Trapped in my head

Chapter 22

"I'm so excited, I love fireworks so much. The sparkle, the colours, the stars, the ambience, the mood, being wrapped into blankets, enjoying a picnic oh my god this is going to be the best evening of my life." She shrieked, jumping up and down in front of him as he watched her with the brightest of grins on his face. "I see that you're excited." He chuckled, shaking his head at how adorable she was. They had spend almost an hour now, preparing snacks, blankets and everything else they would need to enjoy the firework. Meredith had insisted on going one hour early so they could ensure to get one of the wooden loungers on top of the hill in Kerry Park with the perfect view on the firework. There were only three of those loungers where you could lie on so that they needed to make sure to get one.

"I am I can't wait to lay on that lounge with you, watching the firework, eating snacks and cuddling. And just for the record, this is the perfect date." She said, making him chuckle. Yesterday they had spontaneously watched a movie together at Andrew's place, a romance where the two main characters Sarah and Michael had been competing in a contest on who would be able to arrange the perfect date. "It is, Sarah and Michael could learn a lot from us." He gave back, laying his arms around her waist as she giggled adorably.

"I know that I forgot to pack something I just can't remember what." Meredith said, going through her checklist once again. He found it unbelievingly cute that she had written a checklist to make sure they wouldn't forget anything. "I've got my orange back with my meds and the fidget toys, I've got my ankle weights, blankets, snacks, drinks and- and- and what?" she asked, looking at him a little panicked. It was causing her a lot of stress and discomfort that she felt as if she had forgotten something. "Take a deep breath Mer, we didn't forget anything-" but she interrupted him.

"Headphones! My noise cancelling headphones! I knew it!" she shouted, running out of the room and quickly up the stairs. He just smiled to himself, grabbing their basket and the bag with blankets and bringing everything into the hallway. He was really looking forward to this evening especially since Meredith seemed to be in such a good mood. He siled even brighter as he saw her coming down the stairs again, wearing a comfy sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. "Now we can go." She said, letting out a breath of relief. "Wait a second." Andrew said, stopping her by grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him before placing a soft kiss on her lips. "Now we can go." He then said, making her giggle again.

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Only twenty minutes later they were already laying on one of the three wooden lounges, cuddled into the blankets and into each other. They had brought paprika sticks, small sandwiches with bacon and a sauce Meredith liked as well as some popcorn, strawberries and avocado sandwiches Andrew had instead on bringing since he wanted Meredith to try them. They were his favourites. A slim layer of avocado cream, some chicken stripes and another layer of cheese in between two slices of medium toasted bread. And it would be okay for him if Meredith wouldn't like them but somehow he prayed that she would. He also knew that it would probably be hard for her to try the sandwich because of her eating disorder but it would mean the world to him if she would just try.

"Mer, I also brought some sandwiches I made myself, my own recipe. And I'd be really happy if you could try them. Only if that's okay, you don't have to eat them of course- " he started to ramble, scared that he was pushing her to do something she didn't want to. "No, I'd like to try them! What- what supplements?" she asked a little hesitant, watching him as he unpacked one of them.

"Cheese, avocado and chicken." He said, studying her face very closely. She seemed a little anxious as she sat up a little straighter and he certainly hadn't wanted that. "You really don't have to, I'm sorry I didn't want to ruin your good mood, you don't have to try them." He said, taking her hand in his. "No, Andrew I want to try them. I really like trying new food especially since there isn't much that I like and I always hope that I find new things I can eat. It's just a little difficult, okay? I like chicken and sometimes I like cheese. I only never tried avocado before." She said slowly, taking the sandwich out of his hand and looking at it. It looked very nice, the yellow cheese with the smooth surface, the green avocado cream and the small pieces of chicken that looked absolutely perfect.

Hesitantly she took a very small bite, chewing very carefully before swallowing. Andrew was looking at her curiously, making it hard for her to tell him the truth. "Uhm- I guess- I guess it's good." She said, looking at the sandwich again. The feeling of the cold cheese was pure torture and the toast was so squishy because of the cream that she wanted nothing more than to quickly drink something afterwards. But she didn't want to disappoint him and of course, this inner conflict led to tears forming in her eyes. The texture of the sandwich was what made it so disgusting, not the supplements but she couldn't help it. The problem was that she just didn't want to disappoint Andrew so that she looked at the sandwich again, trying to take another bite.

"Mer, it's okay if you don't like it. I didn't want to make you feel this way and you don't have to lie to me okay? It's totally fine I you don't like it." He said, taking the sandwich from her and packing it back into the box he had taken it out of. "I'm sorry I- I think it would be better if you would bake the cheese into the toast on one side and only apply the cream to the other side. Because- because it's just the texture I don't like, really. The rest is amazing." She sniffled, a small smile on her face as she grabbed a bacon sandwich, quickly taking a bite to forget about the texture of the cheese.

"Okay, thanks for the tip." He chuckled, taking her into his arms again and pressing a kiss onto her forehead. "Thank you for trying." He whispered, holding her close as he was scared to make her cry even more. "You're not mad?" she asked, feeling a little insecure. "Of course not. I could never be mad at you because of something like this." He gave back, smiling as she snuggled herself deeper into his arms, adorably taking another bite of her sandwich.