Externalizing [mxm]

Chapter 21 (End)

Marc drummed his fingers against the top of his knee as he waited for her office to open up. Dr. Sterling finally emerged and called him in then. Marc stiffly followed and took his seat across from her. "How have things been going?" she asked.

"Pretty good, actually," Marc paused, lacking for what to say. Things had been going well he didn't feel this need to talk to her anymore. "Brendan and I are still going well. We had, uh..." he twirled his hands off a little bit and felt his face heat.

Dr. Sterling chuckled. "And you were able to get comfortable with it?"

"Yeah." Marc cleared his throat, ready for a subject change. "And Whitney being back has gone pretty good as well. She's trying to figure out if she wants to move state side again, or what. But I mean it sounded like she'd done a lot of reflection on herself too and isn't upset with me. She's even met Brendan now."

Dr. Sterling nodded eagerly. "And so... still nothing from your dad?"

"I think he tried calling some on Ariel's birthday, but I didn't let it happen. And I was finally able to tell Whitney about all of that too, and she supports me in not letting him see Ariel."

"Good, good. Maybe when Ariel is older and can act for herself a little more, she can decide if she wants a relationship at all with him," Dr. Sterling put it out there. "But that'd still be up to you."

"I came out with dating Brendan at his work, too," Marc admitted. "I feel kind of bad about it, but something came up and I ended up having to tell them..."

"That's a pretty big step," Dr. Sterling commented, tapping her pen against her clipboard. "Sounds like you've got a lot going for you now. That's good."

They sat in an awkward silence as Marc shifted in his seat. "So, yeah," he awkwardly spoke up. "I was kind of thinking... maybe seeing you less frequently then?" He felt guilty to cut it off, and maybe that would come somewhere down the road.

"Totally understandable," Dr. Sterling beamed. "Seeing me less isn't really a bad thing, you know. Though I'd always be interested in having you bring in Brendan and having some talks between the three of us. He's obviously an important person who's helped you get to where you are now."

Marc bit his lip. He hadn't considered that very much. "I could bring him in some time. Maybe Ariel or Whitney as well."

Dr. Sterling began ticking off some things on her clipboard then. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, then?"

Marc gave her a slight smile. "Not that I can think of."

She hummed to herself. "Well, we can set up your next appointment a bit further out, and then you're welcome to head out if you'd like."

Marc agreed to that, setting up his next one for a little over a month out before leaving the office. He stretched outside and squinted briefly against the sun. It was a nice feeling to only have some good things to tell her. He hadn't been able to think of much else to say.

With that he was able to head towards Ariel's school, where he waited the last few minutes until Ariel was out of class. He walked with her back to Brendan's class while he had to finish up some things at school. Ariel used the time to set out with some colored pencils on one of the tables, and Marc tried to entertain himself with what Brendan was doing.

"With the semester ending, I have to come up with different outlines for final projects for each of the classes," Brendan grumbled, not seeming pleased. "And I teach an art class for each grade every semester. There's only the one other art teacher."