more comforting vibe- it still scared me.

"We need to take photos before we start, Harry, will you be ok to just wait here for a few minutes?"

"Yeah,"

"Thanks, have you brushed your teeth?" she asked me, grabbing the camera when I nodded.

I followed her out the room, into a plainer one and held all the mouth props like she asked. While she printed them off, she turned to me.

"How are you feeling?"

"Nervous,"

"I thought so. Do you want me to say what I'm doing while I do it, or not?"

"Tell me,"

"Alright, I'll quickly make sure your teeth are clean then get straight onto it. All I'm asking is that you don't move around,"

I nodded and followed her back to the room, sitting on the chair and immediately waiting for Harry's hand. During Mali getting everything prepared, he spoke to me quietly.

It was good to have him back, but I felt no better.

"Alright, can you open up for me? I'm just gonna check your teeth,"

I closed my eyes and opened my mouth to avoid any eye contact, cringing as she scraped a couple of my teeth. She checked my fillings then moved the light away, laying the chair down more.

"I'm gonna put this in your mouth now and it's gonna push your cheeks and tongue out the way. I need to fit four small things over your back teeth, then need to put some glue on, then the brackets go on,"

I nodded, squeezing Harry's hand tighter as she put it in my mouth. My lips felt really dry, and I closed my eyes because the light was too bright.

It made me jump everytime she clicked the back brackets on, but she quickly moved onto the glue.

"Harry is gonna slip these glasses on you and I'm gonna dry this a bit,"

I squeezed his hand as an ok and felt him put the glasses on before a light was put in my mouth.

It was pretty silent as she put the brackets on, drying the glue fully and taking the prop out.

"Are any of these digging into your cheek? It feels a bit weird, and you can use wax, but are any bothering you?"

I closed my mouth, adjusting to the feeling of having metal in my mouth. Thankfully, they felt ok so she started to put the wire in.

Again, I jumped as she cut the wire and it was starting to get uncomfortable.

"You're almost done, once I have the bands on you can have a drink. What colour do you want?"

"Light blue,"

"Good choice," Harry smiled, "they look good,"

"They feel weird,"

"They don't look it. Final bit sweetheart," Mali assured, grabbing the colour and another tool. I let her secure it down, then had a drink and looked in the mirror.

Like Harry said, they didn't actually look too bad.

"Ok, if a bracket is rubbing then you put a piece of wax over it like this," Mali showed, Harry holding the mirror.  She showed me how to floss, and what foods I shouldn't eat, but we both knew Calum would be reminding me.

"Michael will see you soon, I'll see you in a few weeks. Well done,"

We met Harry's mum outside, my mouth still feeling weird and massive, then drove to the hospital.

"Text me if you need anything,"

"It's gonna ache so bad,"

"You'll get through it. I love you,"

It felt so good to hear it again, but in a way it felt different. Like it wasn't at its full meaning yet.

"Love you too,"