"Can you keep a secret . . ."

~ IKO

New Hope, Pennsylvania

6 January 2011 (Saturday)

9:52 am

"He burped in my face," Jade sighs, shaking her head in disappointment before continuing, "We're on our first date, and he burps right in my face."

Nikki laughs, saying, "That's not nearly as bad as what Jason did on our first date."

Annabel giggles, already knowing the story of what happened on her first date with her current fiancé.

"As soon as we walked into the restaurant, he farted, like, unbelievably loud, and then he said the weirdest thing ever," her eyes met Annabel's and they spoke the line together, "From now on, every time I fart, I'll think of you," they laughed as she continued, "I was like, really? Farts; that's what will make you think of me? Not lingerie; not porn, but farts?"

"And look at you now," Annabel offers, gesturing to Nikki's left hand, "You two are getting married in just four months."

Nikki laughs, shaking her head, "I know."

"I always thought that Annabel would be the first to get married," Selena said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Why's that?" Annabel asked, putting down her cup. She wasn't sure how to take that.

"You just have that mentality." Selena explained, shrugging her shoulders and looking away.

"What?"

Jade cut in, "We always thought that you and Kevin were going to get married."

Annabel's jaw dropped, "What?"

"You two were always just so close. And your parents love him, too."

"Yeah; because he's a good friend," she replied, sitting back further in her chair, "That's gross; he's like my brother."

Nikki said, "Well he certainly doesn't see you as his sister."

"Please don't start with that again Nik; you and I have been through this more times than I can count," Annabel groaned.

"That doesn't change the fact that he's in love with you," Nikki stated, picking up her phone to reply to a text.

Annabel stands, rolling her eyes, "I'm going to go get another Chai Tea; does anyone want anything?"

They all shake their heads.

Abington, Pennsylvania

11:34 am

Tanner Steel is Annabel's first client every Saturday.

He is a very kind, sixteen year old boy who comes from a broken family. His parents divorced when he had been very young and were both remarried. His step-mother encourages him to go to therapy in hopes to help him deal with the sadness his mother inflicts on him through her neglect.

"I've decided to move in with my dad," he informs her, shifting in his seat.

She smiles politely, though she is truly ecstatic that he'd made this decision. "Really?"

"Yup," he nods, looking down at his lap.

"And what made you decide to do that?" she pressed, hoping to hear him speak the words she's spent months trying to help him with understanding.

He got close. "They want me to live with them."

Annabel knows that is his greatest problem. His mother's neglect has left him with a low self-esteem, which would naturally make him lean towards his father, who is in fact more fit to care for him. Only, because his mother never gives Tanner any attention, he strives for hers above all else.

She is certain the he will move back in with his mother before the end of the school year.

12:46 pm

"Why would it be so wrong for you to be gay?" Annabel asks her second patient of the day, Alexander Saw.

He goes into hysterics. "I can't . . . I just . . . I can't ever . . ."

Alex is eleven years old suffers from an extreme case of homophobia.

His father caught him playing with his sisters old dolls about a year ago, and blew up on him in a fit of rage. He screamed and yelled and swore that he would disown Alex and throw him onto the streets if he ever caught him doing anything 'girly' again.

He beat his beliefs into Alex, and now Alex is petrified of going against those beliefs.

1:51 pm

Sierra is a new patient. She is seventeen years old, in her junior year of high school.

Tears stream down her face as she blows her nose into a tissue. "I never meant for her to do that," she cries. "It's just . . . I didn't want to be friends with her anymore. She got weird and I didn't like her anymore. She wasn't supposed to . . ."

Sierra had been thrust into popularity when she started dating the quarterback of the football team. She had wanted to let go of her previous friends in order to fit in better with her new friends. In doing so, she publicly humiliated her friend Jackie by calling her a loser and telling her that she didn't want to be friends anymore.

Two months later, Jackie committed suicide.

Sierra feels that it is her fault. While her actions certainly did not help matters, it could not have been the sole cause because Jackie had been severely abused by her parents, as Annabel had been informed by Sierra's parents.

Annabel stood from her desk to bring Sierra more tissues. "Sierra," she spoke softly, "What you did was not nice. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right. But it is not the reason Jackie made that decision."

Sierra shook her head in response and cried harder.

Willow Grove, Pennsylvania

5:42 pm

"This is delicious," she murmurs, shoveling another fork-full of into her mouth.

Olive Garden makes the best chicken fettuccini alfredo that she's ever tasted.

Kevin laughs, "I couldn't tell," he teases, eating his own entrée. "We could come here more often."

She nods rapidly in response.

Kevin and Annabel go out to dinner every Saturday, along with Tuesdays and Wednesdays because he's a food critic for part of the week. The other part of the week he spends at his family's restaurant as a chef.

They usually don't go to chain restaurants, but it's Saturday and Annabel's cousins sent her a gift card.

He clears his throat, "Are you busy tomorrow?" he asks.

She shrugs her shoulders, "I wanted to take the boys to the park for a couple hours in the morning but aside from that, no," she answers, "Why?"

"I wanted to go see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We could go to a later showing." He had read and loved the book. It isn't really her kind of movie, but he goes with her to see chick flicks so she doesn't see why not.

"Sure."

He smiles, "And could I tag along for the park; it's been a while since I've seen them."

"Yeah, that would be great," she replies.

They finish their meals, and after the waiter comes with the check she stands, "I have to use the restroom."

"Don't fall in," he calls teasingly from behind.

She shoots him a playful dirty look before heading to the restroom.

After she's finished she checks herself in the mirror, rubbing off her slightly smudged eyeliner and putting on some chapstick.

She checks behind herself as she's walking out of the bathroom, making sure that she hasn't forgotten anything when she bumps into something hard, sending her backwards onto the floor.

"I am so sorry," she rushes out, blushing. She picks herself up off of the floor. "I wasn't paying attention."

Her eyes shift up, embarrassment keeping her from looking up completely.

She instantly takes notice of how attractive he is. He has short, white blonde hair that falls into his stormy grey eyes, which are framed by long lashes. His cheekbones are high and his nose is aristocratically straight. His lips are thin and colored a light pink, though they are pouted into a scowl.

Her face burns brighter.

"Well maybe you should start," he snaps, running a hand through his hair, and when he does this, he shirt sleeve shifts enough to show severe scaring on his lower forearm.

Annabel is tempted to ask about it, but then realizes that it would be incredibly rude to do so.

"I'll keep that in mind," she responds kindly, which shocks him.

He pauses for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "Well, you work on that. I have to go."

She stares after him as he walks away, shaking her own head. As she turns to return to her seat she notices a folded paper on the floor. It probably belongs to him. However he is already gone, so she puts it in her back pocket.

"Are you ready to go?" Kevin asks, standing when he sees her.

Bucks, Pennsylvania

7:32 pm

She waves to Kevin when she reaches the front door before entering her house.

She hears the boys running down the stairs and gets down on her knees for them to pounce on her, which they do.

Bugatti, or Boo, is the first to reach her. He's an over-sized Pitbull and the fastest of the three. Gunner is a close second though, being that he is an overly-excited and loving French Bulldog. While Boo rubs his nose into her shoulder, Gunner pounces into her arms as if he were hugging her and licks her cheek. Biggie is the last to reach her, as he is an English Bulldog and the laziest of them. He, however, is no less excited to see her. He leans against her and pushes his snout out for her to kiss him.

Having three dogs can be difficult at times but she loves them dearly and wouldn't trade them for the world. They keep her from feeling lonely in her big empty house.

Annabel's parents had this house built for her so that she could have it once she graduated college. They ended up giving it to her for her twenty-third birthday instead, though.

It's large enough to fit a family of twelve.

And it's insanely expensive to keep up with.

Because she tells Kevin everything, he is the first person that she went to with her complaints. When she told him that she really couldn't afford to live in the house, he offered to help, insisting that because he made over half a million a year, it would be no problem to help her.

Which is unbelievable.

She absolutely refused to dip in to his funds, so she had no choice but to turn to her parents.

Even though they don't mind, she detests the fact that her parents pay all of her . . . domestic bills. She is completely against depending on others for financial help. However, her only other choice was to move into some place smaller, and her parents didn't want the house to go to anyone outside of their immediate family.

And she's an only child.

A ridiculously spoiled only child.

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