Stay Awake.

21.

1 month later..

Omniscient

Alani winced in pain as August cleaned the gunshot wound on her stomach for the second time today.

Today would mark a month of her living with August and she was healing well, physically that is.

August looked up at Alani to see her staring down at him, then proceeded cleaning her wound. As he was cleaning it, he couldn't help but notice how extremely skinny Alani had gotten. He could see her ribs through her skin.

She still wasn't eating much no matter how hard he'd tried to convince her to and it was bothering him. He was very worried about her health.

After cleaning the wound, he rubbed Alani's medication on the dressing and placed it on the wound, gently securing it.

"Aight, thea'." He ran his hand over the dressing then pulled her shirt down. He disposed of the used dressing and gloves then went to wash his hands, sitting back on the bed when he was done.

"You good?" He asked Alani.

Alani nodded. "Thank you." She thanked him, then picked up the book he had given her, resuming the chapter she'd stopped on. He watched her as her eyes wandered horizontally on the page. She felt him staring, causing her to become a little uncomfortable and paranoid.

"You enjoyin' the book so far?" He asked.

"Yeah." She slightly smiled. "It's really good, thank you for giving it to me."

"It's no pro'lem."

"How you like meeting with your psychiatrist? Is she nice?"

"Yeah." was all she said.

August nodded. Still wanting Alani to eat, he hesitated before asking his next question. "Ya hungry yet? Want me ta fix ya some'n?"

Alani sighed heavily, as she looked at August with not such a nice expression but more of an annoyed one. She then sat the book down. "No, I'm not hungry August. And yes, I'm skinny as hell and I need to eat more. I'm well aware of it. I've been this way my whole life. Please stop asking me so much. I'm fine." She said, her insecurities starting to get to her once again.

August stared at Alani as she picked her book back up and resumed reading. And it didn't take seeing the tears at the rim of her eyelids for him to know that she was in fact not fine. But he'd recognized her insecurities by now and that her weight was one of them and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Alani's feelings with all that she was going through.

"I'm sorry." He rested his hand on her leg. "I noticed how much weight ya losin' and I'm jus' worried about 'cha mama. I'm jus' tryna make sure ya alright and takin' care of."

"Why?" Alani sat her book down, giving August her full attention.

"Why? Whatchu mean why?" He frowned.

"Why do you care so much if I'm alright August? I mean.." She trailed off glancing at the floor, her emotions getting to her. "Just why do you act like you care so much about me? I don't get it. I mean look at me and look at you. I'm a fucking skinny, ugly ass girl who h-"

"Aye," August cut her off not wanting to sit and listen to her downing her own self any longer. He hugged her, knowing that she was about cry. "What does dat have ta do wit' me carin about 'chu? Ya appearance? Dat makes no sense at all. Even if you were ugly, which ya not. I wouldn't give a fuck. Not if you were tall, short, fat and yes you are skinny, but you're still beautiful. Like dat shits suppose ta stop me from carin' about 'cha? You're my friend, I could neva' do no shit like dat ta you baybeh. Come on." August frowned, kind of disappointed that Alani would think that her appearance would lessen his concern for her. "Listen," August lifted her chin, then looking her in her eyes. "Ugliness doesn't lie on the outside baybeh. It lies within a person. Their thoughts and intentions are what makes them ugly. And you, you are not ugly baybeh, you're beautiful."