So, I am finally getting a new chapter posted. I know I should have posted yesterday, but I totally forgot. Sorry.
Anyway...chapter 4
Abbey watched with interest as the Jonas clan filed into the office. She’d decided to hold this session in the ‘family room’ instead of her normal office, to give everyone a chance to spread out a bit. While it may not seem like much to the average on-looker, Abbey noticed that the three older boys sat separate from their parents and younger brother. Each brother made sure there was space between him and his siblings. Mrs. Jonas sat with Frankie in her lap, and slightly off on his own, sat Mr. Jonas. It was clear to Abbey that the battle lines had been drawn.
“Thank you all for coming today.”
“No one knows we’re here, right?” Mr. Jonas asked.
“Just me.” As soon as everyone was situated, she handed each Jonas a form and a pen. “These are confidentiality contracts. Every patient I see must sign one. Feel free to read it, but just to sum up, it states that whatever I am told in the confidence of a therapy session, remains in that therapy session. The only reason I would ever break a patient’s confidence is if I feel that by not doing so, physical harm could come to either the patient, or someone else. The information would then go from me directly to the authorities.”
Mrs. Jonas and Frankie immediately went to work signing their papers. Once they were done, they handed their papers and pens back to Abbey. Mr. Jonas took his time, carefully reading each word on the page. Then he too, signed it, and returned both pen and paper to Abbey. Upon noticing that his three oldest sons hadn’t done anything with their papers, and were simply looking at him, Mr. Jonas nodded his head. Each boy rolled his eyes, but they dutifully signed and returned their form and pens. Abbey glanced over each one before setting both forms and pens on the desk.
She sat down in the only armchair available, and held her pen and notebook, poised to write. “Would anyone like to start?”
“What do we say?” Kevin asked, fiddling with the scarf that hung around his neck.
“Well, you could start by telling me a bit about yourselves.”
“We’re a band. We sing songs. End.” She started scribbling as Joe began speaking. “Are you writing down everything we say?”
“No, not everything. Just making notes for myself so I don’t ask you the same questions over and over again.”
“Wish the reporters would think of doing that.”
“Kevin.” Mr. Jonas’s voice held a warning tone to it. Kevin’s posture instantly changed.
“Anything else you’d like to tell me?” Abbey looked up from her notebook, already having a full page of observations.
“No, I think that’s about it.” Joe wore a co.cky grin.
“Joe, don’t be a smart ass.” Nick grumbled, which earned him a glare from his father. Abbey watched as Joe and Nick both rolled their eyes at Mr. Jonas, neither of them bothering to hide their contempt.
“I take it things aren’t as peaceful as you’d like the public to believe.” As soon as the words left her lips, Abbey’s eyes glanced over each family member, lingering the longest on the three in the band, gauging each of their reactions to her comment. While Mr. and Mrs. Jonas both looked at each other nervously, and a frown crossed Frankie’s features, the older boys didn’t flinch. They would most likely cause her the most difficulties.
“Why would you say that? We love each other.” Joe answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Again, Joe had jumped in with a smart-aleck comment. Abbey made a notation of this in her book. She looked up and her gaze drifted to the boy in his mother’s lap.
“Frankie, what about you? Do you have anything to say?”
“No.” He shook his head. Maybe family-therapy hadn’t been a good idea after all. “Just, remember what you told me?” Abbey nodded, surprised he’d actually said something. “Well, I really want you to help. It makes me angry that we can’t be the big happy family we portray on TV. I hate it.”
“I know. But why do you think your family isn’t that TV family?” Having heard his comment, and the follow-up question, all three of his older brothers seemed to tense up. Abbey took note of each of their reactions; Kevin’s face paled drastically; Joe’s hands formed into fists so tight that his knuckles began to turn white; Nick began to gnaw on his lower lip. Finally, Abbey had something to work with. They all turned to face him, a strange mixture of fear and curiosity etched in their features, as if they wanted to know what he had to say, but were essentially terrified to hear it. However, instead of coming across as supportive, they only succeeded in intimidating Frankie into silence. “Frankie?”
“It’s ok, Frankie. Tell her how you feel.” Mrs. Jonas prompted. Frankie looked at her, and there seemed to be a silent communication passing between the two of them. Then he turned back to Abbey.
“All we do is fight. We don’t have dinner together anymore. I miss my brothers being nice to me. I don’t like all the yelling. And I hate that mom is always crying. She’s always so sad, and I don’t know how to make it better.” Abbey could see the tears forming in his eyes. He sniffed defiantly, refusing to let them fall and look like a baby to his brothers. Mrs. Jonas pulled him to her in a hug and buried her face in his hair, trying to hide her own tears.
“When did all of this start? Do you remember when?” Frankie shook his head and sniffed again.
“A few months ago, maybe.” Kevin jumped in, although he didn’t sound sure of himself.
“This has been building up for a while, and you know it.” Nick said, not able to keep the anger from his voice. He shifted in his seat so he could face Abbey. “It started out as no big deal. We keep our mouths shut, we do our job, we go home and forget about it. But I can’t—”
“Can’t…what?” Mr. Jonas interrupted, sounding very calm in contrast to the emotional outburst his son was experiencing.
“Nothing, forget it.” Nick leaned back and folded his arms across his chest, letting her know in no uncertain terms that he had closed himself off again. Abbey sighed, and sat back in her chair. She perused her notes and nodded at Mr. and Mrs. Jonas.
“Ok,” Abbey said, glancing at her wrist watch. “That’s all the time we have for today. But, thank you all for coming, and I will see each of you boys on Friday.” She noticed that none of the boys rolled their eyes as they all filed out of her office.
