Broken Hearted Love {Book 2}

Chapter 17

“In the sea of lovers without ships. A lovers without sign. You’re the only way out of it. A sea of lovers losing time. A lovers losing hope. Will you let me follow you, where you go? Bring me home.” – Sea of Lovers by Christina Perri

Chapter 17

Christy’s POV

The steam cup of coffee felt amazingly relaxing on my clammy palms. I spun the scratched and worn out spoon around in the dark liquid, causing a whirlpool in the center of the ceramic mug. My body sunk down into the cushion of the red leather booth. The diner was family-friendly. Various pictures of waitresses and teenagers from the fifties scattered the walls. The waitresses all wore poodle skirts and lacey sweaters. With an old juke box sitting in the corner by the door, the whole place had a time traveling back to old times.

The diner wasn’t very busy. Allison and I sat in a booth towards the back and there was another family – a family of four – sitting at a booth. The husband and wife sat side by side in the leather covered booth, their backs to us. Two beautifully happy children sat in the booth across from them, crayons grasped in their tiny, chubby hands as they scribbled viciously across the children’s menu that the waitress had provided when they first arrived. Suddenly, the sight of the happy family made my stomach burn and twist around itself. Jealousy. I felt the need to run to the bathroom and empty everything out, but I don’t think I could puke anymore. A lung could possibly come up next time. I think I’ve thrown up enough to last a life time. I quickly brought my eyes back down to my skinnier-than-usual fingers that loosely hugged the spoon.

“Are you sure you don’t want something to eat?” Allison’s voice interrupted me from the thoughts inside my head. I looked up her. Worry was etched upon her face, her eyebrows pulled together, her emerald green eyes staring into mine; green to blue. The color of her eyes still made my heart clench slightly, the wound still so fresh.

“No, I’m fine. My stomach hasn’t exactly been agreeing with me lately,” My hand moved down to my stomach as it made a gurgling noise, almost as if it knew that I was speaking of it. “I think it’s all the stress I’ve been putting myself through. I can’t seem to keep a lot down.” My voice sounded unfamiliar, hoarse, like I was no longer myself.

Allison sighed loudly, making sure I heard it. “Look, Christy, I didn’t want to say anything, but you look like hell. When I saw you a month ago, you didn’t look this shitty.”

Wow, okay.

“That sounds bad. But look at yourself, Christy. It’s so obvious that you’ve lost weight, and not in a good way. You’re shriveling away to nothing but bone. You look like one of the skeletons I hang outside my house for Halloween.”

I shrug.

“Seriously, Christy. Eat something. Put some meat back on those bones.” She pleaded with me, but I couldn’t. My head felt light and my stomach continued to turn. I breathed in and out through my nose, attempting to push down the sick feeling.

“Oh, Christy. I can see the panic in your eyes. You say that you’re sick… How long have you been like this? How long has your stomach been doing this?”

Since I left Harry? Maybe before… I can’t even remember.

“About a month, I think.” My mind can’t even think that far back without a horrible memory coming to mind, only making me want to get sick more.

“A MONTH!” Allison shouted incredulously. The family across the diner all turned towards us, staring like we were the rudest people in the world. I couldn’t help but shush Allison, not wanting the attention on me. I’ve never liked the attention. Andrew never liked when others knew about me, let alone looked at me. I guess it was something I never lost after he died; the fear would always be within me. Fear that someone could see into me if looking too long.