Short Kings Anthem

Part 23

Chris came rushing over as he noticed Lauren was struggling bringing a box from the top of the wardrobe.

"Thanks," she breathed out. "These are all my old school stuff and dance trophies, no idea why I kept them all they're so heavy," She admitted. Granted she didn't have a childhood bedroom to keep these things in but was sick of lugging them around every time she moved.

"Maybe if you ate something you'd have a bit more strength," Chris commented, he sounded angrier than he meant for it to come across which took Lauren aback slightly. Chris's face softened immediately at Lauren's shocked and hurt face.

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you," Chris took a seat on the bed and patted the space next to him asking Lauren to follow, she did tentatively staring at her lap as she did so.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"I don't want you to be sorry, I want you to start looking after yourself properly." Chris placed his hand on Lauren's which was resting on her knee. The petit woman looked at her boyfriend and gave a weary smile but her eyes pricked with tears.

"I don't know why I'm letting it get to me so much," she choked out. It didn't take a genius to work out her eating habits had changed since the incident with Tom.

"Well, you've told me you've struggled after somethings happened out of your control and this is definitely out of your control, out of the blue and that's not to mention us moving but we don't know when. It's a lot"

"I didn't even think of that."

"Please tell me how I can help." Chris pleaded and used his hand to gently push Lauren's head up. Her hazel eyes looked into his blue ones, looking so sincere and so full of concern. She nodded before her bottom lip quivered and she burst into tears.

"I hate that I can't beat this." She wailed placing her head in her hands as she sobbed.

"Then let me help you." Chris whispered squeezing Lauren as tight as she could, wanting her to feel safe, wanting her to know she could trust him.

"You can't push me too far. No meal skips that's non negotiable but if I eat something, doesn't matter how small as long as I'm eating three meals a day that routine usually helps me keep better," Lauren admitted. It was what had worked for her before, if eating was part of her daily routine then she wouldn't obsess about it so much and those obsessive thoughts would dampen enough for her to then tell them to stop. Then she'd increase the amounts and finally change the variety of foods she was eating. She could do this, she had Chris by her side she could do anything.

It appeared that Tom got the message loud and clear as not a peep was heard from him since the incident which was now just over a week ago. There had also been good news on the property front and it looked like the keys would be ready to be picked up by that Friday the latest. While struggling with a lot of thoughts and self esteem issues Lauren was working hard to try and eat her three meals a day and eat a variety of foods, even allowing her and Chris to order a five guys as they packed up more and more of the kitchen equipment, although Lauren ordered the vegetables and ate a handful of things Chris knew her even attempting to eat a takeaway was a huge positive.

"Van's all sorted," Chris informed Lauren as he hung up the phone. Lauren nodded and smiled as she looked round the now very empty looking apartment.

"It's very odd having years of your life all packed up into boxes," she mused sounding a little flat, something which Chris picked up on.

"Did you want to go and pick out some furniture?" Chris suggested in the hopes it would cheer Lauren up a little bit and her hazel eyes light up, mouth pointed into a smile.

"I'd love that," she replied loving a shopping trip. The fact that her and Chris were going to pick up bits for their new home made her love it even more. They had piked out a few big things, sofas, a bed but a lot more needed to be done.

"That's fucking hideous," Lauren said to Chris who pointed to a lamp where the base was a silver glittery gorilla.

"Show some Harambe respect," he replied and Lauren rolled her eyes, boys.

"Way to bring up a meme from like five years ago. Here I was thinking part of our job was to be up to date and relevant."

"I don't think I've ever been relevant."

"Ooo they're nice," Lauren walked over to the curtain section seeing some light green and white striped curtains which would suit their bedroom beautifully.

The trip succeeded in two ways, they bought a lot of stuff to fill their new house and Lauren seemed a lot more upbeat and even suggested they go for lunch, they were now sitting in a rustic French style bistro.

"Don't forget it's Ellen's engagement party this weekend," Lauren reminded Chris as she scooped up a spoonful of soup Chris nodded.

"How are all your friends getting married, why are you lot all grown up and who's next?" Chris asked hoping he was casual enough. All he wanted to do was get the feelers out, see where Lauren stood.

"Adam's quite sensible maybe him. I dunno why you're surprised though a lot of our Youtube buddies have got married, Ethans got a kid!"

"True, but for some people that feels like a million miles away. Most of my Guernsey friends for example, Dan excluded he was the exception rather than the rule."

"I guess it's just what people value and we're they're at in their lives," Lauren mused tearing a bit of bread off before dunking it. Chris couldn't help but smile at her eating, it was almost back to normal.

"What about you?" Chris asked, he knew it was direct but he hoped it wasn't too left field, she bought the subject one.

"One day absolutely. One thing I never want to stop doing though is travel. No matter what happens I still have so much more of the world to see."

"I love how we are in sync completely." Chris smiled at the thought of him and Lauren exploiting the world together for the rest of their twenties, into their thirties and beyond they might be joined by other little people along the way. "Speaking of where is our next adventure?" Chris asked, they had stayed home because of Maple but now she was a fully established member of the Martin-Dixon household the two had decided to think about what their next destination could be.

"I think we agreed on somewhere cold didn't we, Iceland?" Lauren suggested. She had been before but it was a little tarnished now so she wanted to make new and nicer memories.

"I'll look at flights later."

"I do want to spend a little time in our new home first," Lauren giggled. She loved that house and couldn't wait to start living there, she didn't want to abandon it straight away. She was also really looking forward to the decoration of the place, Chris wasn't bothered; the house was livable so it was purely aesthetic.

"Whatever you want," Chris replied. He knew if anyone heard him he would be ribbed for being whipped but he didn't care, he'd put Lauren's wants in front of everything and she felt exactly the same way. She thanked her lucky stars every day that they found each other in the way they did, sure it wasn't under the best circumstances and they both went through heartbreak but the silver lining sparkled brighter than anything Lauren had ever seen.