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Andromeda took a sip of her coffee, attempting to feel the caffeine press its way into her mind. She needed to be ready and alert â she was getting there.
âSo Mrs.-â
âYou can just call me Kate.â The middle aged-woman interrupted. She had dark hair that fell straight down her back like frozen water, there seemed to be a large amount of product in it. âAre you sure youâre old enough to be offering therapy to my Brayden?â She asked with a privileged tone holding her sonâs head in her hands in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position for him.
Andromeda took a second to look at the boy, he looked not frightened but anxious, like a caged animal but not one that was ready to resort to violence. His mother on the other hand looked like a twig supporting the weight of a fully grown mastiff.
Andi needed to diffuse.
âKate,â she started, her eyes slowly shifting from the son to his mother. âDo you think Brayden and I could speak alone for a few minutes?â She asked, her voice light as if she was speaking to a child.
âI donât know if thatâs a good idea, Doctor.â Kate immediately shot back as if she had spent the past decade of her life working as a therapist.
âI do,â Andromeda said, not breaking her eye contact from Kate. Kate looked at her for only a second before breaking eye contact and nodding. She said a few quiet words to her son before departing, leaving Brayden alone with his therapist. He fiddled with his hands a little bit, biting his cuticle, it seemed like he had cut it a little bit. His right hand had a band-aid on the knuckle, most definitely recent. He wore clothes that were definitely picked out by his mother. A button up shirt she'd expect of someone three times his age, his hair very neatly combed and gelled, khaki pants. No eight year old wore khaki pants as a choice.
After a few moments of silence, Andi moved out from behind her desk, expertly grabbing a lollipop from a small tray hidden behind her computer monitor before kneeling down so she met Braydenâs eye line. She handed him the sweet and met his eyes, he smiled a little bit and she mirrored his expression. âIâll tell you what Brayden is that what you friends call you?â
âThey call me Bray.â He said, unskillfully unwrapping the candy and plopping it into his mouth, leaving his poor cuticles alone for the time being.
âDo you think I could call you Bray?â She asked with a curious intonation.
âYeah, we can be friends too.â Bray said looking at the window, Andi smiled.
âOkay, then you can call me Andi â thatâs what my friends call me, okay?â She asked, he looked back at her with the smallest amazement.
âOkay.â He said, still making eye contact, nodding a little absentmindedly.
âSo Bray, I heard you got into trouble at school last week,â Andi said, carefully watching his eyes. As soon as she mentioned trouble, his eyes moved from her gaze to the corner of his vision, his head turning slightly. She let the silence hang in the air for a few seconds.
And then a minute.
Bray looked upset, but she just kept her gaze ever so gently on him, before finally he turned back to Andi.
Andi dusted off some of her things as Kate re-entered the room she found the therapist sitting back at her desk and her son, content with his lollipop. She glanced at him sitting down and petting his head like he was a beagle.
âOkay Bray, your mummy and I are just going to talk about some grown up stuff, why donât you go play out in the lobby for a couple seconds?â Andi said with a giant grin on her face. Bray got up and ran out to the small brainteaser toys that were located in the lobby, still well within the small area restricted to the therapistsâ patients.
âSo? Whatâs going on with my son?â Kate asked impatiently glancing at Andromeda as if she was her won disappointing daughter.
âNothing out of the ordinary. He was being picked on and he fought back, Iâd talk to him about using his words and speak to the teacher about making sure another student isnât picking on him but other than that you should be fine.â Andromeda took a second to look at Kate once more, taking another sip of her coffee. âHe definitely doesnât need therapy, just a bit more support.â
A glare passed over Kateâs eyes, quickly but altogether still present. For a moment she mustâve considered lashing out. She was almost certainly giving him all the support in the world. But she decided against it and held her anger back. âWell Doctor, thanks for your opinion. Weâll be sure to get a second one before speaking to his teachers. She said, picking up her bag in an overly dramatic fashion and carting her son off to go someplace else.
Andi leaned back in her chair, her arms slouching to her side as she absent mindedly made a Bras dâhonneur to alleviate some of the pent up anger.
He was a good kid though.
Shaking her mouse in order to wake up her computer, she wrote down a few notes about the session should Bray ever come back.
She leaned back in her chair and glanced at her calendar. Her day was empty and it was still the early morning. She sighed and leaned back even further until the chair creaked under the pressure. She snagged a lollipop and put it in her mouth with a slight grin. The air in Edgetoun was different than back home, not that she'd been home recently. But it felt uniquely full of opportunity. She never had any love for the politics of her people, nor their natures as self-serving brats. Instead, she liked people, even people like Kate. Sure, they were still ignorant and filled to the brim with false importance, there wasn't a doubt about that. But at the same time they were looking out for each other. Kate was a mother worried for her son, her son wanted to make friends. There was a purity about them.
âIâm bored.â The Fae groaned leaning even further back in her chair, before she felt her weight completely shift. She threw her arms out wildly but all the same she crashed into the ground, smacking the back of her head off the wall with a dull thud.
"Fuuuuuuck." Andi sighed rubbing her head.