It was a pretty quiet day at my clinic. I'd been out of med school, residency, and all that shit for about two years now and my fledgling clinic just outside Boston was doing alright. I had a decent number of clients by dint of my reputation and I'd been networking around town β talking to people, business owners, and other doctors, around the tony costal town where I lived and kept my office.
I was on a pretty standard routine. 8:00AM up. Workout, breakfast, shower, into work by 9:30. It was a sunny May day, unseasonably warm, so I stayed at the beach a bit longer than usual after my run to take in the impending sense of summer.
I pulled my 4Runner into the office around 9:45, a little late, but I didn't have any clients that morning, so who cares, right? The office was small, but at a prime location in the heart of town. The building was an old trading house, with beautiful antique wood floors and old, hand blown glass windows.
"Morning, Viv," I said as I walked by receptionist/nurse/all-around helper's desk.
"Drake" she said as I walked by, "You're late!"
"No worries, Viv, we don't have any patients until 10:15," I said.
She pointed across the room to the alcove of white benches topped with blue pillows on the other side of the room. There was a girl sitting there, swipping down her phone. She looked up at me expectingly.
"Hi Doctor, I scheduled kind of last minute, but I'm going back to school soon and I need a physical," she said as she stood up to shake my hand. "I'm Jennifer by the way, Jennifer Arnko"
"Hi Jennifer, no problem, sorry I'm late, I didn't realize we had an appointment and I got cought up at the beach taking in the sun after my morning run."
We held Eye contact for a while. Her eyes were so dazelingly blue β it took me back to the ocean.
"Head into exam room two. Let me get your file and I'll be right with you"
"Thanks for the heads up, Viv" I said sarcastically.
"Your welcome, dickwad," Viv replied.
We had a weird report like that β we were always shitting on each other.
I grabbed by tablet, left my backpack on my desk and went over to the exam room. I knocked on the door, and walked in. I sat down in one of the chairs, crossed my leg and rested the tablet on it as I checked through Jennifer's file.
"Alright, Miss Arnko. I see that you're here for your annual physical exam, right?"
I looked across at the flaxen haired girl sitting in the chair diagonal from me, her body coiled with nervous energy.
"M-hmm," she nodded her head"