Cheerio

“Evie?” Puck’s voice cut through my sobbing, his tone worried out of his mind. “Evie, what happened? Where are your parents? Where’s Garrett?”

“I j-j-just don’t-t-t want t-t-to talk ab-b-bout it,” I stuttered, trying to get myself to calm down. God, it was almost like my body had a sensor that let me know that Puck was near before putting me into embarrassing situations.

“Puck, let me in,” a familiar voice ordered from the hallway.

“Oh, great, you brought Kurt,” I grumbled, dragging the heel of my hand through my eye, trying to get rid of all the tears. “He’s going to start judging me because my hair’s a rat’s nest and I’m not wearing any makeup. And my hospital gown is so last year.”

“Hey,” Puck whispered soothingly, keeping his hand on the door to keep Kurt outside, “I’m sorry. It’s just…after Glee Club, he came up to me and asked me if he could come because he knew that I was going to see you. He’s your best friend, Evie.”

What a weird concept, though it was true. I had a best friend. And he was in Glee Club. And he was one of the few gay people in all of Ohio. But he absolutely, truly was my best friend.

Maybe I was the one being judgmental.

“You’re right,” I told him, wiping my face a couple more times to make myself look a little presentable, even if the improvement was only marginal. “Go ahead. Let him in.”

Puck nodded and opened the door, allowing Kurt to spill into the room, tripping over his own feet, which were covered with really gorgeous boots.

Once Kurt regained his balance, he put his hands firmly on his hips and glared at me as menacingly as he could manage. Though, still, he looked like a kicked puppy more than a lion that was about to rip me limb from limb. “You scared us all to death, Evelyn.”

Hearing my full name come out of his mouth was weirder than words can express, but I pretended not to notice. “Sorry,” was the best thing I could come up with.

“Sorry?!” Kurt gasped out, as if he couldn’t believe I actually said that. “You pass out in Glee Club, smack your head on the tile floor, nearly kill yourself with an eating disorder that you’ve had for God knows how long…and all you can say is sorry?!”

I cleared my throat and pulled myself into more of a seated position, my back against the pillow. “What do you want me to say Kurt? That I should have told you? Because I never in a million years wanted you to find out.”

“I’m supposed to be your best friend, Eves. Why is it that Puck knew and I didn’t?” He turned toward Puck and added, “No offense.”

“None taken,” Puck assured him.

Kurt turned back to me, his eyes looking like they were going to spill over with tears. “Well?”

“It’s…complicated,” was the best thing I could come up with. “Honestly, I didn’t want Puck to know either. I didn’t want anyone to know. And you know, if I hadn’t joined Glee Club, where everyone loves each other all the time, I’d be fine right now. Everything would be normal. I wouldn’t be in the hospital.”

Kurt let out a hostile laugh. “Oh, please, Evie. If you didn’t faint at Glee Club, you would have passed out at Cheerios. And you know for sure that Coach Sylvester wouldn’t make sure you got to the hospital. She’d drag you over to the bleachers and, when you woke up, scold you for not participating in part of practice. You’re lucky as hell that you joined Glee Club and Coach Sylvester kicked you off the Cheerios.” His anger faded, and he finally sighed, that kicked-puppy look making a reappearance. “Don’t you believe in fate, Evie?”

I thought about it for a long time, the silence lingering between us. It did seem kind of coincidental, that everything in my life just happened to turn out like it did. And I knew that I was fortunate that the people I had close to me now were there, but… “I don’t know,” I finally answered, not bearing to look him in the eye.

The bed sank down on one end when Kurt planted his butt on it. “Evie, you scared the hell out of me. But I’m really, really glad you’re okay.”

“Me, too,” I smiled. “You guys have to win Sectionals for me, you hear?”

“Oh, we will.” Kurt turned to smile at Puck. “C’mon, Puckerman. You can take the other side of the bed.”

“I’ll just pull over a chair,” Puck replied, going to the other side of the room to do just that.

“Guess what, Evie? God, it’s been torture not being able to talk to you for the past few days.”

“Oh, great. I get to sit here and listen to gossip,” Puck whined.

“Shut up, Puckerman,” I snapped at him. “What, Kurt?”

“I have a solo in What Makes You Beautiful!” Kurt squealed. “Isn’t that fantastic! And it sucks that you’re not a part of the dance solo for Tell Me a Lie because you would have totally rocked it, but Santana, Brittany, Mike, and Quinn are doing a great job.”

“I’m sure they do,” I replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

Just then, the door to the room swung open, and a nurse walked in, balancing a tray. “Here you go,” he greeted, putting the tray down on my lap. “And make sure you eat it all.” He turned to the two boys sitting around me. “Make sure she eats all of it, okay?”

“You got it,” Puck agreed, nodding.

The nurse seemed satisfied and left. The amount of food on the tray actually made me feel sick to my stomach. “I have to eat all of this?” I questioned, my voice wavering with my queasy feeling.

“Oh my God, Evie,” Kurt sighed. “It’s just a sandwich, some French fries, a cup of strawberries, and a pint of milk. It’s not exactly the entire Chinese buffet.”

I stared down at the food sitting in my lap and gulped. “What if I puke just because I’m eating too much at once?”

Kurt raised an eyebrow at me. “Stop it. You’re going to be fine. Just breathe and pace yourself. You don’t have to eat it all in ten seconds.”

Hesitantly, I picked up half of the sandwich, which looked like turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a bit of mayonnaise. When I took a bite, it sank down to my stomach and settled heavily. “Ugh,” I groaned. “Is this how it always feels to eat? No wonder I quit.”

“It’ll get better,” Kurt promised, putting his hand over mine. “I promise, it’ll get better.”

“So…” Puck voiced through the silence, “if you don’t want to eat your French fries…can I have them?”

“Sure!” I agreed enthusiastically, trying to hand them over.

But Kurt snapped into action, slapping Puck’s hand away. “God, it’s a good thing I came,” he scolded, narrowing his eyes at the boy with the Mohawk. “Otherwise, you’d steal her food and she’d never get better.”

I stared down at my food and sighed. “This getting better thing is going to be hard,” I sighed. “It just better be worth it.”