Ugh. What the hell. My jaw is so sore. Opening my eyes, I walk over to the mirror looking at my mouth, opening and closing it. It looks a little swollen on the left side but I can't see anything seriously wrong with it.
"MUM!" I yell, still looking at myself in the mirror.
"What?" she says, stepping into my room.
"Can you look in my mouth please, it hurts," I whine.
She pulls out her phone and turns on the light. I open my mouth and she has a look.
"Yep. One of your teeth has a crack in it," she says turning the torch off.
"How did that happen overnight?" I question seriously confused.
"I don't know but you better make an appointment at the dentist," she says walking back out of my room to finish getting ready for work.
Grumpily, I grab my phone off of my bedside table and google the local dentist's number. Hitting the call button, I wait for an answer.
"Welcome to Dentist Time. This is Anne speaking, how can I help you?" a voice chirped through the phone.
"Hi, I was just wondering if you have any appointments free today?" I reply with a hopeful tone.
"Let me just check. No, it doesn't look, oh wait a second, we've had a cancellation for later on this evening if your happy to come by then?"
"What time is that at sorry?"
"5 p.m."
"Ah, yeah that will be fine," I say, giving her my details so she can book me in.
"Alright Ava, we'll see you at 5 p.m."
"See you then," I say before hanging up the phone. I go grab some Panadol knowing it won't completely take away my pain but it will at least ease it a little bit.
Looking at the time, I see I still have hours before I have to go so I decide to go downstairs and do some cooking, hopefully that will help me to keep my mind off of my toothache. Looking through the pantry, I decided that it's just going to be cupcakes that I make. Turning on the stereo and pairing my phone with it, I put my music on shuffle and begin dancing.
As I am at the best of times a mediocre cook and my dance moves are on a whole other level of bad, combing the two wasn't really the smartest choice I could have made however I was having a whole lot of fun while doing it.
At least I'm getting my exercise in, especially before I eat all of these cupcakes. I've got to live a balanced lifestyle you know, dance for an hour or so and then eat a dozen cupcakes. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Well, I'll eat them after my tooth is fixed. That would probably be a wise choice. I'm part way through doing some really bad crumping when Lizzy pops into the room, followed by Grace.
"Hello my lovelies," I yell at them over the music, spreading my arms out wide.
"Hello you crazy little ball of energy," Lizzy laughs back as she goes to turn the music off. I walk over to them just as I see Grace stick her finger into the bowl with the left-over cupcake mixture in it, covering it in chocolate and sticking it in her mouth.
"Excuse me missy, I don't want you spoiling your appetite," I say pointing my finger at her.
She just sticks her finger back in the pot staring me dead in the eye as if daring me to say something again. Laughing at her, I shake my head before turning to Lizzy.
"So, what brings you two down here?" I ask.
"Well, I've come to let you know that I have found you a date for tonight," she says and I go to interrupt her but she continues talking, "I know that the last few have been a bit unsuccessful but I have personally scoured the streets and interviewed a few different guys and honestly, this guy seems like he could really be something special. So, I double checked that your reservations at Food for the People are still in place and I told him to meet you there at 6 p.m. That is the time you meet your dates usually yeah?" She questions, taking a big breath.
"Well, yes I do normally go around 6, and I appreciate all the effort you've gone to for me but I can't go tonight."
"What? Why?"
"I have to go to the dentist."
"Screw the dentist this is more important."
"I wouldn't even be able to enjoy the date because I would be in pain."
"Well, what time is the appointment for?"
"5 o'clock," I say cringing.
"I can work with that. It'll be fine. I'll drive you there and then drop you off at the restaurant. I'm a much more efficient driver than you."
"Lizzy come on, it's going to be so rushed, why don't you just cancel it and reschedule it for tomorrow?"
"No, I can't. I am not going to risk you skipping this date because then there is a huge possibility that it will never end up happening and sorry, but I'm not about to take that chance."
"Okay, I'll go. For you."
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it."
"Well we still have a few hours until we have to leave so do you guys just want to chill here?" I question.
They both agree and we end up deciding to just relax and watch a movie. Luckily Grace was here because she remined me about the cupcakes in the oven. That was a disaster waiting to happen.
A half hour before we have to leave, we head upstairs and Liz and Grace help me get ready. I'm going to be a little overdressed for the dentist but I'm not going to have time to change afterwards so I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and deal with it.
Now when Lizzy said she was a more efficient driver, what she really meant was when needed, she tends to make a decision within herself that the speed limit is not something that should be strictly followed and is something that is merely a suggestion. I thought every second car was going to be the police yet somehow, we made it to the dentist with no speeding fines.
I let the man at the reception desk know that I am here and he gestured for us to sit down in the waiting room. Shortly after a lady dressed in all white calls my name.
"Hello Ava, I'm Maria and I am your dentist for today," she says as she leads me towards a consulting chair. "So, what are we looking at today?"
"Well I think I've cracked my tooth," I say putting my finger to the back of my mouth to show her where it is.
She takes a look at it before coming to a decision.
"You have done a pretty good job with that Ava. You have two options here. I can just fill it for you however this is just a temporary fix. The second option, which is the one that I personally feel is the best one, is to just remove it for you."
"So even if you just fix it, it will cause me pain again in the future?" I question.
"Yes, that is more than likely what will happen unfortunately."
"Alright. Rip it out," I say before I have too much time to think about it.
"Okay. So, for this procedure I will have to give you a needle in the side of your mouth to numb the gums. I also have some laughing gas on hand if you feel you'll need it as long as you aren't driving home," she questions looking towards Lizzy and Grace.
"No, that's fine. I'll be driving home," Lizzy chimes in.
I prepare myself for the needle by squeezing my fist but I am surprised that it didn't actually hurt as much as I was expecting. The whole procedure doesn't take too long and Maria seems to really know what she is doing which I am internally grateful for. I get through the whole thing without any laughing gas which was disappointing because I really wanted to use some, which led me to my next question.
"Maria. Would I be able to have some laughing gas?" I question.
"Why are you in pain?" she replies looking concerned.
"No, I just want to see what it's like," I laugh, shying off a little.
"Okay, but only a little bit." She goes and grabs the mask and I inhale a deep breath and it doesn't take long before I start gigging. Maria leaves to go grab the paper work for me to fill out and I make sure to take plenty of breaths in, filling my lungs with as much gas as possible.
By the time Maria gets back, I feel a little disoriented and realise I may have taken a little bit too much.
Lizzy helps me to fill out the forms and then both her and Grace help me out of the dentist and into the car.
"Why did you ask for laughing gas Ava? Everything was going so well!" Lizzy cries as she pulls onto the road.
"My lip feels funny," is all I say in response to her.
"Okay. Are you good to go in?" Lizzy questions, concern writing all over her face.
"I am A-Okay," I say before I walk over to the door, barely touch it, then turn back around to Lizzy and Grace.
"I haven't been invited in so I don't think I'm allowed."
"You're allowed in, you have a table reserved, remember?"
I just stare at her blankly.
"A reserved table, for your date. Ava you do remember you're on a date, don't you?" she questions me.
"Yes. I know that there is a date today," I respond while opening the door.
Apparently, I am not very convincing because they follow me inside. Mason comes up to meet me and take me to my table.
"Hi Mr. Smirky smirk." I say, poking Mason on the arm. "Hey guys this is Mr. Smirky smirk," I say turning around to Lizzy and Grace.
"Are there any spare tables," Lizzy asks Mason, completely ignoring me, "I just don't think we should leave her alone like this."
"Yeah I'm sure I can organise something for you guys. What's wrong with her?" he asks.
"A little bit too much laughing gas at the dentist."
"Ah, makes sense," he says laughing at me.
He leads Lizzy and Grace to their table before taking me to mine and brings a jug of water over.
I look up at my date and am gobsmacked at how beautiful he is.
He introduces himself but I get so distracted looking at the most charming smile I have ever seen that I forget to actually listen to him. I guess I'll just call him Mr. Sexy.
"I'm Ava," I reply trying to make myself look sexy and I am 100% positive that it worked because he asks if I would like a glass of water. I chose to ignore the face he pulled while offering.
Picking up the water I go to take a drink. Usually this is such a simple task. Something that you don't even think about, you just put the cup to your lips and drink. The problem is, I can't feel my bottom lip and so the act of drinking is in fact a much more difficult task than I once anticipated. This may very well be the most difficult thing that I have ever had to do. In my head, I look very graceful, slowly lifting the cup to my lips while taking a quick sip, then rubbing my lips together to show that I am nice and refreshed.
The reality was much different. First, I tried to lift it with one hand but I brought it to my face way to hard and smashed the glass on my front teeth. I hope that hasn't resulted in another trip to the dentist.
Next, I try to lift it with both hands but for some reason I think the most effective way to do this is to keep my elbows up high away from my body. I manage to get it to my mouth but it turns out getting it there was only half the battle because as I pour it, I don't feel anything actually go in my mouth. I look down and see that it has instead poured straight out of my mouth and onto the table.
Mr. Sexy looks thoroughly disgusted by me at this point but for some reason my brain decides that this is code for 'I want you' and so I continue to try and seduce him. Putting my hand in the water on the table, I lean across and start wiping it on his face. "You need to shine pretty boy. Shine, shine, shine," I say, poking at his face.
"Okay this is getting a little bit too weird for me," he says and pushes his seat back to stand up.
No. this is not how this date is meant to go. My brain tells me it's fight or flight and I decide that the only way to make him stay is to kiss him so I go to stand up but I trip over myself, falling to the floor. I reach out to grab something to help stabilise myself and the closest thing just happened to be Mr. Sexy. I seem to have been part way to the floor because I end up grabbing onto his pants and I pull them down, leaving him towering over me in his jocks.
I look up at him and he looks mortified. Grabbing his pants, he pulls them up and races for the exit.
Mason rushes over to me and helps me up.
"A wise smirk once told me it's rude to skip out on a date," I say to Mason as I watch my date bolt towards the door.
"A wise smirk?" he laughs.
"Damn right," I say, nodding my head to show that I know exactly what I am talking about.
Lizzy and Grace rush over grabbing an arm each.
"Thank you so much, we'll help her home," Lizzy says.
We are about to head out when Lizzy says "Oh wait, can you take a picture of us really quickly, it's for her mum," she says, handing Mason her phone.
"Sure thing, this is definitely something you'll want to have evidence of," he laughs.
"Oh boy, a picture!" I say way to excited. I smile as big as I possibly can, then get pulled to the car.
Lizzy and Grace help me inside and to my bedroom, tucking me in and wishing me a good night sleep.
Mental note, don't have laughing gas before a date. It will not end well.