Eyesore

It was worse than pulling teeth. That expression should really change, in Minnie’s mind, as she wrapped her fingers into her thigh, trying to concentrate on that pain and avoid realizing she was shoving a second forkful of wild rice into her mouth.

Cluelessly, Brier chatted right across the table from Minnie, going on about how someone told another someone that she said something about that someone, but she didn’t, or something along those lines. Minnie was too focused on her anger towards Joe and the added stress that she was actually eating.

Adrienne, at the head of the table, weakly, but politely smiled along with Brier’s story, but kept her eyes watching Minnie, just like the nurses had after getting her test results back. She wanted to ask her daughter how she was feeling right now followed by setting up an appointment with a child psychologist, but she didn’t want to embarrass Minnie in front of her sister.

"I’m all done." Pushing the plate in front of her, still full of pieces of food that she had transported around her plate and jumble into three different small messes. She put her fork down delicately on top of the small flat puddle of rice grains, and as she backed her chair out, she glanced up at her mother’s expression that of a goldfish, helpless and kind of stupid.

"Are you sure?" She asked, holding onto the pointless hope that Minnie would reconsider and finish what was on her plate.

"Yeah," Once she stood up on her two feet, letting out a large yawn and feeling her sides, positive that she could feel her skin swell out and the gut of her stomach fall heavier, she picked up her plate and dragged her feet to the waste can under the sink to scrape off all that she’d left untouched. "I’m going out, okay?"

"Minnie, no running!" Her mom shouted over the alleged climax of Brier’s story, frightening both Savard girls. Adrienne was a very calm mother, who never raised her voice or got after them intensely for anything. They often joked that a life in pageants must’ve had their mom on heavy medication, so when her voice shook loudly both of them knew she meant business. "Sorry, uh, no running." In her normal and softer tone of voice, Adrienne repeated herself and stared down at the dinner she had prepared. "Carry on, Brier." She looked up only for a moment and forced a smile in the direction of her youngest daughter’s face.

"As I was saying...." Taking in a large breath, Brier dramatically tried to start her story again.

"I’m not going running, I just....I’m going to hang out with Liz for a bit." She lied, a habit she had formed all at once, but also became very good at it.

"You and Liz are talking again?" Her mom asked, turning fully to the side and watching her daughter wander by in the direction of her bedroom.

"Fine, no one listen to me." Brier huffed, dragging her cutlery across her almost empty plate.

"Yeah, I called her when I got home. We’re going to hang out at her place." Not bothering to look over at her mother, in order to avoid full eye contact, Minnie said and headed into her bedroom to find a backpack and store her runners in it.

X

Headphones tightened on his head and over his ears, Joe was standing right in front of the microphone, ready to try and jump into another take of the first verse of their new song, but he just couldn’t hit it. His mind kept venturing off elsewhere, and he’d pull away from the microphone every other second to check his cell phone in his phone, it was on silent, and he was hopeful for a text from Minnie saying thank you for taking her to the hospital or letting her know that she was alright.

He checked through the glass window before opening his mouth, looking at both Kevin and Nick’s exhausted face. Joe could knock any vocal out of the park and surprise anyone with the runs that he would come up with, but they were on his thirteenth take for the same line and it was wearing them thin. The producer was kind, though, thrilled to be working with the boys, he told Joe, repeatedly, that he had all the time in the world while Gaston just paced the room, fuming and calling Joe out on his errors and flaws.

Joe shut his eyes and breathed in deep, but right as he was about to let the first note soar out of his mouth, he heard a door slam and his eyes sprang to life and rested on Minnie, standing at the door of the studio with an unimpressed snarl. He couldn’t hear anything else going on out there, just watched as Gaston spun around and got right up in his daughter’s face, arms flailing and lips never coming together to close, but surprisingly, Minnie wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes, tired and losing pigment, just stared at Joe, plainly while he watched feeling completely uncomfortable in his own skin.

"Leave!" After asking Minnie twice why she was even there to begin with and receiving no reply, Gaston finally whipped the door out from behind her, knocking her back slightly and finally earning her eye contact. After a quick shot at Joe, she turned around, sneakers screeching against the floor and left back into the hallway.

"Wait!" Joe yelled in the microphone, forgetting that Minnie couldn’t hear him, and scrambled to take his headphones off. He tripped over a few rows of cords as he rushed out of the vocal room and into the studio.

"Joe, get back in there!" Gaston pointed towards the glass and over Joe’s head, but he didn’t listen, just threw his hand at him and chased after Minnie. This is what he wanted, he wanted to get Gaston so angry and frustrated, but for some reason, and Joe couldn’t put his finger on it, that was no longer the top priority.

"Minnie, Minnie, Minnie!" Joe sang after her, the wind he was creating ripping through his locks of hair that were tucked safely under a skull cap. Finally, he reached her shoulder and stopped her in her place. "Hey, you’re okay." He smiled, once he caught his breath. Her eyes were staring off elsewhere and trying not to come back into his. "Minnie, you’re okay, aren’t you?" Tilting his head, he forced himself in her view.

"Yeah, I am, no, thanks to you." Finally, she snarled, surprising Joe so quickly that he stepped back and tightened his face against his skull. "Who drops someone off at the hospital and then just takes off?"

"It’s more complicated than that. I really was worried...."

"I can tell." Sarcastically, she laughed. "The news coverage on how supportive my boyfriend was, paints you beautifully!"

"That’s why I left, I didn’t want press all over you and I didn’t want to have to answer questions."

"Oh, that’s so sweet. You left me unconscious, so you wouldn’t get in hot water." She gasped and wrapped him in a cold hug. "Oh, thank you so much."

"What else could I have done, Minnie? I called an ambulance, I called your mom, I got you there, but I had to go to the studio and....I was freaked out."

"You were freaked out? I woke up in the fucking hospital!"

"Well, are you okay? What happened?"

"I just passed out. I was tired." It didn’t sound like a lie to her, her body was exhausted, she just left her eating habits out of the story.

"But, you’ll be okay, right? We can go to the gym some other time?"

"No, Joe, I don’t want to go to the gym with you. God, I wanted to come here and...strange you, now I don’t even know why I’m here. Why am I with you? I know that this is all a stunt for my dad, you and I can’t even stand each other, what the hell are we doing?" She ripped her hands through her hair and groaned. She could feel her heart racing under her chest and all she wanted to do was run.

"Minnie, calm down," He tried to grab her shoulders, but she whipped them away. "You’re going to pass out again. Look, you’re coming with us tomorrow to The Cheetah Girl CD release party, by then things will have cooled down." He didn’t want to explain to her that he was only with her until Gaston left the account, he felt too guilty now, a feeling he never knew before.

"No, I’m not coming. I’m not playing this stupid game with you anymore."

"It’s not a game, Minnie!" He called after her as she started running away again. "It’s not a game." He breathed out only loud enough for himself to hear and watched, while trying to think how he could make things better.