After I Met You

2

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘

I WAS GRATEFUL that I had a meeting the following day after seeing Xavier again. I tend to act extremely irrational after something triggers me, and as soon as I enter into the downstairs section of the rec center, Beverly, my sponsor, immediately finds her way over to me.

"Oh, baby." She shakes her head and pushes her thick glasses up on her face. The smell of lavender immediately floods my nose when she hugs me close to her chest. It's comforting. "I'm glad you're here."

Beverly has been the one stable person in my life. I assume that's why she's my sponsor, but without her I wouldn't be here today. As soon as I saw Xavier again I called her once class ended and sobbed on the phone with her for over an hour. I used to have my emotions under control. I used to never cry. Before I broke him, I was cold as stone. Now I'm just a blubbering, emotional wreck.

I almost view Beverly as my grandmother. She just has such a loving instinct, and as soon as you're around her she just exhumes positivity. My goal is to be like her someday and do this for others like she's done for me. That's why I want to major in childhood education.

"Me too." I mutter into her floral blouse, pulling away slightly, so I can dab my eyes. Hugging her is like having homemade cookies and a glass of milk. "This week has been tough. I wanted to come here this morning before I have to go to class and see him again."

"Anymore nightmares?" She asks.

"Twice this week. Yesterday too after seeing him."

She shakes her head, pushing her short, grey hair behind her ear before she looks at something behind me. I turn around and see a newbie has entered into the room. We don't normally have a lot of newcomers here unless someone brings a guest along, but this guy is just standing there awkwardly with his hands in the pockets of his khaki shorts.

"Do you know him?" Beverly asks.

I shake my head and make my way over to him. He seems to be around my age, and since most of the members here are older, I figure I'm the best one to greet him. We may have something in common.

"Hi." I stick my hand out to him and send him a smile. "I'm Elena."

When he smiles back, his teeth perfectly white and aligned, I find myself blushing. I shouldn't, but I do. He's extremely attractive. Not in the muscular and toned guy kind of way, but in the geeky and cute kinds of ways. He's got brown hair that slightly swipes across his forehead and black glasses that a pair of hazel eyes look through.

"Logan." He shakes my hand, shifting awkwardly where he stands. "Logan James."

"Logan James." I repeat, laughing slightly. "Interesting name. I like it."

"Yeah, two first names. Love that for me, right?"

He's witty and funny.  I like that.

When he notices I'm not saying anything, he shakes his head and lets out a laugh. "Clearly I'm not the best at these social situations? It took a lot for me to even come here, honestly. This is the group for addicts, right? If not then clearly I'm just embarrassing myself further."

"You're in the right place." I assure him. "You can sit by me if you'd like."

He nods his head and follows me over to chairs formed in a giant circle. I know that coming here for the first time can be extremely intimidating. I remember the first time I convinced Xavier to come here. It didn't exactly go like I planned. He never ended up coming again.