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What the fuck was I doing?
I had just said that morning that I was going to keep my distance. Everly was home safe. She could lock the door. It made no sense for me to stay with her, and honestly, it wasn’t safe. She might be protected from the world outside, but there was no one inside to protect her from me.
23 Everly
THE CHANGE IN HIM WAS INSTANT.He went from smiling at me to leaping from the couch with an angry expression.
“I need to get going. Are you going to be okay here by yourself until someone comes home?”
Just a few minutes ago, he was saying he refused to leave me alone, and now he couldn’t seem to get away from me quickly enough.
“I’m a big girl, Aiken. I think I can handle being alone.”
I had been alone since my dad passed. I was getting used to it. The location of where I was staying was the only difference, and if I kept the door locked, I would be fine.
He nodded, turning toward the door just as it flew open and Zada came bouncing in. Her eyes went wide when they landed on Aiken. He had probably never been inside her house before.
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked, turning toward me with a grin.
“No. I was just leaving,” Aiken answered before I even got a chance to open my mouth.
I stood from the couch, smoothing my palms over my stomach. Zada’s eyes moved over me, and she gasped.
“God, girl, you’re losing so much weight.”
Instead of stepping through the front door and leaving, Aiken stopped at her words and turned toward me. His eyes moved over my body, making me feel nervous.
“She’s right. You are,” he agreed.
I shrugged, knowing the reason I was losing weight was because I wasn’t eating anything but a pack of Ramen a day. I wasn’t about to say that, though. I hoped Zada didn’t either. It was embarrassing that I was so broke I couldn’t afford to eat anything else.
As I figured she would, she opened her mouth and told on me.
“It’s because you live on a single pack of Ramen a day. You look good, but you need to eat, girl.”
My cheeks grew hot with embarrassment, and even though I wasn’t looking at him, I felt Aiken’s eyes on me.
“Why?” he asked.
He didn’t have to clarify his question. I knew what he was asking.
Again, I shrugged like it was no big deal. “I like Ramen,” I lied.
I faced him and smiled.
He didn’t.
“That’s a lie. No one likes Ramen.”
Zada fell onto the couch, putting her bare feet up on the coffee table. “She eats it because it’s cheap. She refuses to eat our food.”
She was full of words tonight. All ready and willing to rat me out.
“Thank you, Zada, but I’m perfectly fine with what I’m eating.”
I wasn’t.
Most days, I was so hungry my stomach hurt, but as long as I kept my head down, went to school and work like I was supposed to, and saved every dime I made, things would look up for me.
