Returning To You

“I am?”
She nods. “You’ve barely stared at your hands once in the last ten minutes. You’re making eye contact and everything.”
Dr. Jacobs would be so proud. “I hadn’t even noticed.”
“Like I said, you feel comfortable. That gives you more confidence. I think you’d be fine face to face with Andy.”

“Then why does the very idea make me feel dizzy?”
“Um, because he’s like the hottest guy ever?”
We both laugh.

“Thanks, Paige.” I gesture between us. “This, uh, this was really nice for me. I haven’t really… I mean, I don’t have any friends here. Like, at all.”
She waves a hand. “No worries. And you do now. Karen and I are loyal to the point of obnoxiousness. You won’t be able to get rid of us even if you try.” I open my mouth to tell her how glad I am to hear that, but she keeps talking. “Now, about Andy. I totally think you should call him, and this has nothing to do with me or Karen or the tour. I think you really miss him, Daisy.”

“Why do you think that?”
She snorts. “You should have seen the way you were looking at that picture of him in econ. You actually, like, stroked his face, you know?”

I shift, uncomfortable that she had read me so well. “It’s been a while since I let myself look at him.”
She crosses her arms and gives me a stern look. “You miss him. And for all he knows, you just totally ditched him for no reason at all, right? Don’t you think he deserves to hear from you now that you have things under control?”

The idea that I could ever have things under control is so preposterous I almost laugh out loud, but something in her expression stops me. I did just sit here, with a girl my own age, for the past twenty minutes and have an honest-to-God conversation, a serious one, too, where I opened up about some pretty embarrassing stuff. This would have been unheard of a mere eight months ago. What had Dr. Jacobs said? You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.
Maybe they were both right.

Notes

Shit, it's been forever since I've updated this story. I'll be posting another chapter in a few cx