Rudy Can't Fail

I had taken the morning off to go to the Doctors, as these headaches were getting beyond a joke. They were more frequent and the pain varied; it had me worried. Max had come with for moral support and we were in her car heading over there.

"So, you met Tre Jr, your designing a tattoo for Billie Joe and Mike wants to go through your CD's? They even sang a song for you! You really impressed them, huh? I read articles about them being close and it's really hard to get in their circle, but you've made it look like a streak of piss!" She's bleating on, but I'm not really listening.

Last night was fucking funny, man. Those guys were hilarious. The told me stories about touring, and all of Tre's exploits. Even asking me questions about what I did, what I was into and stuff like that.

I over-heard Mike talking to Tre in the kitchen, while Billie and I were talking about his family.

"So are you gonna tell her?"

"I had planned too, but then you guys showed up. I'm waiting for the right moment."

"You're a lucky fucker, Tre. Seriously…if I wasn’t with Brit, I'd be on that like white on rice."

"I know, and dude, there's no way she'd want you! Slim Jim over Beef Jerky? No fucking way, man." He laughs. "But you like her right?"

"Yeah, anyone who shakes their ass like that and can handle Billie Joe, is cool with me!"

Tell me what? Were there some skeletons knockin' about in some closet, that I didn’t know about?

After the guys left Tre had gone quiet. Putting it down to him being tired, I forgot about their conversation and went home. It had been a long day for both of us.

"Nat!" Max's shout brings me back to my senses.

"Yeah, sweetie…sorry…what?"

"Ooh, look at you all jonesing for Mr Cool." She coos. "You looove him, you wanna daaate him, you think he's gorgeous!"

"Shut the fuck up," I laugh, "Nah, I'm just thinking about this Doctor thing." I say distractedly. "I don’t know what it could be. And they've slowly been getting worse…" I trail off.

"Don’t worry about it, your healthy and active. He's probably gonna tell you to calm down on all the sex your having- its making you see stars!" She laughs at her own crap joke.

"Well, these days, I'm seeing a lot of them: Tre, Billie and Mike, so ner." I shot back, sticking my tongue out.

"Touché!"

***

"Ms Carrigan, would you please describe the pain?" Dr Broderick asks. He's nice. About 50, with greying hair and a weather-beaten face. He listens contently as I do as he asked.

"It’s a throbbing at first. A bit dull of a dull ache. But then I get days where its continuous- like someone's taken a sledgehammer to my skull."

He nods making a brief note on his chart. "And is the pain on one side, or both?"

"Usually one side; the left. I don’t know if this matters but the other day, it shot right down into my left eye."

He gets up from his chair, taking out one of them pen thingies, with a light in it and shines it into my eye. "Please explain what happened, Ms Carrigan…"

"Well I'd had a headache and was chilling out at home, when I got this shooting pain, that went into my eye, the next thing you know, I'm feeling dizzy and I cant see for shit." Flinching at my words, I apologise. "Sorry". Way to go on the manners there, dumbass!

"No problem, dear. Please continue." He shines the light into my other eye.

"I couldn't see for a minute- it was all blurry and stuff. But then as quick as it had happened was as quickly as it went away."

Dr Broderick looked at me and smiled before taking his seat and scribbling some notes again.

"Ms Carrigan, what you've described doesn’t sound like your run of the mill migraine. I'm going to refer you to our Neurologist for an MRI. Once she has a look at you, we'll know what were dealing with and can work out the best treatment for you."

"Mmkay. But I'm not gonna die any time soon, right?"

He chuckles at me, before leaning back in his leather chair, "Not today, dear and not at all, if I can help it. Now, if you'd like to go to Reception and speak to Tiffany; she'll fix you an appointment with Dr Grey" Getting out of his chair, he hands me my card and shakes my hand.

"See, you soon, Ms Carrigan."

"Ok then, Dr Broderick, and thanks." I say rising form my seat and leaving his office. I walk out into Reception and see Max reading some teen magazine with Lindsey Lohan on the cover.
Turning my attention to the vision in bubblegum pink, behind the desk, I hand her my appointment and credit card, and schedule Thursday's visit.

"Okay, darlin'. You'll be seeing Dr Grey, and she's on the third floor." Such dulcet preppy tones. I roll my eyes as she gives me back my cards and I note the Barbie pink nail varnish on her acrylic adorned hand. Real pretty, in a Pepto- Bismol kind of way.

"Yeah, thanks." I offer casually and walk to the door.

"Max, we're leaving!" I call out.

She jumps up and sighs "Thank God, the stench of her Eau De Toilet was fucking killing me." Rolling her eyes, she looks over to Tiffany and says "If your gonna wear that perfume, you might wanna crack a window in here. If people weren’t that sick when they came in, they would be after smelling you!"

I crack up laughing. "Shhh! I cant fucking take you anywhere." I say pushing her playfully. Tiffany just looks at us both in disgust and carries on filing.

"Well you know my nose is sensitive to odours!" She whines. "So what did the Doc say?" Linking my arm, we stroll out of the building into the warmth of the outside.

"I have to come back Thursday. And your not taking me. Not after that!"

"Fine, then." She flips me off then unlocks the car and we get in. "Wouldn't want to see ‘Barbie on Crack’ again, anyway!"