Gay Guitarist

OLIVER'S P.O.V

The leather couch seemed more uncomfortable then usual.

When I came her on any other time, I'm anxious to be through with the interview, and get straight to the medication refills.

But today, I just genuinely didn't want to be here for any of it. It was a beautiful day; I'd rather be at school with Parker.

I tapped my fingers on the couch with a low plodding sound as mom talked to Dr. King about my last week. I was daydreaming instead of listening, thinking about Parker, Parker, Parker.

"Hey, Oliver. How have you been lately?" Dr King said.

Dr King was a nice guy, in his mid thirties, with a very non-professional air about him. For a shrink, he was surprisingly competent at keeping me interested and down on earth. He had brown hair that was neatly combed to a side, and a business casual suit on. He had clean-cut features, with the exception of a crooked nose that he broke while playing football in high school, as he told me. Dr King's method was talking, instead of my previous therapist's somethings-wrong-lets-bump-up-the-meds.

He wasn't the worst person to be around, but I'd rather be somewhere else.

"I'm fine," I replied simply, picking at my fingernails now.

"Sorry for rescheduling this on such short notice. I know I was supposed to see you tomorrow, but I had a sudden emergency I had to attend to." He smiled, and I felt a brief flash of curiosity. An emergency? What kind? I brushed the thoughts away as he continued.

"Have you seen her lately?" He asked, quietly.

Like every other time Keanah was mentioned, my throat constricted, and my breathing was faster. "Y-yeah." I stuttered.

"How many times?"

I counted back in my head. "Once before a party... One before our first show, and one when I was at the park." I whispered.

"Your first show? How was that?" He smiled gently.

I shrugged. I didn't want to explain, because that would lead to Parker. And I just wasn't ready to tell my mom, let alone my shrink that I was gay. "Alright, I guess. Someone got hurt, and we had to cancel. Crowd loved us while we played, though."

"That's excellent! How did singing in front of so many people feel?"

"Scary," I admitted, "But totally amazing. I had never felt so... alive. So loved. So right."

Dr King nodded, then got back to business. "So, you saw her three times. Can you tell me more about those times?"

"Uh, well. The first time, Aiden asked me if I wanted to go this party. I don't know why I flipped, but suddenly, she was asking me why I should bother going. No one wanted me there." I took a deep breath as the memory hit me.

"Who got you out, Aiden?"

I nodded. "He's good at it. I always wake up when he tells me to."

"From what you tell me, he's a born leader. There's no surprise even your subconscious knows he's boss." Dr King winked. "What did you feel before she took you that time?"

I shifted. "I remember thinking that I didn't really want to go. I don't like the girl who was throwing the party. Well," I looked for words. "it's hard to explain. It's not that I don't like HER. I don't like who she is around Aiden, and what he does to people. She's totally obsessed with him, and he's cool with it. I remember thinking it's, uh not fair." I was embarrassed saying this, but he was my shrink. I need to tell him the truth.

"It's not fair? Why not?"

"Because everyone likes him. And I know that people like me, but it's more of a polite like. Not friendship, and Aiden doesn't give a shi- care that he gets it freely."

He just nodded, and wrote something down on his clipboard. Probably something along the lines of 'Jealous asshole.' "So what happened before the show? Just nerves?"

"Yeah, that one was just because I was nervous. I was worrying about the crowd hating us, and she didn't really have to do much to send me over the edge."

"Ahh. And at the park?"

"Well we'd all been freaking out at Aiden for the stupidest stuff, and he finally blew up at us, and threatened that he'd quit Reach. And it's really his band, so it was basically the end of Reach. And we all realized we were being really bad to him, and so we were going to call him back and apologize. But then Keanah came and said how pathetic I am for being sorry."

Dr King was quiet for a moment. He seemed to be looking for a way to phrase something.

"From what you've told me for the past few months," he said carefully, "The thing that sets you off the most is... Aiden."

My mind was blank. Aiden?

"You might not like to think it, but it's true. He creates an atmosphere in you for stress which encourages your hallucin-- Keanah."

"Aiden and the boys have been friends since they were small," Mom said sourly. "He's improved their lives so much. You can't really be putting the blame on him."

"I'm not blaming him exclusively," Dr King argued calmly. "I'm not blaming him at all. But you have to admit that Oliver see's her more often when Aiden's had something to do with it. I'm not saying that you should stop being friends with him. I'm saying that in the next little while, we should focus on why he invokes this kind of reaction in you, and how you can overcome it."

Mom and I nodded together. He was comforting, and the solution made sense. Aiden did make me emotional.

Just then, I felt a vibrating in my pocket. Mom and Dr King had started talking about our next session. I quietly pulled out my cell phone, apologetically glancing at Dr King.

1 New Text Message
Unknown Number

I stared, questioningly at the phone. I never got random texts. The people I got messages from were Aiden, Abi, and Theo. Nowadays, Parker.

But never unknown.

I opened my phone and furrowed my brow.

Subject: cheater
parker and aiden sitn in a tree
k i s s i n g