The Story of Us

13 - Keith/Shiro

"Do you want to try anything else? All you have is lettuce,"

Lance looks nervously at his styrofoam bowl, which doesn't have anything but lettuce in it. He shifts his weight from foot to foot.

"How about...two croutons, a sprinkle of cheese, some carrots, and a tiny drizzle of some dressing?" I offer up, pointing to each thing in turn. Lance nods and proceeds to get each of those, showing me his bowl when he's done. I put an arm around his shoulders and lead him to our table. We're missing Shiro - he's packing - and Marissa is in his seat.

She smiles as we approach, Lance nervously holding his salad. "Is-is this enough?" He shows her the bowl.

"Of course, sweetie. Whatever you feel comfortable with," she replies. So much better than Diana.

Lance sits down and picks at his food, looking off into space every now and then.

"I do have to make sure you eat, Lance," Marissa says kindly. "I'm not going to make you but I do urge you to at least eat a bite,"

Lance nods stiffly and stabs a piece of lettuce. Almost robotically, he puts it into his mouth. He gags as he chews, swallowing with difficulty. When he's finished the painful experience, he looks around the table. Inside his eyes, I see embarrassment and fear. We all give him supportive smiles, digging into our food ourselves.

Marissa is coaxing him on, asking after each bite if he thinks he can eat more or if he'd like to stop. I notice him pick up a crouton and take a tiny nibble before putting it back in the salad.

"I'm-uh-I'm fu-ll?" Lance says sheepishly.

Marissa smiles, "Okay. You can just chill here for a bit. I'm gonna go if you're done. Bye!" She gets up, waving and smiling, before walking about six and a half feet to the nurses table.

Lance twiddles his thumbs and looks at me, "Can-can we look at the stars again?" He whisper-asks.

"Of course," I mumble, smiling at him.

"Uh...hey. Do you mind if I sit with you?" A voice asks from behind us. She's got a pretty British accent. I run and see Allura, the white haired girl from our therapy group.

Lance smiles, "Sure,"

Allura sits down, a tray in front of her. "I do hope I don't break out from this. The pizza looks awfully greasy," she says.

Lance shrugs, "I dunno. I've only had the salad," he says.

Pidge looks up, "That fucking crusty-ass bitch Diana made him eat all his food and practically drowned it in fucking ketchup," she asks. (I know she's a She because of the pink hairband on her wrist)

Allura nods, "Diana did seem like a pretty awful person,"

"Awful is an understatement," Lance pipes up, "she was basically Food Satan! She viciously drowned my burger in ketchup when I was working up the courage to at least eat the patty!"

"Crusty," Pidge says slowly, a malicious look on her face.

Allura giggles softly. "I'm starting to regret not sitting here before. Though, wasn't there another one with you?"

I nod, "Shiro. He's discharging today. We'll all get to say bye though,"

Lance chuckles dryly, "Or in my case, bi,"

I facepalm, smiling nonetheless. "That was horrible," I laugh.

Pidge high fives him over the table, Allura joining in on the laughter. And to think, I'd always thought that a mental hospital would be such a sad place!