Close Behind || Aaron Minyard

21

With classes scheduled to start on August 24th, the time for the team to do their first of two mandatory visits with the team psych was upon them.

Naomi was a little miserable about the whole thing, especially when Neil and her had been separated into two separate groups. There was no way either of them were saying anything to the doctor outside of what could be found in their files but still, it made her nervous.

She was grouped with Andrew and Nicky, which had to be some diabolical plan from Coach to get his lines working together again. It was obvious for the last weeks or so that Naomi refused to pass to Nicky or receive anything he played for her, she didn't help him when put on his side.

It wasn't her problem, it wasn't anyone else business. By the time games came around Naomi would either not be put on the court with him or she'd suck it up and play normally for the sake of the rest of the time, but no, Coach had to stick his nose in their business.

"This has to be above his fucking pay grade." Naomi scowls over at Nicky, he's walking a few steps away from them. She'd found herself gravitating to Andrew.

Andrew laughs at her and makes a face but Naomi mostly ignores that part. "Coach likes to pretend everything is but he's a little helicopter parent. He's almost like Bee, buzz buzz."

"Shut your drugged ass up," Naomi mutters at him with little heat. He keeps on laughing, but who cares. Not Naomi. "Let's just get this over with."

It takes longer than should have because Andrew used it like a normal session instead of the cut down time they were allowed.

Which left Naomi in the waiting room sitting across from Nicky and staring at him with an unwavering glare for nearly an entire hour before Andrew wandered out.

She stood up quickly, before Nicky could even try it, and walked to the entrance of the hallway to find an older woman smiling at her. Naomi did her best not to grimace at the lady. "Naomi, right?"

They walked down the hallway in silence because of Naomi's personal vow to not say a word to the shrink if she could avoid it. They turned into one door and Dobson walked over to the corner desk.

The walls were spotless. She had shelves with figures, glass animals by the looks of things, that were lined up too perfectly to be sane.

"Obsessive-compulsive," Naomi mutters uncontrollable.

"That's me," Dobson says with a smile. "My names Betsy Dobson, call me anything you like. Would you prefer Naomi or Ms. Josten?"

She looks at Dobson for a while before just walking to sit down on one of the chairs in silence. It doesn't answer the question at all but it's an answer in its own right.

"This isn't a formal session," Dobson says undeterred by her silence. She walks away from where she'd been messing with cups and sits at her desk, opening a notebook. "I won't be analyzing you or providing feedback; if you don't want me to. Don't stress much. Have you seen a counselor before?"

Naomi says nothing, just stares at her. Her eyes drag across the frames of Dobson's glasses for a long silence.

"Would you like to tell me about yourself?"

Silence.

"That's perfectly fine," Dobson says, her smile is firmly in place and it's starting to annoy Naomi. "We could talk about your brother, or Exy."

Naomi squints at her a little and leans back in her chair.

"Plenty of people prefer not to talk to someone at all, We could sit in total silence if you'd like that." Dobson suggests, she doesn't expect even a nod from Naomi but seems to get her answer anyway. "You can use next semesters session to do work or read, if you'd like. Or we can talk, if you change your mind."