*sequel to His Safety Net and Our Anchor*
CONTENT WARNING: This book deals with sensitive topics such as self-harm, anorexia, depression, suicidal thoughts, and homophobia.
Nolan Prince and Jerome Roy: the couple no one thought would happen...
I stared at the contents in the refrigerator for not even five seconds before I sighed and closed the door. There were a lot of food to eat, even food that Poppy and Grayson bought specifically for me because it not only followed my nutrition plan but I liked eating it. But for some reason, I just couldn't stomach anything.
I knew I should eat. I knew I shouldn't fall back into the habits. But I couldn't help it. It wasn't an easy thing to control.
It especially didn't help that no one was home right. Even though I sometimes felt like I was being judged whenever I was eating in front of someone, I also found it easier to eat whenever I was with someone I cared about.
There was on person I especially liked eating with.
I took my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. He should be finishing second period within a few minutes and would have lunch. Maybe he wouldn't mind eating with me for lunch.
I sent Nolan a quick text message, asking if he was available for us to have lunch together. I didn't expect him to reply right away. I thought he would reply once lunch started, but it only took him a few seconds to respond.
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I couldn't help but smile at Nolan's reply. He was just so adorable.
I grabbed my wallet and keys before leaving the house, heading to my car to drive to the high school. By the time I pulled into the parking lot, the students were already having lunch. Nolan was waiting outside for me, though he noticed my car almost immediately.
The moment my car came to a stop, Nolan hurried over and got into the passenger seat. He didn't even wait for the passenger door to close before he leaned over and pressed his lips onto mine. Lately, he had become very affectionate. And I mean very affectionate. He wouldn't waste any opportunity to kiss me, even if there were people around us.
Of course, I didn't have any objections. Unless he was trying to use kissing me as an excuse to avoid doing his tasks. I didn't want anyone to think I was a bad influence on this horny boy.
I was the one who had to pull away from Nolan. "As much as I love kissing you, you should probably close the door so we could head out."
Nolan smiled at me and gave me a lingering kiss before he closed the passenger door, then put his seat belt on. "So where are we going for lunch?"
"I... don't know yet," I said. "I'm not sure what I want to eat."
Nolan was silent for a few moments before he asked, "Is everything okay?"
As hard as it was going to be to admit, I didn't want to lie to Nolan. "To be honest... Not really. I've just been struggling to eat again. I keep telling myself everything my therapist told me and that I should it, but I just can't bring myself to do it. So... I figured it would help if we eat together. I don't know, I feel more at ease eating with you."
"Well, we can go out for lunch every day if you need to," Nolan said. "Or if you don't want to eat out, we can just sit in your car. Or we can go home. I don't mind going home for lunch. You'll just have to keep me out of the bedroom because I might accidentally nap instead."
I smiled at Nolan, feeling grateful that he would be willing to leave the school every lunchtime just to eat with me. Although, if I was being honest, Nolan would probably try having sex with me during lunch time if we went home.
I still couldn't believe how horny he had gotten when he used to be so flustered whenever I mentioned having sex.
I still didn't know where we should go to eat, so Nolan suggested we go to the place I order in a lot since I normally knew what to get there. It was just a salad, but I also added all the other nutritional stuff I needed.
After we got our food, I found a place to park my car so we could eat. We could have gotten into the restaurant, but I felt like I would feel uneasy eating around all those strangers. I used to be able to eat in restaurants when I was recovering, but I deteriorated a lot.
Nolan began eating right away as soon as we got the food, but it took me a few minutes to just take one bite. I probably wouldn't have been able to take a single bite if I was eating alone. I didn't know why, but it was just a lot more comforting knowing Nolan was here.
Probably because he never pressured me to eat or even watched me to make sure I was eating. Sure, he could have been watching me from his peripheral vision, but he never actually focused on me eating, not even for one second.
Even when he wanted to talk to me while I was eating, he wouldn't focus on my food.
I wasn't able to completely finish my food by the time I had to take Nolan back to school, but at least I ate something. If I stayed at home, I probably wouldn't have eaten everything.
Once I pulled into the parking lot of the school, Nolan did the thing he normally did whenever he tried stalling. He coughed in such a fake and dramatic way. "Oh, gosh darn it. I think I'm coming down with a cold. I shouldn't get anyone else sick."
"You only have two classes left," I said. "You'll survive."
"Or..."
"Or...?"
"Or we can have sex instead?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "Nolan, as much as I would absolutely love that, you shouldn't skip school just so we can sleep together. Unless we do it right now in the car."
I knew the mention of public sex would be enough to fluster Nolan. I was right. His cheeks reddened. "N-Not here."
I leaned over and kissed Nolan's cheek. "I'll pick you up after school, okay?"
Nolan huffed. "Fine." He opened the door and was about to get out, but he leaned over and kissed me instead. When he pulled away, he gave me a smile. "I love you."
