"Healing isn't linear and a bad day isn't a bad life"

Song- Good ole days; Macklemore

"So am I supposed to lay down and tell you my sob story or something?" I break the silence by asking. I'm in the therapist office which is large with one wall full of windows. I sit on the couch across from Julie, my therapist who sits in a arm chair with a notebook and a pen.

Her hair was in a perfect bun and she was wearing a pencil skirt with a blouse that had no wrinkles. She made me feel like a mess in my jeans and t-shirt with my dirty converse. Sara dropped me off with Ella in the back seat.

"We can talk about whatever you want but I have the feeling it's going to take a little more than one session for you to open up." She informs me, taking a sip of her coffee. I drum my fingers on my legs and look around the room. There's a desk on the other side of the room with many certificates hung behind it. "Why don't you tell me about your friend group?"

"Well there's Theo, my twin who's like a walking ball of energy." I start to say "and Grayson, my little brother. He's completely awkward but everyone loves him."

She listens intently, nodding her head as I talk. She raises her glasses onto her head as I continue.

"Connor is Grayson age and is like another brother to me. Miles is the best listener, a total genius and gives the best advice." I lean back on the couch a little as I ramble on. "Bri is the sweetest person ever. She almost always has her nose in a book. She's like the good angel on my shoulder."

I don't know why but I felt extremely comfortable talking about all my friends to a stranger. Anything was better than talking about myself and my friends are the best topic since I'm always around them.

"Then theirs Addie. She's like the devil on my other shoulder. She's so bold and is never afraid to express herself." Julie nods, clicking her pen a couple times. "And Asher. We have a love hate relationship that's mostly hate. He flirts with every girl under the moon and acts all tough but he's sweet deep, deep down."

"Anyone else?" She questions, raising a brow. I toy with my necklace Cam got me and nodded.

"Cameron. He's my best friend. I've know him since Theo and I were born and we've been inseparable since."

"Is he like a brother to you also, just like Connor?" For some reason her question brings disgust in me. I scrunch up my nose and shake my head.

"No, we're different. I don't really know how to explain our relationship. He knows everything about me and I know everything about him. He can make me smile by just looking at me but he also drives me insane most days." I say to her, crossing my legs and then uncrossing them.

"I'm glad you have someone like that. A whole group of friends to support you through this." Julie softly smiles I go on to tell her stories about how I met them all and us growing up. I finish talking right when her timer beeps. "Well it look like that's all the time we have left today, but Marlee?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a little homework for you" she sits up straighter and I do the same. "You described all of your friends in wonderful ways but I haven't heard you do the same about yourself. So before next week, I would like you to write 5 things you like about yourself. It can be physical or personality wise."

"Okay" I stand up, fixing my shirt.

"I got you this journal, you can use it for anything. Write about your day or what you're feeling." She hands me a black journal with a string tied around it. I take it from her with a grateful smile. "See you next week."

I say goodbye and leave her office, walking down a long hall to the elevator. When I get outside I spot Cam in his truck. Walking over to it, he smiles and waves. When I get in and buckle my seat, he starts driving.

"How was it?" He asks cautiously, glancing at me through the corner of his eyes.

"Okay" I hold the journal in my hands.

"Wanna get food?" He grins, looking over at me before looking at the road again.

"Is that even a question."

"So who's going first?" Bri asks, holding a golf club in her hand. The moon was bright, shining on the mini golf course. Besides us and the workers, the place was practically deserted.

"Me! Me! Me!" Theo raises his hand and jumps up and down a bunch.

"I think Theo wants to go first." Addie says sarcastically.

"Really? I don't think so." Miles plays along. Theo slouches down, his bottom lip sticking out.

"I do" he says in the most tiny voice possible. We all laugh and let him hit the ball.

After a few holes we gave up on the traditional way of mini golf and instead we're trying to hit the animal statues in random places at each hole. I hit one right in the elephants trunk at the last hole.

We did random shots until Asher accidentally hit Theo in the nose causing it to bleed and the workers kicked us out for "goofing off.".

Since we left so early we decided to pick Gray and Connor and head to the arcade. When we got their we all split up to play different games. I went against Asher in a racing game.

"I won again!" I cheer, sticking my tongue out at him.

"I hate you." He shakes his head, standing up. "Someone else play with her, I'm sick of losing."

"Fine, I will." Miles mumbles, sitting next to me. I beat him a couple times so he quits and we move to a different game.

"Lee! Come here!" Cam calls, waving me where he was. When I reach him, he basically bounces on his toes. "Look!" He points to the dance game with a wide smile.

"Omg I forgot about this!" I say. Cam and I were the champs at the dance game. We had the highest score for years until we got older and didn't come here as much. "We have to play."

"Obviously." He puts a token in and steps on. I stand on the other side. "You think we can beat our high score?"

"Obviously" I mimic him. The countdown on the screen ends and the music starts. We jump around, hitting all the different spots the screen told us too. At the end Cam lifted me in the air, a trick we learned when we were 8. He sat me down and the song turned off. We were both out of breath and red in the face.

"Bravo!" Theo claps, I turn and see all of our friends clapping teasingly. I interlock Cams hand with mine and we bow.

Addie and Miles whistle while the rest of them cheer. We earn strange looks from the rest of the people in the arcade but ignore them. "Thank you, thank you."

😭