Follow Me Back (complete first draft of the published book)

Chapter 22: Deflecting

Chapter 22: Deflecting

December 3, 2013

"OK Tessa. Last week you said you might accompany your mother on a brief outing to do some Christmas shopping. How did that go?"

Tessa sat cross-legged on her bed and idly traced the pattern on her bedspread with her thumb. "Yeah," she muttered in a flat voice. "I decided to shop online instead."

"I see."

"Free shipping. Free returns. Can't beat it."

"Tessa, I'm sensing some deflection. Do you think that might be the case?"

"Deflection?" Tessa glanced up briefly to meet her therapist's eyes before returning her attention to the bedspread. "Is that like projection?" Her lips quirked upward into a grin in spite of herself, and she couldn't quite suppress a chuckle as she continued. "I totally called out Taylor last night about projecting. He does it constantly! You should hear what he said about Eric. It was so classic."

Dr. Regan didn't return her client's smile as she listened from across the room. "No, Tessa," she said. "Deflection means changing the subject to avoid a topic that makes you uncomfortable."

"Oh."

"Tell me about what happened with the shopping trip."

Tessa shrugged, her smile fading. "I didn't feel like it."

"I see. Can you tell me more about that?"

"Whatever. It's not like I even like Christmas shopping. Especially not with her." Tessa wrapped her arms around herself. "That was always lame, even before all this."

Dr. Regan jotted down a note on her pad before she spoke again. "By 'her' you mean-"

"My mom," Tessa interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, if you really want me to leave the house, you should make it with anyone other than her."

"Why do you say that?"

Tessa paused. She returned her eyes to the bedspread and began tracing the pattern again before she finally replied. "I don't know. Maybe because she's a bitch?"

"Keep going, Tessa. In what way is your mother a bitch?"

"Wow." Tessa glanced up in surprise. "Are you allowed to say curse words?"

Dr. Regan merely raised her eyebrows in response.

"Right," Tessa said after a moment. "Got it. I'm deflecting."

"Good, Tessa."

"Let's see," Tessa continued with a sigh. "Why is my mother a bitch? Because she doesn't like having me here, and she goes out of her way to make that abundantly clear."

"Can you give me some examples?"

"Just stuff she says to me. She blames me for the whole Scott thing, even though she's seen him out with that other girl. Somehow it's my fault that he cheated on me. And I'm pretty sure she thinks I dropped out of college out of sheer laziness. She's always telling me about my friends from high school and how amazing they're doing at college."

"I see. And have you tried talking to her about your feelings?"

"About Scott? Or why I left school?"

"Would you consider talking to her about either of those things?"

Tessa shook her head. "She's not exactly the greatest listener."

"Does she know the fullstory for why you dropped out of college?"

"No." Tessa shook her head again, more forcefully this time. "I could never talk to her about that. She's basically the last person on Earth I would ever tell."