Page 26 of The Sandbar saga

Chapter 10

The teenager near thestatue in the park put his hands on his girlfriend's butt and kissed her. Katie turned her head slightly, so Dr. C couldn't tell she was watching them. Every once in a while, she could see their tongues in each other's mouths.

She'd never seen someone kiss that way in public. The older girls at school claimed they kissed their boyfriends with their tongue and liked it, and she thought they were lying. The boys from Jesuit—the all-boy school across town—were shy when they visited the school for dances and sometimes for the girls' basketball games.

At least none of them ever talked to her.

The teenage boy half turned, moving his hand between his body and his girlfriend's stomach. Katie's head pounded from having her eyeballs straining to see without anyone noticing she was looking. He was touching his girlfriend's boob!

She shifted on the bench. It felt like she had to pee, but she'd gone to the bathroom before Dr. C picked her up for their Tuesday meeting.

Dr. C tapped her arm. "Are you going to answer my question?"

She jolted. "Uh..."

"Why are you so distracted today?"

Her heart raced, and she stared at the couple grinding against each other. "I'm not."

"Then, how are you doing in math class?"

"Fine." She worked her lips together and glanced at him. "I passed my test."

"Excellent." He paused. "Do you want to walk while we talk?"

"No." She breathed hard, feeling funny watching the couple make-out with each other, but she liked it, too. "I'm tired."

"Hm." Dr. C chuckled. "I assume St. Mary's doesn't give you the opportunity to see what happens outside of the school."

She glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"The boy and girl kissing." He paused. "It's natural. It's what two people do when they like each other."

"I don't think I could stick my tongue in someone else's mouth without throwing up." She sagged against the back of the bench. "Can boys tell when a girl would get sick?"

"Maybe some boys." He stretched his legs out in front of him. "Don’t worry about what you will and won't do until you're ready. Someday, you will enjoy kissing a boy and more."

She gawked at him. "Do you kiss a lot of girls?"

He always came to see her alone and never talked about having a girlfriend. The thought of him kissing a girl made her mad.

"Do I like kissing women?" He paused as if giving the question serious thought. "It's a natural part of life for our body and mind to be attracted to other people. Everyone likes to feel wanted, needed, and loved."

She mulled that over. That's not the kind of relationship people have with their parents or brothers and sisters. She'd never found anyone she wanted around her or needed, except Dr. C. He made her feel special, and he cared about her, or else he wouldn't come and see her all the time and want to hear the answers to all the questions he asked her.

She always worried about him. What if he stopped coming, or worse, died?

"I'd let you kiss me." She chewed on her lip. There was no one else she loved.

"I'm a lot older than you, and as your psychologist, that would never happen. You'll find lots of other people when you're older that you'll want to kiss. And you have a lot of time before that happens." His gaze softened, and he lowered his voice. "Don't grow up too fast."

She hoped he wouldn't go back to Astoria and kiss anyone until she had a chance to get older and show him how much he meant to her.

"Remember what I asked you to think about last time I came?" he said.

She sighed. He always gave her lessons. For how much she swore she'd never do them, the questions always made her obsess over what her answer would be. She wanted to make Dr. C happy but sometimes, talking about how she felt hurt.

Her stomach knotted. She was always afraid of answering wrong, and he'd be upset and never come back or think she was stupid and mean.

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