Behind Blue Eyes

16

March 16th

Today's session is all about sharing other's small acomplishments that we didn't get to on friday. Chip tells us all about how he and his parents are repainting a room in his house. He hates the messiness of the paint, but he still feels he's getting somewhere.

Encino took an art class. He's been wanting to build on his art skills for a good, long while and this was the dive he needed to take before he fully did so. He loved it so much, he's going back on Thursday.

Brittany has taken the steps needed to start overcoming her social anxiety. She went to a party her cousin invited her to and, while she felt uncomfortable the first half hour she was there, she eventually got into it and had a blast.

Paul shares with us that he feels a bit more confident speaking up in group, now, even though his stutter embarasses him. We all tell him that he has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of and he feels very relieved to have us all rallied behind him.

The session lasts our usual hour and change before we're dismissed. As soon as we are, Paul turns to me.

"You excited for tonight?" He smiles.

"Are you?" I tease.

"Very. I haven't b-b-been able to s-s-stop thinking about it."

That melts my heart.

"I'll pick you up at 7?"

"That sounds terrific" I tell him.

---

7:00, on he dot, Paul pulls up to my house and comes to the front door. I open it.

"You set?" he asks.

"You bet." I tell him. I pick up my overnight bag and slip my shoes on. I turn to mom and dad. "I'll be back in the morning, guys."

They step towards the door. This is their first time seeing Paul. They both smile.

"So, this is who you've been talking about" my dad says.

"Hi, sir" Paul greets. "I p-p-promise to take good care of S-S-Sam."

"There's no need to be nervous, hon" my mom says. Shit, they think his stutter's just because of nerves. I take them aside and whisper to them that his stutter is a genuine affliction he has. My mom gets remorseful. "Honey, I'm so sorry, I had no idea-"

Paul puts his hands up. "There's no need to a-a-a-apologize, It's OK. You didn't know."

I open the door and step out to be next to him. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"OK, Sammy, we love you."

"I love you, too." I say.

---

When we get to Paul's he takes me to his bedroom. He lives on his own. "When we have to g-g-g-go to sleep, you can have the b-b-bed. I'll take the floor" he says.

"You don't have to do that. You can have the bed and I'll take the floor."

"Nonsense, you're the g-g-guest, you take the bed."

"But-" I start.

"No buts, I insist" he says. He's got a big heart, that's for sure.

"What do you w-w-w-wanna do first?" he asks.

The second after I put my bag down he picks up the phone and orders us a pizza. They have a thing where you can swap out the original sauce for alfredo sauce. It's the best pizza I've ever had. We end up watching two movies: I pick "Mean Girls" and he shows me "Poetic Justice" which has Tupac. He's enamored with him, and the movie was really good. It was his first time watching "Mean Girls", which I couldn't believe. That was a bad idea, because now, he hasn't been able to stop using the word "fetch".

After that, he hooks up some video games. We play "Goldeneye" and "Mario Kart", both for an hour, each. He smoked me in "Goldeneye", but it's safe to say I beat his ass in "Mario Kart". I always play as Bowser, which pissed David off to no end.

At midnight, he picks some slow music for us to listen to. We're up until three A.M. just paling around. We settle in for bed (well, I'm in bed, he's on the floor, even though I insisted that he didn't have to do that) at around two. We tell each other stuff that we've kept to ourselves, we recount memories of being kids, and so on and so on.

He stands up and sits besdie me on the bed before he falls asleep. "You OK?" he softly asks me.

"I'm OK" I smile. He grabs my hand and holds it. He kisses me on my forehead. "Goodnight" he tells me.

"Goodnight" I say back.

He falls asleep, first. It takes me fifteen minutes after to fall asleep, but I am filled wih utter joy and happiness. I feel really safe around him. He doesn't have any ulterior motives and is genuinely concerened about my well being, as I am for him. He has to be the sweetest man I've ever met.

The happiness lasts only for awhile, though.