Chris' POV
"Hello everyone!" Dr. Wang smiled "How's everyone's Wednesday going so far?"
We all mumbled, "Good."
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. I see no point in group therapy with a bunch of weirdos. Shawty with the green eyes that I bumped into yesterday was in my circle meeting but the difference between me and her was that she actually looked interested in the bullshit they was feeding her. I shook my head as the meeting went on.
"Chris why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?", Dr.Wang asked.
I shrugged and leaned forward in my seat,"Yeah , I'm Chris-"
"Hi Chris.", everyone said to me.
I paused at how cliche this whole thing is then I continue," and I'm an entertainer, I have a three year old daughter, and I don't want to be here. I think it's a waste of time if you ask me. No offense Doc or anyone else this stuff might be helpful to y'all but I don't need this."
"Why do you feel that way?", Dr. Wang asked.
"People just keep testing and since I have a "bad reputation" everyone always tries to get a reaction from me. But like I said, I don't need this."
"Then why are you here?", green eyed shawty muttered.
"I'm here because the judge ordered me to but best believe if I had a choice I would be back at home with my daughter and my girlfriend."
"I don't mean to sound rude when I say this but, I think everyone here has seen the trouble you've gotten into over the years and my guess is it was either this or some higher level of punishment like prison or something. But you know, no offense or anything.", she shrugged.
Damn. She read me like a book and I was pissed it came from someone like her who would normally be all over me. I felt my blood boiling and my eyes narrowing in her direction but I remained silent and leaned back in my chair and was quiet the rest of the meeting. It's better if I keep quiet or else I'm not just hurting her feelings, I'll hurt everyone else's feelings in here too.
When our Circle meeting was finally over, I stood up to leave and felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around and saw green eyed shawty looking up at me.
"What?", I huffed under my breath.
"Hey sorry for what I said back there. I didn't mean to embarrass you.",she said running a hand through her long hair.
"And what makes you think you embarrassed me?"
"I don't know I was just kinda harsh back there."
"Well you ain't hurt my feelings shawty.", I kind of huffed.
She chuckled,"Whatever you say Chris. Either way I didn't mean anything by it, I just think you should be a little more careful with your choice of words around here because there's some folks with a lot of problems that are really tryna get better. Anyways, see ya around."
I watched as she walked away with some blonde girl and it looked like they were headed to the cafe.
Robyn's POV
"He likes you Rob.", Sarah smirked.
I shook my head,"Chillll. I'm not even checking for him."
"You mean to tell me, you're not the least bit attracted to Chris Brown? Thee Chris Brown?"
"His face is cute but his attitude is trash."
"Attitude can be fixed! I'm sure that's why he's here."
"Did I mention I have a boyfriend?"
"Damn.", she sighed.
I laughed,"What is wrong with you? He's in a relationship too."
" I just think you two would be so cute together.", Sarah said grabbing her usual personal pepperoni pizza, brownie, and Sprite.
"What about you? Who do you have your eye on?", I smirked.
"My husband."
"You're married?", I choked on my salad. "Well who is the guy? What's he look like? Tell me everything!"
"We been together for seven years, he's my high school sweetheart.", she pulled out her phone and showed me a picture of her a tall black NFL player.
"Why am I not surprised", I chuckled "You got yourself a big chocolate man AND he's a football player. But you guys are adorable."
"Oh thanks Robyn. I love him so much.", she sighed looking at his pictures.
I wish I had that kind of love. It's truly beautiful to see. I haven't known Sarah for long but she has been there for me like no other since I met her and I'm gonna do the same for her. We're gonna get outta here together and so much stronger.
"Are these seats taken?", someone asked as they approached our table.
I look up and saw the voice belonged to Chris. "Nah go for it."
He called over his shoulder,"Aye, cmon Antonio!"
Antonio was the brown Puerto Rican man in our Circle meeting and I guess he made friends with Chris because the two made themselves comfortable at our table. I looked over at Sarah
and she just shrugged and continued eating in silence.
"So why'd y'all get quiet when we came over?",Chris asked.
Sarah and I shrugged and just kept eating.
"What, was y'all talking about me or something?", he smirked.
"Skiiirrt!" I looked up with a confused face,"Hold up, what makes you think you are even important enough to be our topic of discussion?"
"Yeah maybe we were just done talking when y'all came over?", Sarah added.
He shrugged.
Antonio laughed and said,"If y'all weren't talking about him then why are y'all so mad huh?"
"I ain't mad, are you Sarah?", I asked.
"Nope.",she shook her head.
"So who's mad?", I chuckled.
Chris stared at me then laughed. "I'm not even tripping. I hope y'all was talking about how good I look with my hair grown out like this."
"I mean.... it's okay," I lied shrugging. Truth is, he looked really nice but I wouldn't wanna gas him up anymore than what's already been done. I gotta humble him a bit if we're gonna be at the same rehab center.
"So what do you ladies do around here for fun?", Antonio smirked nastily.
"Ew, you're gross.", Sarah stood up with her empty tray.
"What?", Antonio asked, "I ain't even mean it like that."
"Suuure. Anyways Robyn, you done yet?"
"Yeah, imma go into the library. Where you going?"
"My room to go talk to my hubby. I'll see you later.", Sarah walked away.
"Alright guys," i turned to the guys "I'm going to the library but you guys are welcome to join me."
"Nah, they got Madden in the lobby so imma go a couple rounds on that.", Antonio said walking to the lobby.
"So I guess that means you're stuck with me.",Chris said clearing the table and putting away both out trays.
I smiled and lead the way over to the library. I immediately went to look for my favorite author and sure enough her books were there so I happily went to work in pulling out two I wanted to read.
Chris just went straight to the comic book section and pulled out a few for himself to read. "So where you wanna sit Robyn ?"
I kinda like how he said my name. It had a nice ring to it. "Follow me," I lead him over to the back corner where a nice comfy white sofa sat with beige colored pillows. A couple plants were by the window that let in the bright sunlight. It's the best room in the whole facility.
"Yo I never seen this place before.", Chris looked around.
"That's because this is like my secret hideout. No one even comes to the library and this back corner is just so serene. I just found this yesterday.", I smiled looking out the window. Now that I'm here and away from alcohol I try to busy my mind with something other than just thinking about a drink.
Chris sat on one side of the couch and I laid on the other end with my legs hanging off the edge of the arm. We were sitting pretty close but there was still a gap in between us and for me to really enjoy my book I have to sit comfortably.
We probably sat that way for three hours in complete silence just absorbed in our books. Sometimes silence says a lot. It's not about what was not being said, it's about what we doing in the silence. Reading. Now I know something about him that I didn't know before, likes to read, even if was only comic books.
Our silence was broken when my stomach growled. "My bad", I chuckled.
"Let's go to the cafe or a vending machine."
I sat up my phone rang and it was Ant calling again.
"Is that your boyfriend that's calling?",Chris asked and we began to leave the library.
"No.",
"Oh.", he nodded.
There was an awkward pause,"My little brother."
"Oh so why didn't you answer?"
"It's a long story."
"I respect that. But if you ever wanna talk just know I'm here for ya."
"Isn't that why we have Dr. Wang?", I questioned.
"I'm just saying if you need a friend.", he shrugged.
"Thanks I'll keep that in mind", I nodded. It's not a secret because I already told the whole Circle but that was before he came. I just hate telling the story because my guilt keeps coming back more and more each time I tell my story.
