The Arrangement

The Arrangement_36

{Lila}



Almost a week and a half had passed since I moved back in with Dixon and we had seemed to fall into a new comfortable normal.

Dixon never did tell me where he had gone that night, or any other night to be honest, and while it ate away at me I knew better than to question him. Every morning we would both have coffee and then take off to work. When work let out I got home, cooked dinner for the both of us and I would eat alone in the kitchen. When Dixon would get home, he'd grab his dinner and sit in the living room to eat and watch television. From there i would do a few chores around the house or read and Dixon would take off.

Of course we would talk to each other about our day and just random conversations but I always made sure I didn't let myself get too close.

"Did you hear me?" Dixon asked with a slight chuckle in his voice.

I looked to my side and saw Dixon leaning against the counter. I finished rinsing the bowl I had been washing and put it away in the dish rack to dry. "What did you say?" I asked.

"I was suggesting that we go to therapy."

"Therapy?"

"Yes, it seems like we still have some unresolved issues that I personally would like to get fixed." He pointed out.

I nodded, he was right. Sure things were going alright between us, but what exactly are we?

"Sure, i'd like to see what a third party has to say about us." I admitted.

"Good, uh, I guess I'll get us an appointment and let you know as soon as I find something." He said as he turned to leave the room.

"Going out again?" I questioned.

"That's the plan." He said with a smirk.

"Can I ask where it is that you are going?" I turned the faucet off and dried my hands on a towel.

"Yes you may."

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"Out" he answered childishly.

"Dixon!"

"Lila." He countered calmly.

I shook my head and turned back around, I turned the water back on to finish cleaning the dishes in the sink.

"Why can't you just fight for what you want?!" He yelled.

I stayed facing the sink, I couldn't respond to his question. When he knew he wasn't going to get anything out of me, Dixon walked straight out the front door.




{Dixon}

-2 days later-

I thumbed through a random magazine as I impatiently waited to be called back into the office.

Lila and I had come to our first official therapy session and right now the therapist was finishing up our individual confessions before she spoke with us together. I had gone first and now she was speaking with Lila, to get a better understanding of our situation.

"Come on back in Dixon." The calm woman said from the door.

I walked back into the office and sat on the stiff sofa with Lila.

"Alright, after speaking with both of you I can say that Dixon, you've been searching for what your parents have. They are happy and to this day still very much in love despite their ups and downs." She said with absolution. "While personally I feel that, that may be a stretch considering how you and Lilliana started your relationship, I will not say it is impossible."

Then she turns her gaze toward Lila.

"Lilliana, you're emotional scarred. You are scared causing you to be jealous and even pull away emotionally. I believe this stems originally from your brothers death."

I knew her words would hit home for Lila. I reached out to grab her hand but she moved her hand.

"See, even now Dixon is trying to comfort you and you recoil away from him. It is your own way of keep distant before you get too emotionally involved, your own defense mechanism to not being hurt. But in reality your only pushing him away, and after so much of it he will do exactly what your scared he will do, and that is he will get tired of trying and just give up. He will leave." The therapist pointed out.

We both sat on the sofa like two children being scolded, too afraid to talk.

"Dixon it is clear what you want." She said a little more softly. "Lilliana you too know what you want, you are just refusing to admit it to yourself. Once you accept what it is that you want then you can work on achieving it. Until then you will keep running and pushing people away."

The therapist stood up from her chair.

"I'm afraid we are out of time for today. But I want you two to start keeping a journal, I also want you two to make a goal chart. This is for everything you'd like to achieve within a relationship."

She saw us to the lobby and then left us.

"I'll go pull the car around." I told Lila, she silently nodded as she put her jacket on.

Given what I had heard, I learned that Lila did want a relationship, she was just too scared and was going to fight me tooth as nail to get to where we once were. This was going to take a long time.

But once I got into the car an idea struck, one that could either go very good or very bad.

I would have to make Lila jealous, and in order to achieve this I would need her best friends help.