i was terrified. "what do you mean, you understand my situation?" he knows, i thought. he knows that i'm homeless, he knows i'm nothing-
"he's mean to you, isn't he?" i hesitated a moment before nodding. "then, yeah, i have a pretty good idea of what's going on."
"dammit, i figured you saw," i grumbled, laying my head down in my arms. "please, don't tell mr. harding and ms. gold about it. i only made it as a last resort."
"tell them about what?" jimmy asked, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.
now i was confused. "you said you knew about my situation," i said. "you saw the-" i stopped, my eyes widening. "you weren't talking about backstage, you were talking about Zach..."
jimmy's eyebrows furrowed. "i'm kind of lost here," he said. "what about backstage?"
i shook my head, trying to play off my misinterpretation by laughing. "it's nothing," i lied. "just forget about it."
"you've worried me now," jimmy persisted. "what happened backstage?"
i froze for a second before picking up the menu on the table and covering my face with it. "we should probably start looking at things to order, you know?" i let out a nervous chuckle, sliding down in my seat a bit. "the blt here is really good. it comes with chips and a small side salad."
jimmy hummed. "i might get that, then."
as we were ordering, i noticed zach and his friend dante walk into the diner. i panicked, so instead of ordering a blt, i ordered a salad with no dressing, cheese, or croutons.
"are you sure you don't want the blt?" pearl asked, nudging me. she knew it was my favourite meal here. aside from the blueberry pancakes, of course.
i told her i was alright, but when i looked over at zach, who hadn't even noticed i was there yet, i felt a hot anger build up inside me and i thought, why do i have to listen to what he says? why do i have to let him control what i eat? it's my body, my appetite. he had no place ruining food for me.
so i ordered the blt.
and i struggled for an hour and a half to eat it.