Off Record [Ereri/Riren] ✓

53 ⚕︎Inquisitive ✍︎

Off Record
Chapter 53
⚕︎Inquisitive ✍︎
Levi

in·quis·i·tive

/inˈkwizədiv/

adjective

curious or inquiring

I open my office door to see Lynne. I quirk an eyebrow, letting her in. "Is there a problem?" Shutting the door, I lock it so no one will disturb us.

"Yes, I..." Lynne trails off and plops down in a chair. "I don't want to be a bother but I had an incident last night and you're the only person who," she swallows. "Who knows. Who understands."

Sitting at my desk, I clasp my hands together. "Has Melanie not been trying to help? She studied psychology too and went to my college. She usually uses music, but she isn't clueless and understands the practice, if you ever need someone and I'm not around."

"I know but she," Lynne sighs aggressively. "So much of this stems from what happened to Ashley and guess who doesn't want to hear about her." Lynne taps her fist against the arm of the chair. "I don't want to burden her with something that'll just make her feel like shit."

"What makes you think it'll make her feel like shit?"

"She questioned me about the tattoo and told me herself that it upsets her. So if the tattoo makes her sad, I think hearing stories about how I lost one of the loves of my life will make her even more upset." Lynne flicks her wrist in a 'duh' gesture.

"Did she say that it upset her before or after you told her who Ashley was?"

"Before. But her response after was more of an acceptance of fact. I don't think it changed her feelings towards it whatsoever which is fine, I get it, but it makes things hard because Ashley played such a huge role in my life and I feel that now that's half of my life that I just can't talk about."

"Mel..." I grip my pen. "Mel is just... scared. I don't think she hates Ashley. I don't think she hates the thought of you being with someone else before her."

"What the fuck is she scared of? A dead girl?" Lynne's eyes harden. "We had a really good talk last night but somehow I still feel like I'm missing something. What do you know that I don't?"

"She's not afraid of Ashley. She's not Ashley and she'll never be Ashley. She's afraid of fucking up your relationship because she's already written you off as the one. I bet you she's trying to get over herself. She doesn't want you to erase Ashley. She's lost loved ones too, Lynne. She believes in remembrance," I defend Mel before stopping. "I'm sorry."

"I wish she would just hear me when I tell her how important she is to me." Lynne drops her chin onto her fist. "That's not even what I came in here to talk about."

"Lay it on me."

Lynne talks a deep breath. "We were out getting drinks and some guy..." She grips the chair. "He touched Mel inappropriately and I stayed in control and I didn't attack him and he left. I thought I'd finally gotten my shit under control. But when we left the store he attacked us and I beat him down and I couldn't stop. He reminded me of what that fucking pervert did to me, and to Ash, and to tons of other girls and I wanted to kill him. I'm lucky Melanie was there. She stopped me before it went too far."

"I'm surprised Melanie didn't attack him," I say, genuinely surprised, as I'm well are of the knife she packs. "I don't blame you for losing your cool in that situation and I doubt Melanie is scared of you because of it."

Lynne scoffs. "She said it was hot."

"Sounds like her." I click the pen twice. "Anything else?"