Justification | Deetranada AU

scabrous

A Few Days Later

(Dee POV)

Dee sits back in the chair, chuckling as Dr. Cole stares in disbelief. 'Yeah, all that,' Dee adds, shaking her head. Dr. Cole mimics her movement, taking off her glasses. 'Well, I'm proud of you for walking away, attempting to stop things from escalating.'

Dee nods, 'Yup.' 'But I do have a question,' Dr. Cole begins. 'Why didn't you respond to the things he said about you? About Don, Myra, your time together?'

Dee purses her lips, attempting to find a simple way to say it before settling on the truth. 'He was right. I ain't tell anybody the sh--stuff goin' on with Myra. And I mean, I won't flirtin' with Don but we was close and I knew he ain't like it.'

'And your time together?' she questions. Dee sighs, shrugging. 'I mean, I never made him stay, he could've told me no and I would've been fine. That was both of us, we ain't wanna be apart when we ain't have to.'

Dr. Cole nods, scribbling her notes. 'I know he shouldn't've said it, like I ain't never did nothin' like what he did and he was tryna piss me off but...I don't know. I feel bad.'

She picks at the couch arm, forcing herself to admit a long-held feeling. 'I took his friends. He ain't really had nobody but Mani and his family and I know him, he probably pushed all them away and shit. Stuff.'

'That may be true but his lack of support doesn't make his actions acceptable,' Dr. Cole advises. 'Oh, I know,' Dee responds. 'But still, I know what it's like for everybody to turn on you for some shit. Shit's lonely. Sorry.'

'That's true,' Dr. Cole says. 'It's admirable that you still care about him. It may not feel that way, but it is nice to see that your feelings were genuine.' She shrugs, 'He was my life for the summer, I'd be stupid not to care.' 'If you feel that way, why did you argue with him?'

Dee sighs, chewing her lip. 'Cause...I don't know. Last time I saw him, I had this like, confidence that got me through it, you know. But this time, I ain't even know so like, I couldn't prepare. And I knew what he wanted to do and it just made me mad.'

'What did he want to do?'

'He wanted me to change how I was being, to go and be up under him, try and get him to talk to me, be all sad and s--stuff so I'd be with him. But I won't about to do that when I know it's just a game to him.'

Dr. Cole nods, disregarding her notepad for a moment. 'Diamond, tell me this. What do you think is going to happen in Little Rock?'

'We gon' have our show, we gon' do the lor pictures and we gon' come back home,' Dee says softly, avoiding eye contact. 'And what about in-between that? On the plane, at the hotel, before or after the show? Can you really say you'll be avoiding him, you won't interact with him?'

She looks down, slowly shaking her head no. 'And what about if he wants to talk, this time just you two? What do you think will happen?'

'I don't know,' she answers softly. 

'I'm extremely proud of you for taking this step, you know that I am. I want to be sure that when you step on that plane, you're prepared for anything that could happen, the best and the worst. Do you understand?'