Status: Finished

Mixed Feelings of Elation

Chapter 32

Neon cuddled into the blankets surrounding her body. Dante had managed to move her to the couch after getting her cleaned and calmed down. He had told her to rest while he made her something to eat that wouldn't upset her stomach. She had been doing just that, lounging on the couch. Her eyes stared vacantly at the television in front of her. Its blank screen reflected the living room. Through the screen, she could see Dante's figure walk back into the room. He set a tray off food on the coffee table and held a stuffed animal out for Neon. Neon took the toy, smiling and clutching it. He made it, she knew that. Dante always made stuffed animals in his spare time.

Yet, he was still afraid of needles.

"I finished that one earlier today," he stated, mixing the substance in the bowl on the tray.

"I feel special," Neon croaked.

Her throat hurt. She was still vomiting after Dante showed up earlier. It took awhile for the fit to subside.

"I need you to try to eat some of this. Can you sit up?" Dante asked.

Neon sat up, letting the blanket fall to her waist. Her legs tucked underneath her body; stuffed animal held close with one arm. She looked over the tray. Soup, crackers, a bottle of Sprite next to a cup with ice; classic sick day foods.

"I suggest you eat the soup first. Its chicken noodle," Dante said.

Neon chuckled. Dante had a secret obsession with chicken noodle soup that no one in the band understood. No doubt he would steal it while she wasn't paying attention.

She took the spoon from the soup, taking a small amount of the substance into the curved surface and placing the spoon in her mouth. Her stomach accepted the food greedily. It was the most she had eaten in days.

"So, why don't you tell me what happened this morning?" Dante asked, sitting in one of the recliners.

"I don't know. I woke up with a stomach ache and started vomiting."

"What did you eat yesterday?"

"Nothing. I drank coffee."

The blank look on Dante's face was enough to let Neon know that he wasn't happy.

"Neon, you know you need to eat."

"No, I don't. I'll be just fine without eating," Neon responded.

That was a lie. She knew she wouldn't be okay if she kept it up. She just preferred to be stubborn on the matter of eating.

"You're going to hurt yourself more than you have already," Dante insisted.

"Nothing else I do to my body will matter."

"Don't say that. You know we care about you. Anything that happens to you will hurt us."

"I'm not ready to eat properly."

Dante sighed and shook his head, "I don't want to argue with you right now. You're sick and obviously tired. Vomiting took too much out of you. I want you to eat and hydrate yourself. Neither of us knows what's going on with your body but it's important for you to at least do that right now."

"Everything that's been going on is a mystery to me," Neon mumbled, taking another sip of her soup.

"What are you talking about?"

"A lot's been happening. That's all."

"Like what?"

Neon shrugged. It wasn't important. The likelihood of everything being related was low. Or in her mind it was.

"You have to tell me. This could be more than a stomach virus," Dante said.

Neon sighed. Where to start?

"Everything hurts," Neon said, "My head, my back, my feet, my chest, my stomach; everything. One thing stops hurting and something else decides to act up. My chest is getting bigger. I stepped on the scale yesterday and realized I gained two pounds even though I haven't eaten since the day of the interview. There was blood in my panties a couple days ago. And I was vomiting this morning. I don't know what's happening. All I know is, whatever it is, it sucks."

Dante sat back in the recliner. It groaned under his weight. Not because he was overweight but because it was an old chair. The chair had sat in the same spot since Neon was a child.

It was her dad's favorite chair.

"This could be a number of things," Dante said.

Leave it to Dante to come up with an answer for Neon's problems on the spot.

"Like?" Neon asked.

"It could be your eating disorder taking a worse toll on your body than it has before. It wouldn't explain the blood that was in your underwear unless you got hurt and didn't realize it."

"What other plausible explanation is there?"

"Well, I have another explanation but it's not exactly plausible."

"That would be?"

"You're starting your period."

"But there was only spotting in my underwear that one time."

"Some women have periods that last for one day."

Neon's eyebrows rose in disbelief. That couldn't be. For years, she had gone without ever having a menstrual cycle. Those weren't part of her body's vocabulary. It didn't make sense that her body would start going though something like that while she was dealing with an eating problem.

"Dante, that can't be it," Neon said.

She would have been excited if it could have been. Having a menstrual cycle meant there was a chance she could have kids.

"Regardless of what it is, you need to go to a doctor," Dante instructed.

He would have suggested pregnancy but that seemed completely out of the question.

"I will," Neon waved him off.

"I mean it."

"I know. And I'll do it. In a few a days."

"You rea—"

Dante was cut off by Neon's cell phone vibrating on the coffee table. Neon reached over, grabbing it. Without looking at the caller id, she pressed the green button on her phone.

"Hello?" Neon asked.

"Hey, Neon," Alex's voice met her ears.

"Oh, hi, Alex."

Hearing Alex's name, Dante made kissing noises. Neon mouthed the words "fuck off", which caused Dante to double over in laughter. Making fun of her crush on Alex was entertaining. Even more so now that she was consciously aware of it.

"What did you need?" Neon asked.

"I was just calling to check how you were doing," Alex responded.

"I'm okay."

"You sound tired."

"I've been vomiting all morning."

"You're not by yourself are you? I can ditch practice to take care of you."

"Dante's here. Don't worry. You work on your silly little songs that fan girls adore."

Alex ignored her comment, "Are you sure you don't need me there?"

"You have things to do."

"But I could drop them to come over if you need me too."

"I'd like for you to get your work done."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Alex."

He didn't need to be so worried. The nausea she felt had disappeared. She would fall asleep soon.

"Okay. I have to go. Jack's threatening to do things to me with Rian's drumsticks," Alex said.

"I'll talk to you later then."

"Bye, Neon"

"Bye, Alex."

Neon ended the call, tossing her phone on the coffee table. She felt she needed to be a bit nicer to her phone. One day, it would get so fed up with how she treated it that it would shatter in her grasp.

"You make one joke and I'll rip your vocal chords out," Neon threatened.

"Hormones, much? Maybe you are starting your period," Dante grumbled, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, you can go home if you want. I'm going to sleep."

"But you barely ate anything."

"I'll eat later."

"Fine," Dante stood, "Call me if anything happens."

"Alright. Thanks for coming to help me."

"It's what friends do."
♠ ♠ ♠
Thank you to rivals are insane, Myssa is stellar, tq6776, and breepocket.
And thank you to any new subscribers.
There's still a good deal to post for this story.
I was kind of hoping to get the Jazz story's first post out this weekend but I don't think that's going to happen till next week at some time.
Which I guess is okay because it gives me more time to work on it.
I hope you enjoyed.
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xoxo
Lyric-Celeste