Stockholm Syndrome

57: Exhaustion

57: Exhaustion

While Luke drove around the town, I tried to stay awake, I really did. But once my head was against the headrest, I was out. I think Luke got a couple murmured conversations out of me before I fell asleep. When I woke up, Luke was at a 'Sonics' drive in window.

"And one of those blue drinks with the sparkles." He ended. There was a moment of silence on the other end before a female voice responded confusedly.

"You mean a slushy?" She asked. Obviously the lack of sleep was not only taking a toll on me.

"Yes, please." He nodded, smiling politely as if someone could see through the machine. "Ooh! And chocolate ice cream!" He just about squealed as an advertisement came on the screen.

"Will that be all?" She asked.

"Yes, thank you."

When the lady came out with the food, I was amazed at how much was more dessert than food. The look on the woman's face told me she was feeling the same.

"And here's your blue drink with the sparkles." She risked a smile at Luke before taking off. Luke smiled back before rolling the window back.

"I got chocolate!" He looked over at me as happy as a kid on Christmas.

"I see that." I smiled.

"You need to eat some of this too." Both our smiles fell.

"Can I just make a salad at home?" I asked. We both knew I was just stalling.

"If you put some of this chicken in it." Luke held up a box of wings. I nodded in consent.

"Not too much. It's so deep fried and bad for me." Luke stared at me.

"Madeline, you have to promise me that your starving yourself was because of your father, not because you think you need to lose weight." He said, his tone lowering. My head fell.

"It started out that way. But then, getting skinny turned into a hobby. It gave me something to focus on. Something other than how crappy a situation I had fallen into." I mumbled. Luke's finger snaked under my chin, forcing me to look up.

"But you were skinny before you stopped eating." He pressed. My eyes snapped up.

"How do you know?" I challenged. This was either going to force him to admit that he was just lying for my feelings, or something I didn't want to hear. He had been following me for a lot longer of a time then I knew. He didn't back down but I noticed his eyes flicker with a bit of trouble.

"I think you know the answer to that." He stared at me. "Let's go home." With those words, we decided to ignore the conversation and I went back into a doze. Luke had set all the food in my lap to hold on the way home. It would've been fine if the ice cream didn't freeze my thighs off.