The young couple sat on Gemma's bed talking about totally insignificant things but the strange thing was the normally flirty pair didn't touch once. Matt was scared she had brought him over to dump him so didn't want to make any mistakes and Gemma was trying to pick up the courage to talk about what she needed to.
Gemma slowly stopped the pointless conversations and cuddled up to Matt; which is she had, deep down, spent the last hour of awkward conversation longing to do. He gingerly put his arm around her and she started to cry.
'Have I done something wrong?' Matt asked nervously
'No' Gemma breathed
'Really?' Matt asked in disbelief
'Really, you've done nothing wrong; but I have' Gemma answered softly
'Ok,' He breathed 'is this to do with what we were talking about last night, about moving on from the past?'
'Yeah' Gemma sobbed 'I think its only way I'm ever going to feel 'normal' again. I need to forgive you and Debbie somehow & move on.'
'Did you try what I said worked for me? Crying about it' Matt asked
'Yeah, it didn't work for me' Gemma answered
'Why? You know it's not going to be instant don't you' Matt asked, knowing how impatient his girlfriend could be
'Yeah, it's just' Gemma stammered 'it just reminded me how I've always dealt with my emotions before and made me want to go back to it'
'Go back to what?' Matt asked, confused
'Self-harm' Gemma said so softly it was barely audible. He pulled her in close in to him; he knew how much it hurt her to talk about it, how ashamed she was of it. He held her while she cried. After a while he noticed her dig her nails into her arm – presumably to stop the tears, stop the pain. So he gently took her hand in his
'You'll get through this I promise, I'll help you, I'm here for you no matter what' He promised
'You won't; you'll just threaten me like all the other times, threaten to report me to social services and ruin my life' She snapped back at him
'I won't; I now realise that strategy is not going to work. This time I will help you ok, support you' Matt answered
'Why should I believe you?' Gemma sobbed defensively, wanting to push him away but not having the energy
'Because I care about you, I love you. I don't want to see you ruin your life I want to help you mend it' Matt reasoned softly
'Fine' Gemma sighed, she didn't want to give in but she desperate to get her life back to normal and maybe this was the first step back to normality.