No Laughing Matter Pt. 01

For some reason, that made me burst out in laughter even more. "Are you also a foot model? Hahaha! How do you have feet that pretty living in the Moroccan heat!"

Hind looked at Bob again and raised her arms in a perplexing shrug. "What she talking?"

Bob grinned, rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Don't take what she's saying as gospel. She's under the influence!" He too began laughing, which seemed to spur me on even more.

"Hahaha. No. Hahaha. I really mean it! Your feet are beautiful. Hahaha. I couldn't stop looking at them."

I noticed Hind's cheeks were blushing even more red at my attention. She looked down and slipped one of her feet from her crocs, then leant to look at her toes with curiosity as she wiggled them.

"Oh, there's that beautiful toe ring," I said amongst even more laughter.

Hind blushed once more, then quickly inserted her foot back into her croc. "Need anything?" she asked Bob in a flustered gasp of exasperation.

"No, no. You can carry on at your desk," he said. "There's another patient due shortly."

And in an almost dash, Hind left the room.

It was at this point, Bob managed to wrestle the breathing mask from me. He held onto it for the rest of the treatment, offering me a few breaths between the work in my mouth. He kept me to the bare minimum, just enough to relax me with the occasional laugh, but not in the clown-like barrage I'd undergone before. We continued that way for over an hour, while he finished up and had the braces all set. It was during the final ten minutes that my thoughts steadied and I realised I'd been talking complete rubbish throughout the entire appointment. I thought about the words I'd said, and how truly embarrassing they were.

Bob seemed completely professional and didn't mention anything when we finished up. I thanked him for the work, but then as I was about to leave, my hand paused on the door handle. Hind was no doubt sat outside at her desk, and I was going to have to face her after everything I'd said. I wondered whether she was going to still be barefoot, or if I'd made her self-conscious to the point that she'd put her sandals back on.

I tentatively opened the door, and peeked through the gap. Hind was sat at her desk, facing away and typing something onto her computer. I thought that perhaps I could sneak passed and reach the exit before having to look her in the eye, however, as soon as I walked out, she turned. I recognised my own embarrassment in the flushed cheeks of her face. Her green eyes darted about, and she was about to look back to her computer before she seemed to collect herself and offer me a huge smile.

"Thanking you for visit," she said. "Take care."

"Thank you," I said in relief, while I lingered at her desk. It seemed Hind was prepared to pretend nothing had happened, which I was more than happy to go along with. I smiled back, then, my eyes dropped to the floor instinctively and looked beneath her desk. I did it almost without thinking as if to check whether she was wearing her sandals or not, but her feet were beneath the desk and I couldn't see anything.

"Why you look at my feet?" Hind whispered, and my eyes shot back up to see her leaning back into her seat with curious, narrowed eyes. We'd been looking straight at each other before I looked down, and there was no denying my eyes had been drawn to her feet once again. Also, the fact she'd called me out made me cringe at my own behaviour.

I then saw something creep into view from the bottom of her desk and I couldn't resist looking down again, even though she was watching me the whole time. Her red toes were poking out and they wiggled playfully. That toe ring glittered under the ceiling lights. The sandals lay to the side, away from her feet. "You like?" she asked, her head cocked to the side.

My face went bright red and I stumbled away in a flustered hurry.