The Forbidden Fruit

Cage the Hayden

Hayden

After about four days of bringing yellow roses, I began to feel a pain in my jaw whenever I ate. I had ignored it for the first day, noticed it the second day, and on the third day I just thought of it as a reminder of the girl who basically changed my whole fucking everyday basis.

"Shit," I groaned, placing a gallon of milk back inside my fridge. I gingerly placed my hand on my jaw where Seph had punched me, running my fingers lightly over the spot. It had at first been an aching sort of feeling, but now it was sharper. I was considering going to the doctor's just to get it checked out. I never usually went, even when I was constantly reminded by those creepy postcards I got in the mail with that smiling giraffe saying, "You need a checkup!"

I was going to work tomorrow so it was now or never. I didn't want to accidentally let out a string of curses in the middle of helping a customer because of my stupid jaw. 

Hi, can I help you with FUCKING STUPID PIECE OF SHIT FUCk

Yeah, I wasn't going to let that happen.

I ambled over to my closet and checked my jaw in the mirror. The side of my faced was still kind of greenish and purple. I poked it again and a shooting pain went up the side of my face. Sighing, I opened my closet.

I chose a black and white pinstriped collared shirt, my favorite black jeans, and my trusty combat boots. I then picked up my comb, and, feeling like Danny Zuko or some shit, combed my hair back on the sides and very lightly on the top to achieve my signature hipster-jawline-goth-slightly-dead-inside look.

I grabbed my reflective silver sunglasses and made a note to myself that I really needed to pick up some new ones from work tomorrow.

I hopped into my old black car, jetted the engine, and then headed for Dr. Winston's on Thirty-second Street.

I pulled up in front of the familiar white Urgent Care building, parked my car, and then walked inside. The sliding doors opened with a whoosh and a gust of AC slapped me in the face. I bit my lip as it faded away into just a whisper of air, but on the inside I shed yet another tear because it had messed up my hair.

"Hayden!" the receptionist greeted me as I stepped inside the office. My eye kind of twitched as I struggled to remember her name.

"Hey... you," I said awkwardly, and she handed me the sign-in clipboard. I scribbled something that kind of resembled "Hayden Black" and then went and sat down with everyone else in the waiting room. A few people sneezed and I flinched a little, crossing my arms and my legs. How long had it been since I'd gotten a flu shot? Wait, had I even gotten a shot recently? I mean, I had done shots, but I don't think that counted.

"Hayden Black?" someone called from an open doorway behind the receptionist. I jumped up and followed them to a back room. "Dr. Winston'll be in soon." I nodded and sat myself down on the place where sick people recline in the middle of the room. The whole place was a weird kind of sterile white color, and it just smelled like rubbing alcohol. I shivered. The doctor's office had always kind of reminded me of a morgue.

"Hey, Hayden!" Dr. Winston said as the door opened. I let out a tiny, high-pitched shriek (because he scared the baby Jesus out of me), which, thankfully, he didn't hear because of the squeak of the door hinges. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," I said, kind of frazzled.

"So, why are you here today?" He seated himself in his little swivel chair and clicked his pen at the ready.