Althea

|𝟯𝟵| 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀

"I think," I start, glancing up at her. She's giving me her full undivided attention. "I think I want that. No. I know I want him to go away for a very long time. I don't want him to do what he did to me to someone else. Another nice, obliviously dumb girl like me."

Miranda's eyebrows furrow as she crosses her legs. "You think your dumb? Why is that?"

I shrug. "Because I am."

"Would you mind telling me where those thoughts come from? Why do you think your 'obliviously dumb'"

"I dunno...I mean, he said his dog was hurt. That had to have been the first red flag, right? I mean, I should have see it right then and there that something wasn't right."

"Is there another reason you may think your dumb?" Miranda, raises her eyebrow.

I nod. "Yes. He didn't show me his face right away which wasn't weird at first since we were outside and it was cold. So I get why he was wearing a ski mask. To protect him from the cold, of course. But then we got inside his house, which adds to why I'm dumb because who just follows some stranger into there house?, and he still didn't take of that mask..."

Miranda nods. "Your not dumb for finding the kindness in your heart to help someone. He told you his dog was hurt so of course you immediately had that urge to help him. Your not dumb for being a good human being. You wanted to help, is that correct?" She raises her eyebrow and I nod. "so if you hadn't helped, would you have felt good about that?" I shake my head no. "there you have it. If you had walked away it would've been nagging at you all day. You can not call yourself dumb at following that instinct. There was no way you could have known his true intentions and I need you to know, Althea."

I sit there for a moment, biting my lip. She's right. If I had walked away, I would've been thinking about that poor 'dog' all day. But the thing is, there was no dog. And the thing is, if I walked away, none of that would have happened.

"If I hadn't been oblivious and helped a stranger, or who I thought was a stranger, none of this wouldn't have happened." I say, scrunching my eyebrows as I stare out the tall windows.

There's silence for a moment before Miranda speaks again. "May I ask you something?"

I nod slowly, looking back at her.

"How did you meet Chiara?" she says one of my best friends names who I've told her about a session or two ago.

I'm confused but I answer anyways. "I talked to her on the first day of school in fifth grade I think."

"So she was a stranger before you decided to talk to her?" Miranda says. It's more of a statement then a question but I answer anyways. 

"Yup."

"What about Elyse?" Mirandas dark brown eyes bore into mine.

"Me, Gio, and Chiara needed a roommate so we found her on an app..."

"What about Karlos?"

What is she getting at? I don't not answer her questions though because I don't want to be mean.

"He moved in next door and we all immediately became friends. Very close friends."

"And what about Enzo? Your Tater Tot?" She smiles at that and I smile to, blushing because I can never not blush at the thought of him.

"I spilled chocolate milk on him at a coffee shop and I tried to help him but he was so grumpy but then he was nice. It was weird but he made me blush and have all these butterflies and I asked him if he wanted to sit with me." I stare out the window, a small smile on my face.