Hello everybody.
It seems that story did not get many assessments after all. Well to say that I am sad, would be an understatement.
It is my first twific, and I had really hoped it would get some reads. But let's not dwell on the past. So here I present the second chapter of 'Therapy by Cullen'. Hope you like it.
"So tell me about yourself, Ms. Swan" Edward looked up at me with those beautiful emerald eyes of his.
"Bella would do Edward."
"Ok...now go on tell me about yourself Bella."
"What more can I tell you? You already know about my life. Moreover hasn't Alice already told you everything!" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him...barely.
"I don't want to know about your life Bella. And no, Alice hasn't told me a single thing. I like to know my patients myself."
I sighed. "What do you want to know about my life?"
"I want to know about you. Your likes and dislikes, your hobbies and things like that."
I took a deep breath. "I like to read books, spend time with my friends, especially Alice." I paused for a moment and then continued again, "I don't like meeting new people, going to parties and shit like that. I am a girl who mostly likes to keep to herself, and I also love gardens."
Edward scribbled something on his notes and then looked up at me again.
"So you like spending time with your friends, but meeting new people is not your forte? Would you please elaborate Ms. Swan?"
So we are back to surnames again. Great! So much for being polite.
"I do like to spend time with the few friends in my life. But meeting new people is not something that I can take pride into."
He looked at me for a few seconds and then went to write something on his notepad.
"How many friends do you have Ms. Swan?"
"Well I have two friends, Alice and Jacob."
"Only two?"
Ouch. That was pretty straightforward.
He must have sensed my awkwardness between us, because he quickly recovered. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I am just asking."
"Yes" I replied gawkily.
"Yes what Ms. Swan?" He looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, I only have two friends."
He scribbled something again.
"Have you ever thought why you are uncomfortable with people around you?"
"I feel overwhelmed easily, like I am stepping onto restricted boundaries." I fiddled with my thumbs for a minute. "I feel scared."
I braced myself for the oncoming wave of questions that I would soon have to answer, but his next question took me by surprise.
"Tell me about your job Ms. Swan"
"There is nothing much to tell. I am just an English teacher at the school."
"And do you like your job?"
"Yes, I love my job. English is a subject that I have always enjoyed learning and sharing that experience with other keen students is simply wonderful."
He nodded at me and scribbled down something again. God he and his fucking notepad!
"What about your father? Tell me about him."
"Charlie...I mean dad is cool. We hang out a lot together and whenever we get time, we usually go fishing and then come home empty handed." I can't help but smile at this. My 'Charlie' moments are worth remembering.
I think I even see a hint of smile on his lips. But he quickly suppresses it.
"You have a problem at smiling?"
His heads shoots up as soon as I ask this. I expect him to be angry at me, but his amused look says otherwise. "Why do you think so Ms. Swan?"
I should really shut my mouth these days.
"Sorry, forget I said that."
"No no, I would really like you to tell me the reason."
"Well you see, whenever I think you are going to smile you cover it up with something."
"Quite an amazing observation you have there Ms. Swan."
"So you are admitting it."
"I have never really denied Ms. Swan." He smiles at me with an amused grin. "Clearly, I don't want to overwhelm you."
"Oh" it is all that I manage to say even though I want to say so many other things to him. I want to say him that it is ok and he doesn't have to think about overwhelming me. He is my psychiatrist after all. But I bite my cheeks to stop myself from spilling my guts to him.
"Now back to you, you acknowledge your father by his name. Doesn't he mind?"
"Yeah, it's complicated. Nah he doesn't mind."
"I think I can handle myself, Ms. Swan." And that is my cue to go on.
"Well I had lived with my mother for most of the years of my life. But when I was 18, I came to live with Charlie. I had thought of shifting back with mom, but then she died and I have lived with him ever since. Guess I never really could wrap my head around it." I shrugged.
"Why did you suddenly decide to live with your dad?"
"Nothing much. Mom got remarried and..."
"You didn't like the guy?" He interrupted me.
"No no, Phil's great. But he was a baseball player and he had to move a lot. I could tell mom wanted to stay with him, so I decided it was time to spend some quality time with Char...dad. So it was also natural that we moved to Seattle together."
Again that goddamn scribbling.
"Why do you have so few friends Ms. Swan? You are smart, confident, independent, shouldn't you be having more friends?"
I didn't really have the heart to tell that all that he thinks about me was wrong.
"Why did I break a rule of that notepad of yours?" I had meant it to be funny, but it all came out wrong. And now I was looking like a bitch instead.
He didn't say anything, just stared at me.
"Ok ok I surrender" I lifted up my hands in the air to emphasize my point.
This time again, he didn't smile.
"Gosh you are so pushy Edward. Well like I said I am not really comfortable with unknown people around me. Since I have known Alice and Jake from my childhood, they don't seem strangers to me."
"So basically you don't like strangers?"
"No I don't"
"Now comes the most interesting part. Tell me about Emily?"
"I love her."
Something changes in his demeanour when he hears this. Like the wall of professionalism crumbles away a little and then he looks at me with a smile on his face. Not his usual 'smug' smiles, but a smile that tells you that you are in good hands.
We spend a few moments in silence. It's comfortable though. It gives me some time to order up my jumbled thoughts and Edward of course gets his 'scribbling' time.
"Tell me about her."
His voice is barely a whisper this time.
"She is perfect. She is so much like me yet so much different. Alice says that she has my eyes. She even has Charlie's hair. You know soft brown curls." I feel a bit stupid when I say this, because he doesn't even know Charlie and here I was going on with his hair. But of course he doesn't mind.
What startles me a bit is that right now, he is listening intently to me. His notepad is kept aside, his pen in his pocket and he is paying attention to every word that I am saying.
"She is just 4 years old, but I feel like she is a part of me. A better, beautiful and untainted part of me." And as I say this I can't stop my tears. They roll down my cheeks and I don't even try to stop them.
A 'click' reaches my ears and I assume that the recorder has been stopped. I am still bawling my eyes out, when I feel two hands on my shoulders. They are running circles on my back and surprisingly, it soothes me, calms me.
"Here take this" he hands me a box of tissues and I gratefully take them.
His hands never stop and I am more than thankful for it.
Once I have completely composed myself, I will myself to stand up.
"Thanks" I mumble to Edward, who is still hovering over me.
"You don't have to thank me for anything Ms. Swan." He smiles again.
And then I notice that we are standing quite close to each other, but I really don't mind. And because we are so close, I see that his eyes are really beautiful, a vibrant yet subtle shade of green. And his dimples...O my god, he has dimples!
And right now you want to kiss them.
Shut up. I (inwardly) snarl at my snarky self.
"Well I am afraid that our hour is up, Ms. Swan. We will talk on again on our next session." He extends his hand to me.
"Bella, please." I hold his hand and give a firm shake.
"I would remember that...Ms. Swan" he winks at me and there was my favourite smirk back on his face.
Favourite?
Oh shut up for god's sake.
And so with a flush face, I pushed the doors and came out of the cabin.
For now, I was clear off the coast. I would not have to deal with a nagging Alice and an annoying but handsome psychiatrist...for a few days at least.
Please tell me your thoughts about this chapter.
Rate and review.
Until next time,
Yours truly dorkyworm32.