Smile For Me

Chapter 6 - Eddie

The next day I awoke feeling tired in the morning, I rubbed my eyes and rolled on my side to see the alarm clock beside me. The time was 8:47. It took me a second to process through my mind, and my eyes widened when I remembered I have an appointment at nine. I jumped out of bed and whipped my pyjamas off before changing into an outfit quick. Mum wasn't downstairs when I reached the kitchen, I can't wait for her to make breakfast. I had time to make some toast for myself but I decided to skip breakfast altogether, I wasn't so hungry anyway. I boiled the kettle for dad though, he usually comes down around this time for a cup of coffee, he looked very tired when he came home last night. I dashed to the toilet to relieve myself and brushed my teeth fast, as soon as I was done I grabbed my coat and called up the stairs,"I'm going now!" I didn't wait for an answer and bursted out the front door.

As I rushed down the road I heard someone call my name. I looked to the left and saw Calum on the other side of the road, he was the paper boy, so that explained why he was out here so early. He waved to me and repeated,"Janie!" I broke out into a nervous smile and crossed the road to meet him quickly, holding my arms from the cold. "C-Calum, hi,"I stuttered. I felt myself blush from hearing my voice sound weird but he just smiled. "I wanted to ask you the other day, if you wanted to hang out somewhere sometime,"he said, slipping his hands in his pockets. My eyes twinkled from those words. "Really?"I asked in a whisper. He nodded and gave me another charming smile, but he then looked curious.

"Are you...are you busy right now?"he asked, noticing my messy hair from the rush, it looked like he was done delivering. I snapped out of it then, suddenly remembering I have to be somewhere. "Yeah, I'm sorry I have an appointment right now,"I said sadly. He shook his head, making his beautiful hair flow side to side. "Don't apologise, it's fine. Hey, can I have your phone number? We can discuss a better time then,"Calum asked. I nodded immediately with excitement, but then flushed from embarrassment instead as I remembered I don't even have a phone, the only one I can use is the home phone. I fidgeted making him chuckle a little. "It's okay, take this instead,"Calum said, writing something down on paper. He handed me the scrap of paper making my eyes light up with joy, he just gave me his phone number! "Well, I'll see you later then Janie,"he said, smiling one last time, specially for me. "Y-Yeah, bye Calum,"I said happily.

As I continued my walk up the road I felt my heart hammering in my chest, did that really just happen? Everything went so fast then, I couldn't wait to tell Breah about this later. I was so happy that I didn't even care that dark clouds were coming in, I had a spring in my step now. I held his phone number to my chest and almost started skipping, I quickly stuffed it in my coat pocket to protect it when it began raining though. I got a little soaked myself when I arrived at the dentistry but I didn't care, I was in a good mood now.

The old receptionist lady wasn't there behind the counter when I came in, no one was in the waiting room either, it seemed empty. It was too quiet, I looked over at the clock on the wall, it was 9:04. I wasn't that late, so I decided to make my way to Eddie's room for the x-ray. But I stopped outside his door hesitantly, what if he had a different patient in there right now?

I was about to knock to find out when the door then opened by itself, Eddie stood before me and smiled as he looked down at me. "Janie! I thought for a second that you'd forgotten about the appointment,"he said, ruffling my hair. I laughed shakily, dodging his hand a little and making my way past him to the chair. I took my coat off but then started shaking slightly from the cold. "Oh Janie, how do you always manage to get yourself drenched?"Eddie asked. He offered me to wear his lab coat but I refused politely. I took a seat on the dental chair slowly, glancing at the window. It was only drizzling a few minutes ago but it was pouring down with rain now. I wasn't looking forward to walking through that, I guess I'll have to sprint home.

"So, you look rather cheerful today,"Eddie said, slipping on the white gloves. I felt myself blush a little as I was reminded of my encounter with Calum not long ago. "Y-Yeah,"I said with dreamy eyes. Eddie smiled at me sweetly. "Something happen?"he asked. I nodded to that. It went silent for a moment, I then realised he was waiting for an explanation. "U-Um, it was just a boy in my class...he gave me his number,"I said, feeling a bit childish. I saw Eddie's index and middle finger twitch a little then, he forced a smile and said,"Oh." He turned to look at some paper work and chuckled a little so I smiled and giggled nervously too.

When it went quiet I looked down and fidgeted a bit, I cleared my throat. "So...where's Mrs Wilson?"I asked him. Eddie flipped a page before saying casually,"She's off work today." I looked down again. "Oh,"I said. I didn't bother to ask him where the other staff were, I figured I wouldn't get a proper answer. Eddie wasn't doing anything for a while, he kept his back to me and tapped his fingers on the counter repeatedly. I stared back at the window again to avoid this awkward moment, the rain seemed worse than it was before. It was like every time I come here, bad weather would appear. Each raindrop pelted down loudly against the window.

When I looked back at Eddie I saw him filling a syringe with some drug making me tense up a little, I didn't like needles. It took me a moment to realise, you don't even need injections for an x-ray. I got told in science that they only put this paper looking stuff in your mouth before taking a scan, you don't need drugs. I swallowed. "Eddie...what's that?"I asked, trying not to sound worried. He flicked the tip of the needle and hummed,"Mmm?" I felt my heart start pounding.

"Eddie....?"I said quietly. He was silent for too long. I sat up in the chair and reached for my coat that was on the floor, placing one foot down. "Janie,"Eddie said, still facing the other way. "Please sit back down." There was something off about everything. His tone was different, he didn't sound gentle and happy as usual, he sounded serious. He turned his head to look at me, he was frowning and his eyes didn't have the same friendly twinkle like before, they looked rather scary as he just stared at me. I swallowed and whispered again,"Eddie..?" His eyes stayed pierced into mine for a few more seconds until his mouth twitched into a small smirk, a quiet chuckle escaped him.

I was officially scared then. I got on my feet, being wary of him, and tried running past him, but his hand seized hold of my wrist tight. "Eddie! Eddie please stop, you're scaring me,"I said, my voice cracking. He laughed a little again as he slowly dragged me back to the chair. "Don't be afraid of me Janie,"he said calmly, his smile going unnaturally wide. That topped it, I started having a panic attack, my head was spinning and my vision was slowly turning white. I felt him place me back down on the chair, lifting my legs up for me and pushing my head back gently.

I tried getting back up but failed, feeling sick. He carefully tilted my head to the side and I felt something prick my neck soon after, it made me shriek quietly. I covered my mouth, fearful I'll vomit, and felt a hand on my shoulder and one on my head, stroking my hair slowly. Eddie shushed me but that made things worse. I held my head,"No, Eddie I don't feel good." I felt him continue to stroke my hair softly so I jerked my head away in fear and began trembling, though the action hurt my neck. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek before Eddie whispered close to my ear,"Shhh, it's okay Janie, you'll be fine."