Weightless

Chloe felt herself go stiff at his words but allowed him to drag her down the stairs nonetheless. In all honesty, she probably wouldn’t have been able to manage it herself. Bacon and eggs and melted butter flooded her nostrils. Chloe’s mouth began to water. They rounded the hallway corner and entered the kitchen. A woman was just finishing placing a few slices of toast on a plate when they sat down at the counter. She smiled widely at Chloe and Chloe couldn’t help but return the gesture.

“Mum, this is Chloe.”

“Hello, love, I’m Alex’s mother. You can call me Isobel.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Chloe whispered.

“Alex told me you’re Zack’s cousin?”

Chloe gave a small nod. She hoped that was the only thing Alex had told his mother about her. Alex’s mother smiled at her again and set the plate of toast down in front of the teenagers. Alex immediately began piling his plate with food. Chloe gagged a little as she watched him. She began to reach for a piece of toast.

You already ate today.
I can eat one slice of toast.
Don’t you dare.
They’ll be suspicious.
It has butter on it.

Alex watched the conflicted expression on Chloe’s face as she stared at the plate with buttered toast on it. His mother looked at him and Alex shook his head slightly. His mother nodded, concern painted on her face.

“I’ve got to go get ready for work. I’ll see you after school, Alex. It was a pleasure meeting you, Chloe.”

Chloe gave a tight smile to the British woman and turned her attention back to the plate of food. Alex shared a look with his mother before she kissed his cheek and disappeared up the stairs. Alex grabbed a plate and placed two pieces of toast, two strips of bacon and a pile of eggs on it before setting it down in front of Chloe. She looked at him like he was insane.

“You should really eat something, Chloe.” He nudged the plate closer to her.

No you shouldn’t.

“I promise it’s not poisoned.” He smiled.

It smells so good.
It smells like fat.

“I’m not feeling very well.” She murmured, pulling the sleeves over her hands. Alex’s smile fell.

Good girl.

“One piece of toast?” He pleaded, giving her a puppy dog look. “For me?”

Chloe gazed at him for a few moments before sighing in defeat. She slowly picked up one of the slices of bread and began to nibble on the edge. Alex’s grin reappeared. Chloe felt the warmth filling her chest again as her eyes connected with his. They stared at each other for a fleeting second before Alex began shoveling food inside of his mouth again. The warmth disappeared, replaced by nausea as Chloe watched him. She finally redirected her attention to the food in her hand.

One slice of bread (67) + two teaspoons butter (68) = 135 calories. Are you sure you want to eat that?
No.

Chloe placed her toast back on the plate in front of her. It was missing exactly three bites. Chloe quickly began ripping small pieces apart with her fingers before Alex could notice. She silently finished ripping up the other slice and the strips of bacon, pushing them around on her plate. She mixed them into her eggs and created mini piles throughout the plate to create the illusion that she had actually eaten.

Alex glanced up from his almost empty plate when he heard Chloe’s fork scratch across the porcelain. She was staring off into space, messing with the food in front of her. He noticed that a significant amount of it was gone. He smiled to himself. Chloe glanced over and his eyes lit up as she returned his gesture. Her gaze was back on her plate not even a second later and Alex felt slightly disappointed. He checked the clock and saw that it was now 6:42, which meant class would be starting in about half an hour. He finished shoveling the rest of his food in his mouth and dropped his dishes in the sink. Chloe’s eyes snapped to his face. She silently stood and joined him by the sink, rinsing the remaining food from her plate.

“Ready to go?” Alex smiled.

Chloe nodded. Alex turned and took two steps towards the door. He noticed she hadn’t followed and turned to find her holding onto the plates. She seemed to search the kitchen for a moment .

“What are you doing?”

“You can’t just leave a mess.” She mumbled, still searching.

Alex was confused. She finally zeroed in on the dishwasher and walked to it quickly. He watched as she placed the plates, silverware and glasses into the machine. She stood there for another moment before her hands darted out and grabbed every piece of silverware. Before he could really process what she was doing the silverware had been reorganized: the butter knives were situated in the first slot followed by the smaller spoons, the soup spoons, the salad forks, the dinner forks and finally miscellaneous items.

“What –”

“Alex, you can’t just leave a mess.” She said more sternly.

Before he could say anything else, she was brushing past him and out the front door. He followed behind her as soon as he got over her odd behavior. She was standing next to his car, absentmindedly rubbing her neck. Alex sighed. She didn’t even noticed when he moved to stand next to her. Gently, he removed her hand and readjusted the scarf. She met his eyes with a glassy stare before climbing into the car. Alex followed suit, turning the warmth as high as possible as he pulled out of the driveway.

The ride was quiet, Alex keeping the music turned down low. Chloe had pulled her knees up to her chest in the passenger seat and was hugging them as if her life depended on it. He absently wondered how she was managing to fit her entire body on the seat. Then he remembered it was Chloe and she was about the size of a child which was actually pretty adorable when he thought about it.

Chloe’s mind was filled with too many thoughts. She felt as if she would explode at a moment’s notice. What the hell was she doing? She was going to end up in the exact same situation that she had been in with Marcus. He had seemed so nice at first. He had taken care of her, kept her out of trouble and made sure she was always happy. But then she screwed it up, like always, and the hurt had started. Of course, it wasn’t as if she could actually blame Marcus. After all, it had really been her own fault. She was the one that was a fat whore. Marcus deserved so much better than that. Alex was the same way. He was sweet and had so far done nothing but help her. But she wouldn’t be able to make him happy. She wouldn’t be enough for him, and she couldn’t take that. She wouldn’t be the one to hurt Alex the way she had hurt Marcus.

The school came into view as the clock struck 7:17. Alex parked and turned to Chloe. He felt a rush of happiness at the sight of her sitting next to him dressed in his clothing. The fact that a million rumours would start flying the minute she left the car barely even entered his head. Her pale blue orbs locked onto his.

“Please don’t tell Zack about this.” She pleaded softly.

“I promise.”

“Thank you.”

Chloe moved to leave the car but Alex placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned back to face him. Without even thinking about it, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. Chloe stared at him for a moment and then shot out of the car, looking like she had just seen a ghost.