Takes one to know one [pete davidson]

Chapter 8

Today's the day I've been dreading.

My appointment with Cheryl.

I'm currently sitting in my car, hoping it'll just catch on fire at this point just so I don't have to walk in there. I don't even know what to say to Cheryl and I'm scared for what she's gonna say to me. I've never skipped an appointment with Cheryl before, let alone two.

I finally push myself out of the car and slowly make my way inside. I sign in at the front desk and the clerk tells me to go ahead and go in. I take the tiniest steps possible down the hallway until I'm right outside her office. I notice Cheryl's sitting at her desk, filling out paperwork. I walk in and sit in the chair in front of her desk, she doesn't look up. She keeps filling out the paperwork for a couple minutes as I start to get even more nervous, until she stops, sits her pen down, and looks up at me.

"I'm sorry."

Am I dreaming? Did Cheryl just apologize to me?

That's all she says and then she continues to stare at me. After a few seconds of trying to process what she said I finally bring myself to talk.

"W- what? Huh?" is all I can get out.

"I'm sorry for the things I said at our last session, it wasn't very professional of me and I let my emotions get the best of me and I apologize." she says.

I just sit there, frozen. I can't even get my brain to process what she's saying, I'm so thrown and I have no idea what to do.

"I just, I don't know how to get through to you Emily. You've been coming to me for months now and you've barely made any progress, and I know this isn't how you want your life to be so I don't understand why you won't even try to put in any effort to change. There's only so much I can do if you won't let me in." she continues to say.

I still don't say anything, I just sit there as Cheryl moves everything on her desk to the side and claps her hands on the desk in front of her.

"Emily, you're not broken, you're not screwed up. You've had traumatic things happen to you that no person should have to go through, but none of it was your fault and you have to understand that."

"But that's the thing Cheryl, it was my fault. I let those people in my life, I let my feelings put me in those situations." I finally say.

"No. Trusting people and letting people in your life doesn't give them the right to treat you the way they did. Not everyone in the world is like that and I'm incredibly sorry you had to experience those things, but it wasn't your fault. Those people chose to behave the way they did because of the people they are, not you."

"But how am I supposed to be able to tell who's like that and who isn't? How do I keep it from happening again without shutting everyone out?" I say as tears start to fill my eyes.

"That's the thing, Emily. There isn't a way to know, you just have to trust people, and trust yourself to not let people treat you that way again...and if you keep seeing me, we can work on learning how you deserve to be treated and the signs that you shouldn't let someone into your life. If you just let me in and let me help you get through this." she says, looking me right in the eyes.

I sit for a moment, trying to process everything she just said. She doesn't give me time to answer before she starts talking again.

"How about this...you can leave now and take some time to think over everything from today and what you want to do, and if you want my help and want to get through this, come to your appointment next week and we'll start fresh. If you don't want my help, then you can walk out that door and never come back, but the choice is all yours this time."