Just A Coffee For me

Chapter 6: Cuts

The bell rings, the gates open, and we step on to the slippery ice. Dean immediately grabs onto the rail. I place my skates onto the ice and push myself forward. I glide around the oval and circle back to Dean, still holding onto the rail. I stop where he is and find a spot in front of him.

"Ana I don't know If I can do this." He takes my hand and almost crushes it trying to balance himself.

"Relax. Don't try to force it."

I pull him towards me and we try and skate around the oval. I can feel him wobbling and before you know it I'm on the ground. He pulled me onto the ground with him and a man in a white shirt an black pants skates over to us.

"You guys need some help"

"Yeah," I say as I grab the mans extended hand. Another man helps Dean up while muttering that he's okay. I say thank you and we're off again. Dean is getting better at it. Im proud at his accomplishments and I smile to myself.

"Are you smiling because I fell? I told you I'm taking you down with me." He laughs and his face gets red.

"No, I'm not. I'm just proud that you're getting the hang of this." He grips my hand harder and I smile at him. Crap. Before I realize it I'm blushing. Oh my god he's flirting with me. Shit um...

"So what does your dad do?" I didn't know if that was an "okay" talk for this situation.

"He's in the Army. He's deployed right now Afghanistan. Im trying to keep things together over here. You know, get Sammy to school, keep the house clean, get good grades, keep the bills paid. That sort of stuff."

"Oh. Do you miss him?" That was the only thing that I could think of right now.

"Yeah. Sometimes. Since mom died he's been an alcoholic. I told him to try and do something with his life. Something meaningful. Something mom would've been proud of. So this was his answer." His face fell. He looks so sad. I totally just ruined this date. Damn it.

"Hey you're getting really good at ice skating." I say trying to lift up the mood. He smiles. He's seeing what I'm trying to do and plays along.

"Yeah. I guess I am." Suddenly there is a crash behind us and before we know it Dean is swept backwards under his feet and he throws my hand as if trying to keep me on my feet but instead I fall forward. I fall on my hands and knees and I I feel a weight on my back which pushes me down until I flatten out underneath. I feel a familiar sting on my arm and I look and realize that Deans ice skate has cut my arm. Blood starts to drip from my arm and I feel a thousand hands grab by back and try to lift me up. When I get to my feet Dean is already up and is trying to find something to stop the bleeding. He grabs my arm and rolls up my sleeve, trying to see how bad it is.

"No. Stop I'm fine. Leave me alone. It's not that bad." I'm trying to pull my sleeve down, but it's too late he has my sleeve up and is staring at my arm. I know what he sees. He sees hundreds of scars going up and down the entire length of my arm.

"What is this?" He looks horrified. I look away from him and pull down my blood stained sleeve. Everyone is staring at me now and I can feel my face getting hot and eyes getting watery. I feel so vulnerable and small. I start to cry and Dean takes my hand and leads me to the exit. We give the skates back and leave the rink. We walk in complete silence to the motorcycle and I get on the back and hug him. He'll probably never want to talk to me again. I scared him off just like everybody else. I should have known that this would happen. I'm so stupid to believe that anybody could understand the hell that I went through. He'll run off like everybody else and I'll be stuck alone. Again.