Finally Together

Chapter Thirty-One

"Sorry about your face," I apologized. I really was because it looked bad. It was swollen, red, and slightly beginning to scab. I'm pretty sure it'll scar and be a permanent mark.

"Yeah, you got me out here lookin' like Scar," Chris laughed, lightly.

Now that he mentions it, his scar did resemble the one that Scar had which is funny but I didn't laugh. I kept my poker face on. Chris nudged me slightly with his elbow.

"C'mon. What you so serious for?" He asked with a big smile on his face.

The fact that he didn't feel that this situation was serious frustrated me so bad. Our lives just got turned upside down!

"Stop it, Christopher!" I lashed out, pushing his body away from mine. "Stop with the jokes and smiling and acting like everything is okay. You know why I'm serious."

He exhaled harshly and the happy expression on his face was gone. It's like his whole mood deflated..

"I know, I know. You're right," He solemnly said.

A quick turn of my head made me notice the two young girls who were standing close to us and not even bothering to hide their staring. I recalled the attendees of the art show looking at me like an animal in the zoo. All the sudden, the night was vividly replaying in my head.

"God, what were you thinking?" I cried.

"I missed you," Chris replied in probably the softest voice I've ever heard him use. "And I just got frustrated because you were always ignoring me. When I first talked to Kiana, I just wanted to see you in person. That's it. But it started thinking about everything and I don't know, I just thought the proposal was a good idea."

"Well it wasn't," I snapped. Chris was unfazed. He stayed quiet waiting for me to finish speaking.

"That's the craziest idea I've ever heard. Can you imagine us married?" I scoffed.

"Why is it crazy?" Chris had an edge to his tone and I know he was offended by what I just said.

"Look at us, Chris. We are beyond toxic for eachother."

My eyes openly gaped at his cut while his eyes dropped down to look at my hand. The bruises on my wrists were freshly purple and still extremely visible. I was right and he knew it.

Chris leaned closer to me and placed on finger under my face to make sure we had eye contact.

"We're fucked up, I know that." He paused for a second before continuing. "But I'm not gonna give up on us, okay? This moment right here is 7 years in the making. I'm in too deep to just let you slip through the cracks again. If you don't wanna be in a relationship, fine. But we're gonna be friends. We're gonna talk and fix our problems. I need you in my life."

I downed that alcohol so quick it had my head spinning and Chris' cologne was making it any better. He was so intense and in my face and you know what? I really liked it.

"Let's find a therapist. Let's fix our problems right now."

Chris was surprised and to be honest, I was as well. It was the alcohol. It had to be. What else could make give in so easily?

After a quick Google search, we found out there was a family & marriage therapist who was still open. The ride was quick and short and before I knew it, we were speaking to the secretary.

"Hi, do you take walk-ins?" I asked.

"Yes, we usually do. However, Dr. Lewall will be leaving shortly," He said.

"Don't worry about that," A soft voice spoke. Chris and I turned to see a petite black woman with a beautiful afro. "I can take you guys right now. We won't have enough time for a full session but I can get to know both of you."

We followed her into a room where the walls were adorned with a bunch of degrees and the normal posters you expect at a therapists office.

"I'm Chris and this is my um. . .this is Khadijah," He struggled to figure out what we were and it made the atmosphere a little awkward.

The therapist must have picked up on it because she gave an extra big smile. "I'm Dr. Lewall. For right now, I just want to know the relationship. And before I ask anything, I want to say one thing: give me the honest truth. Are both of you willing to do that?"

Both of us shook our heads yes and I immediately got the urge to call Chris a liar. He knows damn well, he can hardly tell the truth. I guess this is exactly why we're here.

"Great. Now let me start of by asking, what exactly is the relationship? Dating, married, seperated?"

I spoke up before Chris could. "We dated before. It was a bad break up. Now, we're just trying to fix the mess so we can start a friendship."

Chris' jaw clenched at the word "friendship". Despite, what he said I knew he wanted more than that. However, I wasn't willing to give it.

The Dr nodded while writing my words down on a clipboard. Without looking up she inquired, "And how old are both you?"

Chris said 24 while I said 23. This time  the Dr looked up at us. She tapped the tip on the pencil on her own chin and looked at us deeply.

"Now, if a relationship didn't work for the average college kid, they would've just left it alone. Why are both of you here willing to work it out?"

"She's my soulmate, I know that," Chris responded, immediately.

My mind thought about it for a second before I spoke.

"I actually have no idea why I'm here," I answered.

Dr. Lewall wanted honesty and I just gave her that.