Baby Fat

fifty-four

Truthfully, Corrie's doing okay. He's doing a lot better than he ever expected. Everything is going okay for him. His visitor list got expanded. He made a friend. He does his puzzles. He goes to group therapy. He sees Jennifer.

So much changed for him.

It scares him. No, it terrifies him.

He's sitting on his bed reading some book about meditation when his nurse walks into his room with a glum look on her face.

"Corrie," she says to grab his attention. He looks up from his book and frowns when he sees her facial expression.

"What's up?" He sets his book down on his bedside table.

"You have a call," his nurse sighs. "It's someone named Julianne? She sounds very distraught."

His eyebrows furrow. Why the fuck would Julianne be calling? Something has to be wrong. They aren't close. Corrie barely knows her.

Corrie shoots up out of his bed and follows his nurse to the phones. He doesn't use them, like, ever. His so called "friends" from the team stopped trying to talk to him the first week into rehab. After Devon left, there was no reason to even go to the phones.

Once they reach the phone that Julianne called, Corrie feels panicked and out of breath.

"Hello? Julianne?" His voice comes out too squeaky, high pitched. He hears her heavy breathing, as if she's trying to stop crying.

"Corrie," he hears her sob. "God. I'm so sorry. I don't know...I didn't know who else to call. This is so, so fucked."

"What's wrong? Julianne?" Corrie feels his stomach tighten with fear. Something happened to Bradley. Why else would she be calling? God. There's no surviving if something happened to Bradley. There'd be no living after that.

There's a long pause. A pause like she doesn't know how to say it. This only adds to Corrie's growing need to vomit.

"Pills...I," she coughs hard. "He has these pills."

Corrie's face contorts with confusion. "Like drugs? Oh God. Is he addicted to drugs? God, fucking hell. Of fucking course."

"No, no. No!" Julianne practically screams into the phone. "It's not drugs."

"Then what is it?" Corrie just feels so lost. What the hell is she talking about.

Silence passes.

"Weight loss pills," Julianne mumbles so quietly that Corrie can barely hear her.

"Wh-what?" Corrie doesn't feel like he heard her right. Weight loss pills? He has to have misunderstood, right?

"Pills you take when you want to lose weight. Pills you take when you want to be skinny. Pills you--"

"Okay, I understand," Corrie snaps. His head is throbbing. How? What? He thinks back, way back.

"Do you, though?" Julianne says, breath hitching.

This time Corrie's the one who's silent. He's at a loss for words. What the fuck. What. The. fuck. He racks his brain, looking for clues. Everything falls into place. Not eating. Excuses. Lying. Sneaking around. Pale faces.

"Can you hear me? Are you still there?" Julianne is saying all this shit, but it's static. It's white noise. It's all going in one ear and out another.

"I..." He starts but he can't finish. What the hell is he supposed to say?

"You're still in rehab, Corrie. I called you because there I can't do it on my own. I can't go to my parents. There's no fucking way I can. I don't know what to do." Corrie can hear Julianne's crying. He feels the tears well up in his eyes, burning as they beg to fall.