"A new patient today?"
"Yes, just a one-time thing."
Cas Novak sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Where's Lucy and Gabriel? Isn't it their turn for overtime?"
"They both left, Cas. It's just you again," the receptionist said, sympathetically.
This was getting ridiculous. He was always the dentist stuck with overtime. Lucy and Gabe always thought it was funny to leave him with all the hard work. Especially Gabe, that joker.
"Perfect," Cas said sarcastically, "You can go home Meg, it's after five o'clock."
Meg looked at him with gratefulness. "Are you sure?" she asked, only for the sake of manners.
"I'm sure I can handle the last patient on my own. You said yourself it was a one-time thing, right?"
"Yes..."
"So he won't need to schedule another appointment. There's no need for you to work any harder." Cas smiled at her, "Go out and have fun on your birthday."
Meg's face lit up. "You remembered?"
"Of course," Cas said with a laugh. He went into his office and came back with a small package wrapped with red ribbon. Meg looked at it and her eyes started watering.
"Cas, you didn't have to-"
"Go on, open it."
Meg untied the red ribbon and opened the box. She pulled out a pair of knife-shaped ruby earrings. Her mouth dropped while she observed the beauties.
"You like them?" Cas asked quietly.
"I-I love them. They're perfect, Cas. Thank you."
"I thought they looked like you." Meg gazed at them for a while longer, then put them in her purse.
"What are you still doing here, go have fun." Cas encouraged.
"Thanks," she gathered her purse and coat and headed for the door.
"One more thing," Cas called. She turned. "What's his name?"
"Dean Campbell," Meg told Cas as she shut the door behind her.
The name sounded familiar to Cas. Did he see it in a dream? No it was far too distant. Maybe a dream in a dream? Cas laughed at himself. This wasn't Inception, his favorite movie. He shrugged the feeling off, it was probably nothing.
Cas walked behind Meg's desk and picked up a clipboard with various papers attached to it. He flipped through them. There wasn't much information on this Dean Campbell. In fact this was, indeed, a rare occurrence. Patients are normally on a family plan, or any kind of plan, and come to see him twice a year.
Dean Campbell offered little information on himself when calling in on a short notice. Cas arose from Meg's desk and walked around to a door on the right. After entering, there was a hallway of rooms to the left, each with a chair and filled with dentistry equipment. Cas turned right, choosing the middle of three offices. He sat down in his chair and typed into the search engine "Dean Campbell".
And oh, what he found.
Dean Campbell had a rather impressive police record. Anything from truancy to credit card fraud and breaking and entering was on the list. He was apparently unimpressed with the law. Cas was shocked. Why would someone who obviously had no respect for himself or others want to make sure his teeth were okay?
Cas shuffled through the papers again and squinted at his name. It was the right one. The appointment was scheduled for 5:30pm. He looked at the clock on his computer. 5:37pm.
Alarmed at how fast time had gone by when he was skimming through Dean's online info, Cas jumped from his desk and rushed back into the waiting room.
Leaning his back on Meg's desk was a stocky guy in a leather jacket and loose, patterned jeans. His brown hair was slightly flicked up in the front and his face had minor stubble, probably hadn't shaved in a few days. When Cas burst through the door, Dean Campbell swung his head towards him. Cas felt like he was going to drop dead any second. He was beautiful.
"Hey, I was beginning to think I came to the wrong place!" Dean smiled at the dentist.
Cas looked him over, trying not to stare but he couldn't help it. It seemed like there was a forest in Dean's deep, green eyes, with gold flecks of sunlight finding its way through the trees.
'A forest of secrets, perhaps?' Cas wondered. It sounded absurd, but with those extraordinary eyes, anything was possible.
Finally, Cas found the confidence to answer him. "N-No, this is definitely the right place."