Miss Ortega: Winter Semester (F/F, College AU, 18+)

CHAPTER 4: Couple's Therapy

i am SO SORRY you guys!!!! life threw me a huge fucking curveball that i've been dealing with but things are starting to settle down now

i'm gonna try and get another chapter or two out over the weekend to make up for it, ily xx <33

also this isn't proofread cause i'm in a rush so sry if it's absolute shit :)))

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"So... you two are ending things?" Dr. Bailey asks with a neutral expression, her brows knit slightly in a gesture of her attentiveness.

Y/n sighs, rubbing her eyes as she tried to rid of the headache that's been tormenting her for the past week, "No, I... well... I don't know. We're... in purgatory."

It's an honest answer, one that best described their status right now. Her and Jenna haven't spoken since New Year's night, both of them needing time and space to figure things out, and while Y/n knows that they aren't finished at this point in time, she wasn't too confident that they would be moving forward together. Jenna's attitude toward the whole situation had given Y/n's hopeful heart a brutal beating, causing the whole week to be spent questioning everything - herself, her feelings, Jenna, Jenna's feelings. Purgatory.

"And you're saying she seemed to lean toward breaking up?" Dr. Bailey questions, pulling Y/n from her ever-spiraling thoughts.

"I- ugh. Maybe? That's how I felt, at least. She was just being so... pessimistic." Y/n mutters with a small frown, feeling the heaviness settle on her chest. With the space to clear her head and dwell over their conversation, Y/n could admit that she was maybe a bit too trusting in believing that things would work out for them, but the fact that Jenna was so adamant on believing that all they were destined for was struggle and pain had really thrown her off. She just couldn't get past how grim her perception was, and how much it hurt to hear that Jenna didn't seem to hold much faith in them.

"Was she really being pessimistic, or do you think it's possible you were perceiving it that way through your own emotion?" Dr. Bailey asks neutrally, causing Y/n's brows to furrow as she considered the question, tilting her head quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, was she telling you things like, 'This will never work', or, 'I can't do this with you'?" Dr. Bailey asks calmly as Y/n ponders, wracking her brain as she recalled the conversation. She sighs, her shoulders slumping a bit.

"Well... no. Not in those exact words. She was just... she was emphasizing the negative stuff more than anything, and it was really disheartening." Y/n murmurs in response, the disappointment evident in her tone. Dr. Bailey nods with a hum, her fingers to her chin, mulling over Y/n's words before sighing softly.

"Well... in my honest and professional opinion, I don't think she was being a pessimist. It sounds like she was being a realist, which is exactly what your unique situation calls for." Those words land on Y/n's ears in a humbling blow, her stomach twisting a bit as Dr. Bailey continued.

"Her exact words are what you need to take into consideration, not the clouded perception of what your anxiety thinks she meant. Her concerns are real, and they're valid, and they directly affect you, too. I think it's only fair that you take what she said to you at face value when she's being so vulnerable and transparent with you. Try not to make any assumptions, or else you'll make it harder for her to get through to you. And in turn, harder for you two to understand each other."

Y/n is stunned for a moment, taking every word into deep consideration as she felt the sobering epiphany wash over her. It was difficult to hear about her emotional shortcomings in relation to last week's conversation and how she's been perceiving things since, but Y/n appreciated how Dr. Bailey was being real with her instead of catering to her. She told Y/n was she needed to hear, and she was right... it wasn't fair to Jenna to be reading between lines that may or may not exist, jumping to conclusions just because the conversation didn't go exactly the way Y/n wanted it to. The realization was both painfully humbling and sullenly hopeful, a strange mix of emotion that somehow felt like a step in the right direction.