Help Me (sequel to Save Me)

Chapter 66

Trigger warning :)

Remington kisses Andy briefly before the man leaves for the studio, replying to Faye's text, confirming that he'll meet her at the coffee shop in an hour. He talks to Sebastian on the phone for a while. "I'm really good, actually," he says, routing around for a particular t-shirt.

"You haven't tried anything since-"

"No, Sebby, I feel so much better. I'm sorry I screamed at you." He pulls the shirt off the hanger and puts the phone on speaker, leaving it on the bed and pulling the shirt on.

The older man is spreading butter on toast. "No, it's okay. I shouldn't have mentioned your weight so much. It just worries me, you know? You always look so frail."

Remington fixes his hair. "I know. I wish I wasn't so thin. Eating is just hard sometimes, Sebastian, I don't know why." He picks up the phone, but puts it back down when he remembers his pills.

"Have you talked about it with Abigail?" Sebastian knows that his brother finds it difficult to bring things up when he isn't asked, and he'd hate for him not to be able to talk about it just because he can't bring it up.

The boy swallows his medication. "No. Andy knows, though."

"Okay, as long as you are eating. We don't need you collapsing again."

He picks up his phone and goes downstairs. "I am, Sebby, I promise. Just sometimes it makes me feel sick." He loves that he's able to say this stuff to his brother and know he won't be made to feel bad about it. "I don't want to be skinny like this but at the same time I'm kinda scared of gaining weight. It's really fucking stupid."

"It's not stupid. It's okay. Just promise me you'll talk to Abigail about it and tell Andy how it makes you feel if you haven't. He makes you feel better, doesn't he?" He knows the answer to that; Andy does make Remington feel better. It's so obvious. The way the boy's mood is visibly lifted when the man comes into the room, how he talks about the man as though he's perfect. Sebastian knows that to Remington, he is.

Remington sits on the stairs. "Yeah. I promise I'll try and talk to Abi about it. I love you."

"I love you too, pumpkin. It's good to hear you so cheerful. Have a great day."

Less than an hour later, Remington is buying a coffee, remembering how he had bumped into Andy in here all those years ago. He smiles to himself at the memory and takes his drink. The singer sits at a table by he window waiting for Faye, who turns up ten minutes later, buying a drink and joining him. "How are you?"

Remington smiles. "I'm really good. You?"

"Yeah, I'm not too bad. What do you do? You look like you'd have a really cool job."

"I'm in a rock band," he says, "we're normally touring all the time but I had a bit of a mental breakdown so we're taking a break." Every time he tells people something like this he is surprised at himself for being able to say it.

Faye knew he did something exciting. "What's your band called? I want to check you guys out."

"Palaye Royale. What about you? What do you do?"

The woman sips her coffee. "I'm an actor."

"That's fucking awesome." He is so enthusiastic and Faye can't help but to wonder what had happened leading up to his suicide attempt. He seems so cheerful, but then she knows that it's often the happiest people who are really the most unhappy inside.

She shrugs. "Yeah, I guess. It's hard to find jobs that are worth it, though. I don't want to be in adverts all my life."

They're talking for a while, just getting to know each other, and Remington knows he's found a real friend in her, and that's something that Abigail will be proud of him for. It's been a real struggle for him to trust people for so long and the fact that he's happily talking to someone he only met the other day shows just how much progress he's made.