disorder :: grayson dolan

eleven

Grayson sighed as he climbed into the car, driving him and Ethan to get some froyo and hangout with Luke. He'd been home for two weeks now, and honestly? He was bored of it.

The boy wanted a change- everything here felt too familiar. And him being home was back to normal after about a week, the excitement was gone.

He missed Lilibeth and their adventures. They hadn't even had the chance to talk as much lately, usually just a nightly FaceTime call and her texting him whenever she could. She told him she was busy, but he thought that meant she didn't want to talk. He thought she was distancing herself from him.

Grayson didn't know what to do- was she mad at him? Did she realize she didn't actually like or need him? Was he not good enough? He'd been so up in his head lately, his family was starting to wonder if he should head back to rehab.

What could she possibly be doing? They used to complain about being bored and there was never anything to do. Lilibeth would've mentioned if she doubled, or tripled up on therapy sessions.

He just didn't understand.

"Is Luke even free? We didn't ask if we could hangout," Grayson reminds his brother as he pays for the yogurt.

"We never ask to hangout. If he isn't home I'm sure his parents won't mind if we stay there," Ethan shrugs his shoulders, gummy worm hanging from his mouth.

Luke, in fact, was not home. So they let themselves into his backyard to hangout and wait for him to get back. He had done the same at their house a few times, so it wasn't like he would mind.

Lilibeth wiped the sweat off of her forehead as the whistle blew, jogging over to grab her water. It was about 93° outside and humid. The shorts and sports bra she was wearing didn't help to cool her off almost at all, but she was enjoying herself.

After Grayson left, she needed to do something. She couldn't let herself get bad again, or worse. So she started to join in some activities.

It was really hard to do- but it was better than falling into old habits. Lili particularly enjoyed playing volleyball outside with some other kids her age. They were all pretty nice and invited her right into the group- and they understood her anxiety. She wouldn't say she was too close with them, but she didn't feel like vomiting when she spoke to them, so that was a plus.

Lilibeth also would join in and play tennis, joined in with the cooking class, and regularly went to movie night. Her and her therapist were working on coping techniques a lot over the two weeks. Those combined with her meds seemed to help. After she pushed herself to do things, it got a bit easier.

"Am I interrupting, or is this getting done?" Luke hummed, leaning against the tree behind her as she chugged water.

"Luke!" She grinned, rushing over to him. "I didn't know you'd be here this early."

"I woke up really early." He noted, hugging her despite how sweaty she was. "Are you ready to get out of here? All packed up?" Lilibeth nodded with a smile.

Right, she was going home.

This push she gave herself, despite hating it at first, made her therapist see an improvement almost immediately. She'd been distracting herself, and maybe she started to enjoy it a little bit. Even though exercise was pretty annoying. And sure, she had wanted to rip her hair out in the beginning and still did on occasion, but she was making progress. She was trying to get better.

"All of my clothes are packed up... I guess this is what I'm wearing." She said, pulling on Grayson's- or technically Ethan's- muscle tank over her sports bra. "You didn't tell them I was coming home, right?"