CHERRY FLAVOURED || Original

TWO

"Sit," Prentiss said from her desk, motioning for you to sit down.

You slowly walked up to the chair, hesitant to listen to what she had to say. You pushed the fear aside and pulled out the chair in front of her, cautiously sitting down. You wined your fingers together, placing them between your thighs.

You were nervous albeit having these meetings with Emily every week. Ever since she found out about your parents getting into a car crash, she invited you into her office to speak to you about how your brain turned to shit. She even invited you to hang out at her house, but you turned down her offer. You weren't that desperate for help.

"How are you?" She leaned forward in her chair, resting her forearms on the table.

"I'm good."

Her eyebrows snapped together, her face turning down into a frown at the two words. She didn't believe you, and neither did you believe in yourself.

She shook her head doubtfully, her eyes staring into yours. "You've been more preserved lately. You haven't participated in any of our conversations, you haven't joined in on any of our celebratory outings, and you've missed every girl night since last month. You aren't okay."

Your eyes were now downcast, looking down at your shaking leg and your cut up cuticles from the amount of times you picked at them.

You knew that continuously lying to yourself about being okay would someday work, so you tried it out. Everyday, you replaced your true emotions with false ones, especially when someone asked you if you were alright. There was no, "Actually, I feel like shit," it was, "I'm fine, don't worry," whilst your drained face provided a different picture.

"Is it because if Spencer?"

Your eyebrows snapped together, feeling offended by the assumption she made. Reid was an asshole and he surely messed with your emotions one too many times, but he was not the cause of your drop in self-esteem and everything fucked. A man would never be the reason for such a thing.

You would have told her that he was not the issue... But speaking about the true reason seemed like a terrible choice. Prentiss was your friend, a really close one at that, but she was also your boss. Telling your boss why your heart ached and your eyes teared every day was like calling to get fired.

"I don't know Prentiss. I keep my mouth shut at work because Spencer always has some stupid remark, but he's not the reason I'm so messed up in the head."

"You're not messed up in the head Y/N," she emphasized in a nurturing tone. "Your parents are in the hospital. Your dad's in a coma and your mom is suffering from memory loss, it's normal for you to feel this way."

You could have burned a hole through your chair by how hard you were digging your backside into the cushion. You were incredibly over the conversation and you'd barely uttered a sentence. Prentiss basically screamed out everything's wrong with you within a minute.

A knock snapped you back into the conversation at hand before you had a chance to think too deeply. You turned around to see Reid in the doorway, pivoting on his heels as he stared profusely at the both of you.

You wiped away the tear that threatened to fall down your cheek. You stood up, sending Emily a soft smile before exiting the room. You heard slight clacking behind you—footsteps. Someone was following you.

You swiftly turned around, facing Spencer. He almost had a look of sincerity spread across his face, one you believed was put on due to what he overheard. Instead of weakening you, you almost smiled.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want?"

"Yes. What the hell do you want? You're following me, you must want something," you retaliated, your hands crossing over one another on your chest.