Borrowed Time

Chapter 137

Therapists offices were always a little bit too cold for Juliette's liking in the winter, and too humid in the summer... They were also too dry in the fall and a little too warm in the spring... In short, she had never once felt fully comfortable in one and that was part of the problem with therapy. She highly supported it, she was glad that she was a part of it once again... But she would also love it a lot more if they could figure out how to make the climate about twenty times less hellish... She was pretty sure that she would feel more inclined to share if that was the case.

That was something they wanted from her a lot... They wanted her to share, to talk about her feelings, her thoughts, her life... God, sometimes it felt like they wanted her to share so often that she was going to have to start making stuff up, but she wasn't sure exactly how that would even work... Her life already sounded insane, she was pretty sure that going any further down a path towards fiction would result in them just assuming that everything was a lie.

"Juliette Smith?" She lifted her head, looking away from the outdated waiting room magazine and into the eyes of her therapist - an older woman in her mid-fifties with gray streaked black hair pulled back in a low ponytail... Dr. Sommers... Well, Elena, that was what she'd told Juliette to call her anyways.

She stood up and cleared her throat, smiling tightly as she followed her down the hall towards her office... Honestly, when she'd started coming to her Juliette's first thought had been that she was really hot... She had a sarcastic sort of energy and she smelt warm, like vanilla and cinnamon and she always wore a pantsuit and rings... Plus older women were frustratingly hot sometimes, it was something that Juliette had repressed hard for many years, but there was no denying it now.

Dr. Sommers was fucking hot.

Elena sat down on her chair and gestured towards the soft seat across from her, putting her reading glasses on as she pulled out her notepad, looking down her nose at Juliette, a look on her face that Juliette was pretty sure was soft, but she wasn't certain.

"So... How have you been?" She asked, and Juliette paused, furrowing her brows... How was she supposed to respond to that? What was she supposed to say?

Oh, it's been a crazy two weeks, my partner got pistol whipped, my best friend's transphobic birth dad came back, my partner got their nose broken... Was that everything? That really felt like everything, didn't it?

"Uh..." She wasn't sure exactly how to say that and not make it sound fucking crazy, so she settled on something a lot more believable as she plastered a wide smile on her face and nodded. "I... You know? It's been good." She said, but she knew that her voice wasn't nearly convincing enough as she watched Elena push her glasses up on top of her head as she leaned forward, giving her a serious look.

"Juliette." She sounded stern, it made Juliette jump... That'd be hot if I wasn't fucking terrified of you because you're trying to get into my head. She lived there all the time and she wasn't impressed, she doubted that it needed another permanent resident... Even a semi-permanent resident would be way too much.

"Yes ma'am?" She asked, trying to sound as much like a respectful, non traumatized church girl as she possibly could, but Elena didn't buy it for a second. She arched her eyebrow as she leaned forward, frowning slightly as she shook her head.

C'mon... Help me out here, pretend like you believe me, it'll be fun.

"Not once in your two months of attending therapy here have you ever just had a good week." That's a really fucking good point, now shut the fuck up and never speak to me ever again, you little bastard. "What's been going on?" She said, and Juliette swallowed heavily and cleared her throat.