Chapter 3: It's About What You Can Get

I never thought I would be one of those people that would be absent on a school day that was not worth missing. Upon returning to school, I was met with a bunch of people telling me about how I missed out on some crazy shit last Friday. It turns out that school play was not a total snoozefest.

Miles: Yo Daniel you missed out on a hell of a school play.

Daniel: Yeah, I already had a bunch of people telling me about the shit that went down in the auditorium. God who knew I'd regret not going to school.

There were a bunch of people that posted the school play on social media. Most of the clips showed the drama that occurred during the middle of the play. Many people wondered whether the drama was staged or not, but it looked real to me.

Miles: Cassie was going nuts on stage, but she looked fine as hell. Didn't you sleep with her at your Halloween party?

Daniel started to remember everything that went down at that Halloween party. It wasn't one of his best nights.

Daniel: Yeah, I slept with her and this other chick.

Miles: Two girls in one-night yo that's what's up! See you in class bro.

Miles gave Daniel a high five and then went on his way.

Cassie Howard...who knew she was capable of being unhinged. I saw the video where she went on stage and started exposing her sister. I thought it was savage. I was almost close to getting with her at that Halloween party, but she decided not to give in. Since I did not want to get into any trouble, I decided to let her be and not force myself on her. But I didn't let her leave without saying some awful shit to her for leading me on.

Thursday Evening: Dr. Melfi's Office

Dr. Melfi: Can you tell me a bit more about what you mean when you say, "It's not what you want but what you can get"?

Daniel: Well, it's true. At least for guys.

Dr. Melfi: Please explain.

Daniel: Well, girls are selective with whom they would like to go out with. It's easy for a girl to get in a relationship by just sitting there and looking pretty. But for us guys, we need to do the hard work in approaching the girl with the hopes that she finds us attractive enough to go on a date with us. There were times when I was rejected by a couple of hot girls, so I had to just go with the second-best option.

Dr. Melfi: Second best option?

Daniel: What I mean by that is a girl that I know is below my league. I found that those girls are easy to mess around with because they easily cling on to you like you're the last man on earth. They know they can't do better, which makes it hard for them to resist the advances of decent looking guys like me. All you have to do is just say the right things and they fall head over heels for you. It's easy if you understand social cues and aren't some creep.

Dr. Melfi took a moment to take in all the information.

Dr. Melfi: You went really in depth with that response. I'm curious if this is something that you have recently done...going with the second-best option. One of the first things that you mentioned to me at the start of this session was about this girl that started trouble during the school play and how this girl was close to you at one point. Is what you are telling me now related to what you mentioned before?

Daniel: Yeah, but she wasn't the second option...she was the first option.

Dr. Melfi: Would you mind explaining some more?

Daniel felt a bit hesitant but ultimately decided to tell Dr. Melfi

Daniel: Sure. Um I think it might be easier to tell the whole thing if I used her real name. Are you sure you don't tell anyone about what happens during these sessions?

Dr. Melfi: I don't, as it would be a violation of confidentiality. I'm obligated not to say anything that you mention throughout this session to anyone else including your parents unless it involves causing serious damage to yourself or others. If I did tell someone then I'd be out of a job.

Daniel: Alright then. This girl that started all that drama during the school play is named Cassie. I first met her when I was walking around the school during free period. I remember feeling this urge to strike up a conversation with her. She had on headphones and was wearing something nice that day. I don't know what came onto me to immediately want to start a conversation with her. I guess it might have been hormones or something, I don't know. Anyway, I remember the conversation with her being a short one as it was basically us introducing ourselves.

Flashback: Daniel's First Encounter with Cassie

I was trying to find a group of friends I promised to meet during free period. While trying to meet up with my friends, I got distracted by this hot blonde chick wearing headphones walk past me. Something came onto me that made me want to approach her and say something. I'm not sure what to say but all I know is that I did not want to waste an opportunity to talk to this girl. I mean how often do you walk across a girl that checks out all your boxes. I took the leap of faith and said something to get her attention.

Daniel: Hey!

She turned around and took out one of her headphones.

Cassie: Hey.

Daniel: I've seen you around, but I don't think we've met. I'm Daniel.

I offered her my hand for a handshake.

Cassie: Nice to meet you Daniel, I'm Cassie.

She smiled and shook my hand.

Back to Therapy

After that we started passing each other more often at school and we'd usually engage in casual conversations. The more we passed by each other, the closer we got. It got to the point where I was able to get her number, and we started talking outside of school. This one day when the fair was in town, we crossed paths, and she looked happy to see me and asked me to go on this carousel ride with her. I think she was high on something because she started doing some freaky stuff during that ride. So, after the fair, I thought me and her hit it off well…well enough to become a couple, but it turns out she was already in a relationship with this varsity athlete that used to go to our school. Normally I wouldn't mess with another guy's girl but this guy was in college so I thought this might work out for me. So, I decided to invite her to this Halloween party I was hosting. She accepted the invitation, and when it came time for the party, she and I hit it off well for the rest of that night. When we were done dancing, we went to my room and started making out. It looked like we were going to go even further but then she decided to stop me. She got emotional and started to say things like she couldn't do it with me and she didn't want to cheat on her boyfriend. Bullshit. She says this after she accepts my invitation, after she danced with me, and after she made out with me. She led me on. Clearly. So then at this point I just gave up and kicked her out of my room. The whole thing was frustrating, and I was beyond pissed. I didn't want to walk out of this party with no action though, so I decided to sleep with some girl in a nun costume. She wasn't really my type, but she was down to mess with me, so I didn't really care as long as it gave me some action that night. And that's why I think it's not about what you want but what you can get. I wanted to bang Cassie, but I got rejected and had to settle with a last resort in that large nun girl. Also...I sort of think what happened at that Halloween party might be the reason why Cassie had gone crazy the day of the school play.

Dr. Melfi: Why would you say that?

Daniel: Well, I might of said some things to her in that room that weren't the most nicest things.

Dr. Melfi: What did you say?

Flashback: The Night of the Halloween Party

Daniel: Who the fuck do you think you are?

Cassie: What?

Daniel: Well, this is literally the second time that you've done this to me. So, if we're not gonna fuck then what are we doing?

Cassie: Are you being serious?

Daniel: You think I'm here because I'm interested in you? In what you have to say? Or what you think about things as if you're so fucking interesting? Fuck, are you dumb. You came on to me, remember? And ever since then, you show up, you lead me on, and then you whine about your fucking boyfriend. Like, every time you start talking, I think to myself, who the fuck does this girl think she is? You are so fucking boring. Hey, I'm gonna be honest with you, because no one else will. Any guy who says he's interested in you beyond just fucking you, is full of shit. So good luck with your boyfriend.

Tears started coming out of Cassie's eyes

Daniel: Wow. You're crying now. What else is new?

End of Flashback

Daniel: I might have told her somethings...I don't know. Something about her not being taken seriously by any guy because she's a slut. But I don't think those words could have cause her to go crazy. Right?

Dr. Melfi: Well, what do you think? It seems that you sort of feel sympathy for Cassie even when you just told me that she rejected your advances at the party. You're asking me right now if you might have gone too far with what you said which makes me wonder about what you think about the whole thing.

Daniel: I guess I might have gone too far. But I swear I did not do anything hurtful to her after that Halloween party. After that Halloween party, I stayed far away from her. Hell, I just recently found out that she broke up with her college boyfriend and was dating the star quarterback of our high school football team. I heard they had just broken up so maybe that might have drove her crazy? I don't know...girls can be complicated.

The phone timer rings.

Dr. Melfi: Well unfortunately that's all the time we have in our session. You said quite a lot today and I am interested in following up more in our next session. Are there any questions?

Daniel: Not really.

Dr. Melfi: Ok then I hope to see you at the same time next week. Have a nice day, Daniel.