Sweetheart

71

A/N: Hello! 😇 I'm fresh outta the ICU and ready to write my lil stories again ✌️

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Kelia was sitting in her study going over session notes when she caught sight of a pop of brown hair peeking in the door.

"Aina, what are you doing?"

"Are you busy?"

Kelia looked at her piles of notes and back to her daughter with a 'really?' look. Aina smiled sheepishly and apologized before slowly retreating back into the living room. Kelia called her daughter back in and crossed her arms.

"What's bothering you?"

"What? Nothing's bothering me at all. Why would you ask?"

That earned her another blank look, and Kelia put down her notes and closed her laptop, turning her full attention to the girl that was nervously shifting on her feet.

"Aina," she pressed, "spit it out."

"I just...I mean, well I--"

"Is this a school thing, friend thing, or Natsu thing?"

"Um, Natsu."

Her mom leaned back in her chair and waved Aina to come in further. Aina's face lit up and she hopped closer to her mom.

"Momma, can you rub my back?"

"Aina, is everything okay? Did he do something to upset you?"

"No, why?"

"Because you haven't called me that since your father died. And you would only say it when you were upset. You also get clingy."

"I'm just confused."

Kelia waved her over and Aina sat on her mother's lap. She rubbed her daughter's back like she did years ago for comfort and pressed her daughter to elaborate.

"How do you know when you're ready for something?"

"When you know, you know. What's this about?"

"It's just, I've never been with anyone other than Tyler and we...we never--"

Kelia stopped rubbing her back and tilted her head to make eye contact with her.

"Are you asking how you know if you're ready to have sex?"

Aina's whole body became overheated from embarrassment, but she made no move to deny it.

"And you're questioning why you never felt this way before even though you've dated?"

"I went out with Tyler for years, and I've only been with Natsu for months. Why did I never feel like this before?"

"Honey, with what Tyler put you through, I don't for a second question why you never did. That boy made you feel so unloved and worthless. Of course you wouldn't want to be intimate with him."

"So what do I do?"

"You do what you think is right. If you feel that you're ready and that you can be responsible then I'm not here to stop you."

"Really? You're not gonna freak out?"

"Aina, I'm a therapist. Adolescent sexual curiosity is far from abnormal. Besides, I know how you teenagers and your rebellious natures work. As soon as I say you can't, you'd want to do it more."

"How do I...go about it?"

"Like telling him?"

Aina nodded.

"Have the discussion with him and lay down any ground rules before you even do anything. Make sure you communicate with each other. For more specific questions, I would recommend either online articles that I can link you to or consulting peers."