Lost (in Your Emerald Eyes)

T H I R T Y - S E V E N

It was nice waking up to someone knocking on your door and calmly telling you it was time to get out of bed.

But it would take some time to get used to.

Betty slid out of bed and dragged her feet to the door, opening it in the process. She stared at an amused-looking Fred in the hallway. "Took you some time," he said.

The girl sighed and tiredly nodded. "Sorry."

The man frowned at the apology and shook his head. "You're a teenager, Betty, you might as well start acting like one."

The girl smiled when he turned around and started walking down the stairs. "Your breakfast is almost ready, hurry!" he said on his way.

"Okay," Betty mumbled and walked to the bathroom.

Getting dressed didn't take as long as usual now that she didn't have to worry about what would be accepted by her mother, and neither did the makeup that didn't have to be as perfect. She brushed down her naturally dried blond hair and threw it up in a bun that was fluffier than usual thanks to the natural soft curls that she hadn't straightened out this time.

After quickly packing her bag, she opened her door again and found that Archie was just doing the same. Betty managed a small smile while he grinned at her and nodded toward the bathroom.

"You first?" he asked.

"Already done," she said with a smile and a playful roll of her eyes.

The boy chuckled and dropped his bag as he went to freshen up. Betty walked down the stairs and pet Vegas when he came to greet her. "Hey there, boy," she said through a yawn and gave him a kiss on his snout.

"Honey," Fred said immediately when she walked through the kitchen door, not even looking to see if it was Betty or Archie entering. "Your lunch is there," he said, turning around as he pointed on a green plastic lunchbox on the table.

Betty slowly approached it and after placing her bag on the ground, carefully opened the lid. Inside, there was a turkey-cheddar sandwich, tomato and cucumber salad, and a small container of strawberry yogurt. The girl smiled and looked over her shoulder at Fred thankfully.

He didn't want to stress her out with all this eating suddenly, so he tried to make it easier for her. The nutritionist had suggested tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch at first, but Fred obviously noticed the way Betty's eyes widened at the mention of butter and three slices of cheese. So, he had substituted some of it with turkey, put the butter on himself without her having to do it during lunch, and instead of the tomato soup made a salad of two vegetable groups that she would be more willing to eat.

"Thank you," the girl said quietly and closed the lid.

Fred only nodded with a small smile and served them breakfast just as Archie scrambled down the stairs. "Here you go, kids."

The two teenagers took their seats and while Archie all but swallowed the breakfast down, Betty toyed with her food while slowly eating it. When she took her glass of juice though and tasted it, she frowned. "What is this?" she asked Fred who was sitting right over the table in front of her.

"It's mango juice."

"Oh," the girl said with a frown. "I've never tasted it. It's nice."

The man tried to hold back his smile when she gulped it down. "We have a few more bottles of this if you wanna take one to school?"

Betty met his eyes, almost about to decline the offer before she saw the excitement in them. "Sure," she said and smiled back.