Our phone rang, Luke grumbling and taking his arm from round me to answer. I sat on the sofa, picking at a loose threat on my jeans and looking up at the photos on our wall.
Luke and I at the zoo, at a theme park, as his parents house- we did everything together.
He sat back down and pulled me in for a hug, but his grip was strangely strong.
"That's was Ash,"
"Oh?"
"Why haven't you been to the dentist for five years? No cleaning or checkup for that long,"
"They've turned you into a health guru," I muttered, my heart pounding.
"No they haven't, Mia this could be dangerous,"
"I'm fine,"
"Just please book an appointment, Ash is nice and so is Michael,"
"I'll do it later,"
It was getting late so we went up to bed, Luke wrapping his arm round my waist. He mumbled something I couldn't hear, holding my hand before going to sleep.
"She always sleeps in this late?"
"Mhm,"
"Mia wake up we need to shop," Luke said softly, "and Cal needs our help,"
"Go alone,"
"No, you have a mental list,"
"I'll write it down,"
"I'll buy the wrong chocolate,"
"Fine," I grumbled, sitting up and watching them both smile.
"I'm not getting dressed,"
"Alright," Luke shrugged, "then we can go,"
I grabbed a hoodie and slipped it over my top, finding my trainers and going to grab the car keys. Luke already had them.
We got in the car, Luke turning on the radio and holding my hand. It all seemed really strange to me, but the two of them were always doing stupid stuff.
However, as we drove past the shops, I got a little more on edge.
"This isn't the shops,"
"Oh,"
"Luke, where are we going-,"
I ripped my hand away from his, folding my arms and turning away. They'd brought me to the dentist.
"Come on, Ash is waiting,"
"I'm not going in," I insisted, my stomach starting to twist.
"It's better to get it over with now,"
The car door opened Calum standing there while Luke undid my seatbelt.
"I'm not going in!"
"You're an adult Mia, you're gonna scare the kids. They're just giving you a cleaning and a checkup,"
I tugged at their grip but it was no use: they easily got me into the building and Luke signed me in. Meanwhile, Calum took me to a room where Ashton and Michael sat.
As soon as I was in the room, I broke down.
"It's okay," Calum said calmly, Ashton also coming over. I jumped away and gripped Calum's shirt.
"Hey,hey, hey, it's just me. Sit down and tell me why you're so panicked,"
"I'm not sitting down,"
Luke walked into the room, his face softening as he saw how small I was now.
"Mia, woah, calm down,"
"I hate you," I sobbed, "did you not ever think about why I haven't been for so long?"
"I did, actually, which is why Calum came,"
"Let me go," I cried, pushing Calum away and heading for the door. Luke caught me.
"Mia, Ashton wasn't your past dentist, and I'm sure he's nothing like that. You're gonna be okay," he said, holding my head to his chest.
Silence filled the room, and all I could hear was my unsteady breathing.
"We're gonna try this, okay?" he said quietly, ignoring my defeated protests. With Calum's help, he laid me on the chair where Ashton was already waiting. Calum held my legs, while Luke kept one hand rubbing my stomach and one on my shoulder. Michael rested his hand on my shoulder too, and Ashton brought the light over.
"You have to let him look," Calum chuckled.
"We don't want to hurt you," Michael reminded, although it seemed far from the truth.
"I'm just gonna count them, and Michael will clean them, then you can go,"
Luke kissed my hand, holding them to my stomach as I barely opened my mouth.
"Come on," Ash encouraged, "That's it,"
Tears were still falling down my face as he did the checkup, Luke trying to get me to relax.
"You're doing great,"
"Stop," I tried to say, feeling his apply pressure round my gums. He started called out numbers and I panicked again.
"It's okay, Michael's gonna give you a cleaning now. I'm gonna our numbing gel on so you don't feel anything,"
"It hurts?"
"No, but you might shuffle round,"
"Luke,"
"It's okay," he said quietly, cupping my cheek with his hand, "you're doing so great,"
"I feel like I'm gonna be sick,"
"Deep breaths,"
I tried but started crying again, Michael turning the light off and appearing in my view.
"Mia, love, all I'm gonna do it spray water to clean them, floss and polish,"
"No you do that scraping thing,"
"Okay, well I'll do that as quick as possible. The thing is, after not coming for five years there might be more for me to do,"
"Why don't you listen to some music?" Calum said, grabbing his phone and headphones.
"That's a good idea," Luke mumbled, letting me plug them in and choosing music.
"You've gotta let us do this," Ashton sighed, rolling over, "we want you to be able to leave as much as you do,"
"Luke," I whined trying to pull my body away from their grip; he only tightened his grip, and as I went to protest they stuck a mouth prop in my mouth.
"No!"
"Mia," Luke begged, "they're my best friends, why would they want to hurt my girlfriend?"
"Luke I'm scared,"
"I know you are, but you've not tried to ask about how we can change it for you, and I know how brave you can be,"
He turned the music on and held my hand, Michael beginning to clean my teeth. At first, I felt like I couldn't breathe, but the longer it took, more more I relaxed.
"You're doing great," I heard Ashton say, "I'm taking the prop out,"
"As long as you keep flossing and brushing, you shouldn't have any problems. A couple of teeth almost have a cavity, but not yet," Michael said, "what polish do you want?"
"I don't know,"
"Bubblegum," Calum decided, a little too excitedly. Ashton laughed, Luke tapping my chest to remind me to breathe.
"Last bit," they assured, polishing my teeth and sitting me up to rinse.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly.
"It's okay," Ashton said immediately, "we didn't expect you to just ignore the fear,"
"Can we go home?" I asked Luke, who gently rubbed my back.
"Sure, I hope you know now that it's not as scary as you imagined,"