Page 87 of Awakened in September (Sleepless November Saga 4)

“I missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too.” She says it so sincerely that I melt a little. “As much as I would like to stay in bed all day, we have to get up.”

Rising from the bed and not being covered by the sheets, I take in her body. She’s exquisite, and yet she doesn’t even realize it. I decide to make it my life’s mission to make her see how incredible she truly is.

“You’re so beautiful.”

A blush coats her cheeks as she gives me a shy grin, then goes into her walk-in closet to get dressed. I groan and climb out of bed myself, mentally counting down the days until it can once again just be Kayleigh and I in my bedroom, with no commitments or interruptions.

Breakfast goes decently well and her mom even seems to warm up to me a little. However, one thing I notice is how little Kayleigh eats. It’s like an art form, the way she cuts up her food into little pieces, using the syrup to saturate the bread and mush it up so it looks like she’s eaten when she hasn’t taken more than a few bites. Everything about it worries me. She has her parents completely fooled. If I don’t get her back into recovery before summer, how bad will she get if they don’t even notice her doing it?

“You ready to go?” She asks me as we finish eating. Well, when I finish eating at least.

I nod. We’re going to her best friend’s house. I won’t lie, I’m nervous. When I made the decision to come here, I never expected her to want to take me places and introduce me to people. Then again, I guess this is what a girlfriend does. If Bree hadn’t done it, I would have never met Kayleigh. The idea of living in a world where I don’t know her puts an uncomfortable feeling in my chest.

Meeting Emily, I’m completely prepared for the ‘you hurt her, I’ll kill you’ speech, but one doesn’t come. She eyes me suspiciously but then goes back to focusing her attention on Kayleigh. Seeing the way my girlfriend lights up around her best friends makes me fall for her a little bit more.

They take turns telling me stories about their childhood together. I hear everything from the time Kayleigh punched a kid in the nose on the playground for scaring Emily, to how they took each other to their senior prom because you’re supposed to spend it with the person you like most. For them, that’s each other.

They ask about my senior prom, but I shake off the topic. The reminder of Bianca is fresh in my mind. She had given me no choice but to take her, scaring the rest of the girls in our class out of going with me. While she’s only 5’4”, her dad has more money than anyone I’ve ever met. Needless to say, she uses that to her advantage. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to her. A part of me wonders if Kayleigh would.

I QUIETLY GET UP from my bed, careful not to wake my sleeping girlfriend. Yesterday, after getting back to the frat house, I tried to get her to eat and she panicked. As much as I tried to reassure her of how perfect she is, I don’t think it made much of a difference. So, long after she fell asleep, I made the decision to seek help from the only other person here that she trusts. I just hope she doesn’t hate me for it.

I panicked when I found out Dawson could only meet in the middle of the day. Fortunately for me, Kayleigh decided to take a nap when I mentioned getting lunch, claiming she’s exhausted from all the traveling. I use the opportunity to meet up with her coworker/friend.

“Hey man. How was your break?” He greets as I approach him.

My head tilts to the side. “Not bad. Finally got Kayleigh agree to be my girlfriend.”

“No shit! About damn time.”

“I know.” I chuckle.

The two of us sit down on a bench and he hands me a bottle of water. I thank him and take a sip, trying to prepare myself for the conversation we’re about to have. Dawson must sense my tension because he gives me a c

urious look.

“So, what’s up?”

I look down at the bottle and pick at the wrapper. “Kayleigh needs help. I’ve tried to help her on my own, and I’m not enough for it. She needs more.”

His eyebrows furrow. “What’s wrong with Kayleigh? Is she okay?”

“She’s…” I pause, taking a deep breath. Please don’t hate me for this, baby. “She’s starving herself. She has an eating disorder.”

“W-what?” His jaw drops. “How did I not notice?!”

“Well, I had her in recovery for a good month until that mess happened where we stopped talking. Since then, she’s just been really good at hiding it. I watched her at her parent’s house. She could fool anyone with the way she operates at a breakfast table.”

“Fuck.” He breathes. “Okay. So, what do we do?”

I shrug. “We have to find a way to get her to eat again. She’s disappearing right in front of my eyes and it’s breaking me. I can’t lose her. Although, I may anyway after she finds out I told you.”

“Hey.” He cuts off my rambling. “No. I’m not going to let her throw away someone who cares about her for trying to get her help. Your relationship is stronger than that.”

“I really hope you’re right.”

The whole ride back to my house with Dawson in the passenger seat, I’m visibly nervous. We decided it’s best to tell her he knows so that he can help her at work and I can help her at home. She needs to know she has a support system. Just as I’m turning onto my street, my phone buzzes.

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