𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 • steven conklin

𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

eden woke up the next morning with nausea and a bad headache.

she put her hand over her mouth then got up and sprinted to the bathroom.

she didn't even have time to close the door before she was at the toilet, throwing up.

after throwing up, she coughed, then threw up again.

she let out a few deep breaths before throwing up again.

there was someone at the door behind her.

"eden."

she looked over and saw laurel, then threw up again.

laurel sighed and went over. she tied eden's hair up into a messy ponytail before sitting down behind the blonde girl as she threw up again.

laurel rubbed her back as she continuously threw up.

once she was done, she leaned back into laurel and began weeping. she remembered everything that had happened the night before.

she kept dreaming about it last night and kept waking up to remember it was real before falling asleep again then once again waking up. over and over and over, until she was officially asleep at around four in the morning, dreaming about absolutely nothing. it was just blackness. the blackness was real, though. it was her life right now. like a big, black hole just swallowing her up.

"did—did you know?" she asked.

"excuse me?" laurel raised her eyebrows. "know about what?"

"st-st-st-steven." she stuttered.

"what about steven."

she inhaled sharply before letting out a cry.

"that—that, that, that—that he wanted to...he wanted to hur—hurt him—him—himself." she choked out between sobs.

"what!" laurel exclaimed.

"no. no, no, no, please. i don't want that reaction, i—. laurel. he was hurting so bad and i didn't know. i was being sel—selfish and worrying about myself that i didn't even think of the possibility that he'd be hurting too. i was too busy dumping of all my shit onto him that he felt like he couldn't go to be because he thought he'd be a burden so he went to taylor. and i yelled at him for it last night, but...it's not his fault. he needed someone and i couldn't be there so she was. i hate myself for that. for all of it. i even hate myself for yelling at taylor. i'm just a shitty person and—."

"eden, stop. you need to stop. i need to go deal with belly, but what i need you to do is talk to him. just go talk to him. right now. you couldn't be there for him before, but you can be there for him now." laurel interrupted.

eden nodded. "okay."

"now i'm done being nice because i am absolutely disgusted with you kids. go clean yourself the hell up." laurel said, sternly, then got up and walked out of the bathroom.

eden let out an sigh and flushed the toilet. she got up and washed her hands, then brushed her teeth.

she put her toothbrush back in the holder and looked at herself in the mirror. she looked like an absolute mess. her hair was messy from laurel's quick ponytail, her face was all smudged with makeup, and she was still in her party clothes which had alcohol and tear stains on them.

she exhaled and left the bathroom. she went to steven's room, but saw that he was gone, so she went downstairs.

she shuffled into the kitchen and turned her head to see him in the living room, trying to clean up.