I wrung my hands together as I came into the building. I had been here a hundred times before but I was always just as nervous. I walked to the doors that held my therapy group behind them, it was specific for sad teens like me, I had never talked in one of these but each week my mom forced me to come here. Some weeks I wouldn't come and I would just drive around for an hour before coming home but some weeks I came just to make my mom happy, I've disappointed her enough already. She didn't like to talk about what happened so she just pretended that everything was okay but I think that just made it worse for her.
I was early for the session and everyone was standing around the table that held drinks and snacks, I took my seat just wanting this to be over as quickly as possible. When Dr. Chase walked into the room everyone else took their seats. It was a pretty small group and empty chairs littered the circle. The door squeaked open right as Dr. Chase was about to talk and everyone looked towards the door. I didn't bother looking up and kept my eyes in my lap.
The seat next to creaked as the late boy took a seat, I could feel his eyes roaming around the circle before landing on me, I slouched down further into my seat trying to hide as much of my face as possible in my hood. Dr. Chase started talking and we went around the circle like always, telling everyone how you're feeling, what you were here for, and your name and age. No one ever seem interested in this, even Dr. Chase would sometimes zone out. When it got to the kid on my left he stood up like everyone else and started to speak, I looked at him for the first time and the breath in my throat hitched.
"I'm Josh, I am 18 years old. And I'm feeling just peachy" The sarcasm dripped from his voice and I tried not to laugh as Dr. Chase just sighed. Everyone turned and looked at me wondering if this would be the week I would talk but I continued in silence.
"Tyler, if you don't try you might never get better and that's why we are all here. To get better" His regular lecture was as boring as any other and I didn't bother to look up at him. He sighed again and moved onto the next person. The first few weeks of therapy people found my silent protest funny but now they just viewed it as plain annoying but I didn't really care. I wasn't going to share anything with these strangers who didn't give a shit about me. Dr. Chase would talk to me away from the group, pretending like he understood why I wouldn't talk but he had no idea. It's not that I couldn't talk I just refused to waste my words.
Throughout the rest of the session I could feel someone's eyes on me and by the end I had had enough, I quickly brought my eyes up and connected them with Josh's, he didn't even flinch as he continued to stare at me. After moments of eye contact I finally broke it and looked back down at my hands, all the anger draining from me. As soon as Dr. Chase closed the session I was up and out. I walked the short distance to the nearest bus stop and sat on the bench. Since I skipped therapy last week she took away my car for therapy and for a few weeks she was making me take the bus so she knew I was going, I thought it was stupid but I didn't want to fight with her so I let it go. The familiar washed out pink hair sat next to me on the bench, once again I kept my eyes averted but that didn't seem to stop him.
"I'm Josh" He said putting his hand out, I thought I had made it clear that I didn't want to talk but he obviously didn't see that.
"I know" I grumbled out, still refusing to shake his hand. He awkwardly pulled his hand away and we sat in silence. After a few moments I peeked a look at Josh, his hair was a bit of a curly mess but it was cute. His eyes were shaped like small almonds but I could see his brown eyes that seemed spaced out.
"I'm Tyler" I said in a soft voice, trying to not sound as snarky. A smile grew on his lips and I felt him look back over at me before looking away.
"Nice to meet you Tyler"
