Castles crumbling (Taylor Swift's little sister)

Chapter 21

It was Saturday. You woke up and stood up, but dizziness hit you. You had secretly exercised all nights before going to bed, hiding in the bathroom, it had become a habit by now, but you woke up so dizzy every. single. day. You did your best to keep your balance and prepared yourself to go downstairs when you overheard your mom was speaking with Taylor, you hid in the stairs.

- "I don't want to leave her like this, Taylor. She's struggling so much. But I know my sister needs me" Andrea said.

- "I know mom. I'll be here for her. I can take care of Lizzie" Taylor replied.

- "I know darling. It's not you the one that I don't trust, it's not even Lizzie. I don't trust Lizzie's eating disorder" Andrea said.

- "Mom, my aunt's husband is in the hospital after having a stroke. You know he's probably not going to make it; you spoke with the doctors. Aunt Nancy is going to need you." Taylor said.

- "Okay. I'll be gone just for a week, though. Once Lizzie wakes up, I'll tell her". Andrea replied.

You pretended to have just woken up and went downstairs.

- "Good morning, Baby. How did you sleep?" Taylor said giving you a kiss.

- "Good morning. Pretty well, I feel rested" you answered approaching your mom to give her a kiss and a hug.

- "That's great! I'm glad to hear that" Andrea said.

- "We already had breakfast, but I'll make you yours" Taylor said walking to the kitchen and giving Andrea the cue to go upstairs and start preparing her luggage for her trip.

You sat down and waited for Taylor to make herself a coffee and make your breakfast: scrambled eggs, two toasts with butter and jelly, strawberries and a cup of hot chocolate". You panicked as she spread the butter on top of your toasts, you were absolutely not having butter.

You made your way through slowly: first handled the strawberries, then the eggs. You hesitated about the hot chocolate: Taylor's hot chocolate was your favorite when you were little, but you knew that you would feel so guilty afterwards. It took you 5 minutes to finally grab the mug, you moved it close to you and smelled it. It smelled so good.

- "You can do it. You're being so brave" Taylor said supporting you.

You took a small sip, and it was delicious. Your mom came down to the kitchen as you finished your hot chocolate, you were about to stand up when Taylor told you that you needed to finish the toasts.

- "I'm absolutely not eating them" you said straight forward.

- "You need to eat them" your mom said.

- "Nope. I'm not eating them".

You sat there, staring defiantly at your mom and Taylor. After 15 minutes your mom said - "Alright, then you must drink a supplement, chocolate or vanilla?" You panicked, but wanted to show them that you were still in control somehow, so you pulled your best poker face and said - "Chocolate, please. But I'm not having a complete supplement, just half". Your mom raised her eyebrows confused by your attitude. You continued: - "You can text Dr. Sach and ask her about the equivalences". Your mom left the kitchen for a couple of minutes to call Dr. Sach, came back, took a chocolate supplement out of the fridge, poured half in a cup and stood at the kitchen counter preparing to hand it to you when aunt Nancy called her, she got distracted with the phone call and went to the living room to talk with your aunt, leaving the cup at the counter. When you saw the cup half filled with the supplement you regretted agreeing to drink it, but you knew you had no choice: it was either that or eating the toasts with butter, which was absolutely not happening. Foods higher in fats were a big fear food. You knew that it was easier and would make you way less anxious to drink the supplement (plus, it had less calories than the toasts with butter).

You stood up to grab the cup with tears building in your eyes, but doing your best to avoid showing any emotion to Taylor who was looking at you, but in that moment, Taylor's phone rang, and she went to the living room to grab her phone and answer it; it was Tree. When she turned around you grabbed the cup, made sure no one was looking at you and poured the liquid in the sink, leaving just a bit for you to pretend to take the last sip. You saw your mom coming back to the kitchen, so you took the last sip and quickly washed the cup and the sink to leave no trace behind.

Taylor hung up and also came back to the kitchen. Your mom saw the empty cup and said:

- "Well done Lizzie. I want to talk to you about something: your aunt Nancy called in the early morning and said your uncle had a stroke last night. I've spoken with the doctors and it's bad. I'm flying to support her. I'll be gone just for a week. Will you be okay?"

- "You're stuck with me, though" Taylor said laughing and tickling you.

- "We'll be okay, mom. I'll keep an eye on Taylor. What do you think about an 11pm curfew, mom?" You said joking.

Suddenly, your mom's eyes filled with tears.

- "What's wrong, mom?"

- "Nothing's wrong. These are joy tears; I feel like it's been so long since you genuinely laughed and joked around. I missed it. You hugged her, but you were also confused and felt bad for your mom. You showered, dressed and after couple of hours later, you were reading a book for school laying in the living room's couch but fell asleep, you woke up to the voices of Tree, Taylor, and your mom.

- "Hey baby, I'm driving mom to the airport, Tree's staying with you for morning snack" Taylor said.

You sighted, but then thought that Tree would be easier to fool around food, so you stood up, walked your mom and Taylor to the front door and said your goodbyes.

- "So, what would you like to have for morning snack, Lizzie?" Tree asked.

- "I don't know, what are you having, Tree?" You said almost trying to challenge Tree to eat something so, if she wasn't eating you could complain about it.

But, to your surprise Tree answered calmly: - "I was thinking of eating a granola bar, would you like one too?"

-"Mmm. Yes, please" you answered.

- "Okay, but your meal plan says that you should also have a dairy drink along with your morning snack, how does a yogurt sound?"

Tree knew about your meal plan? Ugh. Fooling her was not going to be as easy as you thought. You nodded and awkwardly smiled. You both sat down to have your morning snack, you were eating slowly as Tree saw you, but then Tree picked up her phone to read a text: it was Taylor saying she had already dropped mom at the airport and was driving back home, she also asked how morning snack was going. You took advantage of the second Tree got distracted and hid a piece of the granola bar under your sleeve. Tree waited for you to finish the rest of the granola bar and the yogurt and took the plates to the sink to wash them.

- "Oh, don't worry Tree, I'll do it"

While washing the plates you place the granola bar piece in the sink and turned on the disposal grinder on. Tree turned around confused and you said giggling:

- "Sorry I'm so clumsy. I've been living here since forever and always get confused with the grinder and the light interrupter."

When you were done cleaning the kitchen, you joined Tree at the living room, and she said:

- "Oh, I almost forgot something I brought for you" she went to the car to bring it in: it was a puzzle. Then continued: - "Taylor mentioned how much you loved puzzling and that you were almost done with the one you were putting together, I bought you this 1000 pieces one. We can finish the one you're doing and then start this one."

- "I'd love that, Tree. Thank you so much."

Then she hugged you and said: - "I'm so proud of you Lizzie. I know it was hard to eat with me today, but you managed it so well. You're so brave."

You felt guilty for fooling her, but the fear of letting control go was bigger.