voyager // max mayfield

TWO: GOOD SHIT

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Eve was not fond of her counselling sessions - the woman was lovely and patient, but Eve did not feel the need to open up to a woman about all of her problems, only to be analysed and told the same shit she's heard a million times before. Steve had put her up to it, promising that if she went to them once a week, she could go to home video on a Saturday and he wouldn't charge her to pick out a movie - basically, waste an hour of her time doing something she hates to win an hour or two of something she enjoys. It worked out well for the both of them.

"So, Eve. Before we get started, is there anything you would like to talk to me about?" Mrs Kelly asks Eve as she takes her seat. Mrs Kelly was nice - she always had a smile on her face, and you could just tell from her eyes she had a kind heart, too kind of a heart to deal with what Eve was going through.

"No," Eve responds quietly, looking down at her hands and messing with her fingers.

"So, how is home?" Mrs Kelly asks, leaning back in her seat as she talks, staring down Eve who sat rather uncomfortably in front of her, "Everything good with Steve?"

"Everything's fine," She responds simply, shrugging her shoulders slightly as she spoke.

"I saw you this morning at the pep rally," Mrs Kelly continues, "You were hanging out with Freddie? Have I got that right?"

"I wasn't hanging out with him." Eve shakes her head, "He just kind of stands by me and talks sometimes."

"So you're not friends with Freddie?" Mrs Kelly continues.

"I'm not not friends with him," Eve mumbles, making Mrs Kelly sigh.

"You know... I ask that because it's important for you to have friends, a group of people you can go to when you need someone to talk to, you know? People you can tell anything to, free of judgement." Mrs Kelly continues, "Do you have that support group?"

Eve keeps her eyes on the floor for a moment - she would never tell her friend group, they were all popular and the whole thing would be gossip ten minutes later. She'd be an outcast in seconds and stared at wherever she went. Everyone thinks she was visiting family, they don't know what was going on with her.

She thinks back to herself last year, before Florida, before the mind flayer reared it's ugly head again - it was simple and nice. Max and her were happy and in their own little bubble, no one in that group cared that they were together, it was a very carefree time.

"I used to," Eve finds herself saying, "Before summer happened."

"You were friends with Max, right?" Mrs Kelly asks, making Eve's eyes snap up to her - she had not mentioned Max once, in any session. She made a point to stay away from that topic all together.

Mrs Kelly noticed her confusion, and with a light smile admits, "She brings you up sometimes."

Eve feels her heart deflate slightly, but shakes it off, looking back down at her feet, "You don't talk to Max anymore though, do you? After what happened with her brother, Billy."

"It's a bit more complex than that," Eve says.

"Then explain it to me. I've got time," Mrs Kelly smiles.