INVISIBLE STRING ☆ DANIEL RICCIARDO

twenty-eight

LONDON, UK; AUGUST 17th 2022

song of the chapter:
cry - cigarettes after sex

Isla was doing better than she had been almost all year, her sessions with Chloe had become more regular and they were now meeting two to three times a week. She had never realised how many issues and problems she had truly needed to talk through before, in the past couple of weeks though, she had learned that she had compartmentalized a lot throughout her life.

Chloe had only focused on Amani and Daniel for that first session they had shared, after that she had taken Isla all the way back to her childhood and her parents divorce. Which according to her, that may have been the starting point of a lot of her commitment and aversion issues. It definitely wasn't fun and there had been plenty of tears shed, but she was doing a lot better.

Isla felt as though a massive weight had begun to lift off her shoulders as Chloe gave her the space to let out all the thoughts and stories she wanted and needed to share in order to feel better. So far, it had been working.

"When was the last time you left your home?" Chloe questioned halfway through their session, they were tackling Islas self care today and what she was doing for herself.

"I've been going out more in the mornings." Isla answers truthfully, "I take Milo on a walk, we sometimes go to the food market and come home. I've been keeping fresh flowers around the house again."

Chloe gives her a soft smile, feeling a sense of pride for her. "I'm glad to hear that. Have you tried reaching out to anyone other than your parents?"

"Not really, no." she replies shamefully. "I replied to one of Lu's texts the other day but she hasn't texted me back, that's probably karma."

"And Amani?" Islas lack of words was answer enough for her therapist, "Have you at least thought of a way to apologize to her?"

"Still trying to figure that out too, honestly."

"It's fine to keep your own pace of things, just keep in mind that it's not everyone's pace, okay?"

Isla knew she was potentially running out of time to properly fix things with everyone, Chloe had made sure to remind her of it during almost every single session they shared. It was making her more and more anxious with every passing day, especially since she hadn't heard from anyone as of late.

She knew Luisinha was back in Portugal with her family, and that Lando was with him but was now with his own family. Daniel's socials had been quiet, or maybe he had blocked her, she wasn't sure which it was, but she had no idea where he was.

"There's actually a dinner thing tonight, I was thinking of going." Isla admits, growing slightly nervous with the confession.

"What's stopping you?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen this group of friends in a couple months, there hasn't been a lot of contact except with Bella. I feel like it'll be awkward, maybe."

It was true, she hadn't seen them since Kendall's party in LA. She had only managed to see Bella and Fai at her birthday party and she had walked a couple shows with the woman at fashion week last month, but that was about it.