Bent.

7. If I Couldn't Sleep, Could you Sleep?

Author's Note: This story is getting out of hand  a few chapters down the line in my word doc, warning you all...

7. If I Couldn't Sleep, Could you Sleep?

Scott: Mitch?

Scott: Did you get home ok?

Scott: Kirstie told Rozzi you got home ok

Scott: Are you ghosting me again?

Scott: Gotta admit, I'm confused

Scott: Is this because I'm not good at the violin?

Scott: I'll practice. Just for you. lol

Scott: Or is it... because you asked if you could kiss me?

Mitch groaned, refraining from throwing his phone against the wall.

Scott: Because if you had waited around for a second longer, I don't think you would have been disappointed in my answer

"Mitch?"

"What?"

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really."

Kirstin sat on the edge of his bed. "Rozzi said that Scott has no idea why you took off. Did he say something to upset you? She said he's worried that he hurt you, but that he can't imagine what he did to do that."

"He plays the piano."

There was the blank stare again.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Mitch, I'm sorry. What does that have to do with anything?"

"My Scott played the piano."

She sighed, and he wanted to scream.

"And when he told me, I asked if I could kiss him."

Her eyes widened.

"And I was mortified. Absolutely mortified. So I took off."

"Mitch... I don't love that you wanted to kiss him only after he told you a trivial detail about him that only made you think of 'Your Scott'" she put air quotes around the words and Mitch wanted to snap her fingers off right at the knuckle. "But I don't think asking him to kiss him is the end of the world, either. What did he say?"

"I didn't give him a chance to say anything. I ran."

"He invited you there. He's clearly interested. And he's so nice. Maybe you should try to focus on that, instead of the version of him in your head?"

"You don't get it," Mitch whispered, his eyes welling with tears.

"You're right, babe. I don't get it. I'm sorry. I really don't. And I don't know how to go about understanding. But I'm here for you. Always. Okay?"

Mitch nodded as she enveloped him in a hug, rubbing his arms and leaning back. They fell asleep that way, and Mitch knew that he had a lot of unpacking to do next time he spoke with Dr. Chastain.

"Mitch, have you ever heard of 'confirmation bias'?" Dr. Chastain asked the following day.

Mitch stared blankly at her.

"We have a tendency to look for evidence that supports something that's already in our mind to be true. At times, we ignore things that don't line up with what we believe, only taking in the facts and ideas that align with what we know. Does that make sense?"