Fragile Bones

Chapter Twenty-One

Asher started walking towards the kitchen, and I followed wondering what he was doing. He started rooting around the pantry, and various cupboards and shelves. Ingredients began getting tossed onto the table, all seemingly random. Finally, Asher pulled the blender out from its place on the shelf next to the sink, and sat it down on the counter. I gazed upon the food on the table, eyes scanning over everything and mentally counting the calories like I had gotten so used to doing. There was cereal, peanuts, fruit, frosting, peanut butter, ice cream, milk, cookies, and a few other things. Trying to decide how many calories each of them had was giving me a headache, and making me increasingly worried about what Asher was planning to do with everything. He had already forced me to have a bit of an apple earlier, and I would probably have to eat more at dinner when my parents came home later.

"We are going to make milkshakes," Asher said with a flare of his arms towards the food. I stared silently at the ice cream container, watching a few drops of water slide off the top and fall on the table.

I had two options here. I could deny his request, like I did every time he offered me food, or talked about it, or I could accept. Unfortunately, milkshakes had about a billion calories, no matter what you made it with. Asher was already very suspicious about my eating habits, so refusing could be dangerous. The last thing I wanted to do was end up in some eating disorder clinic. I wasn't like those other girls that were there, I had my issues under control. In this situation, I decided the best thing to do was to make milkshakes with him.

"Okay, let's do it," I agreed. A smile flashed across his face, and for a second he looked happier than any other time I've seen him. It was soon gone though, and a neutral countenance took over. "Why did you have to take out so many ingredients though," I asked, picking up the jar of peanut butter to read the label.

"How am I supposed to know what kind of stuff you like in your milkshake? This way, you can add anything you want," he replied, gently taking the jar out of my hands and setting it down on the table once more. "As for me, I'm doing an Oreo milkshake."

"You're certainly on an Oreo kick today," I laughed lightly. In a way, it was kind of enjoyable to see other people eat the foods I couldn't. It was almost like I could taste it myself. "I guess I'll just do vanilla." Considering how milkshakes needed ice cream anyways, I just settled for not adding anything else, so I wouldn't have as many calories.

"Sounds good. Now watch the master at work," Asher said, picking up the ice cream container and flipping it in the air. I sat down in a stool, and watched this supposed 'master' try and make milkshakes. To be fair, it was pretty entertaining. It was quite clear that Asher had never made a milkshake before since he was looking up instructions on his phone. At one point during the process, he dropped the carton of milk and it spilled all over the kitchen. Of course, I was the one who had to clean up the mess. By the time he was finished, there were various food items strewn all around the kitchen, despite the fact that combined, we must have actually used around five total. He handed me my milkshake and started gulping down his own.

I stared at it, knowing how unhealthy it was for me, and took a sip. Surprisingly enough, the taste itself wasn't bad, but what was bad was the sinking feeling of disappointment in myself. That one sip alone probably had fifty calories. I nervously glanced at Asher to see if he was paying attention to me, but he was fixated on something on his phone. I dumped about half of it in the sink quickly, before he looked over at me again. He looked at the cup and then back at me, smiling slightly.

"You've drank a lot of it. That's really good sweetheart."

Why was he praising me for drinking it?

"I've gotta go though. My mom is wondering where I'm at. She wasn't exactly happy about the whole 'getting into a fight after only being at this school for a short while' thing," he said, rolling his eyes. I walked him to the door, feeling a little sad that I would have to sit alone in this empty house again. His motorcycle was sitting in the driveway, and he walked over to it and hopped on. He started it, and I remembered that I was still wearing his hoodie.