anorexia//an anthony reeves fanfic

Chapter One

Ashley's POV

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

My mother came bolting into my room at the sound of my blood curdling scream. "What happened?!"

"I got it mom! I got the email, they emailed me! I was invited to be an influencer at vidcon in July!" The words ran off my tongue and into the air in a flurry, as I was unable to contain my excitement.

"Yay honey I am so proud of you," she walked closer to me and embraced me in a hug, kissing my cheek. "Well, I'm off to work. I'm working a double shift so you'll be home alone all night."

I frowned as she left, sad I have to spend yet another night alone.

It's just my mom and I, and she is an ER nurse so she has very unpredictable hours. Don't get me wrong, we don't struggle with money, and she hasn't always been a single parent; my dad passed away almost two years ago. It's still very hard, but I've learned to live with it.

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As I endlessly scroll through Instagram, I can't help but feel negatively about my body, suddenly becoming self conscious.

You need to lose weight, you'll be much prettier that way.

I don't know what it was, but it felt like their was a voice in the back of my head screaming at me.

I should probably start exercising more, I thought to myself.

Start now.

Well, I did just move here. I might as well take a jog to get familiar with it.

I pull open my neatly organized dresser drawer and pull out Nike Pro shorts, a sports bra, and a loose fitting cropped Nike shirt. I'm not trying to dress slutty, but it's the beginning of June and the Kentucky air has a certain hotness to it.

Once I'm dressed, I attempt to avoid the mirror at all costs, as I know it will only make me feel worse about my body.

I turn on the perfect playlist as I put in my AirPods, and start to run. The air feels amazing, the sun feels perfect, this is perfect. Running gives me a certain feeling nothing else can.

I begin to slow my jog as I am approaching a crosswalk and then stop altogether. When I glance to my left, I notice someone looking my way. He's in a car stopped at the stop sign directly next to me. He looks so familiar. Do I know him?

"Hey," I look back towards him once he gets my attention, and he continues. "I'm really sorry, but you look so familiar... Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I was thinking the exact same thing!" We both laughed slightly awkwardly, despite my comment not being that funny. "I don't think we've met though..."

"Yeah me neither, I would have remembered you," He replied, flashing me a smile that just about melted my heart due to his adorable dimples.

Oh my God, I know who he is!

"You're Anthony Reeves, right?"

"Maybe, are you an influencer also?"

"I am," I smiled back. "I'm Ashley Noah."

"Oh yeah! I have definitely heard of you before. Oh shit, a car just pulled up behind me.... Need a ride anywhere?" He offered. And sure, this probably seems creepy being as I just met him, but I feel like since we are both social media influencers it's okay, right?

"Sure," I quickly hopped in and buckled my seat belt as he drove off. "So, where are you headed right now?"

"Um, just to Target probably and-" He was cut off by my loud gasp, looking startled. "What happened? Are you okay?" It was honestly really cute how concerned he was.

"I absolutely love Target!" I exclaimed eagerly as he smiled sheepishly towards me. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just, you're really cute when you get all excited." I started blushing when he said this. "Are you going to vidcon this year?"

"Yeah, I actually just got invited this morning. Now I just have to plan where I'm staying and whatnot."

"You could probably stay with me and all of my friends. I think we are renting an AirB&B for the week, and I am sure they would love to have you stay with us." He offered politely as we pulled into the Target parking lot.

"Really? That would be awesome actually, are you sure they wouldn't mind?"

"Yeah definitely, my friends are really chill. However, if we are going to be staying together and everything, we should probably get to know each other better since we did just meet like ten minutes ago." I nodded my head in agreement as he parked and we got out of the car.

I suddenly became very conscious of my appearance considering what I was wearing.

"Um, on second thought, I think I will stay in the car..."

"What? Why? I thought you love target." He questioned with a concerning tone as I subconsciously pulled my shorts down.

"Well, I mean I do, it's just, I'm not exactly wearing the most appropriate outfit choice..." My voice trailed off as I looked down.

"No worries, I probably have something in my car you could wear-"

"No, really. It's fine, I will just wait for you."

"Ashley, don't be silly. It's no problem at all really," He assured me as he opened his trunk, pulling out a fresh pair of sweats and a tee shirt. I couldn't help but blush as he handed them to me. "Will this work?"

I nodded my head and said, "Thank you very much, sorry to cause trouble." I began pulling them over my clothes awkwardly. Mmmm, he smells so good; like a mix of fresh linen and a soft scent of cologne. I cinched the sweatpants tightly and noticed that the shirt nearly hit my knees due to the fact he's probably a good half a foot taller than me.

I smiled up at him as we walked into the most addicting store ever, wondering how one boy could possibly be so sweet.