Rise (Colton Dixon)

Chapter 19

Colton
I let out a shout of surprise, but I manage to step forward just in time to catch Alexis as she falls.
I gently set her down, shouting for water from no one in particular. Mike’s at my side in a moment, water bottle in hand, and Annie joins him with another.
“What happened?” she asks as I poor water onto my hands and gently rub it onto Alexis’s forehead. Except there’s nothing to cool.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. She’s not even hot.”
Mike meets my eyes steadily, though there’s a decidedly sad look in his own. “I think we both know what’s wrong,” he says quietly.
I nod slowly. “I guess so. I mean… I tried to get her to eat, but she just wouldn’t take it.”
“It’s not your fault, Mate,” I hear Joel from behind me before he kneels down next to Alexis as well. “But that’s got to be it. Do you see how thin she is?”
“That’s probably why she fainted last night too,” Mike adds sadly. “And she probably hasn’t eaten since.”
I comb my hand gently through Alexis’s long hair, at a loss of what else to do.
“Should we call someone?” Britt calls from where the rest of them are standing.
I bite my lip. “If she doesn’t wake up soon. But she’s gonna hate me for it if we do, and I’d rather not.”
“I agree,” Nate adds. “I mean, I heard your conversation with her, Colton. She was starting to open up to everything, and if we send her to the hospital, she’s not gonna be happy with us.”
“But, what about after we’re around?” Annie asks me. “I mean, she’ll probably just start starving herself again. Maybe we should get her some real help.”
“I’m not planning on just abandoning her when we leave,” I reply. “I know it sounds crazy since I met her yesterday, but I love her, and I’m going to make sure to keep around even if it’s not physically.”
“I know,” she sighs. “I just… I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“And neither does Colton,” Joel backs me up. “None of us do. But if we shove her into the hospital, Alexis is going to hate us all. And her parents won’t be happy either.”
Annie nods reluctantly. “Alright. But if she doesn’t wake up in the next few minutes, we’re calling.”
“Agreed,” I reply and turn back to gently combing Alexis’s hair with my damp hands.
Mike places a hand on her wrist and starts to murmur a prayer, but it’s silent up here other than that. I focus on Alexis’s beautiful, empty face. It breaks my heart that she thinks she has to starve herself. And that I know in my heart, even through that, she thinks only bad things of how she looks. But that’s going to change. It has to change.
A minute passes by the time Annie is watching on her phone.
“Come on, Alexis,” I say quietly. “Come on.”
Another long moment of silence, as Mike stops praying.
And her eyelids tighten closed slightly, before she slowly opens them.
I don’t try to mask my relief, gently helping her as she sits up.
“Thank goodness you’re alright,” I say quietly. “How do you feel?”
She shakes her head. “Like ****.”
I nod slowly. “I’m sorry. That really sucks. But when was the last time you ate, Alexis?”
She eyes me stubbornly. “It’s not that.”
“Okay,” I reply evenly. “But when did you last eat?”
“This morning.”
I raise an eyebrow in a gentle way of saying I don’t believe her. She sighs.
“Look, I’m fine.”
“Okay,” I repeat. “But when was it?”
She swears under her breath, but finally meets my gaze. “I guess it was Thursday.”
I wince. “Alexis, please, you need more food than that.”
She glares back at me, but I swear I see tears behind her eyes. “I don’t need any ******* food, Colton!”
I open my mouth to answer, but Joel stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “Wait, Mate.” He turns to Alexis, rising and offering her his hand to do the same. “Come on, Love. I want to talk to you.”
She glares at him for a long moment before finally getting to her feet without taking the hand and following him a little away from the rest of us.
And he bends down, a hand on her shoulder, so that they’re eye-level, and starts to talk quietly enough that the rest of us can’t hear him.
I hide a smile as I get up. I think I know what he’s saying anyway.
Luke’s watching them with a smug smile on his own face that he’s not even trying to hide. “That’s my brother,” he comments to no one in particular.
I raise an eyebrow. “That’s not what you were saying when he started singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” after sound check the other day. I think your exact words were I don’t know him.”
Luke rolls his eyes. “I’m only proud of him certain days.”
We wait another few minutes before Alexis is storming over to me, a look of fire in her eyes.
“Give me the freaking bar.”
I grin and grab it before handing it over.
And I turn to Joel, who’s followed more slowly, as she stocks away, one hand clenching the food while the other is basically crushing something I recognize as one of the Priceless necklace packages. I think Joel carries a few of those with him everywhere he goes.
“Looks like you worked a miracle,” I say quietly.
Joel shakes his head slowly with a slight smile. “Not as big of one as I’d hoped. I believe her exact words before she came over here were, If it will make you- word I won’t repeat- shut up, I will eat a- another word I won’t repeat- bar.”
I laugh. “Well, that’s one way to do it. What were you saying?”
“Oh, you know, the usual,” he replies easily, “You are priceless, you are beautiful. All that stuff.”
“Well, she is,” I say, my smile changing to a bit of a sad one. “I just want her to believe it.”
“She will, Mate,” There’s total confidence in his voice, but there’s a hint of sadness in it as well. “She will.”
I cap the water bottles and return them to Annie and Mike, and Alexis comes back over, looking less annoyed, but still glaring at Joel whenever she has nothing better to do.
“Are we ready to go?” she asks.
I nod. “I think we are.”
And we head down the mountain. But I notice something about halfway down. She’s wearing the necklace.
I indicate it, trying not to look too pleased.
“You actually put it on.”
She rolls her eyes. “I was sick of carrying it and I thought he might start lecturing me again if I threw it in the bushes.”
I laugh. “I don’t think he means it to be a lecture.”
She mutters something I don’t catch. I probably didn’t want to anyway.

By the time we’re at the bottom of the mountain, it’s almost six and Cole won’t stop complaining of hunger, so we drive down to Campus West and find a Taco Bell.
We walk in, but Alexis immediately heads to a table.
“I’m not hungry.”
I catch her arm, meeting her eyes before she can look away.
“Please eat?” I ask, trying not to sound too desperate.
She shakes her head stubbornly. “I don’t want to, and Mr. Respect over here already used up his ******* speech on me.”
Luke steps forward quickly. “Ah, yes, Love, but if Joel is Mr. Respect, than I am Mr. Honor, and I think I could hit you with a pretty good speech myself.”
If looks could kill, Luke would be dead, but Alexis finally turns back to the counter, swearing under her breath. “I’ll eat.”
And she reaches pulls out her card.
I open my mouth to say I’ll pay, but then that seething glare is turned on me.
“Don’t push it.”

It’s fairly late by the time we’re back in Alexis’s neighborhood, and I’m joined by Joel, Luke, Mike, and John to walk her home.
I turn to her as we reach her trailer, resisting the urge to drag her back to the van with us at the reminder of the horrible place she lives.
“Thank you for coming tonight, Alexis,” I say quietly. “I mean it. It made our day.”
She just shakes her head. “Whatever.”
I hesitate before adding. “We’re going to… um… church tomorrow, and I know you don’t believe in all this stuff, but, even if it’s just to gather more things to mock about us, would you come with us?”
She opens her mouth to say no, but Luke, who’s obviously been eaves-dropping, steps in first.
“If you come, Joel won’t even text you more of his speech every time we think you should be eating.”
Her eyes widen at his words. “You would not…”
Joel grins. “Darling, I just might.”
“Oh my gosh, I’ll ******* go,” she groans. “But only because I have no freaking life.”
“Well, and because my brother is obnoxious,” Luke adds with a grin.
“Very,” Alexis mutters bitterly. “What time to I have to be ready? Six?”
I laugh. “Not quite. We want to be there at ten, so we’ll be by at nine-thirty, if that’s okay.”
“Whatever,” she replies, and turns, running up the front steps, without another word.
“I mean it,” I call after her. “I loved having you around.”
They all chorus their agreement.
“Love you, Darling,” Joel calls.
And she whirls and picks up an old plastic cup from the ground in one movement, hurling it at him.
“Freaking shut up!”
He just laughs, ducking so that it hits Luke instead.
And I swear, as Alexis turns away again and disappears around the corner, there’s just the barest hint of a smile touching her face.