Anger Management

Hitting on You: Part Two

This chapter picks up immediately where the last one drops off. Warning: The f-bomb does get dropped in this chapter. Don't blame me; I can't control Happy when she gets angry.

**

The gym was silent for almost an hour before Happy decided to fill the silence. She and Toby were both sitting down while leaning against a wall. Once Happy was done crying she couldn't look him in the eye so she just sat down. Toby followed suit soon after.

She could still see her tear stains on his shirt. Her breathing had evened out but her eyes were still swollen and she'd bet her entire toolbox that they were still red.

She looked at him, really looked at him. His eyes were sad and distant; he was staring off into the distance, lost in his own thoughts. Happy could tell he was thinking about something that saddened him. She wondered what he was thinking about before chastising herself. She couldn't expect him to tell her about himself. She was the patient and even she hadn't opened up about her past.

"Do you think we should get back to boxing?" Happy asked tentatively. Toby shook his head.

"Tomorrow," he said. "For now, I want you to talk to me."

Happy swallowed hard. She wasn't ready to talk. She knew that, she thought he did too. The whole point of their sessions was that Happy would talk to him when she was ready. She wasn't, not yet.

She shook her head once then looked Toby in the eye. "I can't," she whispered.

"Happy, you're never going to get over your anger if you bottle everything up. Keeping everything inside of you is like adding fuel to the fire. It's unhealthy, and you know that. Talk." Toby's gaze hadn't wavered once while he was talking.

"No," Happy said. "You don't understand. I can't."

Toby laughed bitterly. "That's not acceptable, Happy. You have to talk to me." He reached out to touch her arm, and once he did, she exploded.

Toby had never seen Happy look so angry. She jumped up and whirled around to face Toby, who had stood up too. His eyes were wide but his jaw was set; he wasn't backing down. She pushed at his chest once, and when he didn't even budge, she pushed him again.

Realising that shoving him wasn't helping anything, Happy decided to employ a tactic that was sure to work; her fists. She raised one and quickly moved to punch his nose.

Right before her fist made contact, Toby gripped her wrist. He looked her in the eye and raised his eyebrows. "Happy," he said slowly, "calm down."

Her breathing was irregular now, she was getting ready to fight him. She wanted to fight him. She had so much frustration and anger bottled up inside of her that she had been looking for a fight.

She tore her wrist out of his grip and shoved him harder than she had before. He stumbled backwards and stayed there. "Happy, you need to stop! You need to calm down before you hurt yourself!" Toby shouted.

Happy positively shook with rage. "Shut up!" She screamed.

"Why are you getting so worked up? Is this because of what happened to you when you were younger? Because, really, that was a long time ago. I'm sure, whatever it was, you had time to work through it and I'm here now to help you do that."

Happy stopped shaking enough to reply. "You don't know anything."

"No," Toby said, "I don't. But I do know that, whatever it was, it's enough to get you this worked up. What was it? Abusive parents? No. But something to do with your parents, right?"

Happy thought she would explode if he didn't stop talking. She knew she had to calm down but Toby only aggravated her more.

"Shut the fuck up! Just shut up, shut up, shut up," Happy screamed. "Stop trying to psycho - analyse me when you have your own problems!"

Toby looked confused. "What problems?"

"I know about your gambling problem! I saw the documents on your desk. The loans from the bank? You have cards and poker chips laying around your office. I made the connection." By this point Happy's voice had fallen to a whisper. "I'm right though, aren't I? You're a gambler and you became a psychologist because you thought you could help people like you, damaged people."

Throughout Happy's accusation, Toby had been staring at the ground. His shoulders were slumped and he was shuffling his feet. He was ashamed. After a minute of terse silence he looked up at a calm but still shaking Happy.

"Come here," he said and enveloped her in his arms until she stopped shaking. Once she was completely calm she took a small step back and looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said those things."

Toby nodded. "I'm sorry too. I know I should let you tell me what's weighing you down in your own time but I just don't know how to help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. And I want to help you." Toby shrugged. "You just need to let me,"

"I'm getting there, Doc. Just give me some more time."

"Alright," Toby said. "Next week we'll go boxing again. After that, we're going to sit down in my office and you're going to tell me something about your past. I don't care what it is, just give me something to work with. Okay?"

Happy nodded. "Okay," she said. "Doc, do you mind if I go home now? I think I need some rest after my. . . tantrum." Her cheeks coloured.

Toby chuckled lightly and smiled. "Sure. Next week, though, I want to see you here. We actually need to get some boxing done; it really does help."

Happy laughed and started walking away. Just as she was about to turn the corner and walk into the changing rooms, she looked back to see a smiling Toby watching her retreating figure. She was absolutely sure this wasn't how normal therapy sessions were supposed to go but she couldn't bring herself to care.