Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Twenty-Six: Food Troubles

"When was the last time you ate?" Xavier hissed. He looked like he wanted to touch my easily seen bones, but he drew his hand. He looked disgusted.

Was that all I was? Disgusting?

"I... Yesterday?" I asked softly. Everyone looked horrified, even Kas. Peggy had her hands covering her mouth, shocked at what she had seen. I could only pray that they would all just forget what they had seen.

Good luck with that, am I right?

Xavier pushed me into his lap, which was uncomfortable at first but I situated myself. Ethan came up to us, holding an unused fork. I groaned, knowing exactly what was about to happen. I leaned my head on Xavier's chest, refusing to meet the eyes of anyone in the room. I already knew I looked emaciated. I didn't need their staring to remind me I was even more of a freak.

"Come on. You're eating some of this." Xavier whispered, horror easily heard in his voice. He was only trying to be sweet, but I really wasn't hungry. I would puke if I ate anything without being hungry. That's just how my stomach worked.

"I'm not hungry. I promise to eat like a horse when I'm hungry, but I'm not hungry." I told him, pleading with him to understand. He shook his head. I sighed.

Why did I even try?

I get he was only trying to help me and make me healthy, but it was a little irritating. They were being a little too overprotective of me at that point. They needed to trust what I said.

Xavier held a forkful of scrambled eggs up to my lips, waiting patiently for me to eat them. I grew nauseous at the very thought of eating. If I ate, I would vomit up everything I had in me. And then they would think I was bulimic or something, and not just anorexic.

And wouldn't that be perfect?

"You have to eat." Liam told me. I opened my mouth, ready to defend the fact that I wasn't hungry, but I gave in and ate the stupid eggs.

I looked at Xavier, who looked less horrified but nowhere near satisfied. I couldn't take eating much more and he looked like he was ready to feed me my next twenty pounds in one sitting. I was not prepared for whatever he was planning to feed me. My stomach wouldn't be able to handle all of that.

"Here. Bread expands in your stomach. Fills you up faster and has a lot of carbs." Peggy said, handing over the basket of biscuits. Why wasn't anyone worried about the fact that Peggy might have the beginnings of an actual disorder? I got the fact that I looked sick, but there was nothing that they could do to fix that. My father would make sure that I lost every pound I gained while he was away, and then that would only cause more suspicion.

"Thanks." Xavier muttered, picking up the bread and buttering it for me. I tried to hold in my gag at the sight of more food, I really did. But I couldn't help it. It was just too much for my tiny stomach to handle.

Everyone looked at me with concern after that.

"Do you not like butter?" Xavier asked, looking at the bread in confusion. I gave him a negative response, but continued to hold a hand over my mouth. It made me feel like I wasn't going to puke up my guts all over him.

"I'm not hungry. More food makes me feel like..." I didn't finish my statement. He connected the dots and put the bread down, shaking his head all the while. I smiled a bit, but got up and tried to pick everything up. Every now and again, when I was picking up a plate or cup or something, someone would force another morsel of food down my throat. And I do mean forced.

So, it wasn't a surprise to me when I dropped all the plates and sprinted to the bathroom after the piece of bacon Jaydon shoved in my mouth. And then all of my food, drinks, and acids came up from my heaving innards.

Someone held my hair back, someone placed a cold rag against my neck, and someone else gave my back reassuring pats. When I finally finished, the first thing I did was flush everything. The second thing was to brush my teeth. The third thing, tell everyone I was, by no means, pregnant.

"I just ate too much, is all." I said, wiping my face with a towel. Kade crossed his arms in disbelief. I looked at the floor in irritation.

"You didn't even eat all that much. So, either you're pregnant or you're sick." He said, matter-of-factly. I sat down at the counter and pressed my sweaty forehead against the cool marble counter. I could see how Kas fell asleep doing this.

"It's not biologically possible for me to be pregnant unless I'm the next Virgin Mary. And I'm not sick. I ate too much when I wasn't hungry. I told you this would happen." I explained. I knew I was being short, but I had just upchucked. Not a pleasant experience.

It didn't put me in the greatest mood.

"Will you promise to eat all you can, no matter what time or where or whatever you're doing?" Kade asked. I wanted to promise him I'd do everything perfectly. It would make him happy if I, without hesitation, agreed to always do better. Of course, when he checked to see if I was following his promise, his heart would be broken when he realized I wasn't even trying.

So, I gave him the only answer I could think of that wouldn't get his hopes too high up.

"I promise to do the best I can." I said, giving his hand a small squeeze. He squeezed back, telling me my answer was acceptable. Which was good, because he wasn't getting another answer. My body could only take so much food, and I could already tell he was going to try and force more food on me than I could ever eat.

I was already dreading it.

What are you going to do, though? After all, he was just trying to make me eat.

Eating. Wasn't it funny how something so simple as eating had become a luxury to me. Maybe things would be better when I could eat all I wanted and not get sick.

Food troubles, man. Gotta hate 'em.