Danny and Riley: Childhood Stories-A Baby Daddy Fanfiction

Chapter 9: Age 13-part 2

'And they say

she's in the class a team

stuck in her daydream

been this way since eighteen

but lately her face seems

slowly sinking, wasting'

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Riley jumps off her bed, pulling the blanket to cover the wrappers. Once she's on her feet all she does is stare at Danny, unable to move

They're in a situation they've never had to face before, at least not like this.

Even though Danny knows Riley wants him to leave, shutting the door behind him, he won't do it. All she wants right now is for the moment to end, and for the two of then to never speak about it again, but Danny can't do that. He can't leave her like this.

But he doesn't know what to say.

So the two of then just stare at each other, unable to speak. This goes on for another five minutes, by which Riley is back to sitting on her bed, but she refuses to face Danny.

She can't look him straight in eyes after what he just saw. "Get out," she manages to whisper, but this time the words get lost with the sound of wind blowing in from her window.

"No," Danny replies. His voice is even quite than her's, and he's unsure if she even heard him. "No." His says it louder and with a firm tone to his voice this time. "I want to help you."

Finally, she turns her head and looks at his face.

It's the first time she's seeing this look on his face, a look of pity, with his widened eyes and lowered eyebrows. The look feels like a stab to her chest.

All Riley wants to do is shake some sense into her best friend and remind him of the funny fun-loving guy that he is, not this boy who pities her.

It's like her life has just changes in the blink of an eye.

They'll never be friends like they used to be. He'll always remember the girl he's looking at right now. 'What's the point of even being friends now?' she thinks.

"You can't help me. Even I can't help me," she mutters, unsure of herself.

Right then, a tear runs down her face. It takes a couple seconds for it to reach the floor, but once it does the splash it makes is loud and clear thanks to the silence of the room.

For a second she thinks about her words again, hearing then echo in her head a thousand times in a matter of seconds. Her mind begins to tiptoe around the idea that she's just being melodramatic. 

She is a 13 year old girl after all. They're known for being over-the-top and emotional.

'Maybe it's not even a problem. Everyone eats when they're upset,' she thinks to herself, desperately trying to believe the words running through her head.

In that moment she notices how uncomfortable it is to sit down, and she knows that the feeling isn't normal.

Danny on the other hand can't seem to think of anything at all.

Usually, he can sense exactly what's wrong with her, whether it's her parents or some kid at school, but this time he gets nothing. Of course he knows why she's this upset, because his idiot brother kissed another girl, but he can't seem to put his finger on why she doesn't want to talk to him about it. After all, she does love spilling her guts about everything Ben related to Danny, even if he hates it.

Danny walks up to her, taking slow steps, until he's standing right in front of Riley. Once he's there, he takes her hand and looks her into her teary eyes.

"Tell me what I can do, Riley," he says. "I'll go to Ben's room and punch him in the face if it'll make you feel better. That's how much I care Riley. I'd willing punch my own brother for you."

There's something about his words that makes Riley feel better. They aren't movie dialogue that's meant to melt your heart. They're real, and that makes them so much better.

"It's not about Ben. I mean it was, but now it's not."

"Then what's it about?"

"This." Riley holds up one of the many empty chip bags laying on her bed.

Still confused, Danny tries to understand what's going on, but he can't. "I don't understand."

There's a moment of silence that lasts for eternity.

Riley takes a deep breath, trying to contain herself. For a split second, she considers darting out of her room, and pretending like the moment never happened, but she can't. She knows she needs to tell someone, and maybe somewhere deep down inside her she wanted to.

"It's like I can't stop. I know you say you can't stop eating sometimes, but it's not like that. It doesn't matter how full I am, as long as there's food somewhere I have to eat it. It doesn't happen all the time, usually when I'm bored or upset, but then it's like something makes me keep on eating, even if I can't sit down anymore." She pauses for a moment. "It's like eating on thanksgiving, but it happens at least three times month."

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Author's note:

Sorry about not updating this sooner, but I haven't really been feeling the direction that I was taking this chapter. Actually, halfway through I wanted to just scrap it and go back to some fluff, but I decided to stick with it for the sake of consistency.

Originally, I was going to use the binge eating disorder/weight issues more, but I'm not really sure that it fits into the character of Riley that we see on TV, so I think I'll drop it.

Anyway, I just felt like whilst there are many depictions of other eating disorders in TV, Movies, and books, there didn't seem to be anything about binge eating disorders, so I wanted to add a little twist and mention it here.

Hope you liked it, and I would love to see your comment down below :)