Fragile Bones

Chapter Seventeen

"Where's your dad?" I heard the question come out of my mouth before I could stop it. He turned to face me once more, but his face kind of got hazy in my vision. I blinked a couple times to try and clear my sight, but to no avail.

Oh god, I better not be about to faint again.

"You're really nosy, you know that?" I couldn't tell if he was mad or not because I couldn't really focus on his expression, and his voice sounded like it was very far away. I slid down the shelf I was next to and sat down on the ground, hoping that it would prevent me from falling over. Luckily, this worked and the haziness left me. I winced from the pain that shot through my stomach which rumbled in reply. I never knew losing weight was going to hurt this much. "Okay, you're eating tonight. I don't know why you lied to the nurse earlier and I don't know why you lied to my mom when we got here, but you're clearly hungry," Asher said, leaning down next to me. He grabbed my hand and helped me back to my feet as my mind raced for an excuse. I realized that he was completely right, and if I wanted to keep the façade going, I would have to muster up the courage to eat some of the dinner. He was already too suspicious, catching on faster than my parent who I actually lived with. The thought made me a little sad, but I wasn't doing this to get my parents attention so what did it matter. I gazed into Ashers concerned eyes, and he looked down at my body, opening his mouth as if about to say something.

"There you guys are! Dinner is ready. I know it's very early, but my partners have things to do so this was the only time everything lined up," Carrie said amiably, walking through the door. I let go of Ashers hand which I didn't realize I had still be holding and hastily jogged over to the door to follow Carrie back to the dining room.

•••

"Wow, this looks really good Carrie!" I exclaimed, feigning excitement at the steaming food before me. The plate consisted of steak, with mashed potatoes, beans, and of course gravy. I have to admit, the smell was delicious but the sight of it sickened me all the same. I mentally tried to add up the calories quickly in my head, but knew it was too much one way or another.

"Thank you Madeline, but it wasn't just me who made it," Carrie said smiling, before turning to talk to the man sitting beside her. She was seated at the head of the table, with four people surrounding her, leaving me and Asher sitting at the end of the table facing each other. I looked up at him to see him already shoving food into his mouth, as teenage boys do I suppose. It didn't escape my notice the small glances he was giving me though, although the was trying to be discreet about it. I sat and twirled my fork through the mashed potatoes, reluctantly working up the nerve to put some into my mouth. I kind of took a small nibble and allowed it to dissolve on my tongue. I set the fork back down and took a large sip of my water.

At this point, Asher had given up spying on me and was just outright staring at me. I stared back wondering if he would actually say anything out loud, and he looked pointedly at my food then back at me. I took a quiet breath before an idea ghosted across my mind, something I had never dared do before. Sometimes you can't help situations that arise. I smiled slightly to myself, and started to eat the food on my plate with an end goal in mind. I glared at Asher who raised his eyebrows and turned his focus back onto his own plate. I hardly spoke a word during dinner since most of the noise came from Carrie and her business associates, talking about things I didn't really understand. When I had finished most of my plate, Carrie told me to go ahead and leave the table if I wanted to.

I picked up my dish and placed it into their kitchen sink with Asher behind me, who had finished quite a bit earlier than me. "Where's your bathroom?"

"It's down the hall, to the right," he said, pointing to my left. "Also, you might as well get changed back into your old clothes while you're gone." I nodded and walked as calmly as I could towards the place he indicated, with only the thought of getting the food out of my system in mind. When I came back out (after washing my mouth with copious amounts of water) I was relieved to see that no one was around. Quickly, I made my way back upstairs to change out of Carries clothes back into the baggy comfort of mine, leaving hers on a hamper in the corner of the room. It was so nice not being exposed like I was in her clothes; I could hide myself away again like I was used to. I found my way back to the kitchen where it seemed like Asher hadn't moved an inch. "I'm assuming you probably wanna go now?" He said, grabbing his car keys off the table where he had left them earlier.

"I probably should get back," I frowned, noticing that I hadn't bothered to text my parents that I was going to be late. "I forgot to even text my parents." I pulled out my phone and saw no new notifications, not from my parents nor anyone else. I stared at the screen for a second before blinking away the tears brimming at the corner of my eyes and slid it back into the pocket of my hoodie.

"Are they mad?" Asher asked tentatively, probably noticing my reaction.

"More like they didn't even notice," I muttered, shaking my head. "I should be grateful though, to not be getting yelled at and all. Let's just go," I said walking past him, trying not to let my emotions show. I used to be pretty good at that before meeting him. Nowadays it seemed like I was always crying around him about one thing or another. I was getting too comfortable around him, and tonight was evidence of that. Having dinner with his mom just wasn't something I should have agreed to, especially considering my diet. Now I had crossed a line I didn't think I ever would have. I had made myself throw up, and even I knew how unhealthy that was. Making a vow to myself, I solemnly swore to never let myself to that ever again.

"You know it's okay to be sad right?" He told me softly, making me turn and face him. He was looking at me like he pitied me, which was the exact opposite of what I wanted. I already knew he lived a great life, just looking at his house and family, and how popular he was at school. He had no right to say something like that, when I knew he never experienced being sad. At least, not in the same way I did.

I nodded, flashing him a fake smile. "I know. I'm not sad though, I'm fine. Always have been, always will be." Even I wanted to laugh at the lie.

•••
A/N

It's been kind of a while, so sorry about that. It do be kind of a big chapter though. As I mentioned before, I started college up again and I have a lot of classes to deal with. Ya girl is also dealing with some mental health issues which are of course, no fun. I'm probably going to go through later and do a little rewriting with this chapter cause I'm not super happy with it. But we shall see.

All of the comments I've been receiving have been making my heart go ~~~~~ so thank you for that.

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Emma x