Indi absentmindedly flipped the page on the magazine in her hands. She was barely paying it any attention. Mostly she was just trying to keep her mind off being stuck in the waiting room to see the therapist. Yeah, Candice had persisted that she make the appointment and had insisted on her and Johnny bringing her.
Indi glanced sideways at the two sitting next to her laughing about something Johnny had found in a magazine. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at them. She cared deeply for them, but the situation was getting fairly ridiculous. Despite her persistence, that this was a waste of time they would have none of it.
Indi tossed the magazine back on the table in front of her and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She saw a new text message from Dexter and smiled. She had explained to him where she was going and he had responded simply with "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, you know how they are."
Indi placed the phone in her lap and glanced out the glass door. Within seconds the phone vibrated in her lap and she raised to see he had responded already.
"It is because of me."
Indi furrowed her brow. It was not very common for him to respond quickly to text messages. That was a quirk she had learned from him over the last few weeks. She often let her mind wander as to why and what he kept busy doing all day, she intended to ask him someday.
"No, it's just them, it won't be long, I will be in and out and then maybe... I can come to see you?"
Indi watched as the message was shown as read and right away typing began. She smiled, and suddenly felt like she might be blushing or something. She sat up a little straighter in the chair which garnered the attention of Candice next to her.
"What is it?" Candice asked? Indi placed her phone close to her chest and turned to her shaking her head.
"Oh.. nothing, just checking my Instagram," Indi fibbed.
"Is he replying to your posts again?" Candice asked.
"No... no... nothing," Indi answered. She saw Candice's expression soften as she turned to face her more.
"Indi..." Candice began. "You know I am just trying to look out for you right, we both are."
"Right," Indi shrugged.
"It's not that... I mean we want you to be happy, but I don't think this guy is anything but trouble," Candice stated with a somewhat pained expression on her face as it genuinely seemed to bother her to state that.
"No... I know... I don't agree with you, but I get it," Indi replied. She glanced down at the ground but could feel Candice's eyes still on her.
"This visit will do you good," Candice stated. "Just tell her everything okay, but be honest, don't sugarcoat it to make him look good okay?"
"I will tell her the truth," Indi shrugged again.
Candice reached over and patted Indi on the arm before turning her attention back to Johnny who was laughing at something else in his magazine. Indi watched them for a moment before looking at her phone again. She saw he had responded a couple of minutes ago.
"I want to see you."
Indi was grinning widely now so she made a point to turn to face out the door. He said so little, but if it didn't always somehow mean so much to her. She was about to reply when the door opened and the therapist stuck her head out of it and spoke her name.
Indi stood up and saw Johnny and Candice do the same, but Indi stuck her hand out.
"Please... I wanna do this alone okay?" Indi looked back and forth between them. After a few seconds, Johnny shrugged.
"Alright," Johnny said, he glanced at Candice who seemed to want to protest. He gave her a gentle nudge with his arm.
"Okay... okay... just remember what I said okay?" Candice relented as she sat back down with Johnny.
"Got it," Indi responded barely able to conceal the sigh of relief from them sitting back down. She turned to the therapist, she was different than the one Austin had come to. Younger and seemingly more friendly. The two exchanged smiles as Indi walked into the room.
"Take a seat on the couch if you don't mind," The therapist stated as she closed the door behind them. "My name is Dr. Lang."
Indi took her outstretched hand to shake it before sitting down and trying to get comfortable on the couch. It was slightly smaller than the last one, although a lot softer. After a few shifts and a cross of the legs later she got settled in.
"So, Ms. Hartwell," Dr. Lang began.
"You can call me Indi," Indi reacted with a shrug.
"Okay... Indi, how are we feeling today?" the doctor asked a she took a seat off the right side but still slightly in front of the view of the couch in a large chair.
"Feel great," Indi replied, her mind drifting to her text messages, and a smile formed.
"As I understand it... you have been having some relationship troubles?" Dr. Lang got straight to the point.
Indi looked up at her as she looked back at her with her eyes peering over the top of her glasses.
"Well... it's... I mean... that is... it's complicated," Indi replied throwing her hands up before resting them on her lap.
"I see..." Dr. Lang responded she leaned forward slightly in her chair. "Tell me about it, tell me about him, it is him correct?"
"Yeah," Indi was smiling again, just the thought of him. She glanced up to see the doctor raised one eyebrow at her.
"Go on," The doctor implored.
"I don't really know where to begin," Indi replied.
"From the beginning?" Dr. Lang suggested.
"Okay... well... I have known him a couple of years now," Indi began. "Well... that is not entirely true, I knew of him."
"Mhmm," The doctor crossed her arms and nodded her head for her to continue.
"We work together, and so I had seen him there many times, but never really that up close and personal... you see... he kind of keeps to himself," Indi explained.
"Introvert?" Dr. Lang suggested.
"Umm... that... you could maybe use that word to describe him," Indi settled in and got a little comfier. "He just kind of keeps to himself and doesn't really bother anyone, at least unless they bother him you know?"
"I think," The doctor responded. "Tell me more about him."
"Gosh, he is... first of all, he is very handsome," Indi smiled as she spoke. "He is very um... nicely built... and his face is very..."
Indi cleared her throat a little as her thoughts were getting away from her. She reigned herself in and continued.
"It is his eyes though... gosh... his eyes..." Indi stated. "You'd understand completely if you saw them."
"Blue?" The doctor inquired.
"How did you know?" Indi asked cocking her head slightly.
"It just seems to usually be the case," Dr. Lang shrugged slightly and gestured for Indi to continue. "How did this relationship start, you said you never interacted.
"Well... Johnny had a match with him," Indi pointed her thumb in the direction of the waiting room. "So of course we were all out there and at one point in the match... heh."
"What happened?" The doctor asked when Indi paused seemingly lost in her memory.
"I approached him to help Johnny and he turned to me," Indi suddenly wanted to glance around to see what the thermostat was set on. She shook her head slightly. "That was the moment, I was close to him, the closest I had ever been and he looked at me... and the way he looked at me?"
"How?" Dr. Lang asked sitting slightly forward in her chair.
"I don't know how to explain that," Indi widened her eyes slightly as she considered how she might go about it. "He looked at me like no one ever had... like... he was daring me to get closer, but not like... in a threatening way."
"In what way?" Dr. Lang pried.
"In a dangerous way..." Indi grinned despite her wording. "Again, not in a threatening way, but in a way that suggested if I came closer to him..."
Indi suddenly felt embarrassed and cleared her throat slightly as she shifted on the couch.
"Dangerous... you use that word to describe him?" Dr. Lang questioned.
"Yes... but he won't hurt me... it's like..." Indi paused. "Did you ever have a thing for the bad boy?"
"I... I... suppose I can relate," Dr. Lang replied, slightly caught off-guard by the question.
"Like that, but not in a superficial and silly way... something more," Indi continued.
"I see," Dr. Lang stated. "So what happened then?"
"I couldn't take my eyes of him that whole match from that moment on, the way he moved, the way he breathed, everything just seemed so captivating to me," Indi confessed finding talking about Dexter to be a fairly comfortable experience. "Johnny lost, and normally I hate that, but... I didn't care."
The last words Indi practically whispered.
"I see... so what happened after that?" Dr. Lang asked.
"He was distant again, I couldn't get close," Indi replied. "I wanted to... god... I WANTED to... but I was scared."
"Of him?" The doctor interjected.
"No... never," Indi quickly responded. "I was scared that maybe I misread everything."
"How did you know you hadn't?" Dr. Lang asked.
"We had a match... he was across the ring from me on another team," Indi explained. "I tried so hard the match to get in the ring with him."
"What were you going to do?" The doctor questioned, both eyebrows raised this time.
"Um... I'm not sure," Indi answered honestly. "I just wanted that moment of us close... I wanted to force it... I had to see."
"Did you?" Dr. Lang asked.
"I never could get in there with him until the end of the match and I saw my chance," Indi explained, now beaming with pride at the memory. "I um... faked that I had been knocked out behind him."
The doctor smirked.
"I was lying there, and I didn't know what he would do you know?" Indi continued.
The doctor nodded.
"Would he care?" Indi said. "Would I just look like a fool for nothing?"
"Did he care?" Dr. Lang asked.
"Uh-huh," Indi answered with a nod and smile. "He actually ended up carrying me to the back and to get "medical" attention."
"Oh," The doctor reacted.
"I didn't need it of course, but he stayed in the doorway until the doc checked me over," Indi played with her fingers as she remembered the moment fondly. "Once the doctor gave me the all-clear he disappeared."
"So what did you do?" The doctor asked.
"Nothing then," Indi answered. "I waited until the next week and I came out for his match... and I uh... I actually caused him to lose by being a distraction."
Indi cringed a little.
"BUT... after the match... gosh," Indi continued. "We came SO close to kissing... he was inches away and I could tell... oh my god could I tell..."
Indi's eyes widened for dramatic effect for the doctor.
"He wanted to as much as you huh?" The doctor suggested.
"Yes... and that was when I really knew..." Indi took a big breath. "Unfortunately after that things got complicated with misunderstandings and mistakes and ugh..."
"Oh... went bad huh, is that why you are here today?" The doctor asked. Indi was about to answer when there was a quiet knock on a back door to the room. The doctor stood up and walked over to it. "Excuse me a moment."
Indi watched the doctor walk over to the door and open it. She couldn't see who was on the other side and soon lost interest. She turned away and decided to use the moment to actually lie down on the couch as she had always seen in the movies. She laughed slightly at herself when she was sure she had reached the position she had always seen.
Indi used the time to retrieve her phone. She frowned slightly when she saw she had no more messages from him. She realized he was the last so send one and worked to quickly rectify that.
"I wish I were with you right now."
Indi heard the door close again and the doctor walking back to her chair. She started to sit up but decided she wanted to just keep the position. She heard the doc sit back down.
"You asked if it went bad," Indi continued where it left off. "I mean... it did but not really... things were never as bad as I thought."
Indi shifted slightly and crossed her hands over her stomach.
"In reality, he was right there the whole time but you see... my "family" kept trying to keep us apart... they are actually why I am here today," Indi clarified.
Indi focused on a spot on the ceiling as she thought. She waited for the doctor to urge her to continue but decided to do so on her own.
"They think he is bad for me, they are determined to keep me away from him, but they just don't understand..." Indi stated wistfully. "He isn't bad... not to me... far from it... GOSH... I have never had anyone make me feel so loved."
Indi heard some shuffling from the doctor and cocked her head slightly but could not see her from her current position. It hurt her neck to try to go farther so she returned to looking at the ceiling.
"They just don't understand him... they keep saying he is bad... he is evil... he is scary," Indi let out a small laugh at the words. "He isn't any of those things, they only see what they want to see in him... if they really saw him, they'd see his heart is pure."
Indi's face felt flush as she poured her heart out to a stranger about how she felt about Dexter Lumis. Not that she minded anyone knowing but this was different.
"I just... really like him you know... like... I mean..." Indi paused as she heard the doctor move in her seat again, the fabric of her clothes sliding against the leather. "I think it is way more than that, truly."
Indi took a deep breath.
"I just want him to know that I want the world to know that, but everyone keeps trying to get in the way," Indi stated.
Silence hung in the room as Indi considered her plight and the doctor remained unusually silent. Indi was about to sit up to face the doctor when she felt someone kneel next to the couch. She turned to lose herself in the familiar blue eyes she loved. She gasped a little.
"Dex?" Indi stated, unbelieving her vision. She reached out and touched his face, turning her body to face him. He nodded and leaned into the hand on his cheek. "What are you doing here?"
Dexter held up his phone and turned it to her to see her last message to him. She glanced past the phone to lock eyes with him. He made a face as if to ask if what he did was okay. She nodded.
"Is she okay?" Indi asked suddenly very curious what had happened to Doctor Lang.
Dexter nodded. Indi rubbed his face again.
"You are crazy you know that?" Indi laughed taking in his features.
He shrugged and raised his eyebrows.
She couldn't resist and moved in for the kiss. It was deepening and hands were just starting to roam when there was a sound on the other side of the back door. Dexter pulled up from Indi, leaving her breathing a little hard and frazzled.
Indi sat up as she watched Dex walk to the door. He glanced back at her one last time before he opened it and closed it behind. An impossibly short time later it opened again and Doctor Lang stepped back inside.
"I am so sorry about that, my son got sick at soccer practice and I need to go pick him up early, you understand?" The doctor stated apologetically.
"Of course," Indi stood up and straightened herself up. Thankfully the doctor seemed to barely notice the state of her.
"We can finish this session anytime you like, free of charge," Doctor Lang stated.
"No... that's okay, I think I got what I needed out of it," Indi replied with a smile.
"Good... good..." The doctor reacted. "Well if you will excuse me I must be going now."
"Of course," Indi replied as the doctor walked over and opened the door, and exited, as Indi made her way to the other door leading out to the lobby.
Indi gripped the doorknob and then gently placed her forehead on the door. She smiled as she thought of him. She was still smiling when she finally exited the room.
"There she is!" Johnny's voice was loud enough to nearly echo in the waiting room as he walked over to greet Indi. "Well judging by the smile I'd say it went well?"
"Oh..." Indi was suddenly jarred back to reality as Candice walked over to stand next to Johnny. "Yeah... yeah... it went better than I could have ever expected."
"See... what did I tell you?" Candice happily stated as walked over and embraced Indi with an arm around her.
"Yeah... you listen to us and you will be okay," Johnny grinned as he led the group to the door.
The evening sun was bright in the sky but Indi could clearly see the black car sitting in the back of the parking lot as they walked out to their own vehicle. She grinned and wished she could run over to it but knew that would start the process of being interrupted again way too soon for her liking. She instead glanced longingly at it and cursed the dark tint on the window before finally climbing up and into the backseat of the Gargano SUV and then quickly pulling out her phone.
"You are crazy and I love you for it."
Indi grinned reading her own words. She placed the phone next to her a moment to allow herself to buckle in. She barely snapped it into place when she heard the phone vibrate on the seat next to her. She quickly snatched it up.
"Just crazy for you."
Indi had to stifle the noise she almost involuntarily made as she stole one more glance over at his car before her own vehicle pulled away.
