Write off the Fear

Chapter 2

After that tearful Friday, Mim decidedly spends more time at home with her family. She still goes out at least once a week with Jason, but doesn't spend more than a few hours with him at a time, opting instead to rebuild her relationship with her sisters. Every Tuesday, the four of them go to family therapy. That first session was hard for them, but they came out of it feeling a bit better and a lot closer to each other. Since then, they've been to another three sessions and it's been good for them but they realized that aside from that, they each needed individual therapy as well. So, after their third joint session they make it a point to schedule separate therapy once a week with the same therapist. Whenever one of them goes for solo therapy, they are always accompanied by another sister to wait for them. It makes it easier knowing that there's always someone waiting for you outside.

Mim and Liza have an understanding that whenever it's either one of them they're there for, they will always make it a 'Twins Day' after the session. At first it was quiet and awkward, both of them not sure what to say but also wanting to fix what they've broken. They start small, with things currently happening in their lives then they build to the issue of what went wrong. They share with each other about how they felt going into high school and how they were both hurt by each other. After going through all the "hard emotional stuff", they were lighter, freer and more open with one another.

It was Wednesday, Mim's solo therapy day and Liza was there to pick her up, which also meant 'Twins Day'. After her session, they drove to their favorite diner for their favorite burger of all time.

So maybe Liza and Mim weren't so different after all. They each had a double patty smash burger, layered with melty American cheese, no lettuce, no tomato, no onion, extra pickles and extra crispy onion rings to top it off. For sides, Mim had shoestring fries while Liza had curly, they liked to mix them together to share and they each had vanilla milkshakes to round off their meal.

They were currently on the topic of 'partners', to Mim's chagrin.

"So how are things with Jason?" Liza says trying to keep the distaste out while saying his name, which makes Mim snort as she dips a curly fry into her milkshake.

"I know you don't like him Lizzy." Mim says with an eye roll

"I mean, it's not that I don't like him. It's more like I think he's not right for you...okay, so yeah, maybe I don't like him." Liza says sheepishly then adds on. "Why do you like him?"

"Honestly, I don't know if I do now." Mim says without looking up at Liza. "It was nice at the start; you know when things weren't great with us and at home. He was around and he was interested in me and I guess it was nice to have that attention. At that point, I just wanted to feel wanted, by anyone, girl or guy." Mim sighs as she leans back in her seat, looking up at Liza and running a hand through her hair. "But now, I'm starting to realize he doesn't seem to care very much? I don't know."

They sit in silence for a while until Liza leans forward, her elbows on the table and chin in her hand looking at Mim earnestly. "You deserve the best Mim. Don't forget that." And they smile at each other.

Wanting to shift the attention off of her, Mim copies Liza's posture and leans forward with a smirk, "Well, what about you? I know there's a guy in your art class you like..."

Now it was Liza's turn to lean back in her seat and cover her eyes with her left arm, "Ughh, how do you even know that?" She asks incredulously, causing Mim to chuckle.

And just like that, their afternoon continued with idle chit chat and sisterly teasing.

It was after this 'Twins Day' though, that the 'other shoe dropped' for Mim. To be fair, it wasn't like she had been ignoring Jason, or avoiding his calls and texts. No, it was just that she didn't think he'd understand what she was going through so she didn't bother to explain it, in any detail, to him and didn't hang out with him as much anymore. She wasn't kidding when she told Liza that she thought he didn't really care. Which leads her to this point in time, where instead of helping to cook dinner, she was standing at her front entrance, looking at Jason.