Just Like Old Times

Chapter 16: Eating disorders

Tom's p.o.v

NOnonononono... WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HIM?!?!
"Tom, are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost." The sound of Tord's accent snapped me back to reality.
"I-I'm fin-"
"Tom. Who was on the phone?"
"Just the restaurant."
"Tom, don't lie."
"Fine. It was Ja-Ja-" I began to choke on my own sobs.
"Jack." Nodding I handed the phone to Tord.

"Who's Jake?"
"It's Jack,"
"Fine then,who's Jack?" The ginger asked sarcastically,
"He's- It doesn't matter." I sighed out,
"Tom, I think it does matter, the only other time I've seen you act like that is when your da- Mike would be particularly bad." Edd was right, I'm normally pretty chill, but I couldn't tell them about Jack, not even Tord was meant to know about him.
"I'll tell you later." I lied.

Just then Jack's voice was heard through the phone in Tord's hand.
"Hello? I know your there, do you want to order or not?" Oh no he was getting mad, I couldn't control it, tears began to pour down my face. Tord must've noticed my sudden panic attack because he put on a surprisingly good British accent,
"Sorry, be right with you. One of the kids suddenly doesn't like what he ordered and is taking ages deciding on a new meal."
"Oh ok. Kids, am I right?"
"Aha yeah," he pressed the mute button so Jack couldn't hear what we were saying.

Tord's p.o.v

That damn dog, why can't he just bog the hell off? I glanced at Tom and noticed how bad he was shaking,
"What happened?" Stupid question.
"He just started freaking out." Edd tried to explain, worry evident in his voice.
I brought Tom into a tight hug,
"Shhhhhhh, it's ok." I stroked his hair to show him that I'm not going to harm him. It seemed to work, his breathing began to steady and he stopped whimpering.
"Tord?"
"Um hum, I'm here."
"Good," he nuzzled closer into my chest, his panic attack was over. "Good."
"Hey umm, not to ruin the moment but that Jake guy is still on the phone."
"Oh, yeah." I could feel Tom tense up in my arms. "Edd, can you go order our food, I'll stay with Tom."
"Ok," he left with a confused look, Matt following close behind him.

"You ok now?"
"Yeah."
"Can you let go of me?" I felt his arms tighten,
"No,"
"Fine." We hobbled over to the couch, I flopped down, Tom on top of me.
"I love you." He whispered,
"I love you too." I felt him relax, as if he was expecting me to ridicule him for saying it. "And I will always love you." I added, just to he was sure of it.

"Foods ordered!" I heard the high pitch British voice of Edd,
"Yay, I'm starving,"
"I'm not that hungry," I was shocked,
"Tom, today all you've rated is half a pancake,"
"That's half a pancake more than the rest of the week," he mumbled, it was probably meant to be a whisper, but being trained in the army meant I have razor sharp hearing.
"No, you ate.... TOM! Why aren't you eating."
"Not hungry, like ever."
"You need to eat to survive, when was the last time you had a proper meal?"
"Thrown up or non thrown up?" Edd and Matt took this as their que to leave.
"W-What do you mean thrown up?" I whispered, hoping it wasn't what it sounded like.
"It doesn't matter,"
"I think it does, Tom talk to me."
"*sigh* fine. I make myself puke up food that I eat."
"Ok, answer my last question, then tell me why."
"Ok, last time I had a non puked meal was.... 'bout a year ago."
"W-WHAT!" I hugged him so tightly I thought he would break.
"Yeah, oh and the reason why. I really don't want to get into that, yet." I really wanted to know why, but forcing Tom to say something he doesn't want to probably won't turn out the best.
"Ok, just please eat today."
"But-"
"Please."
"O-Ok." He sighed and looked up at me, "I-I'm sorry. Tord."
"Why?"
"For making more issues for you to worry about."
"Tom, listen to me." He nodded and held eye contact. "I love you, so damn much, and because of that I want you to be happy, because seeing you like this doesn't only hurt you but it hurts those who care about you. And I don't want to hurt. I'm not God, if I was your life would be perfect, but I can't change the past, I can only make the future, and I want my future to be with you. So please Tom, son think of it as causing problems from the past, think of it as getting better to the future. So please eat, if not for you then for me."
"O-Ok Tord, I'll try my best."
"That's all you can do."

Time skip to food.

Tom's p.o.v

Food finally got there and it looked sickly. The noodles looked like worms, the veg was brown, the sauce was thick and the chicken was more deep fry than meat.
"Oh my god, this looks amazing!" I heard Edd yell, everyone else agreed,
"Yeah, I can't wait to eat it." I can.
"Tom?" Tord looked at me, a glint of sadness in his eye,
"I'm... fine. Can't wait to eat it." He smiled as if to say 'I think we both know that's a lie' but didn't question it.

I went to dish up my meal from the plastic tub it arrived in, when Matt slipped on something (probably air) and nocked into my injured arm. The force from his crash made countless cuts reopen. I yelped in the sudden pain.
"Oh god, Tom are you alright?" He rushed over to help.
"Y-Yeah," I mumbled. I caught Edd giving Matt a concerned look then signal to his arm. Fear shock through me, like an electric wire. "L-Lets just finish dishing up."