The Appointment

Chapter Two

(Abigail's POV)

Wow I cannot believe that this is actually my office, the room is huge! With this much space I could have loads of clients in at once, but of course I wouldn't do that because that would defeat the object of confidentiality I suppose. Ugh my mind won't stop going off on tangents, I'm going to need to keep myself composed if I'm going to make this work. I pulled up the blinds revealing a stunning view which hands down beats the usual cloudy skies of England as I looked out to see not a cloud in the sky, beautiful sunshine and even the Sydney Opera house. I could not have asked for a better placement. Looking around, the room itself looked amazing. The decorators had not long finished and they listened to everything I asked for and literally included every detail from my fluffy rug under my desk to the union jack coasters next to the coffee machine. Most importantly they waited until I arrived so I could hang up my master's degree on the wall with some room next to it for my doctorate degree which I'm working on. It is exactly how I wanted it. I can't believe I actually moved from England to Australia, it is just so irrational for me. I've truly threw myself out of my comfort zone by like 10,571 miles so I guess you could say I'm a pretty bad ass adventurer because booking a plane ticket is so audacious (not really). But luckily for me, my best friend Tanya is here with me so I've kind of got some of home with me.

Regardless to where I am though, I'm still nervous as hell about today, it's all so real now it's not just me sat at Uni anymore. A real person is going to walk in asking for my help. Feeling my nerves grow I began to panic and straighten out my top and skirt for what was probably the 100th time. To calm down my mind I sat down and opened up my appointment book to see all the clients of the day (still can't believe who my first client is) and it all of a sudden felt real. This is it, my first day. As usual my mind raced off onto another tangent. I couldn't help but think about how Tanya is going to just freak out when I tell her that Michael Clifford is my first client, her reaction will just be priceless. Tanya and I met in high school both as awkward shy girls who clearly did not want to talk to people. So naturally, our mutual laziness brought us together as we had to pair up for a lesson. I actually didn't know anyone at all so I turned to face her next to me and literally said 'shall we?' because younger me had such a way with words. We have been friends ever since. And people say being lazy gets you nowhere but look where we are, Sydney of all places 11 years later.

Making a U-turn off of memory lane and back into the present I started the final preparations because I had 5 minutes before Michael was arriving. I made sure everything was ready in my office for 2 o'clock from the pillows on the sofa to placing the picture of mine and Tanya's first day here in Australia, when there came a knock on the door. 

"Come in!" I called as I sat down behind my desk. The door crept open and my receptionist popped her head around the door and greeted me with a big smile (she could probably see I was nervous). In the bubbliest voice I've heard she said "your first appointment is here, shall I send him in?"

"Oh, that would be great thank you" I said with a smile and in the most professional voice I could muster. She gave me a reassuring nod before she closed the door behind her.

The Appointment

I remained sat at my desk hoping he would just walk in and sit down then I could walk over to greet him and recite the usual intro every counsellor would. However this didn't begin as I had rehearsed as instead of walking in, I heard a fait knock on the door along with some awkward shuffling. Straightening my clothes for the 101st time I made my way to the door and opened it up to a very uncomfortable Michael Clifford. I noticed he looked like he didn't really want to be here so I scrapped my original speech which probably sounded very clinical and formal and opted for a friendly approach. This wouldn't be good for either of us if it was awkward from day one.