After another long day at school, we were headed to see this phsycologist guy. Jason's mom drove her car while I sat in the back and Jason sat in the passenger seat. I was glad to have gone back to school that day, mainly because I needed to talk to Cameron. I had pretty much spent the whole day shut up in my room that past day. Skylar had gone to stay with her older sister this weekend so apparently she left yesterday morning. So basically, Cameron had been ditched by by both of us yesterday. I knew how much that stunk.
Jason on the other hand hadn't had the best day. He found out within the first ten minutes of being at school about the rumor from Thursday. People asked him about him and that other guy's "date" that never even happened. Some people even tried to ask me about it. Some lives they've got. Jason was also not exactly thrilled to be going to this phsycologist so that contributed to the bad mood he was in. The medications weren't helping either. Of course they did help the ulcer, just not his attitude.
When we arrived at the office building, we all headed up the walkway and into a room that looked like a lobby at a hotel. Jason's mom told the front desk man who we were here for and he gave her a floor and room number. We entered the elevator and were taken up to the third floor. There was actually only three doors in the hall after we got off the elevator, so it wasn't hard to find the room. Jason's mom knocked on the door, and soon after, a man opened the door.
The man was almost six feet tall and wore a blue button down and denim jeans. He had dark brown hair and grey colored eyes. He also had a very defined jaw bone. I'm not going to lie, this guy was very attractive.
"Hi, I'm Ryan Hunter," he said as he held his hand out to shake Jason's mom's.
"So what time should I come back?" she asked.
"About forty-five minutes or so," he said flashing a perfect smile.
"Okay, be back then!" she said and patted Jason on the shoulder before leaving.
The man opened the door wider so that we could follow him in. He then led us the a couch that faced opposite his desk. I looked around at the office as the man began going through his papers. The walls were a light grey color, well three of them, because the third was made of glass, which gave view to the streets and other buildings below. The room was fairly small, so other than the couch and his desk plus chair, he only had room for a mini fridge which was pushed in the corner.
"So I'm guessing your Callie and your Jason," he said, pointing to each of us with the end of his pen as he said our names.
We both nodded.
"So what do you guys like to do?" he asked, clearly trying to start conversation.
Neither of us said anything.
"C'mon. Do you play any sports, Jason?"
"I play basketball. I'm not very good, though," he mumbled.
"What about you?" he said pointing to me.
"I don't really do the whole excercise thing," I said.
"Are you in any clubs at school?" he asked.
We both shook our heads.
"Okay, look. I get it that going to a therapist on a Friday afternoon is not exactly a fun idea at all, but I promise if you get passed the fact that I am a phsycologist and think of this more as you coming to talk with a friend, I think you'll get more out of this. I don't want to just question you with stuff that your mom is trying to get out of you, I want to get to know you as a person. And don't call me Mr. Hunter or Dr. Hunter oranything like that, call me Ryan," he said.
We both stared at him.
"Tell me three things about yourself, Callie."
"Um, I like art, um I guess I like listening to music, and sometimes reading I guess." I'm really not an interesting person.
"What about you, Jason?" he asked.
He stayed silent and stared at his shoes. Ryan sat patiently and waited for a response. After a couple minutes Jason finally spoke.
"I don't really know," he said.
"Okay well they could be simple things like, oh, how old are you?" he asked.
"Seventeen."
"Okay, um, well I already know your a basketball player so we just need one more thing."
"I went to the ER yesterday and had a camera stuck down my throat," Jason said bluntly.
"There! Three things! Okay now I'll tell you three things about me. I was born in Germany, I'm a huge fan of basketball, though I suck at it, and I have a little brother who is an author," he said with enthusiasm.
We sat in awkward silence for a while. Ryan began scribbling some things down on a piece of paper in a folder.
"So you said you like music, Callie. Do you play any instruments?" he asked.
"No, I just like listening to it. My favorite band is Two Door Cinema Club," I said.
"Really? I've heard of them, but never any of their music. I'll have to check them out," he said. I bet you anything he could care less, but he just wanted to sound like he had an interest. Chances are he never even looked them up.
"Do you like music, too?" he asked Jason.
"I guess," he said.
Ryan nodded and proceeded to write something down. I followed Jason's gaze and realized he was staring at the clock on the wall, probably counting the minutes until he could leave.
"So tell me one thing you have had to overcome in your life. It doesn't have to be big, just something you overcame," he said looking between the two of us. I figured Jason wasn't going to say anything until he was made to so I finally came up with something.
"I had to move last year from my mom and step dad to live with my real dad and Jason," I said.
"How long have you lived with your dad?" he asked.
"Well my dad is in jail right now so only for a couple weeks or so. I live with Jason and his mom right now."
"Oh wow. That's pretty big. What about you Jason? Can you beat that?" Ryan asked.
"Probably not," Jason mumbled.
That was one of those moments that I wanted to punch him in the face and yell at him to tell the truth. I knew he didn't want to be here, but the least he could do was say something worth listening to.
"I'm sure you can think of something, Jason. How about you just think about the past year or two instead of your whole life. Maybe that would be easier. Like I said, it doesn't really have to be big."
Jason continued to stare at the clock on the wall as Ryan searched his face for an answer.
"Can I go now?" he finally asked.
"Well we still have twenty minutes and your mom isn't here to take you yet," Ryan said.
Jason stayed silent.
"Callie, how about you say something that your brother has overcome that effected you," Ryan said.
I stared at Jason, hoping he would say something or atleast gave me a sign as to whether I should answer or not, but he stared at the floor. Finally I spoke.
"He took care of me while our Dad was missing for a while," I said. I figured that wouldn't cross the line, even though I wish Jason would have said something about nearly dieing last year, but overcoming it. He didn't though and I couldn't make him.
"Wow, I'd say that's definently something pretty big," Ryan said.
Jason nodded but didn't lift his eyes from the ground.
"Do you guys want something to drink?" Ryan asked as he stood up and knelt down to the mini fridge.
"No thank you," I said.
"Jason?"
"I'm okay," Jason said.
"Okay, well help yourself if you guys want anything."
"Thanks," I said.
"Name one thing that you did today that you enjoyed," Ryan said as he sat back down.
At first, I didn't say anything because I was tired of being the only one answering these questions. I nudged Jason's foot with mine and he looked at me. I gave him a look that clearly meant for him to say something. He finally looked up, but not at Ryan, instead, out the window.
"Jason, I understand you don't want to be here, but I need you to talk to me or else we aren't going to get anything done. Just tell me something about you. Anything you want.," Ryan pleaded.
"I don't even know. I really can't think of anything, okay?" Jason said with impatience.
Ryan nodded and looked down at his papers. Jason began biting his nails. What was up with him? I started to wonder why he was doing this. He never was this way around anyone, even me.
"Okay, so the only thing I can think of as to why you are having trouble coming up with anything is because your not allowing yourself to. Sometimes people lock up when someone in the past has betrayed them or done something to hurt them so they no longer feel they can trust someone. I don't know if this applies to you at all, but I want you to know something. The mind is a powerful thing. We can think something and tell ourselves something so much that we actually believe it. We can also tell ourselves something isn't true or isn't really happening, so much that we believe it. I'm starting to think that your not acting this way because you don't want to be here, but because you've told yourself something or you've believed something so much that your mind isn't allowing you to think in this environment or even just at this time. Does this sound anything like what your feeling?"
"Maybe. I just really don't want to talk about stuff right now. I just have too much going on," Jason said.
"And do you have too much going on in your head or in your life?" Ryan questioned.
Jason sat silent for a minute, but this wasn't the silence he had had before. This was a deep thinking kind of silence.
"Both."