When Haley woke up, she headed straight for the bathroom to take a shower. The good thing was that she wasn’t hungover at all. She didn’t even have a headache. The bad thing was that she still remembered everything from the night before. That she’d talked to Patrick about her weight, or at least he’d said a couple of things.
Naked, with a towel wrapped around her hair, she stood in front of the mirror and inspected her own body. Her breasts were a nice B cup and she was more than happy with this. The rest of her body probably looked different to her than it did to others. She looked okay to herself, but Patrick had said that she had to gain some weight. He was the first person to say this to her, but she’d seen it in April’s face as well.
While she brushed her teeth and dried her hair, she thought about this. She’d have to ask Patrick to point out to her what exactly he meant. He’d have to show her, since her views were obviously distorted. She brushed her hair and put on underwear. With the dressing gown tied around her middle, she left the bathroom to go to the kitchen, where she nearly screamed. Patrick had apparently spent the night wand was standing in her kitchen preparing omelets.
“Good morning,” he said in a cheery tone, looked at her for a second before he returned his attention to the task at hand. “Did you sleep well?” He got two plates out of the cupboard and arranged the omelets on them.
“Um,” Haley mumbled, still a bit shocked, because she’d thought he wouldn’t be here anymore. “Yes. How about you?”
“Your sofa was really comfortable.” He sat down at the table and gestured for her to join him. “Come and eat something.” When she looked at the omelet in front of her, her mouth watered, but she felt nauseous at the same time. This was way too much for her to eat, but she was so hungry. Patrick sensed her hesitation and sighed. “I won’t make you eat more than you feel comfortable with.”
“Okay.” Haley sat down opposite him and started eating. It really was delicious. She hadn’t expected him to be able to cook at all, but he made a wonderful omelet. He was already finished with his one when she was only halfway through with hers. And she already felt like she couldn’t eat anymore. She tried, though. She really did, but it was no good.
“We’ll just out this in the fridge and you can eat it later on.” He took her plate and put it away, then quickly put his own plate in the dishwasher, before he turned back around to face her. “Okay, what’s on your mind?”
Haley nibbled on her bottom lip. She thought about how to ask him, but in the end she only came up with: “Can you show me what’s wrong with my body?”
A bit taken aback Jonathan stared at her. “There is nothing wrong with your body, Haley. You are a beautiful girl, but you need to gain some weight. It’s not healthy and you will look even more beautiful then.”
It was hard for her to believe this. She couldn’t see what he was talking about. She gathered all her courage, took his hand and led him to the bathroom, where she stopped in front of the mirror. After taking a deep breath, Haley let go off his hand and untied her dressing gown. She hung it up on the door and turned towards him, anxiety written all over her face. “You have to show me, Patrick.”
Patrick’s took her whole body in before he sighed. He remembered when she’d stiffened when he’d only reached for her hand and now she was standing in front of him in her underwear, completely vulnerable and asked him to show her what was “wrong” with her body.
“Okay,” he said in the end. He took her by the shoulders and turned her so that she was standing sideways to the mirror. He stepped behind her and slowly put his hands on her sides. She didn’t stiffen or try to get away from him. Instead her gaze was fixed on the reflection in the mirror. Patrick carefully caressed her stomach, but quickly moved on to her hips bones, then her ribs. “Here. Your ribs stick out so much, Haley.” Ever so slowly he ran his fingers over her ribs, down her stomach, trying to make her see what he was talking about. “Of course, you have to feel good in your own body, but you have to be healthy as well. And this is not healthy anymore.”
Through the reflection in the mirror he could see tears welling up in her eyes. Damn, he hadn’t wanted to make her cry, but it was probably unavoidable in a situation like this. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and make her feel safe, but not quite yet.
“I’ll help you, okay? And I’ll talk to Jonny and April as well.” Haley hung her head, because she couldn’t bear to look at herself anymore. Silent tears dropped to the floor, making it hard for her to keep from shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. It was still hard for her to see completely what he meant, but she’d gotten a glimpse at it. She’d allowed herself to see it for the first time.
“It’s okay, Haley, we’ll help you.” Patrick couldn’t hold back anymore and he didn’t even want to. He wrapped his arms around her body and held her close, allowing her to turn around and bury her face in his chest. Normally it was hard to deal with crying women, but not in Haley’s case. She cried silently, wetting his shirt with her tears, but he didn’t care.
Slowly he picked her up, just like he’d done the night before and carried her to the living room. He sat down on the sofa, Haley on his lap, and wrapped the blanket he’d used last night around her shoulders, because he didn’t want her to catch a cold. She was still only dressed in her underwear after all.
After some time, Haley raised her head and brushed away the tears. “Thank you, Pat.” Her voice was hoarse, her whole body exhausted.
“When did you even start to think that you weighed too much? Something must have made you think that.” He said this very gently, still having his arms wrapped around her. He wasn’t ready to let her go. He only raised his arms to wrap the blanket tighter around her.
“Probably the day Jonny saved my life.”