Ch 35. Bad Dog Sit

John yawned and stretched, jumping a bit when something sharp prodded him in the back. He looked behind himself to see Andressa smiling, her tail disappearing back under her skirt.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Her smile widened. “I thought I was ‘beautiful’. At least that's what you told me last night.”

“Cute and beautiful aren’t separate things. You just happen to be cute at the moment.”

The door to the practice opened and Ben crouched his way through it. His fur was a bit more motley than it had been the last time he’d seen him, and he’d traded his silver and gold tusk caps for more practical iron ones. He was still wearing what could only be described as a pirate-poet shirt to match the energy of the romance novels John had given him, but they were also a bit more subdued. They were perhaps thirty percent less puffy.

“Morning Ben, ready for our session?”

“Hold on, I want to finish our conversation,” said Andressa.

John looked at her confused.

“So you were saying I can only look beautiful if I’m in your bed?”

John felt heat on his face immediately as she smiled and deepened a shade of red.

“Bro, you’re hooking up with another secretary? High five man!” He held up a hand and, at a loss of anything else to do, and not wanting to leave him hanging, John met Ben’s hand with his own in a loud clap and they went back into his office, Andressa smiling at him the whole way back. He guessed Ben hadn’t seen him kiss Andressa at the Hollytide party like most everyone else had.

Once they were back John topped off his coffee and got Ben a bottle of a sugarcane based drink that he favored which John kept in stock just for him and one of his gnomish clients that couldn’t seem to sit still unless she had a sugary beverage on hand.

They both got settled in their seats, Ben leaving a fair amount of shed on the couch as he laid back in it.

“So, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen you. How have you been?”

“Good! The threads have helped a lot and I’ve been meeting a ton of women that don’t care that I look like a monster. “

“Oh, what happened with Celeste? She seemed nice. You were really having a good time with her at the Hollytide party.”

Ben sighed heavily. “Oh, she was great. We had a lot in common actually. She likes to drink and party. She actually wasn’t even into the whole ‘romance’ getup.” He laughed. “Sometimes we didn’t even go out. We’d just sit in and talk. It was nice.”

“That’s great, but it still doesn’t tell me what happened with her?”

“Well, it’s the craziest shit. I was going over to her place because she said she had something to tell me. Seemed super nervous over the pixie message. I got up there and when she opened the door all I saw was this massive fuck-off wolf!”

John frowned. “It was a full moon I’d guess?”

He nodded. “Yeah, exactly. That’s what she’d wanted to tell me. That she was a fucking werewolf.” He shook his head. “She went on this whole spiel about how she thought if anyone could understand it would be me, but I dumped her. I don’t want to be dealing with a woman who turns into a monster like that. You know what I mean?”

John just stared at him for a moment in silence.

“Anyway, I’ve been seeing a few girls I met over at the Castle tavern. You know the one that’s all princess themed. They-”

“You know, I take my job as a therapist very seriously.”

“Uh, of course man, I know.”

“I really try to take my client’s perspective into account. I’ve worked with beings that kill or hurt people because I believe that improving their mental health and how they interact with the world will reduce the harm they do to both others and themselves. I sometimes take shortcuts, or do things that I wouldn’t be able to do on Earth because I don’t have a board that can revoke my license and truthfully this world is too different for things to apply one to one. I’m friends with a lot of my clients for instance. I don’t do a very good job maintaining professional distance.”

“What’re we talking about man?” asked Ben.

“Don’t worry, I’m getting to my point.” John took a breath. “We’re friends Ben. I hang out with you outside this office and outside the support group. I’ve tried my best to understand you, and to point you in a good direction for your happiness and mental health.”

“And I appreciate it, man.”

“I try to keep in mind how hard your situation must be. Going from a highly desired man with a career and a life to what you are now without any of your old support system to rely on. I recently resolved to be harsher with you, in an attempt to get you out of your self-pity, but had I realized what the result would be I would have tried another tactic.”

Ben stayed silent this time.

“I don’t know the entire story, but I know you well enough that the way you’re framing your breakup is meant to make you look better, and based on that I can only imagine that the truth would make you look worse. This girl liked you, and you liked her. She chose to be vulnerable and reveal something about herself that she expected you of all people to have empathy for and you immediately dump her. Do you know how that’s going to make her feel? To open herself up to someone she saw as a kindred spirit only to have you immediately shut her out.”

“Hey man, it’s my life. I’m allowed to date who I want to, when I want to. I don’t owe her shit, we barely dated for a month.”

“You’re absolutely right. You are your own man. You can make your own decisions, and I can make mine.”

John rolled up a thick stack of papers and took a step toward Ben. Ben was taller than him even sitting down, but in spite of that he shrank back a bit. John lifted the stack of papers and smacked Ben across the nose.

“Get out! Go back home and think about how shitty you insist on being! You treat women like objects, you wallow in self pity, and the second you get some confidence you use it to hurt other people. Get out!”

John smacked him a dozen more times and Ben began to whimper a bit like a sad dog as he quickly ran out of the office where John kept chasing him until he ran out the front door with John throwing the stack of papers in his direction as he went out the door.

John was panting and frustrated when he turned to see Andressa with an eyebrow raised and Gnost at the desk where they must’ve just been talking before he’d burst out of the office. Andressa was as red as he’d ever seen her, and her eyes had turned to burning embers. He wasn’t sure if that was from his discomfort or from Ben's, but he hoped it was the latter.

“Is that exposure therapy for someone who is afraid of paper?” asked Gnost.

John sighed as he fixed his shirt, straightened his jacket and swept back his hair. “No, that was just an example of someone losing their temper because he didn’t take the time to release the tension through open and honest conversation sooner.”

“Is that something I need to worry about?” asked Gnost with genuine concern in his voice.

John smiled at him. “Absolutely not.” He stepped back toward his office. “Did you want to start our session early? I seem to have gained a good bit of time, but I can wait if you’d prefer.”

“Sure,” said Gnost, stepping off the stool he’d been standing on and heading toward the office. John watched with pride as the young dwarf even took a moment to look out the window before making himself comfortable on the couch.

“At least I have some successes,” said John.

“Are you going to give me the details?” asked Andressa leaning over her desk toward him. She looked particularly terrifying when she was as full as she was at that moment. John kind of liked it.

“I don’t think I’d be able to keep myself from ranting about it to you one way or the other.”

“Good. I look forward to it.”