AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so before you guys read this, I just wanted to say that I symptom of dating a sociopath is that the relationship moves VERY quickly. Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy. :) <3
Mary's POV
----------------------------------------------2 months later-------------------------------------------------------------
I walk through the front doors of my house and immediately just flop onto my bed.
It's not like I didn't know that being a psychologist would be hard work; I always expected that. And I told myself that I would be ready for it. That it would be worth it.
But it's still not anything that I've expected.
When I thought about having a real job in this, I thought that it would be interesting. To be able to dwelve deeper into the minds of so many different people so I can truly help and understand them.
But it's so stressful.
Yes, I make over a hundred dollars an hour. But I'm working 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. And each patient is 1 hour. And there are different patients almost everyday.
But that's not what's stressing me out.
The worst part is that I feel like I'm the only thing that's holding their life together. It makes me feel like if I make even one simple mistake and tell someone the wrong thing, they might take their own life.
Even after years of Psychology, I just now realized that I will never ever be able to understand the complexity of the human mind.
It's just not that simple and it never will be.
But it's just that I feel like I can't really help them. Or if I can, what if I'm not helping them enough?
I've always been told that the last thing I should do in this program is to get attached to the patients. I'm supposed to keeping a professional appearance for their sake.
But it's still really difficult.
Mainly because my therapist that I used to go to ditched me as well. It happened randomly. Out of nowhere. She never called me back when I missed an appointment.
Just showed how much she cared.
That's honestly one of the main reason that I wanted to be a psychologist. I wanted to be there for someone because there was no one there for me.
The sound of my cell phone ringing brings me out of the thoughts...thankfully. I don't know how much I could have handled this.
Without looking at who was calling, I put the cellphone to my ear and mumbled a tired,"What?" into the speaker.
There's a laughter and then a deep, melodic voice on the other line,"Nice to talk to you too, then."
I immediately smile,"Hey, Kevin."
We've started seeing eachother again several weeks ago. It's been so amazing. He hasn't been acting strange at all lately and everytime we're together, he acts like it's the first time he's laid his eyes on me.
"Hey, babe.", he says,"You got any plans tonight?"
"Nope.", I say,"Why?"
"Let me take you out.", he says, succinctly.
"Hmmm, depends.", I say in a teasing manner.
"Alright.", he feins surrender,"What can I do to make you come to dinner with me?"
I giggle into the phone,"Where is it?"
"The Delight.", he says.
"What?", I sit up in bed,"That place is so expensive. You need to make reservations days before so you can even get in."
"That's why I was hoping I'd get lucky if you said yes, today.", he tells me in a very charming way.
His charm is undeniably smooth and I know why.
But still, I've always wanted to go to The Delight. It's the most elite restaurant in town.
"What time?", I ask him.
"Does 7 sound good?", he asks.
I look over at the clock. It's 5:45 right now.
"Yep.", I tell him,"That's perfect. I'll meet you there soon."
"Great.", he says and hangs up.
Suddenly, all of the exhaustion that I was feeling before is gone. Right now, all I'm thinking about is getting ready for our date.
The Delight is literally a block away, so I have plenty of time planning out what I'm going to wear.
Ever since I got my job, Kevin and I haven't been able to spend that much time together. I knew that it made him upset, but he didn't say anything. Probably because he knows how important this is to me.
I walk over to my closet and start rummaging. Bits and pieces of clothing and belts begin to fall off easily. Wow, I really have to clean this place up.
Meh...mayble later. Besides, I have more important things to worry about right now.
Hmm, there's a black maxi dress with beading and red dress that goes to my knees.
I decide that the black dress is a bit too formal, even for The Delight, so I grab the red dress off of the hanger and lay it on my bed.
I peel off my clothes and hop into the shower. Letting the warm water completely soak me so that I don't have to be worried about anything.
As cliche as this sounds, showers are a very good time to just think about life. Not really the stressful things, just somethings that I should or shouldn't do. And even if they should be causing me stress, I never really worry about it.
The first thing that comes into my mind is why I didn't tell my mom that I'm with Kevin again....
When we were younger, Kevin came to my house to meet my family soon after I met his. My parents loved him. They found him charming and quite smart. But of course he knows how to charm and manipulate people in a very cunning manner. It's in his nature.
But as soon as "the incident", my mother has hated Kevin with all of her might. I moved out and although I do talk to her on occasion, I've been having less and less time talking to her because of work and well...because I'm with Kevin.
I know that she won't approve of my dating him again and I don't want to make her upset. Even though I know, deep down, that I'm hurting her more by not saying anything, I just don't think that it's the right time for her to know about us.
Speaking of which, I wonder if Kevin has told Eva about us...
Eva was like a mother to me. We'd talk about almost anything and she treated me like she treated Celie.
Does she know??
I realize that I've been standing here for too long because I just noticed that I'm not even washing myself. I'm just standing here; oh wow.
I quickly turn off the faucet, wrap my hair in the towel and walk outside to my bedroom to slip the red dress over my still-wet body. Oh well, hopefully it will dry up soon.
The clock now reads 6:40. Oh wow, the time went by much faster than I had expected.
I grab my jacket, cell phone and head out.
It's quite warm today, with the cool breeze helping to dry off my hair. It's literally the perfect weather.
"Mary?"
I stop in my tracks and look at the person standing in front of me,"...Denny?"
He looks at his feet,"....Hey, Mary..."
Oh my gosh, I almost forgot about him. I stopped talking to him completely....
"Denny....I'm so...I...", I stutter, unable to get the words out.
"Don't worry about it.", he says,"But can I at least ask you why?...You didn't even tell me anything. You just stopped responding to me. The least you could have done was to give me some closure."
I purse my lips. He's right. It was completely awful of me to not have contacted him even once after I started seeing Kevin again. No matter how much it would have hurt him. He deserved closure.
"I'm so....so sorry, Denny.", I say quietly,"It's just that I didn't know how to break it off from you. You're a great guy and I didn't want to hurt you.....but I guess that me not saying anything hurt you even more."
He looks at me and doesn't say anything. But he didn't have to. His silence was enough of an answer to me.
God, I feel like such a bitch.
He looks at me again and looks at my dress. He seems even more hurt now.
"...There was another guy...wasn't there?", he finally asks.
I don't say anything.
"...Well, I guess that answers that question. But I have one more.", he says.
"What is it?", I have to answer this question. I can't leave him without closure again. It really wouldn't be fair.
"Why did you go out with me if you never had feelings for me?", he asks in a concise manner.
I bite my lip in hesitation,"I...I did start to like you. But there was someone who has been in my mind for years now. And...I wasn't able to get him out of my head. I ended up running into him again and we..."
"So you used me?", he interrupted me,"Just to move on?"
"No, no.", I exclaim,"It wasn't that at all. It was 5 years before I started seeing anyone else after him. You were the only guy who was kind and patient."
There's a small moment of silence that passes between us before I continue,"And I'm sorry...but I can't stop loving him. Denny, I'm so...so sorry for what I did to you."
There's silence. He doesn't even look at me this time.
He just walks away.
Okay...that hurt. But I guess I deserved it. I did the same thing to him.
I continue walking to The Delight and I'm there in a matter of minutes. Kevin's waiting outside for me.
A smile immediately comes onto my face,"Hey, Kevin."
He smirks as he looks me up and down,"You look amazing."
Blush creeps to my cheeks,"Thanks...You look pretty nice yourself."
"C'mon.", he says, motioning inside,"They're already got the table ready."
I nod and let him lead me in by slipping his arm across my waist. Everything that he does just brings back old memories. When the two of us were in high school, we'd rarely hold hands. He'd mostly put his arm across my waist or my shoulder. But I liked it better that way and I'm really glad that he hasn't changed at all in that way.
We take our seats and the waiter fills our glass with wine.
"Are you sure you can handle wine?", he asks, sarcastically,"Even after what happened last time?"
I jokingly stick my tounge out at him and take a sip.
"So, how's work going?", he asks me.
"Pretty good.", I say,"Really stressful, obviously. But it's what I signed up for. And I'm going to stick with it. Besides, I put in way too much hard work to just throw it all away. How's yours?"
"Oh, you know.", he tells me,"The usual. People drink. They throw up. I make Gary clean all of it."
I roll my eyes and laugh,"You're a good worker, aren't you?"
"Good enough that they still keep me around.", he says.
I look around, really noticing how fancy this place actually is. There are at least 5 glass chandeleirs and fire places set up all around the corners. The wine is in a gold-rimmed glass and by even just looking at the place, you'll think that you have to pay a fine.
"Alright.", I finally say,"How the hell did you afford to get us one night here?"
He raises his eyebrows,"I have ways."
"You're not going to tell me are you?", I say with a smile.
"Can't reveal my secrets now can I?", he says a little more quietly.
"Alright.", I surrender,"You can keep that secret to yourself. But I have one more question that I need an answer to."
He raises his eyebrows and waits for me to continue.
"What's the special occasion?", I ask in an excited tone.
He smirks,"You'll see."
"Oh c'mon.", I pout,"Can't I at least have a hint?"
He motions to our surroundings,"This place is a huge hint itself."
"Okay.", I begin,"But you promise you'll tell me at the end of our dinner?"
"Of course.", he says.
I smile, knowing that this is all for a very special occasion. It makes my stomach jump knowing that the fact that we're right here in the most elite restaurant in town isn't the only surprise that he has for me.
The waiter soon comes with our food and we start to talk about everything and anything. That's honestly one of the main reasons that I love being with Kevin. No matter where we are, we are always able to talk to eachother about anything. No matter what we're talking about, it always makes out to be a very interesting conversation.
He'll tell me stories about drunk people who commit the most mortifying deeds and he's even admitted to taking some videos and posting it online. Not gonna lie...I'm not surprised that he would do something like that.
It's still quite humorous though.
When the waiter returns to pick up our plates, I tell him that he has to keep up his part of the deal.
"Okay, spill.", I say with a smile,"What was the special occasion for???"
He smiles and gets up. He reaches into his pocket and then gets down on one knee.
My heart stops and I stop breathing.
Oh my god, is this really happening?
The tables around us all get very quiet and I can feel their gaze burning into my skin.
"Mary. Ever since I met you in high school, I knew that their was something about you that I needed in my life. I know I've made some...mistakes in my life. But you cared enough to give me another chance. I don't want to lose you in my life. I love you."
I don't say anything. But the emotion I'm feeling is still pleasant.
"Mary.", he finishes,"Will you marry me?"
By now, most of the restaurant is completely quiet and even the waiters have stopped what they're doing to take in the scene.
I cover my mouth and stand up. Could this really be happening. We've only been seeing eachother less than two months.
But still.
Even before that, I could see myself with him. For the rest of my life.
I suddenly start to laugh and cry at the same time. And I now know how I want to answer.
"....yes..", I nod,"Yes, Kevin I will marry you..."
The restaurant errupts with applause and Kevin pulls me into an embrace. I cling on to him as if he's my only life line.
He pulls away first, takes my left hand and slowly slides the silver ring onto my ring finger.