That Summer

Evangeline woke up the next morning in her bed. The last thing she could remember was being in Paul's arms, so she assumed he'd at some point put her back in bed.

She could hear movement on the floor below her and decided to make her way down. About halfway to the kitchen, the smell of food hit Evangeline's nostrils and her nose crinkled, face twisted in disgust as she suddenly felt sick at even the thought of food. Entering the room, she caught sight of her brother cleaning a pan that once held scrambled eggs in it.

"Morning," Bryan nodded over his shoulder when he saw his sister enter.
"Hi," Evangeline mumbled, sinking into a wooden chair. Her eyes traveled around the room and she noted, with a slight pang, that Paul was nowhere to be seen.
"Here," Bryan stated, setting a plate with a piece of toast on it and a glass of water in front of her.
"What's this?" she questioned, face twisting again.
"Breakfast. I figured we'd start small," he shrugged. "Now eat."
"Bryan, I don't-"
"Eat."

Bryan crossed his arms and leaned on the counter, watching his sister determinedly. Evangeline sighed and swallowed her pride, although she had a feeling this would be much less difficult than actually putting the food in her stomach, and picked up the golden bread before her.

Glancing at her brother again, Evangeline saw he would not be backing down, so she broke off a piece of the bread - a small piece, so miniscule that it barely even mattered - and brought it to her lips. She chewed slowly and ignored the heaving in her stomach as she had to mentally force herself to swallow.

"Was that so bad?" Bryan questioned once he saw that she'd forced the food down.
"Yes," Evangeline sneered.
"Good. Now finish it."

Evangeline growled but did as she was told for once in her life and ten agonizing minutes later the plate and glass were empty and she was very angry. She felt weird, almost sick, having eaten something with no immediate plans of burning off the calories. The need to curl over a toilet was beginning to get harder and harder to ignore. Evangeline closed her eyes in an effort to ignore the sensation. Her throat started burning with bile and she shut her eyes tighter and pressed her lips together, holding a hand over them. She tried so hard to distract her mind and her body, but before she could stop herself, she was halfway to the bathroom.

"Evangeline!" Bryan called after her, half angrily and half worriedly.

He followed his sister hastily and reached the bathroom just in time to see Evangeline lean back from the porcelain bowl and flush. Anger boiled in him and he was about to start yelling at his younger sister until he realized she'd begun to cry.

"Evangeline," Bryan murmured softly and let out a sigh.
"I tried," she whimpered.
"I know," he answered, handing her a tissue to wipe her mouth on, and left the bathroom.

After Evangeline had rinsed out her mouth and washed her face she returned to the kitchen where Bryan was standing with his hands on the counter top, his eyes trained on something outside the window. His knuckles were white and his muscles looked tight, like he was gripping so hard he was going to break something. Evangeline got a sinking feeling in her empty stomach at that moment. This was the only time she'd ever tried to do anything for Bryan because, for the first time in her life, he'd begged her with all his heart. Maybe not vocally, but his eyes had pleaded with her to start getting healthy. What Paul had said the night before popped into her head; "... and you're terrifying your poor brother who has spent most of his life pretending he doesn't care about you." Bryan really did care, Evangeline saw that now, and he really was scared. She'd tried so hard to keep that piece of bread down and she'd failed miserably. Taking in a breath, she opened her mouth to say something but he spoke before she got a chance.

"Maybe tomorrow," Bryan said, nodding as if to convince himself.
Evangeline nodded, "Yeah. Maybe tomorrow." But she couldn't ignore the fact that she had an indescribable feeling that tomorrow wouldn't hold any more success.
"I have to go to do band stuff today. Are you going to be alright on your own?" he questioned, turning around to face his sister. Evangeline crossed her arms tightly around her body and nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Bryan studied his sister, looking for a lie in her words but found none. He just nodded and picked up his keys from the table.

"I'll just be around. If you need anything you can call."
"I know," Evangeline nodded.
"Okay," he sighed. "Bye."
"Bye," she returned and watched him walk out the back door.

After Bryan left the house, everything became eerily quiet. Evangeline suddenly felt uncomfortable in the kitchen so she sighed, letting her eyes scan the room once more, and headed upstairs tiredly.

______________________________________________________________

Evangeline had been in her room for hours. She'd begun to feel kind of light headed but seeing as she was just sitting on her bed doodling in her sketchbook she made no effort to get up and even attempt to eat any more food. After that morning she certainly didn't want to try again.

Her fingers were busy smudging a charcoal line against the paper when a noise stopped her. Evangeline paused and listened again and sure enough the doorbell rang again downstairs. She stood from the bed, stumbling a little at the change in elevation and sudden movement, and headed downstairs to open the door.

When the door swung open, Evangeline's eyes narrowed at the girl before her. It was the one who'd driven her home the day before.

"Hi, Evangeline," she smiled brightly.
"Hello," Evangeline responded, her face sour as she took in the girl before her. With tan skin, beautiful hair and a gorgeously lean body, this girl was everything Evangeline wanted to be. Everything she no longer realized she once was.
"I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. Your brother said you were fine but..." she trailed off, shrugging her tan shoulders and running a hand through her long honey hair.
"I'm sorry, I don't know your name," the blonde said coldly. She didn't like this girl. Partly because she had no business being here and partly because she was beautiful. She was healthy.
"Oh, sorry. I'm Bailey," the girl smiled brightly.
"Right. Well I'm a bit busy so I'll-"
"Could I come in?"

Evangeline had to hold in a growl. Her coldness wasn't pushing this girl away like it pushed everyone else and it was immeasurably frustrating.

"Fine," Evangeline ground out.
"Thanks," Bailey smiled and bounced her way through the threshold. Evangeline glared at the back of her head and shut the door. "So what are you doing?"
"Nothing," she snapped.
"I thought you said you were busy?" her head cocked to the side.
"I'm just drawing," Evangeline mumbled under her breath and started up the stairs.
"What?"
"Drawing. I'm drawing," she said frustrated, voice getting higher in volume. Bailey followed her into her bedroom.
"Really, are you any good?" Bailey questioned. She was purely interesting and curious, not trying to get a rise out of the girl before her; and that was what bothered Evangeline the most.
"No, I'm actually very bad," she replied in a monotone. "Look I've got to go to the bathroom. Just don't touch anything."

Bailey nodded and Evangeline wasted no time in exiting the room and heading into the hall. She took her time in the bathroom, not wanting to spend any more time near Bailey than she had to. Her unadulterated friendliness was something Evangeline wasn't accustomed to and didn't particularly want to be. When she entered her bedroom again she saw Bailey sitting on her bed, flipping through a turquoise book. And then Evangeline realized exactly what turquoise book it was and she just about had a heart attack.

"What are you doing?" she shrilled.
"Just looking. You know, you're really good. I mean these aren't the best but if you took some classes you'd be fantastic," Bailey told her offhandedly. She flipped a page again and pointed to a certain sketch. "Who is this? You have a lot of drawings of them."
"Don't worry about it," Evangeline growled and lunged across the room, grabbing the book from the other girl's grasp. "It's no one."
"There's like ten-"
"Drop it," she cut her off.
"Okay. I'm sorry," Bailey said sincerely.
Evangeline sighed and sat on her bed begrudgingly. "It's fine."
"You can draw if you want. I have to work on some jewelry designs anyway," she shrugged.
"Jewelry designs?" Evangeline echoed.
"I design jewelry. I only do ballet because it makes my mom happy."
"Oh," the blonde responded. She was slightly surprised. She'd always been under some weird assumption that everyone who danced was in it for the long haul like she was. After all, ballet was life, wasn't it?

Bailey pulled a notebook out of her purse with a pen and opened it up, showing what looked to be a half drawn bracelet with an angel wing on it on the page. It was good, Evangeline had to admit that. And with how nice Bailey was being she felt like she had to acknowledge that.

"That's really pretty," she murmured after a few moments.
"Thanks," Bailey smiled back, widely, showing off her gorgeous white smile and making her milk chocolate eyes glow. She was so happy and so simple, it made the other girl smile right back whether she wanted to or not.

Maybe the ice queen could be melted after all.