Free Unraveled by Dani Matthews Page B

answer his question. “I need time to think,” I say in
reference to him wanting me to break it off with Cole.
    Noah sighs
and reaches for his cigarette while his eyes stay on me. “I guess that's all I
can ask of you at this point. I have tomorrow night off as well. Will you agree
to do this with me again? We haven't even approached the topic of your cutting
but I think you could use the break before we delve into that.”
    “I thought
you were going to school to help handicapped children.”
    “I am, why?”
    “You seem to
have a natural knack for counseling people,” I point out.
    He smiles
slightly. “Looks like you bring it out in me.”
    “Lucky me,”
I say dryly. Then I turn serious and study the bruise on his jaw. “What
happened last night?”
    “I got jumped
leaving work. Some guy came out of nowhere in the employee parking lot and
tried to work me over real good. I think he expected me to be easy pickings.”
    “I saw how
you handled Cole yesterday and it was pretty obvious you had some sort of
training. It was stupid of him to underestimate you.”
    “People tend
to think that deaf people are limited with what they can do and I don't like be
categorized,” he says simply.
    A smirk
curves my lips. “There is no category for Noah Abraham.”
    “That a good
thing?”
    “Yeah. I
think so,” I say lightly as I rise to my feet. “I have more homework to do.”
    Noah stands
up as well and much to my surprise, he walks over to me and pulls me into his
arms for a hug. For a second I am stiff against him before I slowly relax, my
arms lifting to wrap around his waist. It feels good to be held when I didn't
think I'd ever experience this again. I feel his cheek rest against the top of
my head for a long moment. “I'm not going anywhere,” he says quietly to me.
    My eyes shut
at his promise. He's learning more and more about me and yet he's still
sticking around. I'm not sure how I feel about it because he still doesn't know
about the robbery and I know that right there would cause him to drop me in a
heartbeat.
    He can never
know though.

Quiet
There is a quietness in
life pulling
her together
     
     
    The
following day I focus on school instead of searching for Cole. My conversation
with Noah keeps rolling around in my mind as well. It was weird because I'd
been dreading the conversation with him last night and in the end, I kind of
felt good about it.
    I'm still
struggling with the fact that he thinks I'm a good person after years of
hearing from my aunt and uncle on a daily basis that I was pure evil and a bad
person. Noah saw me differently than I saw myself, that's for sure.
    As Mr.
Jenson hands out a new assignment, I wait patiently as my thoughts keep
churning over and over in my mind. I never thought that telling Noah the truth
would help me in any sort of way, but here I am...calmer today and in more
control of my life. There are still some concerns over tonight's conversation
because he'll learn about Julie and Steve. There is absolutely no doubt in my
mind that he will dredge up all the gory details, and with that, the details of
why I like to cut. These are things I didn't even really allow myself to think
about too much. Talking about them is for sure going to bite.
    The
assignment sheet floats down to my desk as the teacher passes by and I study
it. I was so far behind in my classes. Today would be another day of doing
homework until I had to go to bed.
    All this
time I'd been putting Cole first and now my grades were in serious jeopardy.
There's still a part of me that longs for Cole and all that he offers but there
is something new developing within me that's firmly telling me to own up to my
mistakes and get it right. 
    I'd had no
idea how much I'd allowed Cole to control everything that I did. It's ironic
because right from the beginning I'd told myself I wasn't going to be a puppet
and I was going to be my own person. I'd thought that I was sticking to my word
but in reality, Cole had