Love Me? -- finally somebody. (Jaylen Brown)

prologue. i

"This is hard for me, okay? I don't usually need help. I'm usually the one who has my back, me. Every time I start opening up, this voice in my head keeps telling me to shut up. It keeps reminding me that people really don't care. My work team is only depending on me because I put food in their family's mouth. My fans and my teammates only wanna see me make a shot. And my mom is just too busy living it up with the things I give her." He takes a deep breath. "Nobody sees me... and I've accepted that. Nobody cares."

"Jaylen," I say grabbing the hand that wasn't connected to the sling on his arm. "I care. I see you."

He sighs turning his head from me. "Sure."

"I know what this feels like. You just took every word out of 18-year-old Charli's mouth. I know what you're going through. No one ever made fun of the way I talked. No one ever told me to shut up. It was always in my brain. This struggle was all mental for me. I never told anyone what I was truly feeling. I kept everything in and dealt with it by myself. I dared myself to not let anyone see my weaknesses, but Jaylen I hate to say this but this is something you need to hear. Hell, I needed to hear this. Keeping it in only makes you look weaker. You're scared of what they might think of you now once they know what's going on. Scared of how they'll start treating you. And even worse, scared of letting somebody else inside. God forbid if they know everything you're going through, right?" I pause as I start realizing they were tears forming in his eyes. "It's okay to let people in. Releasing your problems helps you not hoard them up and leaving you to have a mental breakdown once a month and brushing it off by saying 'I'm good.' That's like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound, love. Now I know I'm only your doctor, but I can be more than that. I'm willing to be that person- to just be an ear for you. I can help you with more than just your shoulder injury. Let me be the shoulder you cry on when needed, but this is only if you allow me inside."