Gina's second session was scheduled at noon on Wednesday and it was already five minutes past. Not super late, but late enough that I start to wonder if clients have forgotten their appointment or if they have decided to not return to therapy for some reason. With Gina, I could imagine that she might feel as though she had been able to get a lot "off her chest" in that first session, and sometimes this means that many clients will feel a sense of catharsis, which can easily be mistaken for improvement. I secretly hoped this wasn't the case. I wanted to see Gina again.
I blew a deep sigh of relief when I heard the door at the bottom of the stairs open. As I watched her glide up the stairs in the security camera monitor and was reminded of that flawless ass, my heart started to skip a few beats.
Get it together,
I told myself.
I gave her a minute to collect herself (and gave me a minute to collect myself) in the waiting room before opening my office door and greeting her. "Good morning, Gina. Would you like to come in?" She stood up quietly and slipped past me without a word and dropped down on the sofa across from my chair. I gathered my clipboard and pen and sat down.
"So, Gina, it's nice to see you back again this week. Where would you like to begin?"
At that, the floodgates opened and the tears began to flow. "I told myself I wouldn't cry," she said as she reached for a tissue from the box on the table in front of her.
I should take this opportunity to explain a little something about myself: I am physically aroused by most attractive women crying. In talking with colleagues over the years, I've learned that this phenomenon isn't all that uncommon. Many people seem to have this response to tears from the opposite sex. I'm not necessarily talking about a full-on erection, but it is not uncommon to feel my pecker start to dance a little in my pants when met with a crying woman. So when Gina began to cry in front of me, I noticed a desire to shift in my seat to make sure my bulge wasn't too obvious and dropped my clipboard over my crotch. It didn't help matters that I also began to take note of what she was wearing today. Once again, she had dressed herself in form-fitting yoga pants. Black this time. And today I took notice of what she had on up top. She had taken off her jacket to reveal a sleeveless printed t-shirt with enough cut from the middle to expose her tight, flat midsection. She appeared to have on a sports bra, covering what I imagined to be cute little perky breasts. I've never been much of a breast man, so any more than a mouthful is unnecessary in my eyes. She had mentioned in her first session that she enjoyed going to the gym, and it was very obvious that her time there was paying off. She had a tight, compact little body that reminded me of a sexy sports car. Great for a jaunt around town, but really comes into her own when you open her up all the way.
We spent the next 45 minutes or so dealing with what appeared to be a full-blown anxiety attack. Gina was having a tough time calming down, alternating between crying spells and extreme anxiousness and self-critical worry. I patiently listened as she talked about some of the frustrations she was feeling with her school work over the past couple days and when I noticed that her anxiety was spiking, I would walk her through a deep breathing exercise or a mindfulness activity. Eventually she seemed to be slowly calming down to where she could actually look at me for more than a glance and her breathing appeared to be slowing to a reasonable rate. I watched as the perky breasts slowed their up and down motion. Thankfully my arousal also seemed to be diminishing as well.
As the session time was drawing to a close, I began to notice some hesitation from Gina about leaving. Clients do interesting things to avoid leaving the office if they are feeling like they want to stay longer. Some clients will become more anxious and agitated in an effort to gain my attention. Some will start talking about useless, idle things in the hopes that something will garner my curiosity enough to stay on that topic. Many clients will save that last couple minutes to finally ask the important questions they have been avoiding the entire session. Us therapists call these "doorknob questions." Gina asked about me.