Therapist {l.p.}

Six

The next week, after my weekly session, I saw Niall sitting on the curb again, looking a bit happier than he had been two weeks ago. When I exited the building, his eyes lit up. Niall stood up and greeted me.

"Hey." He gave an awkward wave.

"Hi," I smiled back.

"So... I was wondering, any chance you'd want to... Hang out for a little bit?" Niall asked nervously.

Hang out? I haven't been asked by someone else for a long time to just hang out- besides my father, of course. Not to mention I bet it took a lot of guts for Niall to ask me that. I was genuinely surprised.

I guess Niall took my reaction the wrong way though, and his face fell. "We don't have too- I mean, just because you drove me home that one time doesn't mean- I'm not forcing you or anything but-"

I cut him off with a laugh.

"Sure!" I agreed, "Where to?"

Niall looked like he wasn't expecting this conversation to go this direction. "Oh, great! And I don't really care, why don't you pick?"

"Does bowling sound alright?" I asked him.

"Sound great!"

We made our way to my car. We got into the car, and we were off!

While I was driving, an idea popped up in my head. "Hey Niall, why don't you put your number in my phone?" I asked him. I unlocked my iPhone and handed it to him.

He gave a long glance at my phone, and then looked back at me.

"What's this?" Niall asked, looking worried.

My face paled when I saw what he was referring to.

The bullies were sending me mean texts again.

"Uh, those are nothing," I quickly said, swiping to rid my screen of the notification.

"Harper, that didn't look like nothing. Are people being mean to you?"

"Are people mean to you?" I asked.

Niall was quiet for a moment. "Yes," he finally said. "I do get bullied. But I don't like it when my friends are being bullied."

"I don't either," I responded.

"Look, I won't tell anyone about this, but I really think you should tell someone about this," Niall advised.

"Same goes for you," I told him. I pulled into the parking lot of the bowling alley.

"Looks like we both aren't the most social and respected people ever, huh?" Niall gave a dry chuckle.

"Yeah, we are," I sighed. Then I turned to look at him.
"But we can be social outcasts together."

"I'm fine with that."

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

So remember when Liam made me promise to take opportunities to meet friends? Well apparently, he's gone out of his way to arrange a group session with Niall and I down at Coffee N Books, a coffee shop with- you guessed it! A bookstore attached.