point A to Z

𝚆

point W:  success doesn't come on demand, it's something you have to work for.

*three month later*

I'm not an aggressive person, but if Archie does not shut up about his new game I will politely drop him, in the nicest way possible of course.

"And it was only..." Archie continued his story but Brianna managed to finish the sentence before him, "$34.99..." she sighed and looked over at dean where both of them rolled their eyes in annoyance. Archie huffed, "yeah" he smiled. Brianna shook her head, "sounds fun, I guess" she smiled weakly. Archie nodded, "mmm, something like that" dean huffed before getting up from the lunch table.  As dean and Molly left the lunch table to go wander around the school, Archie sighed, "okay, so I have a question..." he looked at Brianna.  She only nodded, "uh okay...?" She nodded for him to propose it.

                   "Right, so I have this upcoming project for my psychology class and I think you'd be able to help me, but I don't wanna put pressure on you or anything or make you feel uncomfortable..." he rambled on, "just tell me about it arch, I promise I'll help you..." she laughed at his nervousness, "no really Bri, I don't know if it's the best idea, but I'll tell you anyways..." he turned serious.  She frowned but nodded at his change of emotion.

"The topics on the fight-flight-freeze response, and we have to write a case study about a situation where it was used, the first person I thought about when mr Simpson discussed it, was you, I thought about what happened to you, but like I said... I don't wanna make you feel bad or uncomfortable..." he looked down. Brianna paused and fiddled with the hem of her shirt, she smiled weakly when he shot her a worried glare. He looked up in confusion when she began to talk, "Bri..." he sighed. She shook her head and smiled, "do you have to read it out to the class, when you're done?" She enquired. He slowly shook his head, "sure, I'll help you then" she nodded. He looked at her in confusion, "are you sure it won't make you remember... I don't know, things?" He shrugged. She smiled, "I'll be fine, just let me know what you need. I'm fine" she shook her head.

                     Later that day, Brianna found herself sat next to Archie at his dinner table.  He had a notepad in front of him and a pen in his hand, "I feel like I'm in an interview" she laughed.  He smiled but shrugged, "close enough" he laughed too.  The both reached over and grabbed some candy from the bowl before starting. "Alright, well the first question on the sheet is... erm, what was your initial reaction to the stimulus...?" Archie didn't know whether any of these questions would trigger her or not. Brianna leant back, "ummm, I'd say that I went silent. I mean, you'd think that your first instinct would be to fight back, but when you're in the moment you forget how to act... so yeah, I'd say I stayed quiet when it all happened at first" she smiled weakly. Archie smiled sadly and summed up what she said for his notes.

After answering a few more questions without setting her off, Archie felt confident, "we're nearly done, but the next one is... were there any reoccurring thoughts you experienced during the situation?" He sighed. She thought about it for a few seconds, "Brady" she spoke quietly. Archie looked at her face closely to search for any emotion, but there wasn't much there, "all I could think about was Brady, how he was probably half scared to death. I kept telling myself that maybe him seeing his sister being, you know... was probably more traumatic than what I was going through. He was all I cared about, I didn't think of anything else until he was gone. Then I'd say I only thought about things to distract myself..." she trailed off at the end. Archie stared at her sadly, "I didn't mean to..." he started but she cut him off.

"It's okay, I'm fine" she nodded with a small smile. He smiled weakly before writing it down, he's surprised she told him this much, "just don't tell anyone about what i talked about, yeah?" She added. Archie smiled, "nobody needs to know" he nodded. She smiled thankfully, "so, movie marathon?" He changed topics. She laughed and nodded, "sure" she followed him out of the kitchen. Having a best friend is nice...

                      "Boo" Brianna poked her dads back as she wandered past the couch, "ouch" he huffed and smiled weakly at her.  She smiled, "so dramatic" she rolled her eyes playfully and wandered into the kitchen.  Hailey shook her head in amusement, "so I'm assuming you came to terms with who won monopoly, huh?" She spoke without looking up from her sports magazine.  "I did!" Both jay and Brianna called out at the same time, gaining a laugh from them all.  Brianna reappeared in the living room with a bottle of fruit juice in her hands, "you're such a sore loser, I clearly won" she flopped down on the couch.  Jay smirked, "well if you class cheating your way to victory a win, have it your way" he shrugged.  Brianna huffed but laughed in the end, maybe she did cheat her way to victory...

                   Once the teenagers were in bed, jay and hailey were snuggled up on the couch watching the end of the Blackhawks game, "they're both doing so well" she mumbled.  Jay smiled, "they are, especially Bri, I never thought she'd talk ever again" he rubbed his wife's arm.  Hailey smiled, as long as they have each other, everything will be okay in the end...