Unraveling (Second Chances) - By Micalea Smeltzer Page 0,15

crap, did I say that out loud?

“Yeah, you did.”

“Sorry,” I blushed.

“Seriously though, why won’t you go out with me? Do you have a boyfriend? Is that Preston guy you were yelling about the other day, your boyfriend? Just tell me. I’m a big boy. I can handle it,” he said, wringing his fingers.

“Preston is definitely not my boyfriend,” I spat venomously.

“What did this Preston guy do to you?” Jared asked, his voice soft and hesitant.

I looked up and met his gaze. I was surprised to find understanding in his eyes, not pity.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest and retreating into myself.

“Katy, something bad happened to you,” he sighed. “I can see it in your eyes. You try to pretend it didn’t happen, when really, it’s eating away at the inside of you.”

My eyes widened and my mouth opened and closed a few times. “How do you know that?”

“Maybe,” he leaned against the wall, crossing his ankles, “I just pay really good attention.”

“Or?” I prompted.

“Or,” he said, turning around and fiddling with something so that his back was to me, “maybe I see something in you that I see in myself.”

I gasped.

He turned around and his brown eyes had darkened. “Bad things happen to good people, Katy. We don’t ask for it, we don’t deserve it, but it happens, anyway. You can choose to let it break you, or you can let it make you stronger. You can hide or you can stand up and do something about it.” His jaw clenched. “It’s all up to you,” he pointed at me. “No one can heal you, Katy. There are no magic words. Only you can heal yourself.”

I didn’t know what to say. In all the times I’d been going to Sharon she’d never said anything like this to me, but Jared’s words made sense.

Sharon couldn’t heal me.

Neither could Rollo.

My mother believing me wouldn’t heal me either.

Jared was right.

Only I could heal myself.

“So, Katy,” Jared said, putting his hands on the back of a metal chair and leaning forward. “Are you going to heal yourself?”

8

“WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?” Rollo asked as I walked past him.

I shook my head and continued right out the door.

“Katy?” Rollo said, coming out after me. “What happened? Are you okay? He didn’t-”

“No, nothing like that,” I turned and shoved my hair back. “Just get in the car.”

We weren’t even out of the parking lot when he started again. “Tell me what happened,” Rollo turned in his seat to look at me.

“Buckle your seatbelt,” I commanded, not even taking my eyes off the road.

“I will, if you tell me what he said,” his eyes bore into the side of my face.

“Fine,” I snapped, “just buckle your seatbelt already.”

I heard it snap into place and Rollo grumbled. “Happy now, mom?”

“Very,” I said.

A few seconds of silence passed and then, “Don’t make me pull it out of you.”

I came to a stop at a red light and glanced at Rollo. “He scares me.”

Rollo opened his mouth to say something but I put a hand up to stop him.

“No- not like that.” I floundered for the right words. “He sees more than any other person I’ve ever met. He sees me. He sees my pain, even though I try to bury it down deep.”

Rollo sat back in his seat and clucked his tongue. “It sounds to me, like you’ve met your match.”

I laughed. “Yeah, well, I think there’s more to Jared than I can even begin to imagine.”

“You mean?”

“He’s been hurt too. By what, I don’t know,” I said softly, and ran my fingers through my hair. “But he… understands me.”

“Well,” Rollo said, putting the sun visor down, “maybe you should give the guy a chance… as friends.”

“I don’t know,” I shook my head. “I’m afraid that being friends with him will lead to something else, and I don’t think I can give my heart to someone.”

“Katy,” Rollo said with a huff, “I’m not asking you to jump in the bed with the dude. I’m asking you to give him a chance to prove himself to you. He seems like a nice guy and Katy… you really need to learn to live. You need to open yourself up.”

“I’ll talk to him… okay?”

Rollo grinned from ear to ear. “I love you, baby cakes. I promise you, everything will get better. Each day, the pain will get less and less, as long as you’re willing to let it go. Do you hear me,