Fragile Bones

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Asher?" I whispered, peering around corners into different rooms. He wasn't in the kitchen, or living room, or anywhere on the first floor. That left his room as the only option left for me to search. Bag in hand, I gripped the railing as I started walking upstairs. The walk had tired my body more than I would have expected. I had to stop halfway up the stairs to take a breather, like I was seventy years old. "Jesus christ."

"Not quite, but close enough." I jerked my head up at the voice and saw a shadow standing at the top of the landing. The shock nearly made me fall back down the stairs, and I was glad I had been holding on to the railing. Not wanting him to see how I struggled to climb up the stairs, I made myself muster up the energy to jog the extra way up. I just be gaining more weight or something if I was having problems with this. That was impossible though, wasn't it? I knew I had hit a plateau for the last couple of days, but I was sure I wasn't gaining more. I would need to check as soon as I could, maybe when Asher was asleep. They had to have a scale somewhere in this house.

"I didn't expect you to actually come," Asher said, flipping on a dim hall light so we could see each other better. He was in pajamas, or at least what I assumed were pajamas. Sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

"Then why'd you ask me to come over?" I groaned, already ready to turn pack and go home to my bed. Sometimes I wanted to throttle him.

"I don't know," he said quietly, piercing me with his green eyes. They were the only things I could really see well in the faint light. He glanced down at my body, or maybe my clothes, and a pained expression came over his face. "Have you eaten today?"

"Yes," came the automatic reply. He had taken to asking me this every so often, and the answer was a stable constant. Perhaps one of the only constants in my life at the moment. "I had a sandwich for lunch, and my mom made chicken for dinner."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Dinner must have been a while ago, and that's still not much to eat in a day. Let's go get a snack."

"Is that all you wanted to do with me; get something to eat?" I questioned, watching him go down the stairs. I had finally gotten to the top, and now we we're going back down.

"Why? Did you wanna do something else?" He threw me a smirk over his shoulder and I flushed. His figure disappeared around the corner at the bottom of the staircase, and I guess I didn't have another choice but to follow him. Luckily, walking down is easier than getting up.

I really didn't want to suffer through eating food right now, so my mind swam with a million excuses. Several bangs came from the kitchen, making me rush in to see what was going on. Asher was opening up all kinds of cupboards and slamming them shut when he didn't find what he was searching for.

"You're gonna wake your mom up!" I hissed, looking around behind me to check if a light turned on.

"What? Oh. She's not here right now. Nobody is. The last person who was here was Mary, and she went home hours ago."

I nodded, but was still wary of someone running into the kitchen to yell at us for making so much noise. While Asher was rummaging around, I took to doing laps around the island. Lately, I loathed to be sitting still for too long. Any kind of movement helped expel calories, so being lazy wasn't very productive. Bouncing my leg when I sat at my desk doing homework, jogging in place when I brushed my teeth, and doing sit-ups in bed had all become a routine. Unfortunately, this drained my energy considerably, so each day of doing them got harder and harder.

Ashers eyes followed me around the kitchen a couple of times before he barked, "can you sit down? Why are you pacing so much?"

Shrugging, I listened to his demand and sat down in a swivel chair. Nausea had been setting into my stomach anyways, and moving around definitely wouldn't help get rid of that.