Oh the problems start right away today

As we walk in, we're directed to a check-in desk just a bit down the hall from the entrance. As we walk up, the receptionist smiles at us and sends us up to the second floor, beginning the day's journey up and down the elevators to what will surely be an endless number of desks and offices. I can feel my legs ache already.

Finally we reach the second floor and go to the desk for the bundled appointments. The third receptionist we've spoken to so far smiles at us

"here for the bundles appointments?" she asks, looking between the four of us "Who would be the patient?" The woman looks to be in her early 20s, and damn she's cute. I find myself hoping she's just a receptionist and she stays right at the desk and far away from seeing me once things get started

"That would be this nerd" Sarah says, elbowing me in the side and laughing "I wonder how well he can rock one of those ugly gowns" she chuckles and Jessica and my stepmother smile along with her. You know, by their standards these two are being very tame today. I guess theyre afraid of fucking this up and losing our stepmother the bundled price somehow

The receptionist looks up my name and finds me on the list, then pauses "hold on looks like an email came in with an update on these appointments..." she stares at the screen for a few minutes "Alright change of plans. Unfortunately I cant explain more here because we cant mention who's seeing what doctors in the main lobby so Ill need you to just follow me to a side room" she stands up and leads us to a door behind her and down a hall to a side room, a private room with just a few chairs and another computer desk.

After a few minutes, the receptionist is logged into the computer and turns her chair to face us

"So there was a... mishap in the laundry rooms yesterdays. One of the dryers with the gowns in it malfunctioned and caught fire. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but about half of the medical gowns were in that dryer, so theyre all rationed to the ER and hospital parts of the building. Unfortunately the bundled appointments require the gowns, so we cant do bundled appointments for a while. We'll have to schedule each visit seperately"

My stepmother groans "At full price I assume?" to which the receptionist of course nods "There's really no way we can do the visits anyway? That price difference is just too much for us"

The receptionist thinks for a minute, looks at me, looks me up and down, then blushes before turning back to my stepmother

"Let me just make a phone call to my higher-ups real quick" she says, stepping out of the room for almost ten minutes before coming back inside, her face visibly pink