Surrender To Love

15. Finally

A day after June's appointment

On the phone with the doctor regarding June.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Torres. Is this Astrid Obi?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Hi, I wanted to talk about June and what I have come to conclude about her."

"Ok."

"During my examination, I handed June a book. When we looked through the pages together June didn't look up to see if I was just as engaged as she was. Most people including children would. June never made eye contact with me and tried to engage with me as little as possible. This would indicate that June lacks social skills."

"Oh."

"June lacked instructions while playing and seemed to not respond to my loud noises and touching. When I would do something that interests her she would copy me. As well as her speech. Her understanding is the average 5 year olds and her speech is slightly delayed. I have come to the conclusion that June does have autism. This may be hard to hear but I will be able to help you the best that I can."

"How come I never noticed?"

"Most girls with autism can hide it very well. They're able to copy others and mimic what they do. It's not your fault and you did well coming to us. If you ever have questions feel free to email me."

"Just, I'm confused, June doesn't seem- like you know all those other kids with autism. Like the ones at her school for example."

"Autism is known as a spectrum disorder because there are many types and different people experience different symptoms. Every kid with autism is different."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, I would recommend understanding autism and your daughter. I want you to take a look at our therapists. We have a quite few of them that work with children with disabilities."

"Thank you so much, I'll make sure to do those things."

"Of course, and again if you have any questions don't be afraid to send me a message or even come in to see me."

"Thank you and have a good rest of your day. Bye."

---

Me and Dylan are studying together despite having different college courses and going to different schools; we decided it would be nice to study together. So here we are. Dylan quizzes me on my upcoming Literature exam and I quiz her on biostatistics. Let's just say she passed with flying colors.

Dylan is extremely smart, she says she had all A's growing up. She had applied to Harvard and got in but she wanted to stay close to her siblings so she declined the acceptance. It broke her but she did it for them. She says she doesn't regret it, especially after meeting me, but I think before she did.

"Correct again," I say as I playfully roll my eyes. Dylan notices this and smirks.

"Jealous?" She says and I laugh, but to be honest, I am.

"No."

"Alright your turn," I was going over definitions and phrases but of course, I got them wrong. "Come on baby you got this."

My cheeks turn red from the encouragement. She knows what she is doing with that shit. Why does she do it? And why do I enjoy it?

"Come one more and we'll do something else," she read the next flash card and I got it right. We put our stuff away and headed to the bedroom for cuddles. My room is extra cold due to the June sun, so we cuddle close. Holding each other under the blankets, I lay my head on her chest listening to her relaxed heartbeat. "You're so beautiful."