A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈-𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙴

✞ J U L I A N W E S T B R O O K ✞

"In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."

Julian opens his eyes and ignores the time displayed on his phone. He knows he's late, and praying would make him even more late, but he doesn't care; he refuses to go into Nyomi's therapy session without praying to God, asking Him for understanding, strength, and guidance. The interaction can go right or left or everywhere in between.

He leaves his car, verses of encouragement bouncing around in his mind, and he enters the building. Julian fills the empty waiting room and after a moment, an older lady comes from the back.

She smiles, her cheeks tinted with red. "Are you Julian? Nyomi's brother?"

"Yes ma'am," he responds kindly, despite his not wanting to be there. The only reason he is, however, is because God guided him to the therapy session after he spent a couple days praying on the situation.

She cheerfully clasps her hands together. "Oh, good, you're here. I'm Carol, we talked over the phone the other day." Julian nods, remembering her cheerful voice. "Nyomi is in the back, let's go meet her."

Julian follows Carol through the halls. "I apologize for being late," he tells her.

"That's no problem at all, we only lost ten minutes. And honestly, it all worked out; Nyomi and I were just discussing what we wanted to get out of this session."

They go into a room and Nyomi is sitting on a couch. "Did you take a wrong turn? This place is only ten minutes from your apartment," she asks Julian as he finds a seat beside her.

"I wasn't at my apartment," Julian says and he ignores the facial expression his sister gives him. He was previously with Celai, but he didn't think that was any of her business, so he left that part out.

Carol sits down across from the siblings at her desk.  "Okay! I'm so excited. I've only been Nyomi's therapist for a month now, but after she told me what you two endured throughout your childhood, I went to God about it and, boy, did He have a lot to tell me! I'm bending the rules a bit with Nyomi, I'm not really supposed to be bringing people into our sessions, but God told me to and Nyomi agreed. Julian, are you Christian as well? I don't want to make you uncomfortable with my Jesus talk."

"I absolutely love the Lord," Julian professes easily.

Carol smiles wide. "Good, good. Let's not waste any more time. So, Julian, what makes you so special in Nyomi's progress is when I brought up the idea to bring in someone, I wanted her husband to join us, but Nyomi thought you'd be a better fit." She crosses her legs and leans on her knee. "And I'm just so curious to know why she chose you over her husband. So first thing's first, how is your relationship with Nyomi?"

He clears his throat as Nyomi turns her head towards him. "It's good... a little rocky at the moment, but I see her as one of my best friends and she knows that."

Carol looks at her notes. "Rocky relationship, why? Is this where his girlfriend comes into play?" she asks Nyomi.

Julian looks at Nyomi, who turns away from him, probably in embarrassment. Neither say anything.

"Okay, let's backtrack a bit then," Carol suggests. "Julian, tell me why you think you're here instead of Treyvon."

He shrugs. "Because we grew up in the same household," he assumes. His tone is inflamed with unconcern.