Benielle: It's Complicated

Fourteen

Anne (Therapist): "Hi Danielle, nice to see you again, as always. This must be the infamous Ben."

Ben: "Guilty as charged." *he steps forward and shakes her hand then they all take a seat on separate couches *

Anne: "Let's just start right off by telling me what it was like to come here with Danielle."

Ben: "Oh, geez, well, I'm not going to lie, it was a little nerve wracking. Or maybe not so much nerve wracking, but intimidating."

Anne: "You felt intimidated coming here? Why is that?"

Ben: "Well, I feel like I'm a part of a lot of Danielle's problems." *he awkwardly chuckles*

Anne: "Alright so let me say a couple things here. First, don't feel like you are a cause of someone's problems. We are all interconnected in some way. Second, people come to therapy for many reasons, not just 'problems'. Taking care of the the stuff in your head is important. And third, just so it's clear, anything that's said in this session stays in this session. I take notes for my own purposes but never in any case do I share it with any of your friends, my friends, family, or employers. I hope we can have a successful honest session today."

Ben: "Okay. Got it. I'm still learning here."

Anne: "Of course. And that's alright. We're going to be talking about the big elephant in the room so I just want you to be comfortable."

Ben: "Your investment in these comfy couches have me as relaxed as I'll get, so that's much appreciated."

*Anne smiles and looks at Danielle*  Anne: "I see what you mean about the charm."

*Ben's face burns a little*  Ben: "Oh, you flatter me!"

Anne: "Okay, Mr. Talkative. Do you want to start off or should we start with Danielle?"

Ben: "I don't want to say anything wrong so ladies first, if that's okay with her."

Danielle: "Sure, that's fine. I just don't know where you want me to start from."

Anne: "Well we all know what happened, so we can skip those sensitive details. I just want to hear about what you guys are feeling post-experience."

Danielle: "That's probably easy. No doubt the biggest feeling I have over this whole situation is guilt."

Anne: "Guilt about what specifically?"

Danielle: "Kissing Ben. Asking him to kiss me. I'm married and I love Tim."

Anne: "So why do you think you asked him to do that then? Deep down, Danielle, is there or was there something there?"

Danielle: "Maybe curiosity, but that's about all. Ben and I are best friends and have been so for a long time. There's no more additional feelings coming from me towards him."

*Ben looks down*

Anne: "How about you, Ben? Any feelings? I encourage you two to be honest out loud to one another. Personally, I can read your body language like the back of my hand but that doesn't do any good for communicating feelings to one another."

*Ben shifts in his chair*  Ben: "There's no feelings. Just like Danielle said."

Anne: "...Okay. So if this kiss meant nothing to either of you and there's no underlying feelings, then why haven't you spoke about it together? Danielle, why haven't you told Tim?"

*Neither of them volunteer to answer but Anne waits*

*Danielle tears up*  Danielle: "I don't know what you want me to say, Anne."

Anne: "The truth. Just let out the truth. Why are you sitting here if you're going to keep bottling things up?"

Danielle: "Things in my life are already rocky. You know that. I'm just trying to not complicate things. Telling Tim, even though it meant nothing, is going to put a damper on my marriage, I know it. There's confliction. And I just..." *she stops talking and hangs her head, tears stream down*

*Ben gulps and wants to console her but is unsure of what to say*

*Anne takes a breath and talks in a softer tone*  Anne: "Okay Ben, how about we move onto you for a bit? Why don't you tell me a little bit more about your bachelor life?"