Alpha Billionaire Series

MANDY

I lay back with my mouth open wide as the hygienist scraped my teeth. I had my eyes closed against the bright overhead light that was shining right in my face. It was good that the dentist could see my teeth properly, but it was always so bright. ATV hung on the wall, positioned so that if my eyes were open, I could watch.

“I love these guys,” the hygienist yammered on about the better looking than conventionally attractive twins who flipped houses on the DIY channel for homeowners, or aspiring homeowners. Had I been in this dentist chair a month earlier, I would have agreed with her. There were more times than I cared to admit to watching their show just to watch them swing a sledgehammer and get a peek at that triceps muscle on the back of their arms bulge. To me, that was one of the sexiest muscles a man could have.

Grant definitely had that defined muscle in his arms. It was so hot. All of him was hot, and he made those DIY guys look bland and normal in comparison.

I mumbled a confirming sound. She could interpret it any way she wanted to.

The chair moved, and she sat me up.

“I'll go get the doctor to give your teeth a look.”

I blinked to clear my vision. I watched a few minutes of the handsome twins demolishing a house.

“Mandy, it's been a while since we've seen you” Dr. Mason said as he extended his hand to shake.

“I've been away at school," I replied before he lowered the chair back.

I opened my mouth.

Dr. Mason tapped some tool on each tooth. “Well, it looks like you've been keeping up with your regular cleanings. I see a new filling in here. Everything looks great”

He righted my chair and began looking at the images of my x-rays on a tablet. He scrolled through and nodded as he reviewed my files.

“How's your knee? Looks like we started you on antibiotics last week. You know current guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis lean toward no longer giving antibiotics for basic dental cleanings for patients with joint replacements. Remind us the next time you make an appointment or check with your dentist in Chicago. If your knee isn't causing you issues, I don't see why we can't stop.”

I nodded, he patted me on the shoulder and handed the tablet to the hygenist.

“Everything looks good. I'l see you next time Mandy," he said before leaving.

“Do you want to schedule your six-month check-up now?”

“I don't know if I'll be in the area,” I said. “I know we've been up this way for Christmas in the past, but things are really up in the air right now.”

I didn't need to give her my entire sob story. If Mom sold the lake house, there would be no more appointments with Dr. Mason.

“You can always give us a call then,” she said, handing over a business card with Dr. Mason's information on it. “Would you like orange or blue? I'm sorry those are the only colors I have”

“I'll take an orange toothbrush please”

She handed me a small plastic bag with my new toothbrush, a sampler of toothpaste, and a small round tub of floss. She didn't let go of the bag as I reached out to take it from her.

“About your antibiotics," she started before dropping her voice to an almost whisper. “I remember being young, and summers on the lake. Having fun... maybe too much fun, if you know what I mean?”

I narrowed my eyes, and extended my neck, trying to figure out what she was getting at. My sex life had nothing to do with my dental treatments.

“A lot of young women aren't aware that antibiotics make birth control pills do not work for a month. I just wanted to make sure you were aware.” She then let go of the bag, and it felt heavy with the truth bomb she had just dropped on me.

I wanted to ask; how did she know the condom broke? How did she know I was on birth control? As I waved to the receptionist as I walked out of the office, I felt stupid. The hygenist knew I was on birth control because it was in my records, But why hadn't anyone bothered to tell me about that before?

Islid into the driver's seat of my car. Out of habit, I pulled out my phone to see if I had any texts, especially to see if Mom needed anything.

“First interview is done. Call me.” It was a text from Vivica.

“Mandy!” she practically screamed as she answered the phone.

“How did it go?"

“They offered me the job. First interview and they f*****g offered me the job!”

“Holy crap!” No wonder she was yelling. “Which job was this?”

“Museum of Science. Oh my God, Mandy! I got the fucking job! I'm going to have to take Dylan out to dinner or something." “Tell me about the job, this was a contact of his?” I asked. I was thrilled that she landed a job right away.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

“Yeah, his boss knows everyone, and by extension, they know him too. So, they have these education outreach positions tha work with the schools creating lesson plans that they can implement before and after field trips. That's the job I got. There's another job like that I would do some work on that does lesson plans to be used with our interactive website. I said “our’ I' gota job!”

I could tell Vivica was tearing up and rubbing her hands together the way she did when she was super nervous or super excited.

“You should call Dylan, let him know. Are you going to £0 to the other interviews?” I asked.

“I really should do something nice for him. He's super stressed. His boss suddenly decided to extend his vacation. Do you think I should go to the other interviews? I mean I got the job. It would be rude to waste their time, wouldn't it?"

“Maybe one more?” I shrugged. “But definitely call or email and let the other places know you won't be interviewing." “Totally. I have to go shopping. I looked frumpy."

“What did you wear? Didn't you wear that cute little grey suit you got specifically for interviews?"

“Yeah. I thought I looked professional, and cute until I walked in. It's a museum, Mandy, they all dress like artists and designers. My grey suit with a pastel blouse and my hair licked back into a ponytail was business boring. My new boss said that while they can't tell me not to dye my hair fluorescent pink, they discourage it since I will be working with schools. This is going to be so much fun!”

Iwas thrilled for her. She was so excited, and after some things she said to me earlier, she deserved this total win.

“Hey Vivica, I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“You don't take antibiotics to get your teeth cleaned, do you?"

“No. Do you?”

I sighed. “I have to because of the knee. So, um,” this was embarrassing, but if I couldn't ask my best friend who could I ask? “I've been on the pill for like, eight years. Before the knee surgery even, the dental hygienist, or the dentist, never once told me that the antibiotics would mess up the pill”

I let the question hang.

“Wait, you didn't know that?” Vivica asked.

“No. You did?"

“Sure, I thought everyone knew that” she said. “So, what?"

“Well, I was kind of wondering why the hygienist would make it a point to subtly let me know she knew I was fooling around and be careful because the antibiotics negated the pill. I mean I've been really good about having my teeth cleaned regularly, but... I don't know. It just seems like weird timing, you know?”

“Mandy.” she was using her “you're being stupid voice.

I closed my eyes. “What?”

“So, you and Grant been getting it on?”

“Vivica,” I let her name be an admonition. She knew we were intimate, after all we had hooked up during the Haufmann’s party. “Of course”

“You give him a blow job in the past two days?"

“That's none of your business.”

“Might not be mine, but it's your dentist's business”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Yes, I gave him one yesterday, so what?"

She started cackling. “Mandy, how is it you are so smart but so dumb at the same time?”

“What?” She was torturing me. I needed her to tell me already.

“The hygenist told you about the antibiotics thing because she knows you are getting frisky."

“How? There's no way,” I said.

“Yes, way. Okay Mandy, a little anatomy lesson for you. The roof of your mouth is called your hard palate.”

“Vivica” I didn’t need her talking to me like I was a child. “Get on with it already”

“Fine. Your soft palate gets bruised when you suck d**k. She was cleaning your teeth and looking at that bruised soft palate the entire time.”

“Oh my God,” I hid behind my hand, wanting to shrink away so no one could ever see me again. “I can never see Dr. Mason again. This is mortifying”

Vivica continued to cackle on the other end of our conversation.

“How do you know that? And don't tell me your cousin," I moaned.

“Don’t be gross. That would be nasty. No, I learned this from all those stupid little internet videos."

“And you didn't think to tell me?” I whined. I was dying.

“It's not that bad. They see it all the time. Just pretend it didn’t happen.”

I could do that. What I couldn't do was pretend that everything was fine since the condom broke. We eventually ended the call. Vivica and I could have talked for hours, usually did, but I used the excuse that I had to get back to work. I did, but first wanted to go check something out at the drugstore.

Not wanting anyone in town who might know me to see me looking at pregnancy tests, I headed over to the supermart a town over. If I thought the dentist knowing I was giving head was embarrassing, the thought of my mom knowing I was shopping for a pregnancy test would put me all the way in my grave.

If I wasn't already feeling overwhelmed by my earlier embarrassment, I certainly was feeling it as I stood in front of the selection of pregnancy tests available. They had everything from early detection ovulation to early detection pregnancy. I picked one up and started reading the instructions. As soon as you've missed your period.

I wouldn't exactly call that early. There had to be one that worked even earlier. I began reading different boxes, and they all said the same thing. I'd have to wait.