comfort {complete}

41

Melissa and I are staring each other down, lips pursed and legs crossed. Her yellow legal pad is resting on her lap, the tip of her pen poised over it.

"So, Stephanie, how are you?" she asks carefully, picking lint off her skirt and flicking it to the floor. "Your mother tells me you've made some friends?"

"Lois and Noah," I say, biting my lip so I won't smile. "Yeah."

"She says you've been going out with them a lot. Where do you go?"

"Um," I say, "well, last week, we went to the lake, but sometimes we just—you know; drive."

"You just drive?"

"Sometimes."

"Why?"

"It's soothing. And I like them a lot, and I enjoy being around them without other people around to ruin it."

"Do they know about what happened to you?"

"Uh, Lois does, but not Noah," I reply, glancing at the clock. Fifteen minutes left.

"You should probably tell him."

"No."

"Stephanie, if you trust him— "

"I trust him, I just don't think it's important," I dismiss, not tearing my gaze from the clock.

"Stephanie, you were raped— "

"Really?"

"Don't be difficult," she says, sighing. "Just please tell him. It will make your friendship much easier."

I don't reply, focusing on her leather sandals instead of her imploring expression. When the session ends, I hurry out of the room to meet my mother in the lobby. We walk silently to the car, her eyes bright and happy—she had her date tonight—mine dark, even darker than usual.

"You okay?" she says.

"Yes," I say.

a/n: so.