Normal

I really am thankful for her. She just gets me in many ways other people don't. She knows I'm probably never going to cry in front of her (and if not her, then no friend), that I'll always show a strong front, not because I'm tough, but just who I am, and she never tries to penetrate that. She understands even, the things I don't always say: about my aversion to care I don't want, about impressions not easily quantified, about my needs and my fears and all the excuses I would use as required, about the fact that I really just don't want to be fussed over and have group hugs and share tears and have the masses' verbal support and what not. It's something to have someone believe me when I say I don't actually care if people know, I just don't want my three months of celebrity, or however long it takes for people to stop asking questions with overly concerned faces - and to know it intrinsically, not just because I say so and you have no real choice but to appear like you believe it. Most of all, I appreciate how she just lets me vent, because that's all I'm doing: wanting to let it out without having to endure promises it will all be OK, making no comment that frustrates me further, just treating me like any other normal human being. Of course, I am a little bit secretly delighted that she gets defensive with people nosing around about me.  

Not that I'm ungrateful for the others, but that she gives a damn while being who she is, really means something.