This story is "series 2" of the "Asian Braces" story, which I published over in the Club /Braces Stories & Braces Special (English) forum. As many of you won't have seen that story, here's a quick recap of what happened.


Danny Jones, 25, is a technical support & installation engineer at an engineering company, but also gives training on the company's equipment. He was recently sent to Asia, where he visited a company, and gave a week of training following by a week of helping the customer configure their equipment. A third week was spent travelling.


While he was there, he ordered several lots of fake braces, from a couple of braces shops. He wasn't actually planning on buying anywhere near as much as he did, but the prices were so low, he felt it was stupid not to use the chance to 'stock up'.... as it was very unlikely he'd ever get the chance again. Here's my story notes:

Braces shop 1:

- standard brackets; "Lovely shiny clear plastic! Clasps over the molars, with headgear tubes on them. A wire from the clasp all the way around, with brackets on every tooth. Small supporting wires, just behind the canines"

- twin blocks

- HG: an Interlandi, a neck strap, two high-pulls (one in bright yellow), and a couple of facebows. Plus a variety of spare ligatures, power-chain and elastics

Braces shop 2:

- wrap around blue retainers

- minimal plate for facemask
"The plate was actually quite small, in that it went between my main molars, but there was no plastic in the center beyond my small molars. The plastic went at the side almost as far as my canines. There were adam's clasps with the longer side-wires (for the elastics to hook on to) soldered to them on my molars, and there were small c-clasps coming around from the back of my small molars. Mei had extended the wires both from the c-clasps and the adam's clasps across (and thus inside) the plastic plate, to add strength"

- blue wide face mask, red single rod face mask

- brackets / herbst / tongue crib
"the metal started at the canines (where the herbst attached) and clipped onto the next two teeth, my pre-molars, as well. At the front, as well as some plastic on the inside of my front teeth, there was a very obvious metal expander module, with wires going across to my lower canines. There was plastic all around the inside of my teeth, with adam's clasps over my rear molars. And of course, all the way from the clasps, through the herbst attachments and around my front teeth were large metal brackets. And where the lower part of the herbst attached to my canines, it did not look at all fake, it looked exactly like pictures I'd seen of real herbst appliances.
the upper appliance to look at. If you removed the plastic from the appliance, then it would look just like a real appliance: metal around the two premolars and first molar, where the herbst attachment point was. Between those bits of metal she had soldered a metal expander, and to the front of the expander was a rather large and obvious tongue crib soldered in place. Again, there was an archwire with brackets"

"The clever thing about these appliances, compared to my other fake brackets, was that there was no need for the tiny supporting wires behind my canines, as the rather more substantial metal around the teeth did a far better job. Like on the lower appliance, there were adam's clasps on the rear molars, and plastic all around, but mainly to the front of the appliance, I was guessing to hold it in place in my mouth."

"some of the brackets had hooks on, for elastics."

- lip bumpers

- spare simple brackets (going away gift)


Mei will pop up in this series, so let me explain about her: when Danny went to the second braces shop, the 'receptionist / manager' didn't speak great English, so Mei, a lady in her late 20's, spoke with Danny. She is actually one of the Dental Technicians, trained in the US (so excellent English - very convenient!) and was able to chat with Danny and ended up making him some nice braces. She also likes braces (which is why she became a dental tech), and ended up wearing some fakes when she was with Danny. She & Danny had an affair for a week or two, while he was over in Asia, in fact she joined him for part of the third week while he was travelling around.

Here is Danny's comments from when he first met her:

"How would I describe Mei? In her late 20s. An inch shorter than Suki, but with a much bigger 'frame'. You know how people have different sized bodies... Suki is really slim, I'm kinda in the middle, but Mei was larger than me. Good sized hips, wide shoulders. But not noticeably overweight. A cute round face, with a nice nose, and a haircut I've seen on many asian girls: basically a bob, with straight hair at the sides, and a fringe. I mean, all she needed was a pair of those round glasses, and she would be so stereotypically asian!

Her smile had revealed a nice set of straight teeth, but sadly for me, no hint of braces."


Needless to say, he had many opportunities whilst over in Asia to wear his various braces, plus single and double facebows with various headgears, and a couple of different facemasks!


So after 3 weeks working and having fun over in Asia, Danny has returned back to London. He had a couple of extra days off to get over the jet-lag, and is now back at work. We'll be following his braces-wearing adventures as he goes out with his braces, and also decides whether to take the big step of wearing his fake braces, pretending he's having real treatment.


(It might be a week or so before I start posting this story, please be patient)

Yes, definitely waiting. I enjoyed this one.

Chapter 2

I had a bit of fun on Saturday: I put in the expander / brackets / herbst / tongue crib appliance, and caught a bus then a tube to the big shopping centre: the likelihood of meeting someone I knew there was, hopefully, close to zero. I had considered wearing my brackets and headgear, but decided that would be asking for trouble! The first thing for me to work out was the logistics of putting the braces in? I could put them in at home, and keep my mouth shut for a while. I could put them in after getting off the bus, but before getting on eth tube: all I would have needed for that was a quiet corner to put them in. Or I could have waited till I got to the shopping centre, and pop in the loos there.

In the end I decided to take the risk of putting them it at home: that was the simplest, and to be honest, the most exciting! The bus stop was close to where I live, and luckily there was noone else at the bus stop! I sat upstairs at the front: not only does that give you some great views, it's less likely anyone will come close to me, and thus possibly see my braces.

The tube station is a mile or so from home, so I felt a bit less worried about being seen: so much so that, while I was on the platform waiting for the train to arrive, I saw a girl, in her teens I would guess. She was looking at her phone, with a bit of a smile on her face, and I could see that she had braces. Without thinking, I smiled back at her.... just as she happened to look up, allowing her to see my braces. Wow, talk about suddenly being nervous! I closed my mouth as naturally as I could, and looked away: rule 1 of travelling on public transport in London: avoid contact if possible. Rule 2: avoid eye contact. Rule three: you are not allowed to talk to a stranger. Travelling on the tube can get a bit lonely at times!

The tube arrived a few minutes later, and I got on: it was busy, but not over busy, and I managed to get a seat. I looked around, just to be sure there was noone on the train that I recognised... finally I was able to let my mouth relax a bit, let my lips part a little, and hold my head up, all in the hope that someone might glance at me, and see the illicit metal on my mouth.

Once at the large shopping centre, I felt a lot more relaxed. I was one of thousands of anonymous people there. It was quite a way from where I lived, so the likelihood of meeting someone I knew was very low. I felt happy, so opened my mouth a little more as I walked around.

Of course, my main problem was that whilst I had worn these braces several times, I'd not really practised speaking that much with them in, so if anyone asked (and I was actually able to give an understandable reply!) I would simply have to say that I had only got them fitted that week.

It's very hard to artificially smile naturally! Obviously, I wanted people to actually SEE my braces, but whilst you can easily do a small smile (which shows very little), I somehow needed to make my smile bigger. I gave up after a few attempts, that I felt probably looked more like snarls than smiles. Instead, I just enjoyed my mainly-window-shopping, and smiling at things I liked or thought amusing. Like those amazing Lego models in the window of the Lego shop!

I went into Pr*m*rk, and had a look around, and found a few items of cheap clothing, and walked over to the checkouts, where, being a Saturday, there was quite a queue... one that zigs & zags a couple of times (just like all those queues I'd been in at the various airports, but not quite so big!). I kinda hoped for something nice to happen while I was queueing, but it didn't.

Finally, I got to the cashier, where I put my items on the desk, for the girl to scan. She was a teenager, so I'm guessing worked just at the weekends. I think she must have spotted my metalwork, because she smiled, showing some nice braces on her teeth, allowing me to smile back... after all, we were both in that 'braces club', weren't we?

"Would you like a bag?" she asked me. Damn, I was going to have to speak, something which was actually quite scary!

"Yeshth pweathshe!" I replied. Goddamn it, that tongue cwib maketh it tho hard to thpeak! Just speaking those two words sent shivers of panic and enjoyment through me! Of course, my lisping made it clear to the cashier girl that I had something more in my mouth than just simple brackets - which is what I guess she had. So I smiled, with my mouth open, hoping that she might look inside my mouth, and at least catch a glimpse of my tongue crib.

"Are you paying by cash?" she asked me. Damn her, why didn't she just ask if I was using a card, I could have managed a simple 'yes' to that.

"Cang I pay by carg pweathshe?" I replied. Another shiver of excitement went through me. She finished putting my clothes into one of the brown paper carrier bags, then pressed a couple of buttons on the till.

"Ok, can you insert your card and type in your PIN please". I already had my card in my hand, so inserted it, and entered my PIN. Phew, it was accepted. I waited till it said 'please remove your card', and removed my card. She handed me the brown paper carrier bag.

"Thsank you" I said as I took it from her. She gave me a lovely smile as I walked away... I wondered what was actually going through her mind.

That had been both a scary and exhilarating experience, but compared to my next 'conversation', quite tame.

It was getting close to lunchtime, and I fancied a snack. I know I should have gone into one of the places where you just pick up the food you want, then just ask for your drink. But no, I stupidly went into a nicer café, where someone came to the table to take your order. I sat down, and took a look at the menu. I had to think carefully about what I might be able to eat - stupidly, I'd not actually tried eating with these braces. Yes, I had tried drinking some water, and that was difficult enough. I needed something that didn't need much biting or chewing. So bacon sandwiches (and most other sandwiches!) would be out. So would cheese on toast, a favourite of mine. For goodness sake, how DO people with double expanders and a tongue crib actually manage to eat enough food?

I spotted that they did scones... now they crumbled, and I could easily take small bites of those.

"Good afternoon, sir, have you chosen what you'd like yet?"

"Cang I have a bwack amewicango coffee... ang a shshcone, pweathshe". Ok, having a small lisp is fun, but this was awkward. Ok, so it actually was fun too, but in a far more embarrassing way. The waitress looked at me strangely, I wasn't sure if she was thinking 'poor guy' or 'what an assh*le!'.

"Anything else, or is that it?" she asked

"Zhatsh awll, thsankthsh!" I manged to reply. The problem speaking was caused by a combination of the metal in my mouth: the lower and upper expanders, and mainly that tongue crib. Mei had warned me how hard it was, at least at first, to speak with a tongue crib. And it didn't help that she had made it a 'not so nice' tongue crib, thus making it so much harder to speak!

The coffee and the scone arrived a few minutes later. I took a sip of the coffee... it was far too hot, of course, but I still had a small amount of liquid in my mouth that I needed to swallow. I leant my had back a little, so the liquid naturally went towards my throat, then somehow managed to swallow it. Not easy, but it worked.

So, what about the scone? I put a very small amount of butter and jam on it (sadly, no cream....), then bit off a small amount. Yes, it crumbled nicely in my mouth, then I started producing saliva, which started to turn the crumbly scone into a sort of paste, which of course went everywhere it shouldn't in my mouth. Having the herbsts didn't help, as the rods just made more space in my cheeks for the gooey mess to hide.

There wasn't a lot I could do about it (ok, so yes, I COULD have removed the braces, but that would have been SOOOO embarrassing and awkward!), so I took small bites of the scone, then tried to use a bit of coffee to help swish things around in my mouth. It helped - a little!

By the time I had finally finished the scone (which took at least five times longer than it normally would), I had bits of scone stuck on my braces and my expanders. I paid my bill, then went to the toilets, which were the 'open' sort.... so a single cubicle, two urinals, and a pair of sinks, which rather ruled out the possibility of having some guaranteed privacy. So, not being able to remove the braces, I had to do the best I could with the toothbrush I had remembered to bring with me. I was actually right in the middle of brushing when a couple of teenagers came in, and clearly saw my braces. They went to the urinals and I could clearly hear one of them say something like 'he's a bit old for braces...'. Oh, the joys of 'having braces' in your mid 20's!

Nothing much else happened whilst at the shopping centre, so I made my way back onto the tube, then had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. Like before, I sat upstairs at the front. The journey was again quite boring, and as we left the previous stop, I got up, and turned around to walk back the few feet to the stairs, when I saw someone I recognised, from work, sitting a few rows further back. They had also seen me. Normally I would have probably smiled at them, and waved, but today, I kept my mouth firmly closed, and just waved!

Good to see this one being continued.

Chapter 5

Saturday


I very much wanted to wear my headgear out in public when I went out to do my shopping at the local supermarket. My main worry was to do with meeting people I knew from work: they knew that I had only 'got my braces' on Wednesday after work, so might question why I was already wearing headgear in public. The good news is that, in the year plus of living here, I've never seen anyone from work locally. Yes, I might bump into someone else I knew, but they wouldn't know when I had 'got my braces', so whilst seeing me in headgear might seem a bit odd, I could actually use the old 'I'm wearing it to catch up on my hours' story.

I would only wear an upper facebow, but I needed to decide what headgear to wear: I had, of course, a choice of a neck-strap, a high-pull, and an Interlandi. If I really wanted to stand out, I could wear my yellow high-pull! In the end, I decided to go for the more sedate dark blue high-pull.

I'd had my breakfast (I decided to eat breakfast without my braces!), and had showered and brushed my teeth and braces, so before I put my braces back into my mouth, I inserted one of my facebows into my top appliance. Then it was a matter of making sure my hair was ok, putting the high-pull on my head, then pulling very slightly on the force modules I hooked the headgear onto the ends of my facebow. As I normally did, the pressure was the lowest I could get away with, whilst still having some actual positive pressure... without some pressure, as I moved my head, the headgear could go slack, and not look right.

I could feel my heart pumping as I opened the front door: this was the first time I had worn my headgear in public since I'd been back in London. Yes, I'd worn my headgear out in public quite a bit when over in Asia: in fact, in my third week, when I was 'on holiday', I wore some form of headgear quite a bit. But out in Asia, hardly anyone knew me, and while I was travelling, the only person that knew me and saw me was Mei, and she had actually made half of my braces! But in London, I knew quite a few people, some of whom could easily just happen to be at the shops. the good news is that they didn't know that I officially got my braces a couple of days ago.

I started by walking to the local supermarket, where I usually did my main weekly shopping. The couple of roads near my house were quiet, but as I got closer to the main road, with the many shops, there were people around. Once on the actual main road, there were quite a few people around (not surprising, as it was a shopping area on a Saturday morning!)... people who might look at me and stare embarrassingly at me and my headgear. I could tell that my heart rate was up, so was my breathing rate.... I was scared.

So why the heck do I do things like go out in my fake braces and headgear? Well, because all that worry and stress, and elevated breathing and heart rates were actually quite a turn on! The possibility that I could walk straight into someone I knew was incredibly scary... and such fun at the same time!

My eyes scanned around, hoping to spot someone looking at me, but I was sadly disappointed: everyone was busy doing their own thing. Of course, in London, we have such an ethnic mix of people, so things like turbans and hijabs are now quite 'normal', so people just don't look at others.

It was really only when I walked past the security guard standing by the entrance in the supermarket that I spotted him looking at me, with a slight smile on his face. I felt a tiny shiver go down my spine... that was a good start!

Now that I was inside the store, people were not just walking past me.... however, they were very much in their own 'bubbles', looking for the cheese, the cereals, the coffee, the milk. I decided I needed to interact with the staff, so went to the deli counter. Guy in his early 20's came over to me.

"Yes, sir, what can I get you?" he asked, looking straight at me. At my face. At my headgear. A shiver went through me.

"Ah, can I have a vanilla slice please?". He used some tongs to put one into a bag, and passed it over to me.

"Anything else?" he asked, once again looking at me. I think I saw him trying to suppress a slight smile.

"No thanks" I replied.

I continued to walk around the store, and asked a couple of different members of store staff where to find things, purely to see if there would be any reaction to my headgear. It was only when I asked a third member of staff, a teenager who I guess worked weekends, and who herself had braces. She smiled when she looked up at me, showing me her large NHS brackets. I asked her where to find 'popping corn', and as she lead me there, she quietly commented "rather you than me wearing that headgear!".

"I'm several hours down on my wear this week, so I need to catch up a bit" I lied in reply. It felt so good to talk about my braces!

The rest of my supermarket shop was uneventful, even the guy on the checkout managed to neither smile nor comment. After that, I had a bit of a wander around the other shops: I think I might have caught one or two people sneakily looking my way, but that's as far as it went. Eventually, I walked back home with my shopping.

Back home, I took my high-pull headgear off, then took my braces out of my mouth, leaving the upper facebow in the braces. It felt very strange to not have braces in my mouth, but at the same time it was nice to have a short break from them. Wearing these braces so much really makes me understand and appreciate what people with real braces go through.

----

Early that afternoon I had a call from a girl I knew, she asked if I fancied joining her and a few others that evening - it was her friend's birthday - and they were going out for a Chinese meal. Whilst I had eaten several meals over in Asia with my braces in, and a smaller number back here in England, I was still a little apprehensive. However, I knew that Chinese food tended to be fairly easy to eat - besides, I actually like Chinese food - so I said yes.

Chapter 7

<A fairly boring week... and then there's Saturday>


Sunday lunch was good, Sonya's boyfriend, Will, joined us. Whilst Sonya and Janice shared a flat, they didn't actually socialise together all that much. I had had a shower, changed, and brushed my teeth and braces before returning for lunch, and ate my lunch with my braces in. Sonya made a brief comment about my braces, and Janice kept my secret.

The following week at work was fairly normal and uninteresting, although a couple of other people did briefly comment about my having braces.

On Wednesday, after I got home, I decided to take out my fake brackets, and put in my twin-blocks - I do like them, there's so much plastic to them: not only does the plastic go over the occlusal surfaces of many of my molars, it also covers the front teeth of both my lowers and uppers, stopping just below the balls of the many ball clasps. I chose something very soft to eat, and actually ate with them in, which was not easy. I took them out to brush my teeth and braces, but then put them back into my mouth, and subsequently slept in them too. I've only ever slept in my twin-blocks once before, and like then, it felt very nice waking up with a mouth full of plastic.


I was feeling a bit bored on Thursday, so after work I called Janice, and asked if she fancied going out to see a film. We had a pleasant evening together, and on the way back, we chatted.

"Maybe we should try getting together again?" I suggested "Maybe it will work second time around."

"You obviously have a short memory... so no thank you! Danny, I really like spending time with you, being with you, and occasionally 'doing things together in the bedroom', but I cherish the fact that we also have a load of time apart. That's what screwed us up last time, being too close to each other, too much of the time"

"Yeah, I guess so. It's just that... well, things get a bit lonely at times..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, and I'm happy to be there for you, same as you've been there for me on a few occasions I've needed it". She slipped her arm around me as we waited for the bus to arrive. Yes, definitely a strange relationship!

When we got off the bus, neither offered the other 'a coffee'... it was a week day, and it was getting late, so we went our own ways.


Finally, it got to Saturday. Now, last weekend, I went to the local shops, at the top of my road, whilst wearing my headgear. This weekend I decided I would go into town, and wear my headgear there. There would be loads more people, and a much higher chance of meeting someone I knew. The thought was both scary as hell, and exciting!

I've been 'wearing my braces with night-time headgear wear for just over a week now. The reality of it is that I wore some sort of braces to bed on 7 of the 9 nights, and I actually slept in my Interlandi headgear one night too, and I will admit that I was surprised quite how disrupting to my sleep it was. Anyway, if I were doing it for real, then I'd be up to full-night headgear wear by now, so claiming to be 'low on my hours' was actually quite easy, especially as I'd been out with Janice on Thursday evening.

Janice... yes, I do like her, but she was right the other night: things don't work for us if we see too much of each other. About 9 months ago, we decided to see if 'being a couple' would work for us. We saw each other pretty much every day, and after 3 weeks, we had a bit of an argument, after which we sat down and chatted about things, and realised that, whilst we both had feelings for the other, and feel really comfortable in each other's company, we simply didn't work as a couple.

But there were times when one of us either needed or wanted company, and at those times, the other would do their best to be there. All of which is a bit of a shame, as she's a very sexy lady, great to talk to, and is exactly the sort of girl I'd like to settle down with.

So, where was I... yes, going to town in my headgear. Last week I wore my high-pull, but today I think I'm going to wear my Interlandi. The Interlandi is actually quite comfortable, especially when the pressure on the elastics is low (which is the way I wear it when wearing it for more than 10 or 20 minutes). Plus, of course, there is the 'advantage' that it is a bit more visible (and I'm guessing real headgear wearers would say that was it's biggest DISadvantage!)

So I put on my headgear and my coat, and walked up the road to the main road, where I could catch the bus into town. There were a few people on the bus, but no one really seemed to care or notice...

Town was quite busy. As last weekend, most people's attention was elsewhere. Near the bus stop was a group of teens, and I walked near them, I could see one of them pointing me out to the others, and smiling. I felt strangely embarrassed. I bet I looked quite odd, a guy in his mid 20s, wearing headgear in public. I mean, headgear is a kid's thing, and they would never, if at all possible, wear it out in public!

I went into one of those 'cheap books' shops, and had a look around. They had some permanent markers going cheap, so I grabbed a pack, and went to the checkout. There was a teenager on the till, and when she saw my headgear, she smiled, revealing a nice set of medium sized metal braces, with a couple of elastics on the front. I smiled back, letting her see my braces too.

"Two pounds, please" she said after she scanned my markers. I pulled out my card and held it over the card terminal for a couple of seconds.

"Thank you" I replied as I took my receipt and markers. A slight shiver of excitement ran through me.

I was walking along the pedestrian precinct when I heard a voice to my left. "Hi Danny!" said Janice. I turned and looked at her: I'm not quite sure who was shocked the most, me or her.

"Oh, hi there, Janice" I replied, as calmly and normally as possible.

"Nice addition to your braces there, Danny. Let me guess, you're down on your wear time and your mum insisted on you wearing it to town!". Her comment made me laugh.

"Sounds to me like you're talking from experience"

"I am actually, but only the once. God, it was sooooo embarrassing! Never did it again though."

"You had headgear as a kid? You never mentioned it last night!"

"Well, it's not the sort of thing you really want to admit to, is it? Besides, you never said anything about your headgear either!". We started walking along together. "So where did you get these braces from then? And don't you find it embarrassing wearing it?".

I explained how I'd got the braces when I was in Asia. I didn't tell her quite how many bits I'd actually bought: she already knew I was 'a bit wierd', there was no need to change that to 'completely weird'. "And yes, it is a bit embarrassing, although this isn't the first time I've worn it out in public. But that's part of the excitement of wearing it out. And I think it's a lot easier as an adult than as a teenager, all that peer-pressure has gone."

"Hey, can you drink coffee with it on?" she asked

"Why, fancy a coffee?"

"Yeah, I do.... come on...". We went into one of the larger coffee shops, and joined the queue. When you are not moving (so not in a big shop, or in the street) there's a lot more opportunity for people to see you, to look at you, and potentially stare at you if you are 'slightly out of the ordinary'. I was rather hoping that someone might be staring at me.

"Don't you worry about people looking at you, even staring at you?" asked Janice

"That's part of the fun, the slight embarrassment, slight awkwardness. It's probably no worse than if I had a strange haircut, or was a girl wearing rather revealing clothes."

By now we were at the front of the queue, and the serving guy was looking at me. "What would you like, sir?"

"A large Americano for me... Janice?"

"Can I have a flat white, please?

"Anything else?". I looked over to Janice, then back to our server. "No thanks...". I paid, and a couple of minutes later we took our coffees and sat down at a free table, which was pretty much right in the middle of the shop. I took the seat that looked to the front of the shop, so that anyone entering might see me.

"You're quite enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Well, if I wasn't, I wouldn't be wearing it!"

"Fair comment. So, can you drink the coffee with it in?"

"I have manged to drink with it in before, but it's not easy, but I intend to make a fool of myself by trying! Then I'll take it out while everyone watches". I picked up my cup, and put it up to my mouth, just in front of my facebow (I had tried drinking with it just under my facebow once before, but that was a disaster!), then pushed my lips out. Luckily this facebow fitted between my lips, so I didn't have to push my lips out all that much.... I then tipped the cup up a little, and sucked at the coffee. It would have been a bit easier if the coffee wasn't quite as hot.

I decided that I would remove my headgear.... as obviously as possible, I unhooked the two elastics from the loops on the end of the facebow, then took off my interlandi headgear, putting it onto the table. Then I gently pulled on my facebow, removing is from my mouth, and put it with my headgear on the table.

"So, was your headgear the same as this one?" I asked Janice.

"No, I just had a strap around my neck. I'm guessing you chose this one because it's a bit more visible?"

"Yes, I did, you know me too well! I actually have some neck straps, and a couple of 'high-pulls' too, so I have a choice. So, now you know my 'dirtly little secret'.... so what's yours?"

"Oh, no... no way am I telling you any of my secrets....".

We chatted as we drank our coffee. Without my headgear acting as a beacon, I was far less obvious in the coffee shop.

"Hey, want to join me on Wednesday evening? I'm going out with Sonya, and some of her friends for an Italian meal, I'm sure she won't mind you coming along."

"Yeah, ok, you know I like going out....."

Chapter 8

Thursday, daytime


I've been back in London now for about a month, and I've been wearing my (fake) brackets full time now for just on 2 weeks. Well, when I say full time, I have slept without them a couple of times, plus I do, of course, enjoy 'having some fun' with my other braces.

Last night (Wednesday) I met up with a small group of friends for a meal out at a nice Italian restaurant. There were 10 of us in total, but I didn't recognise several of them. I was sat in one of the end seats, with Janice sat opposite me. Next to Janice was Steve, someone I've vaguely known for a year or so. Sonya and Will were at the far end of the table.

But next to Steve (and thus in the middle of the 5 seats opposite me) was a girl I didn't recognise. She had lovely long red hair, was VERY pretty, and very smartly dressed. A couple of bits of nice jewellery too, I'm not talking cheap tacky stuff, it was all clearly up-market. Not too much makeup, and a lovely smile too, with lovely straight teeth.

And very definitely WAY out of my league!

We did exchange a few words, but where she was sat made any conversation a little difficult, besides, she was mainly talking to Sonya and a couple of others at the far end of the table. I did discover that her name was Amanda, and that she did live in the area.... and that was about it.

So I was quite a surprised to get a call from Janice the following day: "It seems you have an admirer"

"An admirer?"

"Remember that redhead last night, Amanda? Sat in the middle of the table, a couple of seats from me? It's come along a bit of a chain, but Sonya called me earlier, as she knew I had your number, and the message is along the lines of 'please pass this number to Danny, and ask him to call Amanda'. I'll forward it to you in a moment."

"Well, it can't be to ask me out on a date, she's way out of my league!"

"Don't underestimate yourself, Danny!... hey, maybe she fancies 'a bit of rough'?" said Janice with a laugh. We chatted for a bit, then after we finished, she sent me the number.

I'll admit, it's been a while since a girl has given me her number, and I've never had a number passed along to me like this before, it's always because I've asked her for it. I went and grabbed a coffee to calm myself, then went into an empty meeting room. After a couple of deep breaths, I called the number. It rang five times, then she answered.

"Hello, this is Amanda Spencer" said a very nice voice, but in a very formal way.

"Hi, Amanda, this is, err, Danny, we... we met briefly last night at the Italian restaurant, and.... I got a message to call you..."

"Oh, hi Danny, thanks for calling!". Her tone had instantly changed from a very formal business sort of voice, to a very much friendlier one. "We never really got a chance to talk last night, did we?... look, I was kinda wondering if you'd let me take you out for a drink tonight?".

To say I was surprised is an understatement. I've never actually been asked out by a girl before (well, apart from Janice, but she's a friend), it's always me doing the asking... and especially not one as nice as her. I mean, what did she see in me?

"Yes, sure, that would be nice.." I replied. In fact, it would be 10 times better than 'nice'.

"Oh, great... how does 7:30 at Jason's Wine Bar sound?"

"Yes, I know the place, and 7:30 will be fine"

"Look, I have to go, but I'll see you tonight. You have my number if there's any problems!"

"Ok, see you tonight!".

Wow, so I have a date tonight with a really hot redhead! I just hope I don't screw it up.

I'm glad you kept this one going and explored what happened back home.  I finally got caught up on this story yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

Chapter 10

Friday - an unexpected lunch date


Well, that had been a pleasant surprise, and one I hadn't fully expected. But I was still a bit perplexed by what she saw in me. It's clear that she lives in a very different world to me (as I said before, 'way out of my league'), but clearly realised that from the way she had asked ME to choose somewhere to go eat on Saturday, she wanted to do things that made me feel more comfortable, and I can't think of many girls I've met that would do that.

Back at home, I went to the bathroom, removed my braces, and rinsed out my mouth and my braces: I didn't bother brushing my teeth, as I'd shortly be going to bed, and would do it then. I made myself a warm drink, then sat and watched a bit of TV, whilst at the same time thought of where we could go for dinner on Saturday. I was trying to think of somewhere pleasant, yet comfortable... not too up-market.

With my drink and the TV program finished, I went into the bathroom, removed my braces, and brushed my teeth and braces. Whilst I was wearing my fake brackets pretty much 24/7 these days, I only get to see them when I take them out to clean them, and it was still nice to spend a moment looking at them.

----

Friday, just before lunch, I got a message "Hey, court finished earlier than expected, would you like to meet up for coffee and a sandwich at Pret? Amanda". My heart rate suddenly went up.

"Would love to... I can be there for about 12:35, that ok?" I replied

"I'll meet you outside...." she replied a few moments later.

"Someone looks rather happy today" said Sanjay, one of my colleagues.

"Yeah, it looks like I'm having lunch with a girl I just met"

"Nice... I hope she's pretty"

"Oh, yes, very pretty!" I replied, then thought to myself 'and out of both yours and my league... so why....?'

I went into the loo just before I left, to brush my teeth. I've started using the disabled toilet, which is close to reception, to brush my teeth - I had had a word with our receptionist, Brinda, and she said that no-one would mind. In fact, I left my toothbrushes (one normal, or with a tiny head) and toothpaste in there, along with a small note, saying they were mine, it made things so much easier. Because I was in there by myself, I was able to take out my braces to brush my teeth, which made it a lot easier. I wore my braces so much now, that it actually felt strange when they weren't in my mouth, as I could then actually feel my gums and my palate!

I walked the 5 minutes to Pret, and there she was, waiting outside. She was dressed pretty much as yesterday, clearly in her work clothes, so a black skirt, and a white blouse with a black jacket over it, dark tights, and simple yet very smart shoes with medium heels. Today, she had undone the ponytail, and her lovely red hair was nicely around her shoulders, and down her back.

"Hi there!" I said as I got to her.

"Hi Danny" she replied with an absolutely beautiful smile - not one of those forced smiles, but one that seemed 100% natural. Just seeing her raised my heart rate (and probably my blood pressure too!). She stepped a tiny bit closer to me, then gave me a tiny kiss, on my lips. That really surprised me, I was definitely not expecting THAT!

Inside Pret, I grabbed a pre-made sandwich (I would have much preferred a nice crispy roll, but you definitely need something nice and soft when you have fake braces!), she grabbed a salad, then we joined the queue.

"How can I help you?" asked the barista.

"I'll have an Americano... Amanda?"

"Oh, a Latte please"

I paid for the food and drinks, and we found a small table to sit at.

"So, if you finished early, does that mean you get the afternoon off then?" I asked. I knew that the answer would be no, but it gave us something to talk about.

"I wish!" she replied with a smile. "There's always something to do. I need to do some follow-up work on this morning's hearing, then I have a pile of documents to review for next week. It will be nice to maybe be slightly ahead of things for a change."

"I reckon you like being busy...."

"I do, actually, I hate getting bored" she replied. I noticed that, like the previous evening, she looked straight at my face as we talked, whereas most people find it a bit difficult to do that for more than a few seconds. I decided to ask her about it.

"So, I'm interested... why do you always look at me? Am I really so good looking?". That made her laugh

"It's a bit of a habit I have.... I've got used to looking for 'tells'... So, if I'm interviewing someone, or asking questions in court, it's useful to have an idea if someone is actually telling you the truth. Maybe they aren't actually telling a lie, but maybe they're only telling you part of the truth. And yes, you are actually quite handsome....". (Thinking back to this later on, I realised that maybe she wasn't actually telling the full truth)

"Only quite?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't want your ego to get too big.....". Now it was my turn to smile, letting her see my metal smile, complete with bits of sandwich stuck in it.

As we ate and drank our coffees, we continued chatting. She was such fun to talk to, she spoke nicely too, no doubt developed for suitably interacting with her corporate customers. But more than that, she understood how to make pleasant and intelligent conversation, how to keep the conversation going.

"So, would you like to meet up tonight then?" I suggested.

"Sadly, I can't, I have a dinner I need to go to, sort of work and pleasure. And tomorrow I have a family commitment... that's why I suggested tomorrow evening. Have you thought of a place yet?"

"Partly.... how do you like pub restaurants?"

"If it's half-decent, then yes...."

"Ok, I'll see about getting a reservation this evening...."

We finished off our lunch and coffee.

"Am I allowed to walk you back to work?" she asked me. So far we'd only managed to meet fleetingly, so I was happy to spend as much time with her as I could.

"Of course you can.....". I'd forgotten to bring my toothbrush kit out with me, so I'd have to brush my teeth and braces when I got back to the office.

As we started walking down the street, she took my hand...

Chapter 12

Saturday evening, an evening to remember!


I managed to book a table at the pub I had chosen, The Black Bull - I had been there a while ago, and the online reviews still looked good. I had WhatsApped Amanda the details, and knowing that I didn't have a car, she offered to collect me and drive us there.

As expected, she was nicely on time. I got in the car, and as we drove off, I took a look at her. I couldn't see everything she was wearing at that point, but I could see that she was wearing a rather nice black dress with white trimmings. Her hair was once again down, and for the moment, pushed back over her shoulders. Around her neck, I could see the locket that she had worn every time I'd seen her so far, and around her left wrist, she had a very delicate but attractive charm bracelet, and a single ring (which looked like it wasn't cheap!) on one of the fingers of her right hand. I was close enough to see that either she didn't have a lot of makeup on, or it was applied quite expertly, as it didn't look at all obvious. Clearly some mascara on her eyelashes, and a hint of red on her eyelids, and with a lovely bold red lips gloss. I could also smell a very gentle but very nice perfume.

"So how did last night and today go?" I asked her

"Last night was 'ok'..." she started

"Only 'ok'?"

"Yeah, 'only ok' probably describes it well. It was a meal around a sort-of-friend's place, someone I knew from when I was doing bar training, along with a couple of other people. I'd agreed to it a couple of weeks ago, and it's kinda important to keep in touch with people like that, you never know when you might need their help. But today was a lot nicer, my sister and I went and visited my grandparents - dad's parents - and took them out to lunch, then went for a gentle walk with them. We had a great afternoon!"

"So where do they live?" I asked

"Oh, only in Chalfont St Peter, so doesn't take long to get there". I'd heard of Chalfont St Peter, it's on the way to Amersham and it's a very nice area!

It didn't take us long to get to the pub, and there was plenty of space in the car park for Amanda to park. It was only when we got out of the car that I fully saw what Amanda was wearing. Whilst she obviously hadn't driven in them, she was now wearing shoes with good-sized heels, above that she was wearing some rather nice fish-net tights (well, I assumed they were tights, they could just as easily have been stockings). Her mainly black dress was made of a top layer of lace, with more black material underneath (from just above her boobs to nearly the bottom of the dress). The lace also covered her arms to her elbows, and the dress came to a couple of inches above her knees. The whole thing hugged her figure quite amazingly, and the overall effect was simply spectacular.

Luckily, I had also dressed reasonably smartly, in light chinos, with a pale green shirt, open at the neck, with a light-coloured jacket on top. I had even remembered to polish my shoes, and brush my hair!

I wasn't certain whether to take her hand, but I held it out towards her, and was quite relieved that she was very happy to take it. We walked together towards the rear entrance that led to the restaurant - I felt amazingly proud to have such an attractive girl next to me.

"Nice place" she commented as we entered. We only needed to wait a few moments as we entered the restaurant to be greeted, and were shown straight to our table, and given menus.

"We have some specials on tonight, they are on the blackboard over there, and I'm afraid we don't have the venison this evening" said the waitress, handing us the menus. "My colleague will be over in a moment to get your drinks order"

I had a glass of a local beer, Amanda had a lager. The food was really good, as was the company and the conversation. We talked about all sorts of things, including our childhoods and families. It was during the dessert course that Amanda leaned over the table towards me, and said quietly:

"Your braces, they're fakes, aren't they?"

Suddenly the world stopped. My blood seemed to drain out of my face. I had some very strange feelings: I had just been found out!

"Pardon?" I stammered

"Your braces, they aren't real....."

"What makes you say that?" I managed to ask. I was definitely in shock.

"Well, I've seen the plastic of your plates a few times, plus there's the wires that wrap around the archwires just behind your canines.... and I've seen the wire over your lower teeth too..... I'm guessing you 'suffer' the same problem as me..."

"What do you mean?"

"You have a 'thing' for braces, don't you? ..... So do I!".
 
Did I just hear that right? Amanda also has a braces fetish?

"You're kidding... you have a braces fetish too?" I whispered. Amanda didn't reply for several seconds.

"Yes, I do.... and you're the ONLY person I've ever told. And I'm so jealous that you have braces....". She put her hand gently onto mine, and suddenly I was able to relax. In fact, I smiled, and then laughed a little. "What's so funny?" she asked

"Well, it explains a few things. When did you work it out?"

"Earlier in the meal. I wasn't sure whether to say anything, and I've been trying to work out what to say, if anything, since. So what does it explain?"

"Well, why you keep looking at me. Why you even bothered to ask me out in the first place...."

"Ok, yes, slightly guilty, your braces were the first thing that attracted me. But in my defence, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would like to point out that was only at the start. Since I've been getting to know you, I've been getting quite interested in you... Come on, let's finish our puddings, then we can go, and I can have a chance to 'investigate your braces'". Well, that's a come-on line I've never heard before. And all the time this had been happening, Amanda had kept looking at me, my face, my mouth, and now she was looking straight into my eyes.

We quickly finished the food and got the bill, which Amanda paid. We walked out of the building: the car park was currently deserted, so she pulled me to the side of the door, pushed me up against the building, put her hands onto my face, then put her lips on mine. Without any hesitation, she thrust her tongue between my lips, running it over my braces. Moments later she was pushing her tongue between my teeth, allowing her tongue to feel the plastic of my fake braces.

"Mmm, that was NICE!" she said. "VERY nice! Come on, into the car, quick.....". I did as I was told.

"So, when did you first know you had a thing for braces then?" I asked, as she started driving.

"Well, the first time I remember seeing someone in braces, I must have been about 7 years old: I was at a friend's house, and her elder brother had just got braces, some sort of removables, that gave him a lisp... so probably some expanders. I don't know why, but I found them fascinating"

"Then, in my last year at primary school, so I would have been 10 or 11, one of the girls in my class got twin blocks, and a lovely lisp to go with it. I got to see those braces a couple of times, when she brushed them after lunch in the girl's toilets. They were made of shiny clear pink plastic, with loads of shiny metal wires with the little balls on the end, and they looked so nice. I really don't know what it was about them, but I was so jealous, I wanted some! Back then, my teeth had slight gaps, and I kept hoping I'd need braces, but as my baby teeth fell out, and my adult teeth came in, the gaps disappeared, and I ended up with lovely straight teeth. It was torture at secondary school, all the kids with braces, that I so wanted, but knew I could never have! Don't get me wrong, I love my teeth.... but I so wanted to have braces on them! So wanted to experience what braces were like. What about you?"

"Yeah, a very similar story to yours, to be honest. I think I was maybe 11 or 12 when kids at school started getting braces - and I didn't"

We chatted about our braces histories.

"So where did you get those from? They are amazingly good, I don't think 'normal' people would ever spot they aren't real"

"Remember I said I was over in Asia a few weeks ago, well I got them there. I got a few other braces too."

"I'm so jealous...... I'd love to have some form of braces. Anything would probably do to start with!".

Amanda was slowing down, and turned into a driveway, and into a parking area behind a block of modern flats, where she parked the car. I followed her into the back door of the flats, and into the lift, where she pressed the button for the top floor. After a short vertical journey, the doors opened, into a very small hallway which had just two doors in it: one was the door to the stairs, the other was the door to her flat. The penthouse flat.

We were barely inside when she threw herself at me again, her tongue investigating the plastic and metal contents of my mouth. I was rapidly getting turned on, I think she was already several steps ahead of me. We stopped kissing, and she took my hand, leading me to what was clearly her bedroom. With barely a thought, she undid the clasps on the front of her dress, and pulled it up and straight over her head. I was now looking at a very attractive lady, clad in just a black corset (with a built-in bra), black panties, fishnet stockings, and a pair of fairly high-heeled shoes. Needless to say my blood was pumping hard and fast!

Moments later, she started undoing buttons.... buttons on my shirt and other bits of my clothing, which she then removed, and we fell onto the bed......

Chapter 14

Sunday, morning... let's go play with braces


When I woke up, I found that I was in a strange bed, with a strange girl looking at me. A few moments later, now fully away, I remembered that I had stayed over at Amanda's, and worked out that it was Amanda who was looking at me. Even without any makeup or jewellery, she looked quite stunning.

"Good morning, boyfriend!" she said in a lovely voice. "You know, you sleep with your mouth open a bit... so I was able to have a look at your braces!".

"Oh, do I? I'm sure you enjoyed the view. How long have you been looking at me then?"

"Maybe five... or ten.... or fifteen minutes...." she replied, smiling. "You ready to actually wake up? If so, I'll get some coffee on, and make us some breakfast"

"What time is it?"

"About nine o'clock..."

"Oh, ok, sounds like it's probably time to get up". Before Amanda went out to make the coffee, she swung her leg over me, sitting astride me, then leaned over and started to kiss me. I'm not talking about a peck on the lips either. One thing I quickly learned about Amanda was how good she was at kissing. Sexy. Sensual. Plus a few other similar words.

"Want to join me in the kitchen?" she asked, a few minutes later, "then you can see what options we have for breakfast.". She made a pot of coffee, and I decided that I'd have some cereals, followed by some toast.

We sat down together over in the lounge area (she has an open plan lounge / dining room / kitchen) and chatted. After that, we took a shower together: whilst my shower is a simple cubicle, with not even enough space for one person, hers was rather bigger, you could probably get a family of six in there, still with a bit of space! So, how I do I put this in a 'family-friendly' way: Amanda has a really nice body! She doesn't have a slim or skinny, straight-down body type, she definitely has curves, with pleasantly sized - neither over-large nor tiny - firm boobs. Nor was she overweight at all. More importantly, all of her 'component parts' fitted very nicely together!

While Amanda was able to put on some completely fresh clothes, I had to put on my clothes from yesterday evening, which felt a little odd.

"So, what's the plans for the rest of today then?" I asked.

"Well, I could do with going out and getting some exercise at some point, but apart from that, I'd love to spend some more time with you"

"Lunch?"

"I'm open to suggestions..."

"Pub lunch? Tell you what, why don't you give me a lift back home, so I can get changed, and you could see my braces. Then we could take a walk, there's a nice park not far from my place, then after that, we could go get some lunch..."

"Mmmm, sounds like I get to spend the rest of the day with you, I like that idea......" she said, putting her arm around me, then kissing me.

-----

"I'm afraid it's not quite as big or up-market as your place" I explained as we went into my flat. My flat is definitely a bit smaller than Amanda's, and not as new. I have a small (could do with being updated) kitchen / dining / living area), a bedroom with a double bed, and a bathroom. Oh, and a tiny entrance hallway. That's it.

I took her into the living area. "Coffee?" I asked.

"No, I'm ok...."

"Ok, well it's only going to take me a few minutes to get changed, then I'm guessing you probably want to see my braces, don't you?"

"That's a kinda silly question, Danny.... of course I do!!"

I went into my bedroom, and put on something more suitable for a relaxing Sunday walk and pub lunch, then grabbed the plastic crate that I'd put all my braces stuff into, and took it into the living room. I sat next to Amanda, with the crate on the other side, so she couldn't just look into the box. I wanted to have a bit of fun with this, and stretch it out a little.

"Bloody hell, a crate-full?" said Amanda

"It's not actually full... but it makes it a lot easier to keep them together... so where shall I start? Ok, this is another set of fake brackets - Mei did them for me as a leaving present: she knew I was planning to wear these 'as for real', and of course, they could easily break, so they are a spare pair". I passed the retainer box with them over to Amanda to look at. Her eyes lit up as she opened the case.

"And then there's a pair of retainers...." I said, passing those over to her.

"I'm SO jealous, I'd love to have something like these! These retainers look like normal retainers."

"So then there's this one...." and I passed her the 'minimal plate', that goes with my facemasks.

"Ummm, what's this one for?"

"Tell, you what, let me take these braces out, and put that one in, see if you can work it out..." I removed my fake brackets, putting them onto the small table, then took the appliance from Amanda, and put it into my mouth, then smiled, letting her see the wires with tiny loops on, that come forwards from the back.

"That looks like it's for a facemask!"

"Yes, that's right!" I pulled out the red facemask - the one with the single thick rod down the front. There was an open round plastic (microwave) container in the crate that had a load of elastics in it, so I grabbed a couple of them. I hooked the elastics to my appliance, then put the facemask onto my face, hooking the elastics onto the horizontal rod.

Amanda was just staring at me. "I've seen pictures of them, but never actually seen one for real!" she said.

"How would you fancy wearing something like this then?" I asked. Amanda was gently touching the facemask, her expression said it all, she didn't really need to answer. "Actually, I have an idea....". I leaned into the crate, and found the other, blue, facemask. This one was the sort with wires that go around the side of the face, and an elastic strap that could go around the head to hold it in place. With tighter elastic tension that would be used for real wear, you probably didn't need the strap, but for 'playing' it was useful. I passed it to Amanda. "Go on, put in on.....".

Watching Amanda was like watching a child opening presents on Christmas Day....

"You got TWO facemasks?" she commented as she put the blue facemask onto her face, and pulled the strap around her head.

"Well, it seemed silly not to!" was my reply. "Oh, there's a mirror out in the hallway, if you want to take a look at yourself - it kinda suits you!". Amanda got up, and almost ran to the hall, to take a look at herself. While she was out of the room, I looked in my box, trying to decide what should be next. I decided to leave the twin-blocks till last. Hmm, maybe do the headgear next.

Amanda returned, with a massive smile on her face, and sat down beside me again, but seemed completely unable to speak. She took my hand, and put it up to the facemask she was wearing... clearly, this was all starting to have an effect on her.

"I have a feeling you might like to see my headgears next...." I suggested. "I need to take this facemask off again, but keep yours on, if you like.". I unhooked the elastics, put the facemask itself onto the table, then removed the appliance from my mouth. I left the elastics on it, and put it into its retainer box.

"I might have gone a little mad on the headgear" I commented. "For a start, I have a pair of facebows". I took the two facebows out of the crate, picked up my fake brackets, and put the slightly larger facebow into the upper appliance, and the slightly smaller one into the lower one. As I did this, I could see Amanda watching what I was doing. I put both appliances into my mouth, and let Amanda look at my mouth, with the two facebows coming out of it. Once again, she put her hand up to my face, running her fingers over the shiny metal facebows.

"So what sort of headgear did you get?" she asked

"Well, ummm... there's this one" I said, taking the high-pull from the crate, and passing it to Amanda, so she could look at it, and touch it. "Hey, want to put it onto me?" I asked.

"Can I?". This was a very different Amanda. Unlike the normal Amanda, who is clearly very much in control of things, this was an almost child-like Amanda, enthralled by all these new toys. Toys that she'd seen on her computer, but probably never had the chance to see in real life. And today she was getting to see pretty much everything in one go!

She put the high-pull on the top of my head, then pulled the ends of the force modules with the holes in to be by the ends of the upper facebow. "Which hole should I use?" she asked.

"It probably doesn't really matter that much" I said, "I won't have it on for long". Whilst I couldn't see what she was doing, I could feel her hooking the holes over the facebow ends - it felt a bit tighter than I'd normally have it, but that didn't matter. Again, she was running her hands over the headgear, feeling it on my head.

"I guess I need something for the bottom one too..." I said taking out the neck-strap, and passing it to Amanda. As she put it around my neck, and fitted it to my lower facebow, I could see that her breathing had become a bit quicker, and a bit more shallow.

"I'm having problems finding words....." she commented. She tried to put her lips to mine, but her facemask got in the way. I leaned over to her, and carefully pulled it away from her chin, then upwards, removing it from her. She tried putting her lips to mine once again, her lips around my two facebows: our lips touched and her tongue started to explore the thick metal wire of the two facebows.

"You ok there?" I asked a few moments later

"Not really, this lot is doing things to me..."

"Yeah, I guessed that. Want to see some more?"

"MORE?"

"Yup!". I leaned into my box. "For example, I got this bright yellow high-pull too" I said, passing it to her.

"Oh, yes, now that is bright!!"

"Go on, try it.....". She put it over her head, then dashed out into the hallway again, to look at herself, then returned.

"Tell you what, I'd feel really sorry for a kid who was forced to wear THAT out in public! I mean, it's a bit visible!". She paused a moment, and looked at me. "You haven't? Have you?"

I smiled. "Yes, I have worn it out in public, while I was in Asia!".

"I bet that was exciting?!"

"Well, yes and no. I'd been wearing my other headgear a bit by then, and there was no-one around who knew me, so it didn't have the same effect as if I had worn it in London. I guess I'd better show you my other headgear...". I unhooked my neck strap and highpull, putting them both on the table, with the growing pile of other orthodontia (erm, 2 facemasks, facemask-plate, fake brackets, retainers), and took the Interlandi out of the crate, passing it to Amanda. It already had 2 elastics fitted, so I found another couple of elastics, ready to hook them on.

"This is my favourite headgear. This is the one I've worn out here in London" I said.

"You've worn this out in public?" said Amanda sounding quite surprised.

"Yeah, but only with a single facebow. Maybe I should wear it out this afternoon? After all, I'm now quite a bit behind on my wear schedule, after not wearing it last night!". Amanda was again looking at me. "My theoretical treatment includes night-time headgear wear, which means that last weekend, and now again this weekend, I'm noticeably behind on my hours, so I really ought to catch up...." I said with a big smile, taking the Interlandi from Amanda. I fitted the extra couple of elastics, put it over my head, then hooked the elastics over the ends of my facebows. "I wore it like this a few time when I was over in Asia" I commented. "It's surprisingly comfortable, and the elastics apply a very low pressure" I continued, 'twanging' the elastics. Once more I let Amanda feel the headgear on my head... I was starting to wonder how long she would last before she 'exploded', hoping that she'd be able to manage another five or ten minutes.

"Of course, if I don't want to wear my headgear, but still want to help my teeth to move, then I have these". I picked up the retainer case that had my lip-bumpers in, and passed it to Amanda. While she looked, I removed my interlandi (and put it on the table!), then removed my fake braces. With them in my hand, I was able to easily remove the headgear. Amanda passed me the lip-bumpers, which I put into my braces, which I then put into my mouth. I could feel the lip-bumpers pushing my lips forward.

"Your mouth looks really odd!" said Amanda as she once again put her lips to mine, kissing me on my lips. I let her inquisitive tongue go between my lips, to feel the lip-bumpers, with my brackets just behind them. Her tongue explored for several minutes: there was no question that she was absolutely enjoying every moment of this. Ok, so was I, to be honest!

"How much more stuff do you have?" pleaded Amanda, several minutes later.

"Well, there's this one" I said, with a bit of difficulty: I wasn't really used to talking whilst wearing the lip-bumpers. I took my 'herbst appliance' from the almost empty crate, and passed it to Amanda. This complex appliance needs quite a description:

The metalwork started on the lower canines (where the Herbst attached) and clipped onto the next two teeth, my pre-molars, as well. At the front, as well as some plastic on the inside of my front teeth, there was a very obvious metal expander module, with wires going across to my lower canines. There was plastic all around the inside of my teeth, to locate it well, with Adams clasps over my rear molars. And of course, all the way from the clasps, through the Herbst attachments and around my front teeth were large metal brackets. And where the lower part of the Herbst attached to my canines, it did not look at all fake, it looked exactly like pictures I'd seen of real Herbst appliances.

The upper appliance was similar in concept. If you removed the plastic from the appliance, then it would look just like a real appliance: metal around the two premolars and first molar, where the Herbst attachment point was. Between those bits of metal Mei had soldered a metal expander, and to the front of the expander was a rather large and obvious tongue crib soldered in place. Again, there was an archwire with brackets.

The clever thing about these appliances, compared to my other fake brackets, was that there was no need for the tiny supporting wires behind my canines, as the rather more substantial metal around the teeth did a far better job.

Like on the lower appliance, there were clasps on the rear molars, and plastic all around, but mainly to the front of the appliance, I was guessing to hold it in place in my mouth.

And to round things off, some of the brackets had hooks on, for elastics.

As Amanda looked at my fake Herbsts, I took out my fake brackets, leaving the lip-bumpers in place for the moment, and put them onto the table too.

"Want to see them in?" I asked, wanting her to pass them over, which she did. I took the appliances as a pair, with the Herbst pins inserted into the tubes, and put them into my mouth, gently biting together to start seating them, then I used my fingers to finally push them into place. I smiled, to let Amanda take a look.

"Wow, those really do look real! What's the tongue crib like?"

"Well" I said, "it makes it very hard to speak" I said with a very heavy lisp, "And pretty much impossible to eat. The crib is a bit on the large size!".

"And can you kiss with it?"

"I guess the best way is to try it....". Amanda didn't need any further encouragement: her lips were on mine, her tongue probing my brackets, my teeth..... and kinda got halted when it hit the tongue crip. Our tongues met through the prison bars of the crib, but we still continued to kiss for a while.

"So, what do you think of my braces so far?" I asked, still lisping.

"So far? How much more do you HAVE for goodness sake?".

"Just one more, but I think you're going to really like them....". I removed my Herbsts from my mouth, which was not easy as they clipped on well. I then took the case with my twin blocks from the crate, and without opening the box, passed it to Amanda. As she opened the box, her whole face lit up.

"Oh.... my.... gawd..... there's so much plastic! She removed the two plates from the case and ran her fingers over them. I could tell that her excitement levels were now going up very quickly. I held out my hands, and she passed the twin-blocks to me, and I put them into my mouth. Both appliances were good fits and needed to be pushed in to place firmly. Yes, they felt so good!

Whilst they were definitely twin blocks, they had more plastic, and more clasps, than a normal one, making them much nicer for a braces enthusiast like me. Or Amanda.

As you'd expect the clear pink plastic covered my molars. On the bottom, there were 5 ball clasps (= wires with tiny balls on the end) over my front teeth, canine to canine, plus plastic over the top of the teeth, and a couple of millimetres down over the front of the teeth. The top was similar: 5 ball clasps, but also a labial bow - like you'd have on a retainer, along with plastic over the top of my front teeth. Not to forget the chunks of plastic that held the lower jaw forwards. So much metal and plastic! But they were actually very comfortable. I ran my tongue around my mouth: all I could feel was the plastic.

I leaned over to Amanda, and we started kissing. I could feel her tongue in front of my teeth, feeling around the clasps and labial wire, and the plastic. As she put her tongue between my teeth, and into my mouth, whilst I knew that she could feel the smooth plastic in the top and bottom of my mouth, I could feel nothing, except when our tongues touched.

Still kissing me, Amanda reached past me, took the crate, and put it on the floor. She then pushed me back onto the settee, and got on top of me, still kissing me. Once again, buttons started to get opened, and.......

This is getting good. I added the latest chapter to TheArchive and am all caught up on this story now.


He's a man after my own heart and I just wish that I could find a woman into braces the way that she is.

You are great, Sparky!

chapter 15

Sunday with Amanda continues



"You recovered yet?" I asked, smiling

"Yes, I feel a lot better now I've got that out of me... Tell you what though, that's a lot of braces you have there! You realise of course that I'm now feeling even more jealous of you than I was earlier, I never would have guessed you had so much"

"So, you definitely want some for yourself?"

"Hell, yeah! Of course I do!"

"Think you'll want to wear them in public at all?"

"Hmm, I'm not so sure about that. Maybe if we go somewhere away from London."

"So you don't fancy wearing them 'as for real' like I do?"

"I think I meet too many people to make it practical, to be honest. But that won't stop me wearing them at home"

"So what do you fancy? As you can see, you can get pretty much anything!"

"Well... I guess top of the list will be some brackets"

"And headgear, I'm guessing"

"Oh, definitely! And I do fancy something like your twin-blocks... I'd just love to feel all that plastic in my own mouth!"

"Yes, it does feel rather nice, I will admit! I'd wear them out in public, but adults just don't wear twin-blocks, do they?"

"But how many people ACTUALLY know that? I'm also thinking that I might like something with a load of expansion screws in it, maybe three or four of them!"

"Mmm, sounds fun. Hey, I have an idea, why don't we give Mei a call right now... They're 7 hours ahead, so this would be a fairly good time to call her"

"Oh, yeah, that would be nice....".

I grabbed my phone, and with Amanda next to me, I video-called Mei: it took a while for it to connect and ring, and a short while after, she answered.

"Danny, nice to talk to you again! How are you?" she asked

"Hi there, Mei... I'm doing fine. Hey, can I introduce someone... this is Amanda, my new girlfriend". I turned the phone so they could see each other.

"Hi, Amanda, lovely to meet you! You must be a VERY new girlfriend, he never said anything about you when we chatted 2 weeks ago! I hope you're being good to Danny, he's a nice guy!"

"Hello, Mei... Danny has told me all about you..."

"Hopefully not ALL, gotta have SOME secrets! So, you just calling me to tell me about your new girlfriend?"

"Actually no. Erm, Amanda has the same 'problem' that I have.... and she fancies having some braces!" I explained.

"Ooooh, Amanda, you naughty little girl! Welcome to the club!" said Mei with a giggle.

"So, I'm guessing that you need some models of her teeth? What do we need to do to get those? I mean, it's a bit of a trip to come over to you to get them done!"

"Well, I could send you some moulding putty, but that will take forever to get to you, and then might start to dry out by the time it gets back. The best thing you can do is just go to your dentist, and ask him to take some impressions, and make you some models"

"Yeah, I thought of that, but I'm sure they will ask why she wants them. And I don't think 'I want to get some fake braces made' would be a good reply!". That made Mei giggle.

"Hmmm, yeah, probably not the best idea. One I've suggested to people is to just say that you want to get some custom cos-play teeth made - maybe she wants to be a female werewolf or something?"

"Yes, that sounds a lot better". I turned the phone towards Amanda. "You gonna be ok doing that?" I asked

"I think so...."

"Ok, so I'll send Danny the shop's address, and you can send them to me... if you can put them into a small cardboard box, rather than just a padded bag, that will protect them better... I suggest wrapping them up individually in some bubble wrap too, and make sure to fill the rest of the box, so they don't just bounce around. Any idea what you fancy yet? I assume Danny has shown you all of his braces?"

"Yeah, he showed me them earlier" said Amanda with a bit of a smile. "There's so much to choose from"

"Don't forget, in principle, I can make anything you fancy, it's doesn't need to be a 'real' appliance. Anyway, when you've decided, just let me know, and I'll work out a price. The shop does credit cards, so it should be easy for you to pay us"

"Thank you, Mei" said Amanda.

"Hey, Danny, have you started wearing your braces full-time yet?"

"Yes, a couple of weeks ago, after we last spoke I guess." I swung the camera back to me, moved it a bit closer, and smiled, letting Mei see my mouth. "See, I'm a brace-face now!"

"Those mine, or the ones that Ah-Too made for you?"

"Ah-Too's I'm afraid"

"Ohh, you traitor......." said Mei with a big smile.

After chatting a bit more, we ended the call.

"She seems to be a really nice lady, with quite a sense of humour" commented Amanda. "Her English is amazingly good, I was expecting her to have a really strong accent". I explained to Amanda that she'd spent some time getting her training in America, so it was more of an American accent than an English one.

"So, you need to go see your dentist sometime, and then decide what you fancy having. You know the sort of prices I paid, so I reckon you could get yourself several sets of braces, and a few other bits too"

"Yeah, there's just so much to choose from! Anyway, we going to have this walk - didn't you say there's a nice park near here?"

"Yes, with a pub that does a Sunday Carvery very conveniently on the far side of the park!"

"I have an idea" suggested Amanda, "I suspect your headgear wear is a bit down after not wearing it last night... so you should wear it this afternoon. In fact, why don't you wear double headgear? I'll let you take the lower one off when we get to the pub...."

I could tell that there could be some good braces fun to be had in the future with Amanda!

Chapter 17

<It's the 'once per series' special cross-over episode!>

For those of you who haven't read my story "Jennifer loves singing", Jenny is a member of a three-piece chart-topping girl-band called CJD (= Carol, Jenny, Diane, the 3 members), and seems to have a built-in ability to compose music. However, she's crap at the words - so Carol and Diane tend to write the lyrics. She also sings, plays piano, various guitars, and weirdly, the trumpet!

In terms of the other story, this happens maybe a couple of weeks before the start of it, so before she meets Ben, and before she gets her braces.

---

Wednesday - Jenny who?


I was supposed to be meeting up with Amanda for lunch on Wednesday, and got a message from her at around noon, saying that she was going for lunch with a client, that I was very welcome to join them, but they would be at Jason's Wine Bar instead - if that sounds familiar, then that's because it's the place I had my first 'date' with Amanda last week. I got a feeling that Amanda went there quite a bit.

I warned my colleagues that I might be back from lunch a bit late, and walked the almost 10 minutes into and across town to Jason's Wine Bar, where I found Amanda sat at a table waiting for me. With her was another lady, I'm guessing my sort of age, early to mid 20's. Amanda stood up and gave me a semi-formal hug & kiss, then we both sat down.

"This is Jenny... remember I was telling you about that pop group being sued for copyright by a small band for allegedly copying their song... she's the one who wrote the song, well, the music. Jenny, this is my boyfriend, Danny"

"Hi Danny!" said Jenny

"Ah, ok... hi there, Jenny! Nice to meet you! Erm, am I allowed to be a bit cheeky, and ask whether I should know your band?". She smiled, revealing a set of nicely crooked teeth. The top ones went inwards a bit, the second and canines teeth all stuck out a bit, and from what I could see, the bottom teeth were just as bad, with some twisted, some behind others. Ok, yeah, so it's what I notice! Some guys would instantly look down at a girl's... you know..., others would look up at her eyes or nose or hair, but you guys know me by now, I'm a mouth and teeth and braces sort of guy.

"I would be a bit offended if you didn't!" she replied, "Our band is CJD, I'm sure you've heard of us! Even if you're not into our sort of music". I looked at this lady. She was dressed in jeans and a plain top. Trainers. Minimal makeup, but actually quite good looking without it. Long dark hair in a braid. But not exactly what I would expect for a pop star! Especially someone in as big a group as CJD... and you don't really get THAT much bigger than CJD were right now. If I remembered right, they had just done a massive tour all over the UK and Europe.

"Ah, yes, I think I've heard of you.... a small struggling girl band with only 2 or 3 number-one hits to their name?" I said with a big smile, making it clear I was joking. Jenny laughed at my comment.

"I do like your style, Danny! And I bet you're also thinking that I'm not really dressed like a pop star either..."

"You can clearly read my mind!" I replied

"I think some people are in the music business for the fame.... you know, the Taylor Swift's of the world, they seem to enjoy being famous. Me, I'm in it because I just love music. I live and breathe music. I guess you'd maybe call me a bit of a 'reluctant pop star'. Don't get me wrong, I really love performing as well as writing music - but even that can get to be a bit of a pain at the end of a long tour. We just finished a big tour, and I'm having a few weeks off... so I'm currently just being me, Jenny, and trying to keep out of the limelight for a bit...."

"So what's the worst bit about being on tour then?" I asked.

"Boredom.... for example, we usually travel in a coach, so, especially over in Europe, the journeys can be long, and a bit boring at times. At the beginning of the tour it's not so bad, we chat together, we work on song ideas.... but you can only do so much of that. The other bad thing is not sleeping too well... you know, a different bed in a different place every couple of days."

"I was over in Asia recently, and yes, took me 2 or 3 days before I was sleeping ok, and I'm not thinking of the jet-lag, as you say, the bed, the room. So what're the best bits then?"

"Oh, that's easy: playing our music to our fans. You spend hours creating a song, then more hours practising it, and when the fans hear it and like it, that's an amazing feeling! I also love meeting our fans!"

"Isn't that a bit overwhelming?"

"Yes, it can be if there's a lot of them, so I try and find, or even arrange to meet up with, a small group of them. They are really nice when you can really interact with them. Sometimes, when we're in a place for a few days, then we do a 'fan's breakfast', where we all have breakfast with any fans staying at the same hotel as us, that's quite nice, coz we have time to chat with them, and no-one else is going to suddenly come along." 

It sounded like Jenny tried hard to make the best of what could, at times, be not such fun. As we continued to chat, I looked at the menu, and when the waiter came over, I ordered a simple quiche salad and a soft drink.

"So, have you managed to sort out Jenny's problem?" I asked Amanda

"Yeah, we did... The other band alleged that Jenny's song was based on theirs... I mean, this sort of thing happens more than you'd imagine, but you do have to wonder if they are just trying it on, to try and get a load of money out of them."

"So how do you prove that she didn't steal the song, even just a bit of it?"

"It's hard to prove a negative, that Jenny hadn't heard their song when she wrote her song, but in this case we managed to show that Jenny started work on the song about a month or so before the other band released their song - even though the CJD song was actually released several months after. And with the other band being from up north, so miles away, there's no way she could have heard their song before it was released. So it turns out the similarity was just 'one of those strange coincidences'"

"And the other guys are ok with that?"

"I spoke to their lawyers mid-morning, explained what we had found, and sent the files and other data over to them. They called back just before we came out for lunch, and they have withdrawn their case" explained Amanda.

"Yeah, it's kinda scary... I mean, we're here having lunch, and there's music in the background. I'm not actively listening to it, but it might get inside my mind, and then pop out later" explained Jenny

"So how did you prove your initial ideas were... well, yours?" I asked her

"Well, I carry this around with me.." she said, leaning down and pulling a small audio recorder out of her bag. "Whenever I get an idea, and I play it, or even hum it, I always record it, just in case I need to go back to it for some reason."

"And I'm guessing you have copies of everything you do?"

"Yeah, my brother, Callum, got me set up to copy everything into 'the cloud', and never to delete stuff. Hey, didn't Amanda said you're in IT... you'd probably get on well with Callum! So, yeah, I spent all of yesterday listening to something like five hundred or a thousand recordings, some short, some long, trying to find the recording of the first time I strummed that tune on my guitar"

"And I'm guessing you found it?"

"Yes, eventually... at about 11 pm last night. It turns out I had got the date wrong by a couple of weeks. But the date on that recording, and some other stuff I had put it just over a month before they released their song! Boy was I happy when I found it!"

As we talked, it was fun to occasionally look at Jenny's crooked teeth. To me, a girl with crooked teeth is the next best thing to a girl with braces! And to be honest, if I wasn't going out with Amanda, she is the sort of girl I'd want to chat up - although the likelihood of me meeting a pop star in the first place would be pretty slim! Having said that, that was pretty much my feelings when I first saw Amanda!

"So you live for music.... what inspires you then?"

"Anything and everything. I mean, yesterday, I was in Amanda's office, and something got my brain going. It might have been a sound, or something I'd seen, maybe a smell, I'm not really sure, but I started getting a tune in my head! And when that happens, I have to do something about it" explained Jenny.

"Yeah, not the sort of thing I'm used to.... she's in my office, and we're having a meeting, then suddenly she's like 'can you just give me a minute or two', and she pulls out her audio recorder, and starts humming and singing into it!" added Amanda

"Ah, so a sort of 'Barrister Rap' then?" I suggested, which made Jenny laugh

"Nice title! I like it... I may need to steal that from you!"

"It'll cost you.... copyright and all that. And I'll warn you that I have a good lawyer to protect my rights!"

"Tell you what, if I use it, I'll buy you a drink as payment!" said Jenny

"Yeah, ok, that'll do, deal!" I replied.

"Hey, Danny, next time make sure you speak to your lawyer first... I could probably have got her up to two drinks, if not three!" added Amanda.

---

"I'm glad you came along at lunchtime, you made something that could have been a bit boring into a fun lunchtime. I think Jenny quite appreciated your light-hearted attitude" said Amanda later that evening.

"Yeah, she's a nice girl, but nothing like I would have imagined a big pop star to be" I commented. "Hey, did you notice her teeth?"

"Yes, I did, and I saw you having a look too! She definitely needs braces, doesn't she? But I'm not sure I can imagine her getting them"

"She'd look cute in them though! I don't suppose it's the done thing for lawyers to tell their clients that they should get braces, is it?"

"No, not really! But yeah, you're right about her not being what you'd expect a pop-star to be like, she was amazingly and pleasantly normal"

"To be honest, if she had been all dressed up, like most pop stars you read about, I would probably have freaked out!"

"And she was amazingly willing to help me to find the information we needed. Many people in her position would just be 'oh, I'll get someone else to find it for you', and then you wait weeks to get anything. And usually you have to keep chasing them. But she was onto it straight away! I wish more of my clients were so helpful... when they are like her, you actually WANT to help them!"

"Hey, just remember that when your laptop goes wrong, and your IT guy comes to fix it!" I said with a smile.

"So, if Jenny wasn't what you expected a pop star to be, am I anything like you'd expect a barrister to be?" asked Amanda

"You're asking me leading questions again" I replied, hugging and kissing my very sexy girlfriend.

Chapter 18

Friday evening


"I went to see my dentist today" said Amanda

"Ah, to get your teeth models done? How did it go?"

"Not too bad: I arranged to get a check-up, which was due, and mentioned that I was wanting to get some costume / cosplay teeth made, and could he make me some models of my teeth - he was absolutely fine about it, he said he's had a few people ask for the same thing before"

"I wonder if those people really wanted cosplay teeth, or like us, wants some braces? But I bet you're glad that's over"

"Yes, I was a little nervous when I went in"

"Amanda was nervous?" I said, joking.

"I'm used to being in charge, and at the dentist I'm not. I'm ok at work, I'm in charge. And I'm ok with you...."

"Because you're in charge?". Amanda stopped and thought a moment

"About that.... ummm.... Danny, don't be scared to take the lead with me. I really don't mind... in fact, it can be rather nice to not have to be in charge all the time....". She came over to me, and stood next to me, as if she was going to kiss me, but didn't.

"You testing me?"

"I might be.....". I leaned over towards her, and put my lips to hers, then without any hesitation, pushed my tongue straight into her mouth, and started a long kiss. She tried a couple of times to put her tongue into my mouth, but I stopped her. Finally I let her in, let her tongue run over my brackets, my archwires, and then my plates. As we finished the kiss, she smiled gently at me.

"So, did I pass?"

"Not too bad for starters....."

"So, when will your teeth models be ready?"

"Next week sometime, they'll give me a ring when they're ready"

"In that case, we should start thinking about what braces you want. I'll take it as read that you want some brackets with HG tubes, and some retainers...."

"Well, I was thinking it might be fun to have some sort of expander, with loads of screws and really thick plastic"

"... making it hard to talk, eh?"

"That's the idea. I also fancy something that has plastic all over the teeth, kinda like your twin-block, but not a twin block, if you see what I mean."

"So kinda like a splint, but two of them?"

"Yeah, that sort of thing. And I was also thinking about having some very simple, probably quite thin, plates"

"Uh?"

"Well, I'm not really going to be able to wear braces for real like you do, but if I just had a thin plate in the top of my mouth, with maybe just a pair of clasps at the back, then I could wear that without anyone knowing, but still have the feel of that lovely smooth plastic in my mouth. And I'm sure Mei could come up with something similarly invisible for the bottom". Just listening to Amanda describing this was rather nice.....

"Oh, yes, I'd definitely love to get my tongue around those.... but I do like your idea of having something undetectable in your mouth... Anything else?"

"Well, headgear of course, and maybe a facemask. We can ask Mei to put the facemask wires onto some normal fake brackets"

"I'm absolutely certain she could do that. Fancy something like a Fraenkel, or an activator?"

"Not a Fraenkel.... but I remember seeing some sort of activator-looking thing, it has plastic between the biting surfaces of the teeth, like an activator, but then has a sort-of built-in lower lip-bumper"

"Oh yeah, I think I've seen those sort of things on the 'Braces-Shop' site... has a B-shaped sprung clip over the top two front teeth too"

"Yeah, that's the one. Lots of plastic and wires...."

"Oh, I love it when you talk dirty! So, what'e the plans for dinner? We going out, or we eating in?"

"I wouldn't mind a quiet night at home tonight, we've been out a bit this week. I've got plenty of stuff in the freezer, but not much fresh... I need to go shopping"

We went and raided her freezer, and made a nice dinner. I was about to get up to brush my teeth, when Amanda said "Hey, don't brush your teeth..... I'd like to kiss you with messy braces...". Well, who was I to disagree?

Chapter 20


Shopping with headgear


"You sure you're gonna be ok with this?" asked Amanda just before we got out of the car, "it's going to be a bit more 'in your face' than it was in the park last week"

"I'll be ok, as long as we don't meet anyone I know. I can easily explain a single headgear, but double headgear might be a bit harder. But I did wear this a few time when I was in Asia." She took my hand as we walked from the car park into the actual shopping centre. Being a Saturday, we knew it was going to be busy, and we passed a couple of people even before we got to the shops.

Ok, so I've worn my double headgear out in public several times now. Most were over in Asia, where I really didn't mind who saw me. The other time was last weekend when there very few people around. But today, at the shopping centre, it was busy, with hundreds and thousands of people here. Even if 99% of people ignored me, I would still be seen by a lot of people. And people with external orthodontia are few and far between. People with extreme external orthodontia even more so.

Yet here I was, in my double headgear. Was I scared?

Hell, yes! I was scared. It was fun and exciting too, but I was scared. I looked at Amanda, and she looked at me, and smiled, then leaned over and gave me a gentle kiss.

As with the other times I've worn headgear in public in England, after a few minutes I began to calm down a bit as I, once again, noticed that very few people were interested enough to even look at me, let alone react. After wandering around the shops for a short while, window-shopping, we went into a book & stationary shop, where I ended up buying a book. There was a short queue at the till, and when it was my turn, the lady, probably in her 40s, looked at me, and appeared a but surprised.

"Never seen one of those before" she said, indicating my headgear. "What's it for?" she asked. Well, my heart was already beating fast just standing in the queue, it went even faster when she asked that.

"Erm, I'm getting my teeth fixed" I explained briefly, as I waved my card over the payment terminal. Outside the shop, I took a deep breat, and Amanda took my hand again, and smiled at me.

"That looked like it was scary but fun" she commented.

"Yeah, both those...." I replied. "Of course, you have this fun yet to come....".

"Yes... and I suspect I'll probably be a lot more nervous than you are!". As we continued walking around, I got the occasional stare, but noone said anything. My phone rang: it was Janice.

"Hey there, Danny! I'm guessing that you are somewhere with Amanda?" asked Janice

"Yeah, we're shopping up in Brent Cross" I replied, I didn't mention that it was really a 'braces adventure'.

"Are you guys still joining us tonight?" asked Janice

"Yes, that was our plan"

"Ok, so it looks like we're going to that same Italian place you first met Amanda. And before you ask, yes, I want to meet Amanda properly"

"Ok, give me a second, I'll just check with Amanda". I turned to Amanda: "It's Janice, she's checking if we're still wanting to go along tonight, they're going to that Italian place where we first met"

"Yeah, of course! It will be nice to meet her properly" said Amanda

"Actually, I think she want to meet you too" I replied quietly to Amanda. "Yeah, sounds like we're up for it! Want to WhatsApp me the details, and we'll see you there" I replied to Janice on the phone.

We continued walking around the shops for a while, occasionally buying something. I was looked at a few times, but noone actually said anything.

"Hey, fancy a coffee?" asked Amanda, as we approached the food area of the shopping centre.

"Oh, yes, great idea!" I replied. We went to one of the stalls, to get the coffee. Being a weekend, most of the staff were of school age, and of course, the girl who served us was only about 16 or 17, and as she saw me in my double headgear, she smiled, letting us both see that she had her own set of metal brackets.

"What would you like" she asked pleasantly. Amanda ordered a couple of coffees, as well as a large slice of flapjack. Whilst Amanda was actually her customer, not me, I did see a couple of flicks of her eyes, as they moved to look at me.

As we walked to a table to sit down, I gave up looking to see if anyone was looking at me.

"Am I allowed to take it off, to have my coffee?" I asked Amanda

"Of course..." seh replied. "I must admit, I expected more people to be looking at you, it's not as if you don't stand out"

"Yeah, most people just aren't looking around them as they wander around" I replied, as I unhooked the elastics from my facebow. "I mean, they know there's other people around them, so they don't bump into them, but their concentration is a lot closer to themselves" I continued, as I pulled the facebows from my mouth, and then took the interlandi from my head, and put them all on the table, between Amanda and myself.

This should be chapter 21.

Chapter 22

The Italian job


We all met at a pub just along the road from the Italian restaurant. Janice was already there with a couple of others when I arrived with Amanda. Knowing that this evening would be quite informal, I had suggested to Amanda that she dressed down a bit, which for Amanda still meant she looked amazingly smart and quite stunning, wearing a simple cotton dress that went to just above her knees, with black stockings (well, I hoped they were stockings rather than tights :-) ), and a nice pair of heels. Tonight her makeup seemed to be a bit 'softer', with a paler shade of eyeshadow, not as much mascara, and a more gentle pink lip-gloss.

"Hi Janice" I said, giving her a quick hug. "I'm sure you remember Amanda...."

"Of course... hello Amanda, it's nice to meet you properly, we hardly had a chance to talk the other week" said Janice, quickly shaking Amanda's hand. Janice introduced the others to us.

"What do you fancy?" I asked Amanda. "Wine? Lager?"

"Can I have a red wine please?" she replied.

I started to go to the bar, and turned to Janice. "Come with me to the bar, will you?" I asked her. We had known each other long enough now that there was a high level of trust between us that when I asked her to come to the bar with me, she knew there was a good reason, and probably actually guessed that reason.

"Something on your mind?" she asked as we waited at the bar to be served.

"Yeah....Janice, are you ok with me going out with Amanda?" I asked

"Sure I am... but please, don't shut me out.... I really appreciate having you as a friend, and I've kinda felt a bit shut out this last week"

"I'm sorry, yes, I have rather ignored you... it's been an intense week with Amanda. Look, I'm a bit worried that she might sort-of misunderstand our relationship, so can you sit with us tonight, and chat with Amanda, and help her understand?"

"Sure. I'd actually like to get to know her too... Look, I really hope it works out for you with her, but if it doesn't, you know where I am"

"Thanks, but things seem to be going ok, we seem to be pretty relaxed with each other's company so far". Just then it was our turn at the bar. I ordered a beer for me, and the wine for Amanda. "You need another drink?" I asked Janice.

"Thanks... a small lager will do nicely!". Our drinks were ready for us fairly quickly, so I paid, and we took the drinks back to the others. Amanda was talking with Sonya (Janice's flatmate), who had just arrived. I remembered back a week and a half, and I remember that Amanda had been chatting with her at that first meal at the Italian place.

"Hi Sonya!" I said whilst passing Amanda her wine.

"Oh, hi Danny! I see you two have actually managed to 'get together'... Amanda tells me you two are getting on well!" said Sonya

"Yes, things do seem to be going well between us. I guess I should thank you for passing on her original message!".

Amanda and I chatted with Sonya and Will (her boyfriend) for a minute or two, then they excused themselves to talk with someone else. "So, Amanda, you need to meet Janice.... although you did meet her the other week at the Italian place..."

"Ah, yes, I remember, hello Janice, nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too. It's about time Danny found himself a girlfriend!". Janice paused for a few seconds. "Look, Danny and I are very close, I guess we probably do love each other, but it's much more like a brother and a sister love.... or maybe that should be a step-sister. We love spending time together, but we've tried having a proper relationship, and it didn't work: I was screaming at him within a few weeks! What I'm trying to say is that I absolutely respect that you guys are in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and will not get in between you. In fact, I'll do all I can to help you guys make it work!"

I could feel Amanda's hand slightly increase its pressure on mine. "Thanks for being so open, Janice, I appreciate it."

"All I ask is that you don't try to shut us off completely: if I was a male friend of Danny's, or even his sister, you'd have no problems with him meeting with me... I think we're each other's best friends, we need the occasional bit of time together... As I said, I think it's great that you two are going out together!"

"Ok" said Amanda, taking a breath. "This feels kinda weird, I've never known a guy whose 'bestie' was a girl! So how did you two meet?"

"Erm, I think we first met down the local pub, then we bumped into each other at the shops, and we just got talking; I think we were both a bit lonely, looking for company. That was about 2 years ago" explained Janice. "A few months after we first met, we did try being boyfiend and girlfriend, and I sort-of started living with him, but it didn't work"

"I'm guessing it wasn't anything big, otherwise you'd not still be friends?"

"No, it was silly little things... he'd get annoyed because I never put the cereals back in the cupboard. Then I'd get annoyed because he squeezes the toothpaste tube in the middle, that sort of thing....."

"He's not a 'middle of the tube squeezer' is he?" said Amanda, with a slight smile, then turning to me she added "It looks like I'm going to have to teach you how to squeeze a toothpaste tube properly!". She turned back to Janice. "So, I'm guessing you don't have a boyfriend at the moment - do you want one, or are you avoiding guys at the moment? I'm just thinking of a few people I know"

"Danny told me last week that I need to be a bit more positive towards guys, even ask them out, like you did with Danny"

"Shh, don't tell him, but I was actually quite nervous that first night when I asked him out for a drink" whispered Amanda loudly to Janice, "but I'm glad I did"

"You didn't seem that nervous" I replied, "you seemed to be in complete control"

"Danny, you're going to learn that I'm very good at hiding my emotions if I need to. It's been a couple of years since I've had a boyfriend, and I've never been good at meeting guys. I'm fine if it's for work, but not if it's personal. So, yeah, I was a bit scared that night. Scared you maybe wouldn't like me. And I was quite apprehensive about meeting Janice tonight too! As I said, I can hide my feelings if I need to"

"Well, I'm guessing you're ok with me now, how about with Janice?". Maybe I shouldn't have asked that second question, I was rather putting Amanda on the spot.

"Well... I'm feeling quite a bit better about it, but I'm hoping that we can chat a bit more tonight, get to know each other a bit"

"Hey, I'm ok with that. As I said, I want you two guys to work out, so anything I can do to help things along. So, who are these single guys you were thinking about?"

I breathed a sight of relief: the two most important women (ok, non-family women) seemed to be taking the first steps at getting to know each other, and there hadn't been any violence (yet!).

It wasn't much longer before everyone had arrived, and it was time to walk the 100 yards (= 100 metres) along the road to the same Italian restaurant, where, a week and a bit ago I'd first seen Amanda, the good looking red-haired girl that I thought I'd have NO chance with. How wrong I had been!

I suggested that Amanda and Janice should sit next to each other, so they could chat, and I sat opposite them. Next to me was Steve; Sonya (Janice's flatmate) and her boyfriend Will were further along the table.

The waiter came over for our drinks order: Amanda ordered a couple of bottles of not-so-cheap wine for everyone to share: I was driving, so I could only have a small glass of wine, so also ordered an OJ with lemonade. We looked at the menu: no one really fancied a starter - apart from some olives - so we jumped straight in at the main courses. Amanda and Janice both ordered pizza: I would have loved a pizza, but not with my (fake) braces, so went for a 'Pollo Cacciatore', which is 'pasta ribbons tossed with chicken, pancetta, onion & mushrooms in a tomato sauce, sprinkled with pecorino cheese'. Easy to eat, but would inevitably get stuck in my braces, which I was sure Amanda would appreciate! Amanda and I also ordered a side-salad, for us both to share.

(Whilst looking at the menu, I flipped over to the back, to see what deserts they had.... Chocolate Brownie with ice cream.... Tiramissu.... Lemon meringue.... Cookie Dough Al Forno with ice cream.... The most interesting seemed to be the 'Chocolate Etna', which was described as 'Hot toffee sauce is poured over the dark chocolate cup at your table, revealing a hidden scoop of vanilla gelato on top of a heavenly hot chocolate fondant'. Very appealing! I just hoped I would have enough space at the end to squeeze one of those in!).

Persuading Amanda and Janice to sit together turned out to be a good idea, as they seemed to get on surprisingly well. We were well into the meal, when I heard Janice say "So, Danny said earlier that it was his braces that attracted you..."

"Yeah, that's right... you got to admit, he DOES look rather cute in them, doesn't he?" replied Amanda. (I guess I should add that Amanda was on at least her third, if not fourth, glass of wine for the evening by this point)

"But I assume you know they aren't proper braces" said Janice quietly enough so that most others wouldn't hear her. Amanda was in the middle of eating a mouthful of pizza, so nodded. "Didn't you find that a bit strange?". Amanda smiled, and swallowed the piece of pizza she was eating.

"Not in the least... in fact, it made things far more interesting!" replied Amanda, keeping the conversation fairly quiet.

"In what way?" asked Janice.

"Well, it seems that Danny and I both share a bit of a dark secret... we both seem to have a thing for braces"

"Ah, right, things are starting to make a bit of sense... but is that enough for a relationship?"

"Well, it has been so far, plus we are starting to find out other things about each other. I mean, tonight I'm getting to know you a bit, and you're part of Danny..."

It was good to see that both Amanda and Janice seemed to be trying very hard to make things work between them. While they were chatting together, I was chatting with a couple of other people on the table.

Having made a mess in my braces with the pasta and the olives, I added to it with a rather scrumptious 'Chocolate Etna'. At the end of the meal, I was about to go to the toilets, to brush my teeth, when Amanda leaned over to me: "Don't brush them... the mess in them looks gorgeous!". Needless to say, Amanda was all over me again when we got back to my place.


----

in bed, later on...


"How do you feel things went between you & Janice this evening?" I asked

"She seems pretty ok, but she's so different from me, isn't she? I think I understand your relationship with her a bit better now, but I do have to ask: do I need to worry about you and Janice?"

"Well, the way you are satisfying my urges, I'm certainly not wanting to look elsewhere. And I think Janice respects our relationship enough to not try anything on. If only she had a boyfriend...."

"Well, funny you should say that....."

"Yeah?"

"There's this guy at chambers, one of our clerks, I know he's single and I reckon he might get on with Janice, so I'm thinking we need to do something to get them to meet."

"Maybe we could invite them over for an informal dinner one evening? I think it would probably work better here"

"Yes, that makes sense, as I said the other day, your place DOES have a nice feel to it. It's the same sort of feeling you get from an old comfy jumper, compared to a nice new one."

"Although I think this comfy jumper could maybe do with a bit of a wash, and a repair in places!" I replied.

Chapter 23

The next week ...

Before going to sleep on the Saturday, Amanda suggested I should sleep in my twin-blocks for a change, and I was woken by Amanda kissing me, running her tongue over the expanse of plastic that covered my front teeth, and into my mouth. Whilst I couldn't feel her tongue at all as it darted in and out of my mouth, I could feel it touching my lips, and occasionally my gums. Despite having brushed my teeth the night before, my mouth tasted - and probably smelt - pretty bad, not that it stopped Amanda kissing me: she seemed to like the feel of all the plastic that she could reach with her tongue

After that, we just cuddled and chatted in bed for a while. It was times like this that we were starting to learn more about each other. Today we were talking about the sort of music we liked: there was a certain overlap, but I do like a bit of rock and metal, which Amanda isn't so keen on, she prefers something a bit more soothing, including some of the lighter classical music.

We finally got out of bed, and had some breakfast: eating cereals with twin-blocks is not easy either, but Amanda encouraged me to keep going, and not take them out and give up. Needless to say, to both my and Amanda's delight, plenty of bits of cereal got stuck around the various clasps of the twin-block.

After that, we worked on an email to Mei, based on the notes I'd scribbled yesterday, to get prices for a load of braces for Amanda (and a couple of bits for me). This was the list:

- upper & lower brackets with HG tubes
- upper & lower retainers
- upper expander, with loads of screws and really thick plastic
- something that has plastic all over the teeth, kinda like your twin-block, but not a twin block
- quite thin plates, no / minimal clasps
- headgear (facebows & various HG for A, J-hooks for me)
- facemask (plus some sort of upper brackets with attachment for Facemask)
- activator-looking thing, plastic between the biting surfaces of the teeth, like an activator, with a built-in lower lip-bumper, and a B-shaped sprung clip over the top two front teeth too

There were some quite complicated bits in there, but I knew that the price wouldn't really worry Amanda, as long as it wasn't THAT stupid - which I doubted it would be.

Whilst our mutual love of orthodontia was a great start to our relationship, we needed to learn more about each other if our relationship was to grow and to last. So far, I was pretty happy with the way things were going: I knew that, over the next couple of weeks Amanda would be taking me to some social events that would maybe 'push my boundaries' (which is a way of saying 'scaring the sh*t out of me' if I was alone!), but I trusted that Amanda would protect me and help me take on these new challenges.

Wednesday evening was the first proper social event I went to with Amanda. We were spending the evening having dinner with Chris and his wife, along with two other couples. Chris is the head of Amanda's chambers, and is a QC (so a well experienced and senior post), but he turned out to be a really nice guy away from work. He and his wife both have a passion for cooking, so regularly invite people over so they can try out new dishes on them. The other guests were one of Amanda's colleagues, and her partner, plus one of the chamber's clerks, and his partner.

Amanda had told me that the dress code for tonight was 'smart, but absolutely NOT formal", so I wore my new chinos, one of the new shirts, but without a tie, plus my new jacket. I felt quite smart, as well as being surprisingly comfortable.

"You look good tonight" said Amanda, kissing me. Needless to say, Amanda herself looked quite stunning... I really don't know how she does it, but she just seems to know what to wear to look good: she set the bar very high for others!

"Thank you" I replied, "you look amazing, as ever....".

"You know, it would be such fun to persuade you to wear your headgear out one evening...."

"Maybe, but NOT tonight though" I said, smiling.

"Would you like to drive?" asked Amanda as we walked down to the car.

"You like having a chauffeur, don't you?" I said jokingly. I actually enjoyed driving when we went out: for a start, I don't get to drive a lot, so actually driving is nice; plus it was a fun experience driving an electric car, and the Tesla was a nice car too.

"Actually, it does make a pleasant change to not have to drive"

"You just like the fact that it allows you to have a drink"

"Well, yes, there is that, but there are things called taxis. If ever you want to be able to have a drink too, just say, and we can use a taxi."

We chatted as we drove the 15 minutes to where Chris lived: he lived in a quite upmarket area, in a quite impressive house (over 5 bedrooms I guessed, so a 'mansion' as far as the press goes!). The inside of the house was as impressive as the outside, but it very much had a 'home' feeling about it, it looked a little untidy in a few places, and felt that it was actually used and enjoyed by it's inhabitants, rather than being a clean, smart, sanitised sort of house.

We were the first there, and Chris answered the door to us, welcomed us in, and showed us around the ground floor, where we would be that evening. The kitchen was, of course, huge, with all sorts of things around the place: that didn't really surprise me, Amanda had told me how much they both enjoyed cooking. It pleased me to see a small stack of dirty cooking bits next to the sink!

The evening was amazingly enjoyable: Chris and his wife were excellent hosts, and I got on well with both the other couples (I say 'I', because it was obvious that Amanda knew everyone quite well). And, of course, the food was just amazing: what made it a bit more interesting was hearing about the ingredients for everything, and how it was all made / cooked. Inevitably there were questions about my having to wear braces (if only they knew the truth about them!), and both Amanda and I rather enjoyed that part of the conversation. I'm not quite sure how she did it, but Amanda even managed to slip in the fact that 'Danny has to wear headgear at night' - I'm sure I don't need to tell you how that made me feel!

At the end of the evening, Amanda drove me back home. "Want to come in for another coffee, or something?" I asked.

"Actually, can I have both please?" said Amanda joking.

"Thank you for coming with me tonight, it made a nice change to have a partner. I got the feeling you quite enjoyed this evening" commented Amanda, as I made us both a coffee. "You seemed quite relaxed"

"Yes, I was. I was a bit apprehensive before we went, but Chris is really nice, and so were the others. Oh, and thank you for telling everyone that I have to wear headgear at night!"

"Oh, yes, that WAS fun, and I'm sure you enjoyed every moment of it, didn't you. Hey, where IS your headgear, you really ought to be wearing it!". I told Amanda that it was in the bedroom, so as I waited for the coffee to filter, she went and got it, then I let her fit it to me, a small experience which we both enjoyed.

"It was a good 'first event' to take you to I think.... The one we're going to next Monday will be a lot more formal, and I suspect you'll maybe find it a bit more difficult. But don't worry" she said, putting her arms around me from behind, "I'll be there with you".

>> Nice work. It will be fun to see how Amanda does when her new toys arrive.

That's gonna be in a couple of "story weeks" time... as you'll see in today's chapter, Danny collects Amanda's models, and (whilst not stated) sends them off to Mei, over in Asia. I'm guessing airmail it's going to take several days to get there, then Mei has quite a list of braces to make!

{Aside: it was very tempting to call this chapter "Meet the Fockers" :-) }

--------------------

Chapter 24

Meet grandma and grandpa


On the Thursday, I got a text call from Amanda just before lunch: "need a favour... can you collect my teeth from dentist?" and it included the dentist's details. I texted back to say I could. So, as well as going out to grab some lunch, I had a 20 minute detour to pop into her dentist's to collect the models of Amanda's teeth. Of course, Amanda's dentist was a fully private place, so when I walked in, I got a bit of a pleasant surprise - whilst my dentist is pretty clean and moden, it is fairly 'basic' and functional.... you go in, reception is just inside the door, then there's a load of seats over to the side where you wait, and a set of treatment rooms.

This dentist was in a large old house, the décor was modern by quite nicely up-market. The reception was in the quite large hallway, and I could see into the waiting room, where there seemed to be large chairs (the sort you'd have in your lounge!). The receptionist was very pleasant and very helpful: I explained that I was there to collect Amanda's teeth moulds, and she had them there waiting for me to collect. They had wrapped them in bubble-wrap, and put them into a small carrier bag.

So, back at work, I went into our warehouse area, and found a small box, and grabbed some more bubble-wrap from the big roll we had, so I could pack it up when I was back home.

I didn't see Amanda that evening, as I had my first evening out (since we started going out, of course) without her. I had called Janice during the day, and she suggested having dinner at her place, then a couple of drinks at the pub, both of which sounded very good to me.

Initially, Janice seemed to be a little distant, she still seemed a bit unsure where we stood. So while dinner cooked, we chatted... about me, about her, about Amanda, about how Amanda and I were getting on. I think her worries were more about losing me as a close friend.

By the end of the evening - and I have no doubt that a couple of beers helped things - we seemed to have sorted out things between us. After the pub, we walked together to her place (which was on the way back to my place). Outside, we put our arms around each other and hugged. Then I put my lips to hers, and gave her a simple kiss on her lips.

"We ok again?" I asked her

"Yes, I think so, as long as you remember I'm here..."

----

"How did last night go? You said were planning on seeing Janice"

"Yeah, it ended up fine - I think she was a bit unsure about how things really were between us. Your chatting with her last weekend helped a lot but..."

"Yeah, I met with one of my girlfriends last night" said Amanda, and I think she was finding it hard that I'm 'not as available' as before"

"I think it's about time I met a few of your friends. I'm not meaning people through work, I mean your real friends"

"Well, you know Sonya, although she's not an especially close friend, but yeah, I'd like that. Oh, thinking about doing things, do you have anything planned for us yet on Sunday lunchtime?"

"No, why?"

"In that case, would you like to come with me to have Sunday lunch with my grandparents, then spend the afternoon with them?". Amanda has mentioned her grandparent several times: it's their pictures she has in the locket around her neck, and I know she's very close to them.

"Yeah, ok, that sounds like a lovely idea!"

"Oh, did you pick up my teeth yesterday?"

"Yes, I did. I did consider mailing them off for you today, but I thought you'd want to have a look at them first." I went over to where I'd put the plaster models, the cardboard box, and the extra bubble wrap, grabbed them all, and passed the box, which I'd put the models in, over to Amanda. I'd already taken a look, which meant I'd already cut the tape on the bubble wrap, so she was able to take out the models quite easily.

It was interesting to actually see what Amanda's teeth looked like: they were, of course, lovely and straight, and in a nice arch shape, with uppers and lower interlocking just perfectly. Whilst some people have tiny teeth, others have large teeth, hers, like mine, were 'in the middle somewhere', like most people's seem to be.

But of course, the models were missing something: braces! Of course, we'd never see the braces on the models, as once we'd sent them to Mei, Mei would keep them, just returning the actual fake braces. Just for a bit of fun, I got my retainers out, and put them gently onto Amanda's models: it was clear that our teeth were different, my upper arch seems to be more rounded at the front, whilst Amanda's is a bit more 'pointy', if that makes sense... so whilst our actual arches have a similar width, my retainers are a bit too wide at the front.

So, on to Sunday: I had stayed over at Amanda's on the Saturday, so it was just a matter of getting up, having a little breakfast, then getting in the car to drive to her grandparents place in Chalfont St Peter. The satnav took us across to the A40, then across country, and indicated just under an hour. For some reason, I had let Amanda persuade me to wear my high-pull headgear. "You can take it off when we get there" she had said.

"Almost there" said Amanda as we actually drove out of Chalfont St Peter itself, along a pleasant  road that seems to have quite a few large houses in it, and big spaces between. She pulled into the driveway of one of these houses. In the front, not only was there a garden, but space for maybe 4 cars to park, plus a double garage to the side of the house.

The car stopped, and I was going to remove my headgear, when the front door opened, and her grandparents came out to geet us. I had a quick choice to make: remove the headgear immediately, or leave it on. Well there's no real choice to make, is there. I got out of the car, with my headgear still on, and waited for Amanda to come around the car and join me. She smiled as she approached me, and took my hand.

"So, this is Grandma and Grandpa..... guys, this is Danny, my boyfriend". It's interesting, but as I thought about it, the only time she had directly referred to me as her boyfriend was during a small number of 'formal' introductions, like the dinner at Chris's place the other night. I guess that she assumed people would know that, if I was with her, then I must be her boyfriend.

I was rather nervous as I shook her grandparents hands, for a couple of reasons. First, they were the first members of her family that I'd met, and second... well, there's no hiding the silver bow and straps of a high-pull headgear, is there?

"It's nice to meet you, Danny" said her grandpa as he shook my hand, "come on in....". Amanda had already hugged her grandpa, and was now hugging her grandma.

From the outside, the house looked as if it was maybe 80 to 100 years old (so built between the two wars), and probably had something like 5 or 6 bedrooms, which would mean that the downstairs would be big too. I wasn't disappointed: the lounge was huge, they had a separate large dining room, a massive kitchen, as well as a good-sized downstairs study. The decor was quite traditional - to be expected with a retired couple - but clean, modern and in an excellent state of repair: it was quite clear that her grandparents didn't have a money problem (well, unless the problem was that they had too much of it)!

"Now that you're here, I'll put the potatoes in to roast" said her grandma... come on through to the kitchen, and we can chat while I do it. I assume you'd like a cup of tea?". Out in the kitchen, she put the already-prepared potatoes into the oven. I could see there was a glass jug with what seemed to be batter waiting on the side: I recognised this from when I was younger, it's exactly what my mum did when we were having Yorkshire puddings, but that wouldn't need to go into the oven just yet. Next she filled a kettle, and turned it on.

"You have a lovely place here.... err... grandma?". She smiled as I said that.

"You are very welcome to call me grandma, but feel free to call me Mrs Spencer or Veronica if you prefer. Yes, it is a lovely place, isn't it?"

"Just wait till you see the garden" added Amanda, as she passed grandma the teapot. Amanda helped her grandma get 4 cups out, then put them onto a large tray, along with a jug of milk, a sugar bowl, spoons, a tea-strainer and finally, the teapot, now filled with hot water (and tea-leaves!).

"Danny, could you carry the tray out to the garden for us, please?". I picked up the tray, and followed the two of them out into the garden, where her grandpa had been setting up four chairs for us around a large outdoor table. After putting the tray down onto the table, I looked around the garden. It was large, and looked very smart, with nicely cut grass, and lots of flowers, shrubs and trees around.

Having let the tea brew for a few minutes, grandpa poured the tea, asked if I'd like milk, then passed me the cup. I realised that, of course, I'd need to remove my headgear, which I was still wearing. The practical aspect was simple, I could put the headgear on and take it off without even looking, same for the facebow. I just needed to do it in such a way that it looked like this was something I was not only used to doing, but used to doing it with an audience!

I grabbed the ends of the plastic straps of the force modules, one with each hand, then gently twisted first the left one, then the right one, unhooking it from the facebow. Holding the high-pull headgear in my left hand, I used my right hand to pull out the facebow, making sure that I didn't accidentally pull out my braces from mouth at the same time!

"Would you like me to put your headgear into my bag?" asked Amanda.

"Oh, yes please" I replied, passing her the headgear, in front of her grandparents.

"Danny has to wear the headgear as part of his treatment to straighten his teeth: he normally wears it just in the evenings and at night, but we've been out a lot this week, and he's a bit down on his wear-time, so he decided to wear it on the journey here too". I had absolutely no doubt that Amanda enjoyed every moment of giving that explanation, but it was useful, and would explain why I wouldn't be wearing it for the rest of the afternoon.

As we chatted and drank our tea, and then later over lunch, I started to realise how nice Amanda's grandparents were, and why it was that Amanda loved them so much. As an outsider, I was made to feel very welcome, almost as if I was already a part of the family.

As we went into the dining room a little while later, I could see that there was a nice mix of formal and informal. The formal was the large dining table, with six chairs around it (but I spotted another four chairs in the corner, so clearly the table could be expanded in size), and a table-cloth on it. Informal were the quirky table-mats, the quite modern cutlery, and the 'extras' in the middle of the table. Oh, and the bottle of red wine on the table, already opened, and 4 wine glasses. Formal was also the 4 napkins, held in napkin rings.

Lunch was lovely: roast beef, lovely crispy roast potatoes, and lovely light Yorkshire puddings, plenty of fresh vegetables, and lots of gravy! For desert, we had delicious home-made creme-caramels.

After lunch, Amanda took out my teeth-cleaning kit from her bag, and lead me to the downstairs cloakroom. "Your grandparents are really nice" I said as I opened the cloakroom door. "I'm glad you're getting on well with them" she replied, giving me a quick kiss, before letting me brush my teeth. I closed the door behind me, and locked it, then took a look at my mouth - or more specifically my braces - in the mirror. I was pleased to see that there were a few bits of brown meat and green broccoli stuck in my braces. Over lunch, I had tried hard to smile as much as I could, letting her grandparents see my shiny metal braces, apparently with food stuck in them! I removed my braces, and rinsed them under the tap: often that is enough to get the bits of food out, but today they needed a quick brush, then I brushed my teeth, and finally put my braces back in again.

We paused a bit after lunch, sitting out in the garden again, then we all went for nice walk. Finally, late afternoon, it was time to go home again.

"Grandma, grandpa, thank you so much, it has been lovely to meet you both, I've had a great time here today" I said, as I gave them both a hug, before getting into the car.

Fascinating stuff! I'm really enjoying these characters.

You ran out of fingers and toes again. It's chapter 26.

I'm enjoying the story, and looking forward to them both having braces.

Chapter 28

Keys to the doors?


After walking around town a little, we dropped Janice off at her place, then went around to Amanda's place, where we had another coffee. As we drank it, we chatted.

"So, it seems like Janice and Mike hit it off ok"

"Yeah they did, it actually went a lot better than I thought it would."

"I never really knew what Janice did, it was something we never really got around to taking about. Plus it was interesting learning what a Barrister's Clerk does"

"I'll be honest, I couldn't do my job without having them there to back me up." We talked about Janice and Mike for a bit, clearly both of us felt hopeful that something further might develop between them

"Anyway, less of them, more about us.." said Amanda, going to her bag. "You can start by taking out those braces, and putting these in again". She handed me a large braces box, which I discovered contained my twin-blocks, which she had clearly put into her bag earlier on. With the twin-blocks in my mouth, there was clearly only one thing to do: exchange tongues!

Then she got up: "I also have something else for you", and she went over to her bag, and took out an envelope, and something a bit smaller.

"So, that's the car key, and the others are the keys for the flat" she said, passing me a keyring. "And can you sign this for me?" she said, taking a couple of bits of paper out of the envelope.

"What is it?" I asked. (Look, I've been going out with a lawyer for three weeks now, and one thing she has drilled in to me is 'never sign something unless you're 100% happy you know what it is')

"It's an application form so you can have a credit card on my account. Don't worry, I'll be paying the bills". I looked at her quizically. "It just seemed to me that it would be a lot easier for us both if you had a copy of my credit card... so as well as using it when we're out together, you can use it to pay for cabs if you need to get here, and all that sort of stuff" she explained. It actually made a lot of sense.

"Wow, you trust me that much?"

"Of course I do! That's one of the first things I worked out about you, Danny... you're a straight-up decent and honest guy. Just don't go buying a sports car on it though!" she added, smiling.

"So, what do we want to do for the rest of the afternoon?" I asked

"Hmm, I don't know... hey, don't suppose you have a bike do you?"

"Yes I do, why?"

"How about I put the bike rack on my car, put my bike on, then go collect yours, and we could go somewhere like, say, Hampstead Heath for a ride. It's a lovely day, and I think we could both do with a bit of exercise"

"Yeah, ok, although I suspect I'll need to blow my tyres up..."

"Don't worry, I have a good bike kit, with a decent pump."

So, after Amanda changed into something a bit more suitable for cycling, I helped Amanda fit the bike rack (which was actually quite simple, it effectively just hung on the back door, with its bottom on the rear bumper), and put her bike on it, making sure it was strapped in place.

Back at my place, I too changed my clothes, then we went and got my bike out of the shed, pumped up the tyres, and gave it a quick check-over: it looked fine. After putting it on the bike-rack, I went back inside, and was just removing the twin-blocks that I'd left in, ready to put my fake brackets back in again, when Amanda came over to me.

"How would you feel about wearing your facemask this afternoon?" she suggested. I'd not worn my facemask much since being back in England, so the idea appealed to me. I found my 'facemask plate', which I put into my mouth.

"Go on, put the facemask on now.... the car's right outside, so I doubt anyone will see you". I could see her pleading face.

"Ok" I replied. "Which one?" I held up the blue one that had the wires that go around the face, and the red one, that had a single thick bar down the centre.

"Blue one, I think" she replied. I got a couple of elastics, and fitted them to my braces, then put the facemask onto my face, putting the elasticated strap over my head. Finally, I hooked the two elastics over the two short bars that were an inch or so in front of my mouth.

"Tell you what, I'll also bring my brackets and double headgear along, in case I want to change over" I suggested.

"Sounds good to me" she replied. I put the braces, along with some bottles of water, into a lightweight rucksack, and we walked out of the front door. I was, of course, feeling very nervous: whilst many people had seen me in my braces, and a few had seen me in my headgear, I'd never worn the facemask out in public since returning to England! Plus, trying to explain why my brackets had all suddenly disappeared would be a problem!

I walked down the stairs, out to the car, and sat in the passenger seat: luckily there was no-one around to see me. Being a Saturday afternoon, the traffic was fairly heavy. Away from home, where I wasn't know, I relaxed about the facemask. Stopped at traffic lights, I even turned and smiled at a couple of kids in the car to the left, who smile back when they saw my facemask. Finally, Amanda parked the car at Hampstead Heath. Still wearing my facemask, I got out of the car, and helped Amanda to remove the bikes from the bike-rack, then removed the rack, and put it into the back of the car, lest it get stolen.

The likelihood of bumping into someone who knew me this far from where I lived and worked was pretty minimal, so I was able to relax as we started riding our bikes across the common. There were quite a few others both walking and cycling on the common, but with so much space it wasn't at all crowded for the most part. We cycled uphill for a while, finally reaching the Parliament Hill Viewpoint. Whilst there were nice views from there, there were also quite a few people, and I could spot a few pairs of eyes looking at me for a few more seconds than you might normally expect. I could feel my heartrate go up a notch.

Plus there was one pair of eyes staring straight at me: Amanda's. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the experience of being with her boyfriend, who was wearing what could only be described as 'an extreme orthodontic appliance', and out in public! Ok, so I admit, I was also rather enjoying the experience as well!

We took a look at a map on my phone. "I have a suggestion: let's cycle to the north of the park, through the trees, and then stop at the teashop next to Kenwood House - I bet they do ice creams there...." I suggested. "Looks like it's about a mile"

"Ok, sounds good to me!"

The ride was fun, but when we got there, there were rather a lot of people about. We parked our bikes, and locked them. Amanda took my hand. "Don't worry, I doubt if anyone here actually knows you, so you'll be ok". It was dangerous to say things like that, because it means that five minutes later I would probably bump into my parents or my sister, who 'just happen to be there'. Luckily, I didn't actually meet anyone I knew, but the mere possibility made it a bit more exciting for us both.

In the shop, where they sold the ice creams, we were served by a teenage girl, who I guessed probably just worked there at the weekends. Of course, my facemask shone out like a bright beacon, and her eyes were looking at me as we walked over to the counter. It pleased me greatly to discover that she had a lovely set of fairly large metal brackets on her own teeth. I just hoped she didn't ask me about 'my treatment', as I'd not actually worked out what treatment I was having, that required me to wear a facemask!

"Hi, how can I help?"

"Well, I fancy one of the two scoop ice creams" I replied, looking at what was on offer. "I think I'll go for one scoop of that pineapple and coconut, and one of the pistachio. Amanda?"

"Oooh, it's so hard to decide". After a few moments thought, she went for one scoop of banana, and one of orange sorbet.

Despite looking at me, the teenage girl never mentioned the facemask at all, which was a great relief. Outside, Amanda asked me "So, it it actually possible to eat an icecream wearing a facemask? I think you should give it a try...."

I led Amanda over to a bench, where there was space for the two of us. With many others around us, I tried putting the icecream up to my mouth, underneath the horozontal thick metal wire that was in front of my mouth. Whilst I could just about reach the ice cream with my tongue, there was clearly no way I was going to be able to eat it with the facemask on. I passed my ice cream to Amanda, and unhooked the facemask from my face, leaving the elastics attached to my brace, and put the facemask on the bench between us.

"You're enjoying seeing me in that facemask as much as I'm enjoying wearing it, aren't you?"

"Yes, it is rather fun....".

There was a certain strange pleasure in seeing someone in their late 20s, and a professional at that, gaining such excitement from seeing someone wearing orthodontia on their face!

Chapter 30


We're now a couple of weeks later. Janice and Mike do seem to have hit things off, and are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend. So we're now having coordinate diaries so that Janice and I are actually able to meet up! Of course, Mike knows nothing of Amanda's and my braces interests, and we don't plan to tell him... I'm assuming that Janice won't say anything either.

Got a message from Mei last week to say that Amanda's teeth models had arrived, and that they were excellent (and didn't she have nice teeth!), so she would be starting on making all the braces on that long list!

Then I got a quick WhatsApp earlier today from her, with some pics of the upper & lower brackets with HG tubes she had made: as you would expect, they looked amazing! Apparently the next ones she would be making would be the upper & lower retainers. She explained that the lab was busy right now, so it would take a few days before she got through the long list of braces for Amanda.

I continue to wear my 'braces': I changed the lig colours to pink the other week, and have had a couple of fun comments from people at work. I've been wearing them for over 2 months now, and I find that I often forget I'm wearing them. Mind you, at other times, I find them to be quite annoying and frustrating.

It is clear that Amanda's favourite braces for me are my twin-blocks, and luckily, I like wearing them too. The thing we seem to both like about them is the sheer amount of plastic: if you remember, as well as having plastic plates, with the plastic going straight across the roof of my mouth between my molars, and on my molars, the plastic comes right over the tops of my front teeth, and about 5mm over the front.... so I have plenty of plastic to enjoy inside my mouth, and Amanda can also enjoy a lot of plastic from outside my mouth.

Whilst the plastic plates aren't all that thick, the plastic on my molars is lovely and chunky, and the effect of all that plastic, plus the fact I can't actually close my teeth, is that it gives me quite a lisp, which both Amanda and I quite enjoy.

I've slept in the twin-blocks a few times now: when I first put them on, there's a certain 'discomfort' as the lower jaw is pushed forward a bit from my normal rest position. But when I wake up, my lower jaw has now become accustomed to naturally being in a slightly forward position, and stays like that for up to an hour... a strange yet nice experience!

I went with Amanda to another formal evening meal last week: I seem to be coping quite well with these events, although I know that if Amanda wasn't with me, I'd be panicking! And I think she's enjoying being able to actually take a partner along to these events. In terms of braces, I am so tempted to wear my twin-blocks along to one of these evenings, if only to see what reactions I got. But that wasn't going to happen, for so many reasons, but it was still fun probably being the only one with braces at such events.

So yeah, things seem to be going well between Amanda and me: we're past that initial 'infatuation' stage, and are starting to get to know each other a lot better. And despite our differences (or maybe because of our differences) we are enjoying each others company a lot.

Our 'contract' comes up for renewal again in a couple of weeks, and unless anything goes badly wrong, I'm rather assuming that we'll keep our relationship going for a while longer: in fact, I'm going to suggest that we go for a 3 month contract this time.

Chapter 32

Meet the parents....


We were all out in the garden a couple of hours later, when Amanda's phone rang: it was her mum again. I answered the call.

"Hello again" I said

"Hi Danny, just a quick call to let you know that we'll be there in five to ten minutes"

"Oh, great, I think everyone will be very happy to see you both. I'll go get the kettle on again: see you soon!".

There are a few things that quintessentially identify the British. One is that they spend so much time talking about the weather: if you have ever been to the UK, you will understand that this is simply because we have so much of it. Unlike places such as mainland Europe or America, where the weather tends to be stable for days and weeks at a time, the weather here changes on a daily, if not hourly, basis, due to the fact that the weather is driven from one of three (changing) directions: from the north we get colder arctic air. From the south (more in the summer) we get dryer hotter air. But much of our weather is driven by the wetter weather coming from the west, the Atlantic. So much to choose from!

Another one is that the British are reknown for 'putting on the kettle' when visitors arrive, or simply when 'it's been a while since the last one'. Ok, maybe we drink a bit more coffee now, but that doesn't matter, it's the ceremony of 'putting on the kettle' that really matters!

Today, the weather was clearly coming from the south, making it sunny and warm. And it was time to gather up the dirty cups from earlier, and get that kettle on again! Evelyn helped me take the dirties inside.

"I'm starting to see why Amanda likes you... I've never heard her go on so much about a boyfriend before, she clearly likes you a lot. But don't say I said so!". I smiled, if only because this was actually news to me. I knew things were going fairly well between us, but Amanda isn't one for actually saying too much about it. "I mean, today, she's actually amazingly calm, so you're clearly doing something very right!"

"Well, I'm not really sure what it is that I'm doing, but I'll try and keep doing it!" I said

"Oh, by the way, you got your toothbrush handy? There's a bit of food stuck in your braces" commented Evelyn. I ran my tongue around my brackets, and found something stuck at the top. "You go brush them, I'll sort this lot out". I went out to the car, and brought Amanda's and my bags in, taking my toothbrush kit out of my bag, then left the bags to the side in the hallway. The house has a downstairs cloakroom, so I went in there, and locked the door. Looking in the mirror I could see a few bits stuck in my braces: some green lettuce leaf at the front, and more leaf and some ham at the side. The thought that some one other than Amanda had spotted food stuck in my braces felt good.

I removed the braces from my mouth, rinsed them, then brushed my teeth, and my braces. I packed up my toothbrush kit, and was just putting it on top of my bag when I heard a car out the front, so went to the front door and opened it. A lady was just getting out of the car.

"Hello there, Amanda's mum...."

"Hi Danny, we're finally here. Oh, call me Mary for goodness sake, you can't keep calling me 'Amanda's mum'. This is my husband, Neil, by the way... and it's nice to actually meet you!". Mary had come over to me, and gave me a quick hug.

"Hi Mary!" I replied. Then went over to Amanda's dad and took his hand. "Hello, err, Neil" I said shaking his hand. "I only met your dad the once, a few weeks ago, but I know he was a really nice man, so I was very sorry when I heard what happened"

"Thank you, Danny... thank you" he replied.

"Last time I saw them, Grandma and Amanda were out the back, and Evelyn was in the kitchen". I was of course wrong, as they had heard the car arrive too. Amanda had rushed out, and put her arms around her dad, then Evelyn joined them moments later.

"I think you and I are going to be on tea duty" said Mary, walking with me towards the door, "so the rest of the family can talk... although I do need to visit the cloakroom first". Everyone came inside, meeting up with grandma in the hallway, where there were, of course, many more hugs. I went back into the kitchen, and finished off what Evelyn had started, then Mary joined me in the kitchen a couple of minutes later.

"Well, not quite the way I thought we might meet, but it's nice to meet you nevertheless. Amanda keeps saying nice things about you..."

"Yeah, Evelyn said that too..." I replied, slightly embarrassed

"... but I'm guessing maybe Amanda's not been quite as open about it with you. Don't worry, she's a bit like that. I think she gets that from her dad...". She helped me make the tea, which we took outside, using a second tray for the larger number of mugs. After she had put her tray down, Mary went over to grandma, have her a big hug, and had a quick chat with her.

"So, I remember that Amanda said you're a fairly good cook" said Mary when she came back over to me.

"Yes, I'm ok at it"

"In that case, you and I can make dinner later on. There should be plenty of food in the freezer, I'm thinking maybe a casserole"

"Nice and straightforward... might be worth getting some meat out now, so it can defrost"

"Good idea, I'll go do that before I forget..."

We all sat out in the garden. I was very much a listener, I knew very little about grandpa, other than what I had learnt a few weeks ago. Mary obviously knew him a lot better, so could join in rather more, but we both enjoyed the rest of them telling their stories about things that they did with grandpa, and so on.

"Come on" said Mary a while later, "let's get going with this casserole". Between us we found some fresh vegetables as well as some frozen ones, and put some of them, along with the meat into a casserole, and into the by now hot oven. We prepared the rest of the vegetables, including some potatoes, ready to cook a bit later. As we prepared the dinner, Mary and I chatted about this and that: she was a really nice lady, and I could see where Amanda had got that side of her personality from.

A couple of hours later, Amanda and I got the table in the dining room ready. Evelyn found a couple of bottles of wine, and by about 7pm we were all sat around the table, ready to have dinner together. The wine got poured out, warm plates were put in front of everyone, and the casserole and other vegetables were in serving dishes in the middle of the table.

Before we started, I stood up in front of them all. "Look" I said, "I hardly knew grandpa, I only met him the once, a few weeks ago, when Amanda and I came here for Sunday lunch, and we had a very relaxing afternoon. But in that short time, I learnt what a really nice gentleman he was. Polite, gentle, sharing, funny too. Definitely loving, I saw him sharing his love with Amanda... and with Grandma, of course. I saw a man who enjoyed life, enjoyed people. If I close my eyes for a moment or two.." I said, closing my eyes, "I can see a handsome relaxed face with a smile on it... a big warm smile". I paused. "Hey, everyone... just close your eyes for a moment, and think of the happy times you had with him.....". I closed my eyes again, remembering him telling us one of his jokes. After a slight pause, I picked up my wine glass. "How about we start dinner with a toast: to happy memories of a lovely man.... to grandpa!".

"To grandpa!" said everyone, raising their glasses.

The day had been a strange one, a mix of sadness, but also of joy. Saying 'goodbye' to one nice person, but saying 'hello' to three new ones.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us today" said Amanda as we cuddled together in bed. "And those words you said before dinner, they were just spot-on.". I could hear Amanda starting to cry again, obviously thinking about her grandpa, so I just lay next to her, with my arms around her, trying to make things a little bit better. I will admit that a small tear did come to my eye too....

The next morning after breakfast, Amanda spoke with Suzannah from chambers. With her mum and dad there for several days, she decided there wasn't really a lot she could do to help, so we decided to drive back mid-morning. this meant she would be back in the office by lunchtime, and would be able to meet with her afternoon client. I also called my boss, updating him on the situation, and decided I would work from home for the rest of the day.

Thanks for continuing this story - I'm really enjoying it. And I'm impressed with the speed you post new chapters!

Chapter 34

It feels a bit like christmas!


Last week was grandpa's funeral. I took the day off work, and went with Amanda. I finally got to meet her brother and his wife. I was treated amazingly pleasantly: clearly I had made a suitable impression on Amanda's family, and as Amanda's boyfriend, I was made to feel part of the family. Most pleasing was that I had a really nice chat at the wake with Evelyn, Amanda's big sister, and she told me a few stories about when she & Amanda were kids. As Amanda's big sister, she was obviously very protective of her little sister, but seemed to approve of me.

Even better was that I had a chat with Amanda's mother: I'd already managed to spend some time with her the day we met, when cooking the dinner, and we got on really well. "You must persuade Amanda to take some holiday, and come down and see us in Cornwall!"

After the funeral, we went back to Amanda's, where we made dinner together, but Amanda was quite quiet. After dinner, I sat next to her on the settee, just holding her, saying nothing, letting her lean against me: I could tell that today had been a very emotional day for her, and she just needed time to come to terms with her feelings. The good news is that, by the weekend, she seemed to be feeling a lot better, possibly helped by the fact that I made sure we did plenty together, to help distract her.

So, this week we're about to start our new 3-month contract and Amanda and I had agreed to take a few days break from each other: she was right, we had spent so much time together, especially the last couple of weeks, and we did need a short break from each other.  So, Monday I had an evening in, being a couch potato, and watching TV!

On Tuesday, Janice and I managed to have dinner together at my place: like me, she's been a bit busy, spending lots of time with her new boyfriend, Mike, but I explained what was happening, and she made the effort to have an evening without Mike for a change. After dinner, we chatted for a bit, about her and Mike, and about me and Amanda, then we walked to my local pub, and had a drink together. The evening was very nice, but in a different way from ever before: this time we were both happily in relationships, and neither of us felt any need to even consider..... s e x !

On Wednesday, I went with a couple of the guys after work for a pint, which turned into going to the local Chinese restaurant. It's odd, it doesn't matter how carefully you order, there is ALWAYS too much food! But it was am amazingly pleasant and fun evening.

I hadn't worked out what I was going to do on Thursday, but mid-afternoon I had an unexpected  call from Amanda.

"Hiya" I answered. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you till tomorrow"

"And I love you too.... I mean that by the way!"

"You sound cheerful"

"Well, I have several reasons to be cheerful. For a start, I'm talking to my lovely boyfriend. Second, I won my case in court this morning, and finally......". She paused

"And finally?"

"You know, it's been strange but nice having a few days apart, but I feel sort-of refreshed, and very much wanting to see you again..."

"And finally?" I repeated. I could tell Amanda was trying to tease me.

"I hope you don't have anything planned for tonight?" she asked.

"No. But I thought we were getting together tomorrow?"

"Yes, we are, but we need to get together tonight too - something rather important has happened!" Amanda sounded far to cheerful for this to be something bad.

"Ok, what's happened that's so important then?"

"Well, there seems to be a smallish cardboard box on my desk.... one that's come from deepest Asia! And I want to open it with you, but there's no way I'm gonna be able to wait until tomorrow!"

"You mean you've not opened it already?"

"You kidding? I'm not risking anyone here seeing what's inside! They'll think I'm a weirdo!"

"But you ARE a bit of a weirdo, aren't you?". I lowered my voice. "You have a braces fetish, you weirdo!" Amanda started giggling.

"Yeah, ok, but I don't want THEM knowing that, do I?" she whispered back. "Come on over here after work, and we can go back to my place, and see what santa has sent me...."

"You sure you really can't wait till tomorrow?" I asked, starting to tease Amanda

"Oh, Danny, don't you dare...".

I started giggling. "I think it sounds sufficiently important that we should meet up a day early.... I'll come over to your office after work. And hey, Amanda...."

"Yes?"

"I love you too....."

Sometimes, time flies past quickly. However, it is a well known fact that if you are looking forward to something, time slows right down. Tonight I was looking forward to seeing Amanda again. And I was looking forward to seeing her new braces. More importantly, I was looking forward to seeing Amanda IN her new braces! And I was looking forward to watching her reactions as she opened that box, and sees her braces for the first time... then puts them into her mouth for the first time.

Amanda has put various of my braces in her mouth on many occasions, but of course, they are MY braces, and don't fit her. Tonight, the braces WILL fit her.

Anyway, time... this afternoon time went stupidly slowly, simply because there was something exciting to do a little later on! I found it hard to concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing, I kept trying to imagine what Amanda would look like in her own braces. How she would react to them.

FINALLY! It was time to go home. I unplugged the PSU from my laptop, and put them both, along with my mouse, into my bag, then saying goodbye to people as I left, I walked to Amanda's office.

"Good evening, Danny!" said the guy on reception.

"Hi there!" I replied. Then I stopped, as I realised that I STILL didn't know his name. "Um, you know, I still don't actually know your name...."

"Oh, sorry, yes, noone has ever actually introduced us, have they? I'm Jacob!" he said, introducing himself.

"Hello Jacob! I'm here to collect Amanda, do you need me to sign in?"

"If you're just collecting her, then no. As far as I know there's noone with her at the moment, so feel free to go on up, I'm sure you're used to where her office is by now!"

I knocked on Amanda's door, and she said to come in, so I did. As I walked across to her, she stood up. She looked a bit different, but I couldn't quite work out what it was. As I got to her, she put her arms gently around me.

"I've missed you..." she said, "I know it's only 4 days, but I still missed you". She put her lips to mine, and we kissed.

"Yeah, it's been strange....I've missed you too!" I replied. "So, you have a box from Asia?"

"Yes, here it is" she said, picking it up and passing it to me. "You might as well carry it, let me grab my bag...".

"You excited?"

"Yes... very!"

"I bet you've been imagining what it will be like to have one of these items in your mouth since the parcel arrived, haven't you?"

"Ummm, I will admit that I have been a bit distracted this afternoon!"

"The lovely feel of the plastic plates intimately connected with your mouth... running your tongue over the plastic and the metal" I said, teasing her.

"Oh, stop it, will you!"

"You feeling horny?" I asked quietly. "You are, aren't you?". She smiled, then opened her office door, and led the way downstairs. As I follower her, I was looking at her, then suddently realised what it was that made her look different.

"Hey, you've had your hair done, haven't you? Maybe a slight trim?"

"Well spotted, I was wondering if you'd notice"

"I actually noticed something was different when I walked into your office, but couldn't quite work out what it was".

Finally, we got to Amanda's place. We made a cup of tea, and were about to sit down together, to open the box, when I realised that Amanda would need a mirror.

"Do you have a small mirror?" I asked.

"Ah, yes, good idea.... I have a makeup mirror...". She went into her bedroom and returned with it moments later, putting it on the coffee table. Next, she picked up the package, used a small knife to cut the tape, and carefully opened the box. Inside we could see paper packaging, but on the top were a couple of pieces of paper. One was a receipt, the other was a hand-written letter from Mei:

"Hi Amanda and Danny!

I hope you enjoy wearing these braces as much as I enjoyed making them for you!

Amanda, you're going to have great fun trying braces for the first time: I hope you enjoy the experience!

Danny, your replacement brackets are in a box marked with your name.

I've made you both an extra free gift, they are the ones wrapped in special paper: wait till you've opened the others before you open them!

Love to you both!

Mei"

(After ordering Amanda's braces, one of the clasps of my fake brackets had broken, and I was now wearing the brackets that Mei had made for me when I was in Asia... so I had asked Mei to make me some more fake brackets, which she had sent with Amanda's braces)

"Oooh, extra pressies...."I said, "that's nice of her, I wonder what they are? So, you ready for this?".

Amanda carefully removed the paper packaging from the top, revealing a set of different coloured braces boxes. Most were the normal, slim, retainer-sized, but one was bigger. Below them, I could see several plastic bags: they would contain facebows, headgear and facemasks, plus hopefully a load of elastics, ligatures, and power-chain. I let Amanda remove the many braces boxes, and put them onto her coffee table: we noticed that she had put labels on the boxes for us. Next she took out the plastic bags, and that was when we noticed what, under the bags, were a couple more retainer boxes, but wrapped in colourful paper: our 'presents' from Mei.

"OMG, there's so much stuff!" said Amanda. I looked at the boxes, and spotted the one that said 'Danny - brackets', so put that to the side. Then I found one that said 'retainers', and passed them to Amanda.

"I think you should start simple, and try in the retainers....." I suggested. I looked at Amanda, she seemed a little nervous. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just a little nervous: it's finally happening, I've got braces!". She took the box from me, and opened it, and opened the tissue inside that stopped the braces rattling in the case. The look on her face was just like a child who discovers that Santa has given her the game she so wanted for Christmas. She removed them from the case, and looked at them closer: she had chosen to have pink clear plastic, and they looked lovely. She put the lower one back into it's box for the moment, then angled the mirror (it's one of those circular ones that's on a stand) so she could see her mouth, then carefully put the upper retainer into her mouth, then pushed it up... I heard a slight 'click' as it seated itself into place.

Amanda closed her eyes, and let her tongue feel the top of her mouth. Without really thinking about it, I did the same, feeling the smoothness of the plastic in the roof of my mouth. For me, this was something that I had felt many times, but for Amanda this was the first time she had experience the rather nice feeling. I watched as her tongue came out of her mouth, and started to feel the wire over her front teeth, then to the sides as she felt the clasps. By the time she opened her eyes again, she had a huge smile on her face.

"It feelth abtholutely amathing!" she said with a bit of a lisp. "OMG, i've got a lithp!" she said, starting to giggle.

"Put the lower one in" I suggested. Before she picked up her lower retainer, she put her finger up to her mouth: she started by running it along the archwire, then she turned it, and put it into the top of her mouth, touching her top plate. I remembered back to when I got my first braces, and I'm pretty sure I did something similar! Its one of those thigs that you can only experience once: the first time you have braces in your mouth (and ones that fit you, rather than someone else's... Amanda had tried my braces in he mouth on several occasions, but they didn't fit her, so the experience was nothing like as 'intimate')

She picked up her lower retainer, took another look at it, then put it into her mouth, pushing firmly down on it until it too clicked into place. Once again her tongue explored, both with her mouth open, and jaws apart, and with her mouth closed. There was a look of joy, even ecstacy, on her face. Amanda was clearly enjoying this experience greatly.

"There's tho much plathtic in my mouth" she said, with a stronger lisp, "but it feelth great!". She opened her lips wide, and looked at her mouth in the mirror. Finally, she relaxed her lips, smiled, and looked at me: her lips were a bit apart, and I could clearly see the two archwire over her front teeth: it was a lovely sight!

"You look good with retainers.... would you like to try a kiss? I'll warn you that you won't feel anything when I put my tongue into your mouth though". I leaned over to her, and she leaned towards me, and our lips met, our tongues touched. For the first time, I ran my tongue over her teeth, feeling the thick wire at the top, and then the one at the bottom. Finally, I gently pushed my tongue between her lips, and felt the smooth plastic of her top plate. I had sudden memories of the first time I had EVER kissed a girl with braces: when Mei was wearing her retainers. But my feelings for Amanda were much deeper, and this just felt so much better.

"Itth odd" she said, "I could hardly feel your tongue kithing me. But wow, these retainerth feel tho good!". I didn't really know -although I could guess - what effect the braces were having on Amanda, but they were certainly doing something to certain parts of MY anatomy!

"Want to try the brackets next?" I asked

Sparky, I admire you so much! Your stories are so good!

So good!

Awesome!

You are great, Sparky!!!

Excellent. Really like the amount of detail.
Looking forward to her going out with them in for the first time. And then, perhaps always keeping one or other of them in.

The descriptions certainly remind me of when I got my first ones and then others later. So self-conscious, especially of speaking, but so good.
I had made up my mind that right from the start once I had plates I would put them in straight away and keep them in, only taking them out for cleaning or swapping to different ones. I did manage that, and what a great feeling, almost 'relying' on wearing them for speaking and eating. I was a bit worried that the novelty would wear off but it didnt.

Chapter 37

More?


After dinner, we both cleaned up our respective braces, and brought all the braces back into the living room.

"So, you have your activator, facemask and plate, and the 'thin plates'... which do you want to go for?

"Hmmm, let me have my activator". Amanda's activator was in the deeper braces box (so the same as a normal retainer box, but about 50% deeper). I opened it and took it out, letting us both see it. It was as you would expect an activator to be: U-shaped, pretty chunky, with plastic between the teeth, and molar clasps to hold it in place. At the front, the top had a B-shaped wire to fit around the margins of her top front incisors, with a sort of lip-bumper at the bottom, in the form of a small zig-zagged wire, with the wire coming out of the middle of the activator just behind the canines. The plastic was coloured dark blue.

In many ways, it was probably the most extreme of the braces so far, and I didn't imagine Amanda would ever wear it out in public (which of course meant that I might need to work on a devious plan, to get her to wear it out in public!)

Amanda lined up the mirror, and put the activator into her mouth, pushing it up onto her top teeth, allowing the clasps to hold it in place. She closed her mouth and smiled, letting me see it in her mouth. The activator held her teeth apart by a couple of millimetres, with the B-shaped clasps on her top teeth fitting quite nicely, and looking interestingly different. And the lower lip bumper, even though it was set to be quite close to her lower jaw, visibly pushed her lower lip forwards.

"How on earf are you fupposed to talk wiv thif in your mouf?" said Amanda with a lot of difficulty: I'm afraid that I did laugh at her attempt to speak with it in her mouth. I watched as she ran her tongue around her mouth (I clearly couldn't see her tongue directly, but I could see the muscles under her chin moving)

"Wanna twy kiththing me?" she asked. The first thing I noticed was her lower lip, pushed slightly forward my the lower lip-bumper. I slipped my tongee between her lips: the most obvious thing I felt was her lip-bumper, at the bottom. Then my tongue reached the plastic that was holding her jaws slightly apart. Finally, I got to the B-shaped wire at the top, which didn't feel as obvious as a normal labial wire, as it was quite close to Amanda's gum-line.

So whilst the appliance looked good, and probably felt rather nice to wear, from a kissing perspective, it wasn't actually all that exciting. Well, except for the lip-bumper!

"You ready to try  the next ones yet?" I asked

"Give me a bit longer" said Amanda (heck, I can't work out how to type the sort of lisp that an activator gives you, I'm sure your imagination will do it for you though!)

While Amanda 'played' with her activator, I found my J-hooks. In concept, it's similar to a high-pull, but without the force modules, and the material extended to come down to the cheek, and at the end it's doubled back, with a space to put the j-hooks in: this bit lines up the j-hook & holds it in place. Further up the material is a hook, and you put an elastic between that and the top of the j-hook. Under the material is a pad, to make it a bit more comfortable on the cheek. The j-hook itself is, of course, like a thick metal wire, shaped like a fish hook: the top has a simple 180 degree bend in it (similar to a facebow), the other end is a lot thinner, and has a loop with a slight opening on it, which you hook over the archwire (or the hooks on the archwire, if you have them).


I put the bits together: Mei had included a bag of elastics specifically to go with it, which made it quite easy.

So, I borrowed the mirror, and put the headgear bit over my head: that was the easy bit. However, it took several attempts to successfully hook the j-hooks to my archwire. I'm sure once I've done it a few times, it will be much easier.

The elastics that Mei had included didn't actually apply much pressure, and it was surprisingly confortable to wear: unlike a facebow, there was no thick welded bit that goes between the lips, just the pair of thick wires going between my lips.

Next, I went over to Amanda (who was still 'investigating' her activator) and tried giving her a simple kiss on the lips: it was so easy to do! Finally, Amanda opened her mouth, and after a little tugging, got her activator out.

"You like that activator, don't you?" I commented.

"Yes, it's surprisingly nice... but let's have a kiss without it...". With my J-hooks still connected to my upper archwire, we kissed: as she kissed me, Amanda ran her hand over my headgear and the J-hooks.

"I think you should try on your facemask" I suggested when we ended the kiss.

"Oh, yes please! So what sort of facemask do I have there?" she asked me. There were actually two facemasks, so I grabbed the plastic bag containing the first facemask: it was the sort that has a chin-cup, with thick wires to the side of it (so maybe 5 cm apart) that go vertically, then at the nose, the wires come together, until they are about 1 cm apart... at the top there's a plastic clip, that connects to a strap, which has hooks at the end (similar to the hooks that hold the elastics on my J-hooks) that a strap hooks onto. As I opened the plastic packet, I noticed a note inside. "Hey, I came across this facemask hiding in our storeroom - I don't remember you having one like this, so thought you might like to try it! - Mei"

The facemask was in pieces, so I clipped the plastic chin-cup into the bottom of the wire bit, then fitted the top end of wire bit (where it's narrow) into the top strap, and passed it to Amanda, then got a couple of elastics from the bag that Mei had also included in the plastic bag of the facemask, and passed those to Amanda too.

"So what brace do I I use this with?" asked Amanda.

"Ah, sorry, yes....." I quickly found the box that said 'for facemask' on it, and passed it over. Amanda opened it, and unwrapped the brace: it was very similar to the one she had made me for my facemask: very minimal. Amanda had played with my facemask plate, so knew what to do: she hooked the two elastics to it, and put it into her mouth, then looking in the mirror, she put the facemask up to her face I then took the elastic strap with hooks at the end, and clipped it to the top strap on one side, pulled it around her head, and tried to clip it to the other side of the top strap, but it was really far too tight. So, having removed it, I adjusted it, and tried again: this time is seemed to be about right.

Next, Amanda stretched the two elastics from her mouth onto a couple of the pins on the 'bar' that goes across the front. I quickly realised that the elastics were pushing her top lip up: the bar needed to be adjusted down a bit. I noticed the small adjusting tool in the corner of the bag, so took it out, and used it to adjust the bar down a bit for her.

Whilst I had seen myself with a facemask in the mirror, and had seen Amanda trying my facemask on, this was the first time I had seen someone else properly wearing a facemask - and besides, this one was different from mine.

"It suits you!" I commented, "There's another facemask here when you're ready to try it. I opened the bag that contained the rather more normal facemask: it was the type with a heavy, and slightly bent, square-section rod down the front of the face. It too would need to be adjusted, so that the chin-cup, forehead pad, and the metal bar in the middle would be in the right places.

"Yes, it is rather nice" replied Amanda, "and the brace doesn't seem to affect my speech that much... nice!". As she talked, she put her hand to the top part of the facemask, feeling the top of the two vertical wires, and the strap across her forehead. Then she moved it down, following where the thick wires diverged as they came past her nose, briefly running over the horizontal bar where the elastics were connected, then finally, her hand felt the chin-pad.

After looking at herself a bit more, and feeling the facemask again, she unhooked the elastics, pulled the chin-cup outwards, allowing her to lift the facemask up and off her head. "I guess that one needs to be adjusted, to fit me..."

"Sure, let me do it." I put the facemask to her face: the chin-cup and forehead pad were clearly too close together, so I used the small Allen key to adjust it more sensibly, then held it to her face once again. "Hook the elastics on..." I said. Once she had done that, I adjusted the metal bar that went across the front, so that the elastics were comfortably between her lips. One again, I watched her as she looked in the mirror, and used her hand to feel the facemask.

I picked up the other facemask - the first one - and put it on myself: like my own facemask (the one with wires that go around the face) it had an elastic strap around the head, which held it in place, without needing any elastics connected to my braces. I borrowed the mirror from Amanda, and took a look at myself - yes, it looked good: I was going to have to borrow this from Amanda, and wear it out in public sometime! The question would be whether Amanda would ever be brave enough to try wearing a facemask - or headgear for that matter - out in public? I would just have to make sure it happened sometime!

"Not much left" I said to Amanda, "just your minimal plates and the 'presents'". While Amanda continued feeling her facemask, I got out the last (unwrapped) braces box, that simply said 'thin plates' on it, opened it, then unfolded the tissue to reveal Amanda's two minimal plates, one upper and one lower. They were both made from clear acrylic, and were amazingly thin, and the only wires were c-clips that would go around her rear molars. The top plate was large, to completely cover her palate, the lower one was quite delicate, like a thin retainer without the labial wire or clasps.

"They look nice!" said Amanda when I showed them to her, "I can't wait to try them...". She unhooked her elastics from the facemask, which she passed to me, then she removed her facemask plate, which she also passed to me, then took the two clear plates from my other hand. As the plates only had simple clasps at the reat, they fitted into her mouth silently. I could see the look of joy on her face as she felt the plates with her tongue.

"Mmmm, lovely" she said in an almost perfectly clear voice.

"Come on, let me have a look...." I asked. She opened her mouth, and tilted her head back: as I knew what I was looking for, the plate was reasonably obvious, but I suspected that most people would never notice it. With her head down, I looked for her bottom plate, but it was hidden by her tongue. "Move your tongue over a bit" I asked. When she did so, I could just manage to spot the plate, but I very much doubted that a normal person, unaware she had it in her mouth, would ever see it. The clasps around her rear molars were so far back, that they were pretty much impossible to see.

Whilst I hadn't even attempted to kiss her with her facemasks on, this time I leant towards her, and we kissed. My tongue quickly found the plastic of her upper plate, but it was clearly a lot thinner than the plates of her retainers or her brackets. The lower plate felt equally thin. As before, it was obvious that I was the one getting the most joy from this kiss, as my tongue could feel the lovely smooth plastic inside her mouth, yet the inside her mouth could not feel my tongue!

After we finished the kiss, Amanda tried talking with them in: she had a very slight lisp, that I was sure would disappear very quickly.

Can't wait to see what's in the "present" box!

Ah, that's something for the 'future', but they will be things that have been talked about elsewhere, in the "past".

Chapter 39

A Dark Knight


Our relationship continued on strongly over the next few weeks. As well as attending a couple of formal dinners with Amanda, we went to see a play at the theatre, visited the cinema, saw a stage show in central London, and went to "the 99 Club" in Leicester Square, which is a comedy club.

We've been having a lot of fun wearing various braces when together at home. Amanda wore her thin plates pretty much all the time (except at work) for 3 weeks, during which time she got sufficiently used to them that her lisp was 99% undetectable. However, it was taking longer for her to get used to eating with them.

One thing she has noticed - which I had noticed when I first got my braces, but had completely forgotten about - is that they expand a tiny bit when you drink something hot, and contract a tiny bit when you eat something cold, like ice cream. The cold isn't as noticeable, but the slight expansion when drinking coffee puts a tiny bit of pressure onto the teeth. It's a small thing, but is one of the fun effects of wearing removable braces.

I got her to wear her brackets out in public one weekend, when we went shopping over at Brent Cross (so it was very unlikely she'd meet anyone she knew), but I've not persuaded her to wear her headgear of facemask in public - yet!

It was on the Friday of the fourth week into our 3-month contract that I went out without Amanda, but with a mate of mine, to see a rock band at Wembley Arena. We had booked the tickets quite some time ago, when Amanda and I had just started going out. 'Darkest Knights' was one of my favourite bands, and it had been a pleasant surprise when we managed to get a couple of tickets: the Saturday gig had quickly sold out, leaving tickets for just the Thursday and Friday: we got tickets for the Friday.

With Wembley Arena not being too far from us, we were both able to leave work at our normal time, go home to change, and still get up to Wembley in plenty of time for a quick drink at a local pub, and still get to the gig ok. As expected, there were a lot of people around, but we managed to get in without any problems.

The gig was a really great gig, they played all their big hits, and a few others too. Plus there was a little bit of 'excitement' that happened part-way through the gig, that I was sure Amanda would be interested to hear about.

"How was your 'Darkest Whatsits' concert?" asked Amanda when I got to her place, later that evening.

"Darkest Knights" I said. "But you'll never guess who was there..."

"No... go on..." replied Amanda

"Remember Jenny, from CJD? It seems she has a new boyfriend...."

"Oh, you saw her in the crowd?"

"No, she was on stage.... So about six songs into Darkest Knight's set, Jenny walks onto the stage with her boyfriend, introduces herself, and after a bit of fun theatrics, gets the band to sing 'happy birthday' to him! Then a couple of songs later, she's changed from the jeans and t-shirt she was in, to a short white girl-band sort of stage costume, high heels, pink bow in her hair..... and a FACEBOW! ... then proceeds to play a couple of songs with Darkest Knights..... and I don't mean 'girl band style' stuff, she was playing full-on rock with the rest of the band. She's amazingly good!"

"Well, I've only met her on 3 or 4 occasions, but yeah, I could imagine her doing something crazy like that! Good on her! And I bet you enjoyed seeing her in headgear?"

"Of course! You know, when I met her that lunchtime, I spotted that she had rather crooked teeth, so maybe she got braces, and the headgear is actually for real? I mean, why would she even consider wearing it if it wasn't..... unless she's.... 'one of us'?"

"Let me look at her social media, might give us a hint...." said Amanda, quickly using her phone to search on Twitter. "Bloody hell! Look at this..." she added, showing me a couple of pictures of Jenny with closeups of her braces and headgear. "Let me get my laptop out...". Amanda was clearly as keen as I was to look at the pictures of Jenny in braces and headgear.

It didn't take us long to realise that Jenny was clearly no longer 'in hiding', and knew how to use social media to good effect, as there were quite a few pictures of her 'flaunting' her braces and her headgear, and her fans loved it all! There were also pictures of her with her new hair-style. "Ah, yes, I thought something looked different about her tonight... that new hairstyle really suits her!" I commented to Amanda. Having seen Jenny's own social media pictures, we found a load of other pictures taken recently by a few of her fans - it seems she like to organise 'meet-ups' with small numbers of her fans. Then we found a few 'professional' pictures, showing her apparently 'at work', some of which had her in her headgear.

"She doesn't seem to be scared to wear her headgear, does she?" commented Amanda, "it does start to make you wonder if she's like us...."

"Hey, you got her phone number? You ought to text her, tell her that I enjoyed what she did at the gig tonight" I said, changing the topic slightly.

"I have actually.... you really want me to?"

"Why not, I bet she'd appreciate hearing from someone who saw it. Do you think she'll remember us?".

"There's only one way to find out". Amanda got her phone out, and started to write a text: 'Hi Jenny, my boyfriend Danny saw you at the Darkest Knights concert tonight, says he enjoyed your bit of theatrics, and loved your playing with DK. Amanda (copyright lawyer)'... and hit 'send'.

About 5 minutes later she had a reply "Hi Amanda! So lovely to hear from you again! And so amazing that Danny was there! Tell him thanks for his comments: it's been a really fun evening, and I don't think Ben's gonna forget tonight - DK are one of his favourite bands, and we both chatted to them for ages before they played! And playing with them was absolutely amazing!!!"

Over the next 30 minutes, we exchanged a few texts: it seems that it was Ben's birthday weekend (Ben is her boyfriend), and Jenny had got in touch with Darkest Knights, and managed to set up the whole thing. She'd played the same two songs with the band the previous night, but wearing jeans and a t-shirt: the costume she wore tonight was a surprise for everyone, the band included!

I asked about the music style, Jenny replied "I've been greatly inspired by Ben, and discovered that I really love playing rock stuff.... some of CJD's new stuff will be a bit rockier, and will probably surprise some of our fans"

Chapter 41

Sunday at the zoo


So, it's a couple of weeks later... I had suggested to Amanda a few days ago that we could take a trip to London Zoo today. She liked the idea, so, late morning, we caught the tube to Regents Park. We had found there were a couple of places to eat nearby, so had an early lunch, then walked through Regents Park to the Zoo: our plan was to spend the afternoon having a relaxing look around. We got to the zoo around 1:15, giving us plenty of time to walk around before the place closed at 6pm.

I should also add in here, because it does become relevant later, that both Amanda and I were wearing fake braces. I always wore my brackets anyway, and Amanda wears her plates most of the time, but I'd persuaded Amanda that she was pretty unlikely to bump into anyone she knew at the zoo, so why not wear one of her sets of fake braces: she had decided to wear her retainers.

We started at "Gorilla Kingdom" where there were a variety of apes, large and tiny. After that, we saw the Tigers, and then went into the reptile house. From there, there was a tunnel under the road which lead to "Into Africa", where of course we saw giraffes, zebras etc. From there we saw the lemurs, the sloths, and next it was the meerkats. Of course, for us English, meerkats have become very popular, as a result of the use of meerkats in a long running set of car insurance adverts.

As you might expect, there were quite a few people looking at the Meerkats... after all, they ARE rather cute! Amanda and I were talking about them.

"Hey, look over there, behind that tree..." said Amanda with a very slight lisp caused by her retainers. Whilst Amanda wore her plate most of the time, and had worn her various braces quite a bit at home, she was still not 100% used to them, so still had a slight lisp - and to be honest, it was rather cute!

"Ah, yes... very cute..." I replied. We chatted about the meerkats for a bit. Then a familiar face appeared next to Amanda.

"Hey, Amanda, it IS you! I thought I recognised your voice!". Amanda turned to face her.

"Jenny?..... what are you doing here?" replied Amanda

"Well, probably the same as you are.... looking at the meerkats! And hello there, Danny isn't it?". It was, of course, Jenny, from CJD, who I had met one lunchtime with Amanda, the first week we were going out. I was a bit confused, because I thought she'd had a major haircut - she certainly had shorter hair when I'd seen her onstage at the Darkest Knights gig a few weeks ago - she now had long hair that looks pretty similar to what I'd seen when I first met her.

"Hi Jenny!... yes, well remembered. You here alone?"

"No, I'm with my boyfriend, Ben... Ben, this is Amanda, and her boyfriend Danny.". Jenny then explained to Ben that Amanda was her copyright lawyer, and how she had met me over lunch. As she spoke, I spotted that Jenny now had metal brackets on her teeth. Jenny turned to Ben: "Ben, remember I was texting on the way home after the Darkest Knights gig - well that was Amanda, telling me that Danny had just seen us at the gig"

"Hi Ben.... yeah, I was in the crowd at the Darkest Knights gig, so I only saw you at a bit of a distance."

"You were there? That was a crazy but amazing night! Jenny told me I was getting a birthday treat... she took me up to Wembley, and I saw the banners, and assumed she had got some tickets to the gig. No, that wasn't enough for Jenny, she had wrangled back-stage passes, and I got to meet the band before they went on stage. I assumed we'd just be watching them from the side of the stage, but the next thing I knew was she was dragging me onto the middle of the stage, and got the band and the crowd to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me... well, I guess you know the rest!"

"Yeah, that was quite some theatrics you did there, Jenny! By the way, I loved the outfit you wore when you came on to play!"

"The band didn't know I was planning on doing that" explained Jenny with a big smile, as we walked out of the meerkat section. "I'd actually gone up the previous day, practiced with the band, and we had worked out our plans for the evening.... then I played those 2 songs with them in the evening, but I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. So on the Friday, I started off in jeans and t-shirt again, but I went and changed into one of my stage outfits before I played with them... The look on Ginger's face when he saw me was just amazing!"

"Well pink and white aren't colours you'd normally associate with Darkest Knights. Hey, were you wearing some sort of headgear too?" I asked a bit nervously. Whilst I was quite sure she was, I didn't know if it was for real, or 'just for fun'.

"That's very observant of you, Danny, yes I was.... but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, I see you are a braces wearer too. It's actually part of my treatment"

"Ok, but it's not what I'd expected to see in public, let alone onstage at a big gig!"

"Well, soon after I got the headgear, I realised that the reason people didn't want to wear it in public was the fear that people would stare at them. Now, come on, if I go out as me, I'm gonna get stared at anyway, so I thought I might as well have a bit of fun with it. Besides, maybe it will make it easier for any kids who have to wear it".

"That sounds reasonable. But Jenny, I'm confused about something else - I thought you'd had your hair cut?"

"I did, my hair is quite short now... you saw it at the gig. This is my 'Clark Kent' wig" she explained, stroking her hair, "it's similar to how my hair used to be, and it's an attempt to try and disguise myself... not really sure if it's that effective, but I think it helps"

By now we had followed the path back under the road, and were by the zoo shop, and opposite us was 'The Terrace Restaurant'. I took a look at my phone: it was just after 3:30pm.

"Hey, anyone fancy a cuppa?" I suggested.

"That's an excellent idea" replied Amanda. "Jenny, Ben, why don't you join us?"

"Sounds good to me" replied Jenny, with Ben nodding in agreement. We went in and got teas and coffees, and some scones / cakes, and found an empty table. I sat next to Amanda, and opposite Ben, which allowed Ben and I to have a chat while Amanda chatted to Jenny.

About 5 or 10 minutes later, Amanda leaned towards me, and whispered into my ear: "Hey, have you noticed that Ben keeps looking at our mouths?"

"Not especially"

"Tell you what, let me smile in a moment, then you also smile a bit later, we can have a look."

"What you two whispering about" asked Jenny, smiling.

"Oh, nothing, just boyfriend - girlfriend smalltalk" replied Amanda, smiling. I quickly looked over at Ben, and indeed, I could see him looking at Amanda's mouth.

"Don't worry, Jenny, it wasn't about you!" I said, also smiling as wide as I could whilst keeping it natural. I was, at that point, looking at Jenny, taking the chance to have a look at her braces, but out the corner of my eye, I could see Ben looking at me.

Amanda and I looked at each other again. "He was, wasn't he?" said Amanda out loud.

"Yes, he definitely was!" I replied, nodding. Jenny looked confused, and Ben looked a little guilty.

"He was what?" asked Jenny.

"Ben..." asked Amanda, loud enough that Ben and Jenny could hear, but noone else would. "Ummm, do you, by any chance... erm... like braces?". I will admit that I would not have been able to ask such a leading question like that, but heck, that's what Amanda does for her job. Ben looked a bit embarrassed, and awkward.

Things were silent for a couple of seconds, then Jenny answered for him. "Yes, he does.... and?". Of course that made both Amanda and me smile widely.

"Don't worry Ben, you aren't the only one..." I said

"What do you mean?" Ben replied, clearly feeling rather awkward.

"Well, you see..." I said fairly quietly, "It seems you have the same 'problem' that both Amanda and I do... we both like braces too!" Ben was clearly a bit confused. "The braces that Amanda and I are wearing are actually not 'real' braces at all. In fact, I suspect that the only person here with real braces is Jenny! Well, I assume they're real, Jenny?". She nodded.

"OMG, you're kidding me?" said Ben, relaxing at last. "Those are really fakes?". I put my fingers into my mouth, and pulled my upper brackets slightly off my teeth, so Ben could confirm that they were not attached to my teeth. "Wow, I'd not worked that out, they look so real! Actually, Jenny bought me some fakes recently, but I've not been brave enough to wear them out yet."

"Well, this is the first time I've worn these retainers out in public, and it is fun" admitted Amanda, "but Ben has been wearing his braces for months now". We chatted about braces for a bit.

"You know, I kinda feel left out here" said Jenny, "I seem to be the only one that doesn't have a big thing for braces, I just happen to wear real braces!"

"Did you actually get them for Ben?" asked Amanda.

"No, I didn't.... I got them fitted two days after I first met Ben. Of course, for the first couple of weeks after we met, he had no idea who I really was, he just thought I was 'Miss Normal' with braces"

"Really?" I asked

"He's a rock fan, like you, Danny, and like you, he hardly knew who CJD were. In fact, after I met Ben, I started listening to some of his sort of music, and that inspired me. You probably don't realise, but some of the new music I've been working on recently is very rock-inspired, and that was because of Ben. And I guess that's how I ended up playing on stage with Darkest Knights."

"I bet you 'appreciated' her braces when she got them though, didn't you, Ben?" I said

"I can't deny it! And when I found out that she had to wear headgear too, well that was a very pleasant bonus!". We continued chatting about braces for a while longer, as we finished our drinks and cakes, then we went back out and visited the last part of the zoo, where we saw the monkeys and the lions. As we walked, we chatted: the afternoon had become so much more enjoyable, being able to share it with Ben and Jenny.

"Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed spending the second part of the afternoon with you guys - we should get together again sometime!" commented Jenny as we all left the zoo.

Have a great holiday. I have been really enjoying this story. Thanks!!!

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed the "cross-over episode"... something tells me this won't be the last we see of Jenny and Ben....

Anyway, just to let you know that I'll be away on holiday for the next week, so the story will be taking it's "Mid-Season Break"! I'm already working on the next few chapters, and I can tell you that the story will be taking quite a significant turn in those chapters, which might make the story a bit more interesting. Or not, depending on what aspects of the story you enjoy!


Sparky

Very much enjoyed it, thank you! And I hope you're having a good break :-)

Chapter 43

No, they can't do that!


So, it's now the last week of Amanda's and my 3 month contract, and that's the time we have previously taken the decision to renew our contract. Both times before, there was no doubts for either Amanda or me that we wanted to renew our contract, but this time, things don't seem to be so clear cut. The last couple of weeks have felt a bit 'strange'. Amanda has, on a couple of occasions, turned down offers of going out with me, instead wanting to 'meet up with some girlfriends' (without me, of course). And she had to work late on a few other nights. I did start to wonder if there might be something going on, but I think I just wanted to suppress any thoughts like that, and therefore tried to assume that Amanda was just 'needing a bit of space'. I only wish she could tell me, if that's what she was wanting.

So, on those occasions, it did mean I could spend some time with my 'bestie', Janice - she certainly appreciated having some company since she & Mike had split up. And before you think about it, NO, nothing happened between us.

Tonight is Wednesday, and Amanda has to work a little bit late, but is coming over to my place by about 7:30 for dinner, which is home-made chinese.

Amanda arrived a few minutes early, wearing her fake brackets, and whilst she was quite 'pleasant', she just wasn't her normal self. Which meant I wasn't my normal self either. Whilst we ate dinner, we exchanged pleasantries, but it was clear that a lot was not being said. Even seeing Amanda struggling to eat with her braces in, and getting food stuck in them didn't really excite me. After we had finished dinner, I made us both coffees, and sat next to Amanda.

"Danny, there's something I need to tell you" she said after a long silence. The way she said it didn't sound good, and it was starting to confirm my feelings that we maybe wouldn't be 'renewing our contract' again.

"When we started this relationship, we promised to be honest with each other... and to be faithful, for as long as we were in our 'contract. Ummm..... I've not been very honest with you recently, and I think it's time that I come clean with you". My heart sunk into the pit of my stomach, and my stomach tied itself into a knot. "Remember the evening when Jannice split up with Mike, and I ended up going to that dinner without you... well, I started talking to someone there, and.... well, we've met up a few times since...". Ok, things were starting to fall into place now: my earlier fears about why Amanda wasn't spending as much time with me were 100% correct.

"So whilst I've not been technically unfaithful to you, it has been very close. I'm sorry Danny, I shouldn't have let it happen, but it has. And I've been thinking a lot about things this last week, and ..... I don't think I want to renew our contract at the end of this week... I'd like to see how it goes with him.... I'm so sorry Danny....". That was the big punch to the stomach.

I took a deep breath, and held it for a bit... if Amanda was being honest and open with me, then the least I could do is to be open and honest with her. "Umm... Amanda.... if we're being totally honest with each other, then there's something I think I need to tell you... that night... when Janice broke up with Mike, well, umm.... I WAS actually unfaithful to you". We sat in silence for a bit.

"I'm so sorry, Amanda"

"I did wonder, but I don't think it really matters now, does it?". Amanda put her hand on mine. "Look, Danny, I have have really enjoyed being in a relationship with you, and it's been very different from any relationship I've ever had before.... you are a really nice guy, but I guess it's now time for us both to move on". We sat there quietly for a few more minutes, Amanda was still holding my hand. "Hey, look, Danny, we still have a few days left of our 'contract', so let's go out and enjoy them together!". She leaned over, and gave me a quick kiss on my lips.

Ages ago, we had promised each other that, if and when our contract ran out, and we decided not to renew it, we would try to be as civil as possible to each other for the remainder of that contract, and end the relationship on as positive a note as possible. So whilst it was now quite clear that Amanda and I would be parting ways at the end of the week, I think we both wanted things to end as pleasantly as possible. I know that, with other relationships in the past, things have ended badly because we had not been honest with each other. Tonight, Amanda and I had been 100% honest with each other, which meant that we could accept things, and finish the week amicably.... ish!"

"So, does this new guy know about your love of braces?" I asked

"Actually, no.... well not that I'm aware of... that is one thing I'm really going to miss, the braces. We've had a lot of fun with our braces, haven't we?"

"Well, I'll be ok, I'll still be wearing mine, although yes, it's not going to be anywhere near as much fun without someone to share things with. Maybe you need to do some braces things over the next few days, while you still have a chance?"

"What you thinking about?"

"Well..." I said, thinking. "...You've not worn your facemask out in public yet, have you?" I suggested. Amanda looked at me as if I'd just suggested we go out and kill someone.

"No way!"

"Yes, I really think you should! I know the whole idea is scary as hell, but I can tell you that it is actually a LOT of fun! Go on, do it!"

Amanda thought for a while. "Um, how about I'll do it, if you do too?". That made me stop and think for a moment.

"Two of us, out in public, wearing facemasks? That would be interesting! Ok, yeah, why not? But where?"

"Well, nowhere near here, that's for sure!"

"Yup, no problems with that! Ok, how about..... Lakeside? I know it's a bit of a journey, but I can't imagine anyone we know will be there." I grabbed my phone, and searched for it online. "Ah, open till 9pm every evening... and looks like it will take about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. What you doing tomorrow?"

"Ummmm, I'm not really sure.". She picked up her phone, and spent a moment looking at it. "Looks like I have a client early afternoon, but I don't have anything specific after that." I could feel that Amanda was a bit apprehensive about the whole idea of going out in facemasks.

"You sure you're ok doing this?"

"Well, I guess if I don't do it now, I'll probably never actually do it... so yes"

"Ok... so why don't we leave work early? That way we can miss some of the worst traffic, and be there in plenty of time to have dinner. I'm sure my boss will be ok with me leaving a bit early"

"Yeah... well, come around to chambers when you're ready."

We chatted for a little while, and then Amanda decided that maybe she should go home early, before we 'did anything'.

After she left, I sat down on the settee. Tears came to my eyes, and I cried. My life with Amanda had just come to an end. I realised that, even though the whole idea of beeing civil with Amanda for a couple more days, and going out with her, was a nice idea, it was one that I just could not do. The pain would be just too much. Even the thought of going out in public with Amanda, with us both in facemasks, wasn't enough to make me want to actually do it.

I found a shopping bag, and went around my flat, gathering up Amanda's things - it was mostly clothes - but also her fake twinblocks, which she had left in the bedroom, and put them into the bag. Next, I found an envelope, and put her credit card and keys into it, putting it into the bag too. Finally I wrote a simple note to her:

"Amanda, I'm sorry, but the idea of spending more time with you is just tearing me apart, knowing that afterwards you will no longer be there to be with me, so I guess this is the final goodbye. Here's all your stuff, let me know if I missed something. Just leave my things at your reception, and I'll collect them. Danny".

Then I had a quick call with my mum, and arranged that I'd go and visit her and dad for a long weekend, going up after work on Thursday

I struggled through work on the Thursday - I dropped off Amanda's stuff at lunchtime (but not actually saying anything to anyone at her chambers), and had a word with my boss, who was ok with having the Friday and Monday off.

Whilst I was on the train home, I sent Janice a message, explaining that Amanda and I had split up, that I was going to stay with my parents for the weekend, and that I'd be back on Monday, and would really like to meet up with her when I got back.

@eddiestobart: Oh No indeed!

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Chapter 44

Life without Amanda


Going home to my parents for a long weekend turned out to be a great idea, I was able to relax and clear my head a bit. Plus it had been a while since I had seen them: strangely, I'd never really thought to take Amanda to meet them.

Of course, mum and dad have no idea about my love of braces, so once I was on the train, I took them out, put them into a braces box, and hid them away in my bag. Having worn them so much for the last six months, it felt VERY strange to NOT be wearing them! Eating without them was quite a pleasure, as was the fact that I didn't need to clean them after each meal!

I called a couple of people I knew from a few years ago, who still lived in the area, and managed to meet up with one of them for a quick drink on the Saturday evening. Most of the people I knew from school and college had moved away: like me, many had gone off to university, and had just never returned 'home'... their 'home' was now somewhere else.

I had several nice chats with Janice: I'm really lucky to have her as a 'best friend': even though we know there's no way we could ever be a couple living together, we just understand each other, and get on so well. Apart from the text I had sent her, she wasn't really aware of what had been going on (or not going on) between me and Amanda

I messaged Janice while I was on the train: she had invited me around for dinner, and no doubt there would be lots of hugs and talking too. I also remembered to put my fake braces back in, as it would seems as odd to anyone I knew in London to see me WITHOUT braces, as it would have been odd for my parents to see me WITH them!

The next couple of weeks were hard. In fact, so hard that I almost considered stopping wearing my braces, but decided the awkwardness of doing so was something I couldn't face. I was so glad that Janice was willing to continue to be there for me, I would have struggled to get through things without her.

Needless to say, on more than one occasion, large amounts of drinking alcohol were involved, I even had to 'phone in sick' one morning, as I was still drunk!

We were around my place one evening. "Hey, I have a crazy idea" said Janice. It was a bit over 2 weeks since Amanda and I had split up, and I was starting to feel a bit more 'normal'. "Let's both sign up to an online dating site!"

I laughed. "You kidding me?" I replied.

"Why not, at least we might meet someone!". I was rather surprised by how many dating apps there are. Some are aimed specifically at people wanting to just hook up to have sex. Some were aimed more at married couples, looking to have an affair. Some for older people. We ignored those, and we both loaded one of the more popular mainstream dating apps. Whilst one big disadvantage of living in London is that it can be quite lonely, this becomes an advantage for the dating apps, as there are so many more people to choose from.

Janice took a picture of me, and together we worked out how to describe me, and select the sort of girls I was interested in: I'm glad she helped, because it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good if I'd just done it myself. Then I took her picture, and helped her set up her account. Initially, we selected just North London, and this gave us quite a few matches.

For the next hour, we went through the profiles of loads of girls for me, and guys for her, swiping left and right as appropriate.

"Don't be too choosy" said Janice, "Yeah, initial gut feelings are important, but some of us girls aren't particularly photogenic, but that doesn't mean we ain't still nice!"

Sadly, the pictures of a lot of girls were terrible: I'm sure they thought that wearing lots of makeup made them look more attractive, but in fact it usually had the opposite effect, and even Janice agreed in most cases! I tried to be as inclusive as I could, including girls with slightly chubby faces (probably indicating that the rest of their body was equally chubby), and girls with not-so-perfect complexions. And, in the same way, I helped Janice select and reject loads of guys: there certainly seemed to be plenty of guys out there looking for girls, and if you were to believe their profiles, the majority of them were very good looking and trained at the gym regularly.

Always a good read. Interesting changes of direction. I wonder where we are going here?