A New Form of Therapy

A Peaceful Night With Something Serious

"I need to answer that," I say, trying to pull away from Justin. I laugh as he groans. "It will be just a minute. It's work."

"Fine," Justin says dramatically.

"I'll be right back."

I grab my phone out of my purse and head to the back room. I trust Justin to not follow and listen. Knowing him, he's trying to watch the next episode of Beauty and the Beast without me. It's quickly become our thing when he hangs out at the apartment.

"This is Lindsey Booth," I say, turning my voice professional in an instant.

"Hey, Linds, it's Scarlet." My ears tune to her voice. She sounds worried or upset about something. Immediately, my therapist side kicks in.

"What's going on?" I ask. I pace back and forth in the room, waiting for her response. "Scarlet?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just going through something right now and I don't know how I should deal with it. I got into this situation... at work. It started out pretty innocent and I thought it was a good and easy thing to do, but I'm starting to regret it but the... producer... isn't letting me out of it."

If there's one thing I've learned in the last couple years, it's to tell when someone isn't being one hundred percent honest with me. I can tell that Scarlet is changing some of the details. I'm not sure why she would do that, but I decide to play along.

"What kind of situation are you talking about?" I ask, needing more details so that I can help her advice that will actually work for her.

"I was given this opportunity to make some money and I thought what was the harm in it? I also needed the money. At first, it was easy but now I'm not so sure. The... things this person is asking me. It seems like they have more of an agenda than they let on."

"Is this something you need to take to the police, Scarlet? What you're describing sounds dangerous." I am worried for her. It sounds like someone is forcing her to do something she isn't comfortable with.

"No, no," Scarlet says. "It isn't anything dangerous, I promise. It's just... I'm feeling a little trapped. Like I don't want to do this anymore but the person keeps saying just a little longer or just a couple more questions and then I'll be done. It just doesn't seem worth the money anymore, but I don't know how to tell them I'm done."

"What have you told them?" I ask. I head back out of the room and toward the living room. I motion for Justin to stay quiet and pause the show. He does and I sit back down beside him and he wraps his arm around my shoulders. Justin won't be able to gather any information on Scarlet so long as I don't say her name.

"They just ask me questions and I tell them the truth... for the most part. She said she could help me out with my acting career and getting my name out there. She also promised to pay me depending on the amount of details I could give to the questions. They were generic questions at first, but then they started becoming more personal and a little intrusive and I don't feel comfortable answering them. I just need some advice on how to give a firm no."

"Can we meet in person?" I ask. "I want to talk to you face-to-face about this."

"Um, yeah, I guess." Scarlet sounds even more nervous now. "I can meet tomorrow or Thursday."

"Let's do tomorrow. I don't want to put this off any longer than we need to. We'll get this figured out. I'll see you then."

"Okay, thank you."

I hang up the phone and just look at it. Sometimes my job gets very serious and I get worried about my clients. It sounds like Scarlet was tricked into some sort of 'anonymous source' type gig from a magazine writer or something. I have learned how some of the magazine reporters work. They offer people even semi-close to the stars a sum of money to get information out of them about movies they're starring in, gossip about their personal lives, and so on.

"You okay?" Justin asks, looking at me with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just something someone is going through. It seemed pretty serious so I wanted to talk to them in person. Probably just some sleaze bag trying to make a buck and get some gossip."

"I know that feeling," Justin says. "It happened with my friends back home. They didn't take the money or give any information, but they were approached by a lot of people pretending to just ask casual questions. If it helps, you can tell the person that I've been through it before."

"Oh yeah," I say sarcastically. "Let me just tell the person that's being contacted by a magazine reporter that Justin Bieber himself said that he understands. That wouldn't be enticing information they could sell for a lot of money. Justin goes to therapy would be the next big headline."

"Right," Justin says. "Scratch that idea, then. I'm sure you'll know exactly what to tell the person tomorrow. You always do."

"Thank you," I say with a smile. "I hope I can help them get out of this though."

"Want to watch some more of the show to get your mind off of it?" Justin suggests.

I smile and reach across Justin's lap for the remote. "Can you make some popcorn too?" 

"Sure," he says with a smile. "One or two bags?"

I look up at Justin with a smile. "Just one this time."

I watch as Justin walks away, around the couch and to the kitchen. I hit the play button, immediately hearing Justin complain that I wasn't waiting for him. I laugh and yell back that he should hurry up if he didn't want to miss anything good.

It isn't much longer before the popcorn is gone and neither of us are paying attention to the show anymore.

**What?! Another update? And some Justin/Lindsey moments mixed with some dramaaaa! Let me know what you think!!**