Jack's Last Summer

Part 10

Skylar’s eyelids fluttered open. Jack’s arm had slid from around her waist during the night and now lay draped over her hip lazily. She felt her cheeks flush red from the shame of what she had done without officially ending it with Kyle. Of course, he had unofficially ended it by what he had said but…

Her stomach rumbled.

Skylar swung her legs over the side of the bed and grasped the water bottle at her bare feet. It was empty.

With a quiet groan she stood, feeling the world blur around her as her blood struggled to supply sufficient oxygen to her brain. Once everything was more or less still she padded on silent feet to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She turned the tap left with her aching fingers and the water gushed out, splashing coolness over her hands. Skylar dipped the bottle and hooked the opening under the tap so the water now swirled inside, contained. She rubbed her eyes and waited for the bottle to fill. The stray droplets of water were so nice and cool against her hands.

Once the bottle was full Skylar stopped the tap and stepped into the glass shower cubicle. Someone had been here before they arrived and fitted everything out nicely like a resort; sweet scented flowers on the polished vanity and white fluffy towels in a small woven basket. The shower head was most definitely not environmentally friendly but directed the hot water in a lovely soft stream down Skylar’s bare back. She smiled and wiped her face under the flow, barely noticing the way the scalding water sizzled on her skin and left red marks in its wake.

Skylar looked down to her feet. Her thighs seemed closer to touching than normal. The shadows of her ribs were visible, as were her hipbones. The skin stretched tightly over her hips, protruding slightly around her belly button in an unnatural, fat lump. She frowned and rubbed it with the heels of her hands. The remnants of the pizza they made her eat? Or the ice cream? A flutter of worry stirred in her swollen stomach and she repressed the creeping need to purge, instead furiously scrubbing conditioner through her brittle hair and turning the taps to off.

The soft towel was comforting and helped Skylar silence the rabble of her mind. She sat on the edge of the bath and gulped down a few mouthfuls of water.

“Skylar?” There was a knock on the door.

“Just a second.” Skylar replied and wrapped the towel around her body tightly, tucking the corners under. She grabbed her bottle of water and opened the door, releasing the steam from her hot shower into Jack’s bedroom.

“You okay?” Jack wore a loose tee shirt and a pair of tan shorts.

“Yeah, of course I am. Just don’t want to have to face Kyle yet.” She smiled and shrugged, taking a sip of water.

“Stay here. I’ll bring your bag up. I need to go and get something off dad anyways.” He said and disappeared out the door. Confused, Skylar sat down on the corner of the bed and stared at the water bottle clasped in her pale hands.

She heard Jack clumping around downstairs, saying good morning to people with sleepy voices and grumpy demeanours. Her back went stiff when she heard Kyle’s voice, asking something of Jack in a raised and angry tone. Jack replied softly and their voices faded too quiet for earshot. Skylar sighed and lay down on the bed, closing her eyes.

She must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing Skylar heard was the creaking of a door as Jack re-entered the room. In one hand he had Skylar’s bag and in the other was a plate piled high with hot breakfast food. Her heartbeat quickened at the smell of the greasy food. A light sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead; he had too much for just himself to eat.

Quickly Skylar grabbed her bag and tiptoed to the bathroom to get dressed. She tried to calm the thundering of her racing heart as she shrugged a bra on and reached behind herself to the straps. Had he sided with Kyle? Were they going to force her to eat? Skylar clenched her eyes shut and pulled up her shorts. No. Jack wouldn’t do that. The others wouldn’t let him even if he wanted to. She hooked a thumb under her waistband. There was definitely less room than before. She couldn’t eat. Finally she slipped a loose, long sleeve shirt over her head. After a moment of preparation Skylar opened the door.

When she re-entered the room Jack was sitting cross-legged on the hastily made bed. In front of him were three plates, one of which was stacked with the food he had fetched. Her heartbeat rocketed yet she still approached him.

“Are you hungry?” Jack asked innocently, playing dumb.

“Not really…” Skylar said cautiously and sat opposite him on the bed, tucking her legs underneath herself.

“How come?” He inquired placidly and lay a slice of toast onto his plate, spooning a handful of well-cooked button mushrooms onto its crispy surface. The bread soaked up the mushroom juices in its gluggy, fattening dough. Bread makes you fat. Everybody knows that.

Skylar stared at her hands, twisted in her lap in a contorted bundle.

“Try a mushroom. They taste lovely. Almost as nice as your lips.” Skylar looked up. He was smiling at her cockily. A quiver of competition sparked in Skylar’s belly. He thought she wouldn’t. He didn’t want her to.

Slowly she reached forward to the platter and plucked up one of the button sized mushrooms between her thumb and forefinger. It was squishy and was covered in something; perhaps tomato juice from being cooked in the same tray. There were a few little grains of salt – heart disease – covering the cap. Skylar lifted it to her mouth and bit into its soft flesh, swallowing without thinking.

“Nice.” She commented numbly.

“I don’t eat much, either. I prefer the taste of words.” Jack said quietly and began nibbling on a hash brown. Fat, fat, fat.

“Words have a taste?” There was something about Jack that made Skylar want to eat; maybe it was the paleness of his face, or the bags under his eyes. Suddenly she realised that she wanted to help Jack in any way she could; even if it was taking one less worry off his mind. For some strange reason Skylar picked up a piece of crispy bacon and took a tiny bite, rolling the fragment of slightly burnt meat between her lips while she waited for Jack to continue.

He looked down at the attacked hash brown and smiled awkwardly, looking as though he regretted ever mentioning this more or less unusual aspect of his mind. Nevertheless he spoke.

“Of course they do.”

“Explain it to me?” Skylar found herself begging. Without looking she speared a hash brown and a segment of baked tomato off the platter and added it to her plate along with the nibbled bacon. Slowly she picked at the food.

Jack flicked his light brown hair from his eyes and began kneading his fists into the downy bedcover nervously.

“You know when you’re about to say something… And you realise that you can say it using all these different types of wording, but certain ways have different…. Tastes? Like, some are warm, some are sweet, some are bitter…” He stammered, embarrassed.

“Sort of...” She agreed uncertainly and waited for more explanation while she finished off the tomato.

“Maybe it’s just me.”

“Maybe,” Skylar reached forward and twined her fingers through Jack’s. “But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

Jack looked up with his sad eyes and smiled at Skylar gently. She held onto him for a moment longer before going back to eating.