30. Eden
EDEN
So, she didn’t end up loving all of them.
To be fair, not all of them made it easy either. Kieran, for instance, hadn’t exchanged a single word with Alana all evening, which was to be expected.
Kieran didn’t like meeting new people, and it always took him a few times of simply staring and being in their proximity to accept their presence. And his cousin, Jamie, well… he was built differently.
Jamie was loud and annoying at times. God, I sure hoped he was going to turn more into a mature adult as he aged.
The other kids were way too young for Alana to even bother to really interact with them beyond whatever they had to tell her.
I think she liked my siblings, though, but she also met two of them before. And Brooke wasn’t easy to dislike, though I would normally beg to differ. Then again, she was my older sister, so I had to think she was unlikable.
Now, the adults in my family were a different topic. Part of me was sure they scared her more than she wanted to admit. Not on a she-was-straight-up-frightened kind of level. But, well, they were adults. And my family could be very overwhelming.
Meeting Alana’s parents would’ve scared the holy ice hockey Gods right out of me, too. So, again, I understood she was still a bit unsure about mine.
“When are we going back home?” Alana asked as she looked around my childhood bedroom, fascinated by all the trophies on my shelves.
While I wasn’t the smartest kid ever, I sure loved participating in everything that could’ve possibly gotten me trophies.
I used to love these Kangaroo Math tests simply because my school always gave the top three students trophies.
Not only did that mean I was studying a ton, but I got a sparkly price.
“Tomorrow,” I replied, heading over to my closet so I didn’t have to see the stern look I was sure Alana was about to give me.
I knew we were going to spend the night here, but I kind of refused to tell Alana because I feared she wouldn’t have come had I told her.
I opened my closet, looking for my swimming trunks. While it was fairly late, I still wanted to use the jacuzzi, and it wasn’t like my parents cared much about it.
That time when I was sixteen, and I asked Mom if I could use it at eleven at night, she said: “We didn’t buy it for nothing.” That was the whole conversation. Ever since then, I didn’t dare ask again.
“What do you mean tomorrow?”
I sighed, reaching for a blue pair of swimming trunks. I had a few, but my blue ones were definitely my favorite. “We’ll stay the night.”
“When were you going to tell me?”
“I just did.” I turned around only to find Alana standing right in front of me. She held her hands on her hips, looking up at me with a very cute but furious frown. “Hi there.”
“You could’ve told me earlier.” She didn’t sound mad, if I was being honest.
“Would you have come if I told you?”
Alana hesitated, but nodded eventually. “It’s part of our deal, isn’t it?”
I drew in a deep breath, trying not to let her words sting. Of course she only came because we agreed to it weeks ago. “I guess.”
“What am I supposed to sleep in? It’s not going to be this dress.” She looked down at herself, tugging on the material of her dress as if it was suddenly way too tight. It really wasn’t.
“You can have my clothes.”
Alana cocked her head at me. “They’re too small on me.”
Not this topic again. For the life of me, I couldn’t continue listening to the most perfect person on this planet talk about how she was anything but perfect. “We’ll see about that.”
I began to make my way over to my bathroom but only took a step or two before I turned around and looked at Alana again. If I was getting ready for the jacuzzi, she had no business standing around and not getting ready as well.
Wait. I had yet to tell her that she was going to come with me.
Oh, she wasn’t going to like that.
And she’d hate it even more when I showed her the bathing suit Nova got her. Let’s not even begin talking about the price of that thing because, according to my credit card, Nova either bought half of the store for herself or Alana’s new bathing suit cost me a pretty penny.
Well, to be fair, Nova also bought something for Alana to wear to classes tomorrow. Still, it was a lot of money.
Then again, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Nova didn’t buy cheap things.
“You should get changed,” I told Alana and nodded toward the plastic bag on my nightstand. “Don’t worry, though, it has a skirt.”
It wasn’t much, but at least it was fabric—more than Nova would’ve bothered with. If my sister had her way, Alana would’ve been handed two strategically placed strings and a prayer. And the skirt wasn’t even really a skirt. Just one of those scraps you wrap around your hips and hope for the best.
“Get changed?” The words came out small. She moved toward the bag like it might bite, her hands shaking as she reached for it.
The second she pulled out the first piece, her eyes flew wide open as they landed on the top.
“Eden, that’s…” she trailed off, reaching her hand back inside the bag to pull out the bottoms. “Oh, God.”
Alana stared at the skimpy bikini in her hands, her cheeks flushing a bright red. She glanced up at me with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted.
“Like I said, there should be a skirt type of thing in there as well.”
She hesitated, looking from the bikini in her hands to me and back. “I-I don’t… I can’t wear this.”
The corners of my lips pulled up into a grin. I knew she was going to say something like that, so I was prepared to argue. “You’ll look great in it.”
My very beautiful fake girlfriend let out a nervous laugh. “I’ll look like a whale.”
Okay, maybe I wasn’t as prepared to argue as I had initially thought. I went over a million things she could’ve said, none of them called her anything close to a fucking whale.
How dare she say this about herself?
How dare she think that in the first place?
Alana was so much more than a stupid number on a stupid scale. And even then, it wouldn’t have come close to what a goddamn whale weighed.
I knew she had body image issues, but fuck… A part of me was breaking for her. No one should ever feel this way about themselves. Nobody should ever have to look into the mirror and hate what they see.
And yet, here was Alana, standing in front of me with what looked like tears in her eyes, so beautiful and perfect in every way, tearing herself down with cruel words that should’ve never been placed in her vocabulary.
But if Alana wasn’t going to love herself, fuck knew I would. Even if it was only until she finally believed me. Even if that meant I was probably going to get hurt again.
I took a step closer to her, then a couple more until I stood right in front of her.
Placing my index finger underneath her chin, I lifted her face to mine, forcing her eyes to focus on me.
“Alana, listen to me,” I started softly, my voice unwavering.
“You are the most beautiful person I have ever met. And I need you to believe me when I say that.”
“Eden, I—”
“Your weight does not define who you are. And it sure as fuck doesn’t make you a goddamn whale.
” Her lower lip began to quiver as she processed my words.
“I really wish I could lend you my eyes so you could see how amazing you look in them. Since that’s impossible, I’m going to spend every moment I can making sure you can see it through your own. ”