Page 74 of Fostering Chemistry
“College is hard. Classes can be overwhelming. Hell, in my biostatistics class, I’m really struggling with?—”
“Not classes. It’s about Sara.”
“Oh. Did you talk to her again?”
“No, just that one awful time.” She sighed, rubbing her hands over her bare arms. “I thought I was doing okay. I was sad, and I missed her of course. And I was worried about her, but I thought I was doing okay overall. But I’m not.”
“What do you mean?”
She kept her gaze down, and her voice quieted. “I keep doing things that are kind of… out of character for me. Like things that I normally wouldn’t do, and I think I’m doing them to distract myself from how bad I feel about Sara.”
Just like with Cody, it felt like a time to wait. I raised my eyebrows trying to encourage her to continue.
“Twice now I’ve done things just kind of to chase away the bad thoughts.”
“You mean like all the reality TV you and Aaron were watching?”
She frowned. “I guess that makes three times.”
Crap, I hadn’t wanted to add to her list. But I had to admit I was curious about what the other two out-of-character things she’d done were.
“What do I do?”
I bit back a sign. Neither she nor Cody had given me much information to go on. But for her sake, I’d try. “You’re dealing with a lot, Mia. You wouldn’t be living in this house if you didn’t have a difficult past. We all did. And now this, after you waited and planned to be here with Sara. It’s not fair for either of you that it didn’t work out. But Sara... she’s getting help.”
“She’s in rehab,” she said.
“I know, but in addition to helping her detoxify, there are also counselors and therapists there. Hopefully they’re helping her deal with everything she needs to. I know it’s not a quick process, but there are people there for her. For you, well, you’ve got people too, just in a slightly different way.”
I wasn’t sure if this was helping, but I continued on. “You’ve got me, you’ve got your friends here—Cody and Aaron and Jenna. But we’ve also got a university counseling center. It’s part of your student health insurance. And I think you should consider going there.”
“For therapy?”
“For whatever you need. A lot of students go there. I did, earlier in the semester after… after I got some bad news. I tried two different therapists before I found a guy I liked. And now I go every other week.”
For the first time, she looked directly at me. Not judging. More like thinking things through.
I sighed. “It’s not a sign of weakness to need help. You’ve figured out that you’re not acting like yourself. That’s the first step. And you want to do something about it—that’s the second step. The third, in my opinion, is talking it through with someone at the counseling center.”
“Maybe.” She didn’t sound that convinced, but maybe she needed some time to think on it.
“I could walk you over there tomorrow, if you’d like.”
She stood up. “I’ll think about it. If I decide to do it, I can go on my own.”
I stood up also. “All right, but you don’t have to do everything on your own. I know Sara’s not here, but we are. And we care about you.”
Hopefully she believed that.
Mia moved to the door, put her hand on the knob, and then hesitated.
“Can I talk to you again after I think about it?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe this time tomorrow?”
“Sure—oh, wait. I have a thing I have to go to.”
