Everett’s POV

My workday was somewhat uneventful. That was ok though considering that’s how I liked it.

My boss had called out thanks to a sickness that was going around. Which just meant that I had to socialize even less. I just sat and caught up on paperwork and rearranging his schedule to reflect his unexpected sick day.

I wondered when Micah was going home…

Wait… what?

His face kept popping up in my mind. Don’t get me wrong, he was a very attractive and charismatic person…. but that wasn’t the problem… the problem was the person part. People weren’t my thing. I had long since learned my lesson with that.

I shook my head as if that would remove his stupid smirk from my mind.

However, as it turned out, that proved pretty difficult. Dammit. This needed to stop. He just wanted to help… I think. You never know with people these days.

Only one way to find out.

I finished up early and headed up to the wing of counseling offices that Micah worked in.

I walked up to a tough but kind looking woman who was sitting behind a desk typing quietly on her laptop. As I approached my palms got clammy. I fixed my eyes on her shoulder (a trick my fucked up mind had taught me at some point).

I cleared my throat. “Is Micah King available?” She raised her brow at me.

“He doesn’t usually do appointments after 4pm. Especially unscheduled ones.”

“Oh”

Just then a door swung open and I cautiously looked toward it. Micah stood grinning at me. “Didn’t think you’d hop on my offer so soon but hey, the sooner the better, right?” I lowered my eyes back to my feet quickly.

The woman seemed confused but it quickly changed to disinterest as I heard her start typing again.

I followed Micah into his small office. It was almost dark outside so the office seemed cozy and kind of homey, but I felt uncomfortable as hell knowing that I had no idea how this was gonna go. He motioned with his hand for me to sit on the tan colored chair across from the matching chair that he was seating himself in.

“So… Why so soon? I figured you’d end up changing your mind to be honest.”

“You just met me yesterday, you don’t know anything about me.” I mumbled. Why was I being mean?

“Ohh, harsh.” His had gripped his chest as if I’d broken his heart.

“Sorry. Just nervous.”

“No need to be. You don’t need to say anything you don’t feel comfortable with. You could tell me what you had for lunch and I’d listen to it.” He smiled. Such an inviting smile. I relaxed a bit. My body never relaxed. What kind of voodoo power did this man have?

“You were right on the bus about being able to make eye contact. I can look at people but making eye contact is…. well, my body reacts badly. It either makes me go into an attack where my mind gets blurry and is no longer able to think straight, or I’ll just black out all together.” He looked at me and I could tell he was surprised I was talking so much. “It hasn’t always been like this though. I used to really like people… they just really didn’t seem to like me back.”

He scribbled some notes on a notepad he had setting on his right leg which he had crossed over his left one. I heard him mumble something about finding that hard to believe, but I let it go.

“I want to get better” I stated, surprising him. He smirked.

“Then it sounds like I got to you right in time. Are you comfortable continuing? Or do you want me to ask you some easy questions?”

“Questions might help. I’ve never done this.”

“Do you have family? Tell me about them.”

I fidgeted in my chair. Bad subject. Why was I doing this again?

“Not much to tell. I don’t know about that parental love shit, because I never had it.” I said quietly. He looked at me, clearly expecting more, but I stayed quiet.

“Ok, next questions. How old are you, what’s your favorite color and favorite animal?”

“Huh? Are we in kindergarten?”

Micah laughed, “work with me here, I’m trying to keep things light.”

“Sure, uh, age is 19 soon to be 20, favorite colors are light blue and black, favorite animal is a panda.”

“Nice. Ok next. If this question makes you feel awkward, just tell me and we’ll skip it. ok?

“Alright?”

“Yesterday on the bus, when I steadied you with my hand, how did that make you feel?”

My breath caught in my throat remembering the incident that triggered me into an attack yesterday, but I decided to be honest. “It terrified me, I’ve never had someone touch me out of kindness or to help me. People are selfish and awful sometimes, and unfortunately, my life has dealt me quite a hand of those types of people.”

“It’s true that people can be selfish, but Everette, people are so much more than that too. People are strange and exciting, you just have to find the right ones. Never give up on finding the right ones.”

“I’m guessing you have a lot of friends?”

“Nah, not really, I’m just friendly and I like people. More specifically, I like helping people. Good people are all over the place, but if you go around with the mindset that everyone is bad, then that’s all you’re going to find.” He smiled at me as he finished and I swore this man’s smile was one of the purest things I had seen.

“Do you think I will ever be able to find some of these good people?”

“Not to be self-obsessed or anything, but I consider myself a pretty good person.”

I really didn’t know how to respond to that. Sure, he seemed nice, and he didn’t seem to have any malicious intent, but he was also just a therapist. On the the other hand, his presence in general was calming for my mind and relaxing for my body, which sounded horrible, but if I could feel like this all the time, I might actually be able to think a bit clearer.

“I don’t know how to trust you. I don’t know how to trust anyone. That ability got taken from me a long time ago.”

“I know, and you’re not gonna gain it back just from talking to a therapist for an hour or so.” He paused. He put down his notebook on the table in front of him as he stretched out his arms. “You need a friend. Someone you can learn to trust. I know for a fact that there are people around you who care about you and you don’t even know it.” He had a hint of annoyance attached to the last part of his sentence. “I want to be your friend as well as your therapist.” He stuck his hand out for me to shake.

My heart leaped, and body felt relieved, but my mind was just like ‘what the actual fuck?’. I shouldn’t feel this way. Not again. What if I was falling face first into another trap?

My hand decided to work on it’s own though and reached out to meet his. His skin was rough but gentle and inviting. I wanted to trust him.

“Sure. A friend sounds kinda nice. Haven’t had one in quite a while.” I smiled at him which made him chuckle.

“What?” I asked.

“Do that more often. It suits you.” I blushed and studied my shoestrings.

The session went on for a while more, just talking about random things. He was trying to get a feel for my likes, my dislikes, and anything else relevant to my life. He even asked me about the place I lived at. I told him some things and left other things out.

He then asked me how I had ended up in such a place.

I was reluctant to answer but since my problems had all started while I was young, I thought maybe I should give him a short version at the very least.

“......I’m an only child. My mother left when I was young. I was a mistake and was never supposed to happen. I guess in her eyes, I ruined her life. My father was obsessively possessive over her and blamed me for her leaving. I chased away his favorite toy. He began drinking all the time and…” I held the tears back. I was no longer as relaxed as before, but I was determined to finish. “... He began to use me as a punching bag as well as… other things. You could say I became his new toy.”

“The neighbors got annoyed and called the cops several times, but they could never do anything. Then one night when the policemen got there, I was unconscious on the floor with cuts and bruises everywhere. My father told them that I had gone to a wild party, started a bunch of trouble, gotten in a fight, then came home and passed out on the floor. He said the noise the neighbors heard was because I was still drunk and making a scene when I’d come home. He told them he didn’t know what to do with me anymore and he was done trying. He couldn’t do it anymore.”

“After they’d gotten me medical attention, they placed me in the boy’s home where all the ‘bad kids’ went. They could have looked into the case further, but there was no real point in looking into it because after I woke up, I agreed to everything my father had said. I just wanted out and he was offering me a pretty wide open option.” I sunk down in my seat shakily.

“You’re such a good kid, how’d they even believe any of that?” Micah said calmly.

“Simple, they didn’t care. Placing me somewhere was easier than looking into a child abuse case.”

“Everett… I think that’s enough for today.” He looked at his expensive looking watch. “It’s late and you seem tired. Let’s go get something to eat and then let’s get you home. Ok?”

“Alright.”

I watched Micah pack up his things and get ready to leave. I went to stand by the door. Right before he reached for the door knob, I mumbled loud enough for him to hear “You’re the only person I’ve ever told that stuff to. Please don’t use it to hurt me.”

Suddenly I felt his pinky finger wrap around mine. “I would never ever do that. Not to a patient and definitely not to a friend. I promise you that.” Ok, he was a bit too close.... but he smelled really good and for some reason I wasn’t freaking out. Damn, that voodoo power of his was strong.

Then I realized what he was doing. First of all, he was touching me. Second of all, he was making a pinky promise with me.

“A pinky promise? Really? You’re such a kid.” Yea, says the guy whose face is turning tomato red from a damn pinky promise.

“I like to think of it as one of my many charms.” He let go of my finger and motioned for me to head out the door first. “After you” He said.

I walked into the lobby and realized that I was happy we’d both taken the bus, because another look at Micah had me not wanting to let go of this calm feeling quite yet. I just needed a little more time.

What was wrong with me?