Story Of A Girl

“Tim!” Frank shouted, running after him. “Hey Tim.” He said, grabbing his arm.
“What do you want, Frank!?” Tim shouted, turning around to glare at him.
“What the hell’s your problem?” Frank snapped.
“You, Frank! You’re my problem!”
“Why am I your problem?” Frank asked, rolling his eyes.
“Frank, you damn well know that I like Evelyn. I’ve been trying pretty hard to get her to look my way and her eyes have been fixed on you this whole time! You didn’t even like her and you decide because you do, you’re gonna walk up in there and act like you’ve cared for the whole time when you haven’t!”
“Okay, first of all, I don’t like Evelyn. I feel bad that I’m the one almost killed her. So, of course I’m gonna make sure the girl I almost killed is okay, who wouldn’t!? Second, I’m not trying to act like I care for her, because I don’t. And third,…”Frank paused to think. “I don’t even know why I was holding her hand. I really don’t Tim! You want her, you can have her, but good luck, because she is still dating Trent!” Frank turned around and walked back into the room, not caring to look if Tim was coming.
“Your eyes are really, really dark against your face.” Shaun said, staring at her in awe.
She quickly smiled at him before looking at Frank. “Where’s Tim?”
“He’s throwin’ a hissy fit.” Frank muttered, leaning against the door frame. Evelyn nodded, painfully trying to sit up while holding her ribs.
“That’s not a good idea, Miss Stewart.” The doctor said, walking into the room.
“Sorry.” She said, laying back down.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Benet.” He stretched his hand out to her. She smiled lightly and shook his hand. “I just wanted to ask you a couple questions. If that’s alright?”
“No, it’s fine.” She said, her brown eyes fixed on him.
Dr. Benet looked at the four boys behind him. “Do you want them in here?”
“Um, I don’t mind.” Evelyn shook her head.
“Okay.” He nodded his head. “Evelyn, have you been getting enough iron?”
She shrugged. “I hope so.”
“Okay, have you been eating enough meat lately?”
Evelyn shrunk down, her eyes on the blankets. She slowly shook her head. “No, I stopped eating meat two months ago.”
“Evelyn, that’s not good at all, especially since you haven’t been eating very many vegetables. You’re anemic and extremely underweight. Why’d you stop eating meat?”
“Because…” She shrugged before mumbling.
“Because why?”
“Because animals get slaughtered for it, and that’s wrong.”
“So what, you’re a vegetarian?” Frank asked, raising a pierced eye-brow. She nodded slightly.
“Well you need to make sure you’re eating the right foods to keep your iron in control.” He looked at her as she nodded. “Do you know how much you weigh?”
She nodded her head numbly. “58 pounds.” She muttered, glancing at her nail polish and then wincing at the sight of it.
Everybody’s breath caught in their throat at the sound of it. Frank remembered the bruises he could see through her white shirt just earlier that day. When he first saw them, he thought maybe she had upset Trent and he had hit her, but now he knew it was because she was very underweight and her skin was probably bruised.
“How old are you?” Dr. Benet broke the silence with a stern glare at Evelyn.
“Seventeen.” She whispered.
“Evelyn, how did you let yourself get so underweight?” Dr. Benet asked,
Evelyn pressed her fingers to her temples, not wanting to talk about it anymore. “When I found out we didn’t have enough food that I could eat, I just ate less.”
“Did you tell your parents?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “No. They would think I’m being stupid.” She opened her eyes and looked up at Frank. “They’d think I’m being selfish.” She whispered.
Frank felt a twang of hatred rush through him. This, too, was his fault, but that didn’t give her the right to go blaming it on him. His eyes slightly hardened. Evelyn, knowing those eyes to well, dropped her gaze at him.
“I can’t stress enough how much you need to gain some weight.” Dr. Benet said, staring at her saddened face. “Right now though, you just need some rest.” He looked the boys. “I think we all should leave.”
Everyone walked out of the room, except Frank, who stayed and stared at her red hair. Neil stopped and turned to wait for him, worrying about what he was going to say to her.
“Evelyn,” Frank shook his head with a mocking smile. She looked up. “you-I-why would-” He stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked up to see tears sliding down her face. “Get some sleep. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He muttered before walking out of the room.
○○○
“So, she can leave tomorrow?” Shaun asked the doctor excitedly. Dr. Benet nodded, staring down at the file in front of him. Visiting hours were from 9 a.m until 9 p.m. He, Frank and Tim had woken up to come to the hospital while Neil and John slept peacefully at the early hour in the morning. Tim had been the first one in her room and the nurse had made it clear that there was only allowed 1 person in the room at a time. Frank and Shaun had made themselves comfortable in the lobby, knowing he’d take up most of the day in that room.
Evelyn’s brown eyes slowly slid open. She swallowed thickly as they took in the lights in the bright room. She looked next to her to see Tim sitting in the chair next to her. She smiled.
“Hey.” She said. He looked up at her, no smile on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“58 pounds?” He asked, staring at her.
Her smile fell quickly and she looked down at the blue blanket that covered her. “Who told you?”
“Frank.” Tim said, sighing loudly towards the subject he was about to bring up. He glanced at her face before looking at his hands. “You like him, huh?”
She looked up at him, slightly surprised. “What?”
“Frank. You like him, don’t you?” Tim said, scratching the back of his head.
Evelyn adverted her eyes to the ground, not wanting lie but not wanting to say the truth.
“Come on,” Tim laughed encouragingly. “I’m your friend, you can tell me anything.”
She shrugged. “It’s just a little crush.”
“A little crush can go a long way.” Tim smiled. “Trust me.” He muttered, scratching the back of his neck.
“I’m sorry, Tim.” She whispered, looking down.
“Hey, there’s a soul mate for everyone, right?” He smiled.
She shrugged again. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Do you think Trent’s your soul mate?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Um..no, I don’t. Sure, I love him, but I don’t think he’s my soul mate. I would know if he was. I would have loved him immediately.”
“Hm…interesting.” Tim nodded. He smiled wickedly. “So, what’s your favorite thing about Frank?”
“His eyes.” She whispered.
“Yeah?” Tim asked smiling.
She looked up at him, a light blush on her white face. She nodded, smiling lightly.
“I think it’s funny how, after everything Frank’s done to you, you still like him.” Tim laughed, shaking his head. “Why is that?”
“It’s,” She paused before shaking her head. “I can’t explain it. Just, something about the things he does and says to me, it makes me feel happy, yet sad. Like I said, I can’t explain it.” She shrugged, slightly smiling.
“Hmm..” Tim nodded thoughtfully. “I wonder if Frank has a soul mate.” He laughed. “Man, I feel bad for whoever she is!”
“I don’t.” She shook her head. “I just hope she makes him happy. Frank seems like a really misunderstood person, in my eyes. He has a lot of built up anger and he lashes it out on everyone, including his friends.”
“Yeah, he’s had a lot of built up anger since what happened with his parents.” Tim said nodding his head.
“What happened with his parents, if you don’t mind my asking?” She added when he looked at her skeptically.
“Um…” He scratched the back of his neck and glanced at the door. “Fuck it,” He sighed. “When Frank was thirteen, his parents got divorced. It was really hard on him and he got really mad about it. His mom, Linda, tried to get him to talk about it, but he would just flip out. She even took him to a therapist, but it didn’t do any good. He wouldn’t say anything to him. To this day, he still hasn’t talked to anyone about it.”
“Wow.” She whispered. She groaned loudly, flopping her head back on her pillow. “I feel so bad.”
“Why? You can’t do anything about it. Unless, you talk to him about it.”
Her head popped back up. “Tim, he won’t talk to me at all. What makes you think he’ll talk to me about his childhood problems?”
Tim shrugged before smiling wickedly. “Maybe you are his soul mate.”
Evelyn laughed lightly. “I highly doubt it. He hates me.”
“So? You said yourself that when you first saw Frank, you liked him for his eyes. You also said you’d know if someone was your soul mate because you’d like them immediately.” He smiled when she laid there with her mouth open. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” He stood up from his chair and walked to the door. “I’m gonna go get your ‘Prince Charming’.” He was out the door before she could protest.
Frank and Shaun looked up as Tim came into the waiting room. He pointed towards Frank and then jammed his thumb over his shoulder towards the door.
“Go get her, Romeo.” Tim muttered as Frank passed him. When Frank stopped to turn around, Tim shoved him into the hospital room and slammed the door behind him.
Evelyn jumped at the sound of the door slamming. She looked up to see Frank staring at the door curiously. “Hi.” She said softly.
Frank turned around, almost forgetting about the girl’s presence, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Hey.”