Sketches

11. Nicolai Hargraves

Josiah

"It's been two weeks since you spoke to your friend," Dr Getrude began. I pulled on the edge of my sweater.

She was right. It had been two weeks since I surprised myself by saying, 'good night Daniel'. I hadn't expected anything from it but he had texted me that night. The text was a simple Good night with a wink emoji next to it. Of course, I had freaked out about it. Which was very embarrassing because Killian was there and he had seen my melt down. Which is how Dr Getrude got to know about that situation.

Not only that, but I had to explain to Dr Getrude that the reason why Killian was going overboard was because Baring had caused my previous attack. You know the one where he found my sketches. 'Fun times'. Now that Dr Getrude knew Baring was the same friend who had caused my freak out both times. She had taken an interest in his interactions with me. That also meant I had to explain to her that he didn't necessarily do anything bad, my body just seemed to be working overdrive with the whole anxiety thing. And Dr Getrude had been nice enough to explain to me how chemicals worked in my body. Which was great except now that she knew I spoke to Baring she wouldn't stop encouraging me to say more things to him. She was worse than a doting mother.

"...Last time you were here you told me about your texting conversations. How are those going?"

I instinctively touched the square bulge in my pocket, "Good. Baring has a lot to say. Not that he doesn't have a lot to say when we physically hang out. He just has a lot of things to talk about. All the time. They are not necessarily smart things but I am not winning at genius awards either so it's fine."

Dr Getrude's lip twitched and she wrote something down in her notebook, "And you? Do you reply him?"

"Sometimes." I sat up on the still uncomfortable couch. You would think by now all of Dr Getryde's patients had broken it in. "I have replied him a total of seven times now. But he doesn't mind that I don't reply. Sometimes he keeps texting me without replies. Maybe that's how popular kids are like. Normal rules don't apply to those guys."

"Normal rules?" Dr Getrude said sitting up and  adjusting her glasses, "Yeah you know, double texting makes you seem desperate or if someone leaves you on read they don't want to talk to you?"

"What makes you think he is not desperate?" She asked, looking at me with a small smile forming on her face.

"Ha! Baring. Daniel Baring?" I didn't miss the way Dr Getryde smiled and wrote something down on her pad, "I don't blame you for saying that. You haven't seen him. He is really...popular."

Dr Getrude looked at me with a knowing look.

I couldn't say he is really attractive could I. I mean I knew it, the whole school knew, hack even Killian & Kennedy probably knew it. But saying it out loud just didn't sound...right?

"Tell me about him."

"He is ..." Tall, sporty ripped probably from exercise and all the sports he plays. His skin is a smooth golden brown and he is a literal work of art. I thought, "... cool."

"He is? What did he do?" Dr Getrude asked.

"Haven't we spoken enough about him? I thought this was my session not his. I said looking away, trying to hide the light blush that was no doubt filling my cheeks. I pulled at a thread on Dr Getrude's couch trying to calm my thoughts down.

"Ok we don't have to talk about him. It's your session. We can talk about anything you want. What are you doing today. It's a beautiful Saturday Afternoon. Do you have any plans?"

Going to the Carnival with Baring I thought. So much for ‘my’ session. I shook my head and sat back on the couch. Dr Getryde looked at me with wide shiny eyes and a smile that was too small to be a smile hut too big to be a frown.