Vaughn

"No, it's fine Mrs. Lockhart... I really couldn't accept an offer such as that." I humbly replied for the 5th time as the plump blonde woman huffed a bit at me.

"But Dr. Ackerman, you do such great work! I would love it if you would accompany me to my vacation home as well. I'd have much more free time to see you and you could help me destress and relax." She cooed in her most flattering tone, clearly buttering me up for something that I could never agree to. I resisted the urge to exhale dramatically as I gazed at my watch. I tensed my shoulders when I saw that she was well over her time limit, trying my best to think of a way to shoo her from my office.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Lockhart-"

"You can call me miss, I'm a widow."

Wow, Zoe wasn't kidding about the middle aged women. I never really took it to heart before, but now she was interfering with other business.

"-I'm afraid that wouldn't be very professional of me, I'll have to decline." I said with the politest smile in my arsenal. My hand gently but swiftly twisted the doorknob to my private office as I opened the door for her. "Although, you're free to see me anytime during your vacation, as long as you come here."

"...I guess that's fine." She begrudgingly gave in after nearly 20 minutes of persuasion, clasping her purse in hand and tugging on her jacket. With her plans thoroughly foiled, she tossed her hair over her shoulders and I offered a hand to help her up. Unbeknownst to me, Ms. Lockhart didn't seem to know that you're supposed to let go of a person's hand after you're on your feet. As a result, I had to escort her all the way down the hallway towards the front as she grasped my hand like it was her lifeline.

Was she planning on holding my hand in this death grip all the way to the front door?

As I was just about to make a large 'goodbye' announcement for Zoe to swoop in and save me, I noticed the brooding figure leaning against the main desk. The dark choice of clothing was a dead give away that it was my favorite new teenage client.

He was here... and on time.

Fretful green eyes peeked out under a layer of brown bangs and a Nike cap. A feeling of unease found its way into the pit of my stomach as I caught him looking our way. Although, just as quick as I had caught him staring, he turned away.

"-Course we'll see to it that he's free at that time." A cheerful voice that I recognized immediately as Zoe's rang in my ear. I tore my gaze away from Leigh and tuned back into the conversation, just in time to see Ms. Lockhart blow a kiss in our direction as she stepped outside. As the door pulled shut, Zoe quickly got into gear and readdressed Leigh.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Mayfair. We're really cutting it close with your appointment time here, and you even got here so early..." She exclaimed apologetically as she typed, handing the boy a clipboard.

"It's fine." He replied and reached over to grab the board, routinely signing his name. However, despite his words, he looked visibly pissed. I just stood there speechless and shifted my weight from foot to foot. Zoe had handled the situation so well that I wanted to commend her, I didn't even have to say anything. I was supposed to be meeting Leigh in my office, but now I was forced to awkwardly wait at the front desk for him to finish signing in.

"Dr. Ackerman will see you now." Zoe gestured respectively in my direction and I suddenly felt like a spotlight came on. With eyes on me I felt obligated to say something as the shorter male adjusted his bag strap on his shoulder and began to make his way over.

"Um... again, I apologize for just now. Some of my clients are real big talkers." I explained as we headed down the hallway. Leigh was keeping pace this time and shot me the most scathing look I'd ever seen.

"It's okay. Although, I've never seen someone treat a grown woman like a toddler in a parking lot." He muttered sarcastically, "Unless you escort all your clients hand-in-hand to the door."

My God, this kid will be the death of me one day.

I froze with my back to him as I pushed open the door to my office, glancing back over my shoulder.

"Y'know i'm surprised you even turned up today, after last time. Although your tongue seems sharper than usual, so I'm guessing something made you upset."

The brunet wordlessly averted his gaze as I stood aside to let him in. His body language was quite rigid as he plopped down on the couch and pulled his knees up to his chest. I took this in stride as I walked to my desk and sat down, eyeing the frown on my client's face with caution. I wasn't sure how to initiate conversation this time. Any attempt at prying might get quickly shut down, but I had to at least take the temperature of the situation.

"So Leigh, how are you?"

"Peachy." He growled, his arms crossed firmly as he laid back into the couch.

"How about school?"

"Things are fine."

Things were not fine. He was obviously aggravated, but it would be like pulling teeth if I wanted him to spit it out. As well as, just asking him would get me nowhere. I contemplated what angle I should take before recalling that I assigned him 'homework.'

"Did you write what I asked you to last session?"

A halfhearted 'yeah' escaped his lips as he leaned down and dug around in his bookbag, pulling out the notebook in surprisingly good condition. I graciously accepted it from him as he returned to his grumpy state.

"Alright, let's see what you wrote for today."

I flipped open the cover to the first page, a bit shocked to see more than a sentence and even a few doodles in the margins. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, but the neat little paragraph that greeted me was more than a welcome surprise.

"Thank you for indulging in my requests, Leigh. It means a lot that you took the time out to do this." I added courteously to which he looked a little uncomfortable.

"Uh sure, whatever..."

It didn't matter if I seemed a little weird for thanking him so profusely, I was admittedly excited. I cleared my throat and began at the top of the page, reading aloud so I could discuss with him and ask questions.

"I woke up this morning with my will to go to school in the negatives-" I nodded understandably at this, noting the same behavior in a lot of my adult clientele in regards to work. "-but I went anyway because being at home alone is just as bad. My day was exceptionally awful because I had Spanish first period. Conjugations can go shove it."

I glanced at Leigh who just shrugged and mumbled under his breath.

"At least it's honesty."

My eyes flickered back to the notebook as I continued where I left off.

"I got bored so I laid my head down on my desk. Ms. Dawson told me to stop sleeping or leave her classroom, so I called her a- I blinked and slowed down midread, the high levels of disapproval quite evident in my tone, -Grade A Fucktrumpet, and left."

There was silence among us as I paused and set down the notebook. It spanned for more than a few minutes before I let out a drawled out sigh and pinched the spot between my eyes. 

"...Leigh."

"No, don't say it. Don't say anything at all."