𝘚𝘛𝘖𝘗 || ᴋᴏᴛʟᴄ

e i g h t

^ art by @/soso.doodles on insta

~

Going out with her friends had been awful, she hadn't been able to focus on shopping as Linh, Biana, and Marella ran from store to store, herself, Dex, and Stina following in tow. Linh, Biana, and Marella insisted on buying Sophie ten new formal gowns, once they saw she hadn't been enjoying herself, they took her home and they had a long night of snacking. None of them had said a single thing about her breakup with Fitz, or how she had freaked when Fitz grabbed her hand, or brought up Fitz at all, which she had been very thankful for.

She heard a soft knock against her door, "Sophie?"

"Yeah?"

"May I come in?"

Sophie kept her answer short and clipped, not trusting herself to speak more.

The door slid open silently, Grady's hair was tousled and his lips were pursed, Sophie knew this wasn't supposed to be a casual meeting.

"Hey Kiddo," he shot her a weak smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good." Good was probably an overstatement. She felt better, but better didn't necessarily mean good.

"Are you excited about going to therapy today? Nervous?"

"Yeah. Just nervous, I guess."

"You know you can come to me and Edaline about anything, right?"

Sophie swallowed and looked away. "I know."

He sighed. "Do you . . . want us to be there with you? When you go to see them?"

"I think I'm going to be okay." That couldn't be more of a lie. She got up and gave him a hug, slightly startling him. "I love you."

His reply was instant. "I love you too."

"I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay." He paused. "When did you become the adult?"

Sophie laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Bye and, uh, good luck. I don't exactly know how this works."

Sophie found herself laughing again as she left, she wasn't even thinking about her therapy session.

"Hello?" Sophie pushed open the marble door, to reveal a white room, a grey couch sat against the wall, a grey chair and a coffee table sat in front of it. In the chair sat . . .

"Livvy?"

"What can I say?" She smiled softly. "I am a woman of many talents." She patted the arm of the couch, "Sit."

Livvy's eyes followed her as she made her way to the couch. "Soo. . . what are we doing here?"

"We're just going to talk out your feelings. That's it."

Thats it. As if voicing her feelings was the easiest thing in the world. "Uh, okay I guess."

"Do you want to start with how you felt after the battle?"

"Are we supposed to start there?"

"It doesn't matter what we're supposed to do. Where do you want to start?"

Sophie's palms got sweaty as she reached up to tug on an eyelash. "Where- where do you normally start?"

"Are you okay, Sophie?" Her eyebrows knitted together. "You seem spooked."