Quick note before we start: I'm sorry if my Spanish is horrible, I'm going to have to use Google Translate, because I don't know Spanish. Anyone who reads this that does know the Spanish language, please correct me if I make a mistake. That's all, thank you for reading! Xx. ❤
Three Days Later
"Good morning, Mi Amor." Lin called, sweetly, as a still sleepy-eyed Pippa came around the corner. She smiled and gratefully accepted the mug of coffee he had handed her.
"That was sweet. I like that." Pippa giggled softly, taking a seat.
"What? My Spanish?" Lin sat beside her.
"Yeah, it's pretty." She set her mug down and looked over at Lin.
"Well, thank you, but eres bastante bonita." He winked and a playful smirk marked his face for a moment, before it disintegrated into a chuckle.
"What does that mean?"
"Something..." Lin kissed her temple and helped her stand up.
"Okay, why are you being so sweet all of a sudden. Like, you're always sweet, but this is...different. What's the catch to all of this?"
"There has to be a catch? I can't just be super sweet?" Lin asked.
"Lin, something is up. I know you." He sighed and grabbed both of her hands.
"It's the eighth, Pip. Remember?" Lin frowned, finally realizing that she didn't remember off the top of her head, or at least she didn't want to remember.
Pippa's face fell immediately. "Oh...right. That's in like half an hour, isn't it?" Lin nodded. "I'll go get ready. Give me ten minutes." Pippa let go of Lin's hands and went off to her room. She came back ten minutes later, dressed and her outfit was tied off with her favorite brown fedora.
"Pip, you know they're going to have you--"
"I know, but hey, why not walk into this looking somewhat pretty? If any positive will come out of this, it is my outfit." Pippa joked. Lin smiled.
"Hey, looking good, feeling good." He handed Pippa her mug. "Take this in the car, and we can jam out for a bit before we go in, sound good?"
"Sounds great! But, would you mind if--" Lin saw what she was reaching for and stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Yes, I do mind if you bring any of your homework. I know for a fact that you're pretty anxious about all of this, and we're going to play all your favorite songs, and just relax before we do this, okay?" Lin kissed her hand.
"Alright." Pippa smiled at his sweetness. Gosh, he really was looking out for her.
"Awesome. Let's go!" Lin grabbed her hand and they went to the car.
~~~~~
You see, they had worked out a "deal" of sorts with the crisis center at Julliard. "They" in this case meaning Lin, but still. The deal was that Pippa would come in, they would ask her the bare bones of what they needed, do anything else they needed to, but they wouldn't mandate therapy sessions for her. There was something just eating away at Lin, saying that a therapist would just make matters worse for Pippa. He didn't know why, but it was his gut instinct, and after while, he learned that that was usually right.
"Ready?" Lin asked as they pulled up to the parking lot of the crisis center. It was just two blocks or so past campus. He saw Pippa's eyes freeze at the building in front of her. "Pip?"
"Oh, sorry, yeah, I'm ready." Pippa got out of the car and shook her head. Focus, Pippa. Lin outstretched his hand, and she slipped her fingers in between his. Just as Pippa was reaching for the doorknob, Lin stopped her.
"Wait, Pip, before we go, you know I'm always going to be here for you, right?"
"Of course I know that."
"Just making sure." Lin kissed her hand and they walked into the center.
~~~~~
They had been in the center for four hours, and they weren't even done. Pippa could've gotten all caught up on her work in that time. Within the hours, they were introduced to a woman named Bailey; a blonde woman who was incredibly wise beyond her years. Bailey didn't make the two do a lot, basically what happened was she made Pippa fill out a questionnaire about the situation, then they recorded a spoken interview of her answering somewhat similar questions. Then Lin went in for a spoken interview - also recorded - from his vantage point in the whole situation. After all of that, Bailey collected the printed screenshots of texts and the audio file of the recorded call from earlier, and then, Bailey took Pippa to a separate room from Lin, and had to take photographs of her bruises and scars and marks. All of this going into one big file to be used against Matt when he would soon be confronted with these "charges" if you will.
"Alright, she's back." Bailey walked with Pippa back to Lin, and she had never seen a girl jump to her friend so fast.
"It's okay, it's okay." Lin whispered. He could tell the separation and the whole talk of the situation made her more anxious than she was to start off with.
"So, Pippa, Lin, we're planning on taking this to the school itself, and we will be working with the disciplinary team there and we'll get Matthew situated. Alright?" Bailey asked. Pippa nodded.
"Sounds good." Lin wrapped his hand in Pippa's once again.
"Great. I'll see you later. And Pippa, we're always here if you need anything."
"Thank you." She said quietly.
"Of course." Bailey smiled and waved. "We'll see you soon, stay safe, Sweetheart."
Lin's eyes darted right over to Pippa's. Her fingers tensed up, and her whole body froze.
Sweetheart.
