549 V2 ch21 (1/2)

”It's not wrong of you to tell them that you don't know.” Dr. Moore pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. ”An alternative to 'I don't know' is a 'we'll see'. It groups you and the questioning party together and put you on the same side.”

”I guess.” I sighed.

Noah started to pull his lunch out, placing it on the desk. ”You don't mind if we eat here, do you?”

Dr. Moore laughed. ”No problem.” He pulled a drawer open and pulled out a brown-sacked lunch. ”I eat in here too.”

”You don't eat with the other teachers and stuff?” Noah asked.

He shook his head, opening his lunch. ”I like to stay in my office when you kiddos have your breaks. You never know who might come by unannounced.”

”Do a lot of students come by?” I asked, wanting to know.

He raised an eyebrow. ”Define 'a lot'?”

I shrugged. I just wanted to know if there were more kids like me, struggling, and needed the help of a therapist.

He sighed. ”It's not a big number compared to other schools, but the number is higher than I like. In a perfect world, no child or teenager would need a therapist.” He looked at me. ”Does it make you feel better knowing that others need to see me too?”

Embarrassed, I turned to my lunch, trying to avoid eye contact.

Dr. Moore laughed. ”It's okay if you feel that way. Nothing wrong with it. No one wants to feel alone.” He opened his banana. ”So what did you want to talk about before?”

I shrunk. ”More Jeremy stuff. I talked it out though, I think.”

”Oh?”

”With Zeke.” Noah said between bites of his sandwich.

”Interesting. Why don't you tell me what's going on and how you're handling it?” Dr. Moore relaxed into his seat and ate his food.

I swallowed. ”Well...I just feel disconnected from Jeremy. We've spoken a few times. A few texts. But, it doesn't feel like a normal brother-brother relationship.”

He nodded, silently telling me to continue.

”I, I, I mentioned it with Noah and Zeke. Zeke said I should have a more in-depth conversation with him. Since I don't know anything about him and he doesn't know anything about me.” I told him all about the conversation we had in the living room.

Dr. Moore didn't interrupt and waited patiently for me to finish. After I told him what we talked about the game, he got his notepad out and started to take notes. ”Good. Good. That's great. To improve relationships of any kind, it requires communication between both parties.”

”He's coming by for dinner on Sunday night.” I added.

”How do you feel about it?”

”A little awkward. A stranger coming over for dinner.” I told him.

”If I may suggest...have some alone time with him.” Dr. Moore said. ”Only if you want to, that is. Both of you might be more willing to open up without an audience.”

”Anything you want.” He smiled. ”Try to make a list of everything you want to know about him. You can add to it as you think of more questions. And then on the reverse side, you can add what you want to tell him. What you want him to know about you.”

Noah's phone vibrated, cutting our talk short. ”It's Kaylee! She has her and her friend's release form. We have a team!” He jumped up and packed his lunch. Then stopped. He looked at me. ”Do you mind if we go?”

I smiled and packed up what was left of my lunch. ”Yea, I just wanted to catch Dr. Moore up on what's happening.”

”I'll be here for lunch, Monday through Friday.” Dr. Moore told me. ”You have my number if any emergency crops up. Enjoy the rest of your lunch.”

”Sure! Thanks!” Noah opened up the door and walked out first.