Page 107 of Something Rad
“Shut up, Cooper.” Robbie is out of the car and around to open my door before I have a chance to argue any further.
I accept his hand with a groan, letting him pull me from the car, then drop it once I’m standing upright. He immediately moves to rest his hand on my shoulder, guiding me towards the front door. I turn to look at him with my one open eye. “You don’t have to do that,” I say, motioning to his hand. “I’m not entirely blind, you know?”
Robbie takes back his hand, holding it up with his other hand defensively. “Suit yourself, Cooper.” He moves in front of me, stepping up on the curb and heading for the front door.
“Thank you,” I say, following after him.
I take two steps before I walk directly into a parking sign, smacking the left side of my head on it. “Agh!” I step back, rubbing at the quickly forming bump on my temple. I glance up at the culprit, seeing the sign readsReserved for Dr. Darren Summers.
I hear a sigh and turn my head to see Robbie walking back to me. He puts his hand back on my shoulder. “Wanna try that again, Cooper?”
I clear my throat. “Yes, please.”
Robbie leads me through the front door and into the lobby, telling me to sit down in a chair while he goes to talk to the receptionist. I’m nearly across the room, but can still just make out his voice as he reaches the desk.
“Hey, Doris,” he says.
The older woman looks up at him, her head pulling back. “Robbie? What are you doing here?” she asks. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”
“Yeah, well, it’s my…girlfriend,” Robbie says, motioning his head in my direction. I quickly glance the other way, keeping my hand covering my bad eye and pretending to be very interested in the wall. “She had a little accident. Messed up her eye. Figured she should have it looked at. And, besides, it’s lunchtime right now.”
I steal a glance back at the desk, seeing Doris looking right at me. I give her a little smile and wave. Her eyebrows raise, and then she waves back before sitting back down. “Well, isn’t she just darling?” I hear her ask Robbie. I look away, my cheeks feeling warm all of the sudden.
Robbie clears his throat. “Can you get her squeezed in real quick?”
“Oh, I’m sure that’ll be fine. Let me go get your father–”
“No,” Robbie says forcefully, making me look back in his direction. I see him holding out his hand to stop Doris from getting up.
My brows pull together at his odd reaction.
What’s up with that?
Robbie smiles tightly at Doris. “Can you see if Will’s available? Or Janet? Or my mom, if neither of them are? Please?”
There’s an awkward pause before Doris responds. “Sure, hon. Let me take a look.” She appears to flip through a binder, I assume looking at today’s appointments. “It looks like Dr. Richards is free right now.”
“Awesome,” Robbie says, visibly relaxing.
“Let’s get her in an exam room and I’ll go get him,” Doris says. Then she stands up suddenly, looking in my direction. I snap my head in the other direction, pretending I wasn’t eavesdropping on the whole encounter.
“Honey, you can come on back,” she calls to me, motioning with her hand for me to walk through the door to the side of the reception desk.
“Great,” I squeak. “Thank you.” I hop up and scramble for the door, but Robbie beats me there, holding it open for me. After I walk through, he follows behind me, letting the door fall shut. I glance back at him with my one good eye, seeing his unusually guarded expression, his posture slumped. The way he keeps his head ducked almost looks like he’s…hiding?
“Here we go. Just in here,” Doris says, making me return my attention forward to where she’s leading me (us, apparently) into an exam room. I try to take one of the small chairs in the corner of the room, but Robbie grunts out a sound telling me no, and I look up to see him pointing towards the very big and dramatic exam chair in the center of the room. I cock my head at him, attempting to challenge him, but he just shakes his head, pointing at the exam chair again as he plops down in the seat I was about to take. I roll my one good eye at him, begrudgingly making my way over to the ridiculous chair. “Dr. Richards should be in here in just a minute, hon,” Doris announces, closing the door and leaving Robbie and me alone.
It’s quiet for a few moments before I look over at him. It takes me a beat to realize what looks so off about him. He’s glancing around the room with his arms crossed like it’s just as new to him as it is to me. He looksuncomfortable. That’s definitely a new look on Robbie Summers. I question why it would be in action at his family’s business of all places. Then something occurs to me.
“Dr.Richards?” I ask him. Robbie’s head shifts in my direction. “You guys let someone infiltrate the legendary family business?”
“He’s my sister Janet’s husband,” he says. “Will.”
“Your sister’s married to an optometrist too?”
“They met in school,” he confirms.
“Wow. You guys really…love eyes.”
