Holding Onto You

Ch. 24

Demi's pov

"Where's Ava?" Wilmer asks as I enter out bedroom.

"She's joined Emilio and Maya for a game of Uno."

"So what happened?" He asks.

"She felt like she didn't have control last night and admitted that usually doesn't bother her, but it did last night. So the more of it you took away from her, the more upset she got. She admitted she doesn't know why she reacted the way she did, and that it wasn't right to, but she was really upset. Then she just kinda broke down and admitted she's not ok and she's sorry. I think both the girls need help."

"Whats wrong with Maya?" He asks confused.

"Ava told me that Maya has an eating disorder. It slipped out and wasn't something she meant to say, but did. She didn't tell me when this happened but swore Maya was fine and it didn't effect her anymore. She said it never effected Maya the way it did her." I say.

"You don't believe it do you?" He asks.

"Not even a little bit."

"Well, I tried to get her to eat lunch and she didn't. She sat at the table with Emilio and the two of them were laughing every time she got in trouble. I ended up giving up and they went to Maya's room." He says.

"Did she eat dinner?" I ask.

"Not much. Hardly any. She ate maybe one forth of a bowl of spaghetti." He says.

"Did she say anything about it?"

"Not really. She and Milo were playing go fish but he managed to eat all his food, so I am not going to accept that a game of go fish distracted her from eating her food."

I sit on our bed and watch as he tidies up Bella's toys, "I'll talk to her tomorrow. I don't think there's any use doing it tonight. Ava's distracted and smiling so I don't want to pull Maya away from her and see her cry again. I'm also extremely drained from the conversation with Ava."

"I can talk to Maya tomorrow." He says.

"I think we both need to. I don't want to have that conversation alone. We need to be on the same page." I say.

"I don't think Ava would lie about it and this would explain Maya's seemingly restrictive eating." He says.

"I know she's not lying, but I don't know if Maya will be honest with us about anything tomorrow Wilmer and thats what I'm worried about. Ava isn't going to tell me anything more. She didn't mean to tell me this and I know that for a fact. It was accidental what she did. What worries me is Maya will be in college next year and will be in entire control over what she eats or doesn't eat. If she's as bad as Ava was, then I'm not sure I want her out of state. Because I don't think that she's going to take care of herself. I see her just spiraling out of control with all the freedom that she has. I see her heath ending up where Ava's was." I say.

"I agree they both need help. Hopefully we can get them both on track and we won't have to have the conversation about their first year of college being somewhere that they don't want to attend." He says.

"I hope."

"I guess we should've expected Maya to have one too. They do a lot together and I wouldn't be surprised if they did that together. You've said they are very competitive so if they did do it together, than no wonder Ava ended up in the condition she did. I'm sure they both were trying to fight to be better than the other and go to the absolute extremes to be thinner than the other. They compare their self to the other all the time so it's likely they just looked at one another and we're trying to be prettier and thinner than the other. I hate to think that's what they did, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did as much as I hate to admit it."

"I think that too, I can't see them doing it at different times. I think they both did it at the same time but Ava ended up doing more extreme things which resulted in what happened, happening."

"And Ava said Maya is better, what do you think happened there?" He asks.

"If Ava got better than I think Maya got herself better so she wouldn't trigger Ava and be the cause of her relapse."

He drops Bella's toys into the box before looking at me from the closet, "So it's even more unlikely that Maya is actually better if that's the case right?" He asks.

"You don't get better without professional help. Ava's still isn't fully healed, we see her struggle with some things still. I don't think Maya's better at all. I think she eats but is heavily restricting and following rules her minds set for her." I say.

"How are we going to bring this up?" He questions.

"She's not going to eat breakfast. I already know that so I think we could use that to start the topic of restrictive eating and just do our best to get her to talk." I say.

"Ok." He says taking a deep breath.

With where our relationship is with Maya, this is going to be tough. We are the last people she wants to even look at, talking is the last thing she wants to do with us. I just hope that we can get her to talk and be honest with us.

"Are we really allowing Maya to go back to school next week?" He asks.

"Her doctor said she could and she seems ready to go back. She's done all her work from days she's missed so it shouldn't be too hard of a transition. If it is, then we'll just keep her home for a bit longer. She's wanting to go back though." I say.

Mostly to get away from us, she's admitted that with no shame at all. But hopefully her being at school and with here friends can put her in a better mood. I don't like the change we've seen in her recently.

"Where's Bella?" He asks.

"Watching the game of Uno go down in Maya's room. Although poor girl, she's so tired and just laying in Maya's bed snuggled with one of Maya's stuffed animals." I say.

"You think she'll sleep in there tonight?" He asks.

"She want's to spend time with her siblings and doesn't want to miss anything. I don't see them going to sleep anytime soon. I think she might fall asleep and Maya just let her stay in her room."

We'll see in the morning if she gets any sleep. I know it's useless to go get her, it'll result in a small tantrum and her not going to sleep in our bed. However once the funs over in Maya's room and she has to sleep, I think she'll want us and not go to sleep.

"I'm thinking that as well." He says as he gets in bed beside me.

"I'm kinda really tired, I think I'm going to go ahead and get some sleep. I'm really worn out." I say.

He pecks my lips, "Goodnight hermosa."

"Goodnight Wil."

I lay down and get comfortable in the bed before closing my eyes and doing my best to fall asleep. Once I feel Wilmers arm's around my waist, it becomes a bit easier. We haven't been able to do this in so long. Not since I was pregnant with Bella. Once Bella came, even as a baby she'd scream in the night. When we'd look at her she'd look mortifies and wouldn't stop crying until I put her on my chest and let her sleep there. She's slept on my chest or between us resulting in Wilmer and I adapting to her. I have missed this though, a lot. I feel him kiss my neck and I can't help myself from smiling before falling asleep at ease for tonight.