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“True,” I tell her.
“You were already getting orders before you met Micah in the flesh.”
“Also true.”
I keep nodding. What she says makes sense. Sure, the interview where I met Micah may have jumpstarted it some more, but even then, people didn’t know we were dating because we weren’t.
“So in reality, what happened is that people saw your design on Athena and loved it. They loved it so much that even though your video wasn’t even about Athena’s outfit, they contacted you about the outfit anyway. Right?”
“True. Yes, that happened.”
“Then even if people see you doing an interview and they ask you about your boyfriend, you’re not twisting their arm to buy your product, are you?”
“No.” A smile starts to take over my face, and I let out a deep breath of relief. “I feel better. Thank you. The pressure is unreal, and Micah’s gone to an away game, so there’s that distance between us that doesn’t help.”
“How is your relationship with Micah? This distance you’re talking about, you miss him?”
The back of my neck heats. What Micah says is true. What we have is overpowering. I can get so consumed in it that it feels like there’s no one else in the world but us. Sitting on that bench on the beach with hundreds of other people there, it still felt like us.
“It’s a little overwhelming,” I admit.
“Your feelings for him?”
“That. And his feelings for me. And the gifts he sends, and the private plane talk, and the… You haven’t been around him before, he’s overwhelming. It’s hard to think about anything else when he’s around.”
Lauren licks her lips and shifts in her seat. “How do your friends and family feel about him?”
“They like him. He flew my grandfather in for a game on a private plane. I’m pretty sure he made his whole life.”
The area between her eyes pinches. “And how did you guys get to know each other? After the interview, I mean?”
“He asked me out in the green room, and I said no. I thought he was only being nice because of the video where I practically professed my love for him. But then he showed up at the store the next day, and?—”
“He showed up at the store the next day? After you told him no?”
“Yeah, he doesn’t really take no for an answer.”
“Hmm.”
Lauren sits back and writes some notes in the planner on her lap.
“I was taken aback at first,” I say, trying to smooth things over. “But then I got to know him better at the fundraiser.”
She nods, still writing things down. “This fundraiser? Did you know he was going to be there?”
I have to hide a smile because I can only imagine what notes she’s taking. He does sound completely unhinged, like Briar said about Reid, and Jo’s story, too.
I can keep trying to defend him, but I’m only going to make him sound worse. The lifelike dildo, the fact that I can’t come without him. It all sounds completely insane.
“Maybe we should talk about something else,” I say.
“If you want.”
But she continues to take more notes, and I have a pretty good feeling there’s no way that’s going to be the end of that discussion.
Micah pursued me in ways that defy normal behavior. I get that. But I needed it. The little girl who was never chosen needed it.
That doesn’t change the fact that I might have to switch therapists now, since this one thinks I clearly can’t see the red flags.