Bates & Landon [Wattys2015]

LANDON

I went and watched Paper Towns, guys. I love the movie and the book.

Landon

"Hello Margaret," I greeted Alice's Mom politely, "how are you?" I used to address her as her last name, but she claimed that made her feel too old and told me to call her by her first name.

"Oh," Margaret let out a sigh quietly, "I'm okay, honey. How are you?"

"I'm great," I answered as I walked the perimeter of the rug in our living room, the phone close to my ear, "Is Alice there?"

There was dead silence.

"Margaret--?" I took the phone away from my ear to see if the line had somehow ended, but we were, in fact, still on the phone. "Hello?"

"Landon," Margaret let out a shaky breath, "I'm sorry I haven't told you yet. I just didn't want to tell a lot of people. But you deserve to know."

My gut tightened, I stopped walking, freezing, "Tell me what?" I asked her slowly, my heart beginning to pound quicky in my chest.

"Oh, Landon, honey," she said, her tone soothing, "Alice is in the hospital."

I almost dropped the phone, "Wh--What?" I squeezed my eyes shut real tight, hoping it wasn't real, "What happened?"

There was a slight pause that began to slowly drive me to insanity from not knowing. "Alice, uh, she was -- has -- been starving herself. Couple of days ago, she was walking home from school... and she passed out from the lack of food she had been consuming. When we got to the hospital, the doctor informed John and I that Alice has been starving herself for a while now. She had been mostly drinking liquids instead of food."

"Oh my God," I stumbled over to the couch, I was beginning to shake, "Is--Is she okay?"

"She's recovering," she replied softly, "she's eating, but not much."

"Can I see her?" I asked, my eyes brimming with tears.

"Not right now, but you can sometime, okay? She just needs rest for a while." Margaret cleared her throat, "But I will call you and tell you how she is, okay? You'll be able to visit her in a little bit."

We got off the phone after that.

•••

"Landon, stop playing with your food," scolded my dad as he cut into his steak. Mandy didn't even glace at me. I looked up at him through my eyelashes. I felt sick to my stomach. I never noticed that my best friend was starving herself. I should've noticed the signs; the excuse of a big breakfast, only drinking water, denying the offers of food I'd give her, and the way she acted when she'd see food.

It was so obvious.

And I never noticed.

What kind of friend was I?

"Landon," my dad put a hand on my arm, looking at me with his eyebrows raised in concern, "are you okay?"

I blinked a couple times. I glanced back at him. Shooting him a smile, I said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He stared at me, removing his hand off my arm. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I nodded my head. I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine.

When dinner was over, I went to my room. My dad never questioned me further and Mandy didn't talk to me. She hasn't ever since I told her off not long ago. I hadn't expected neither of them to really talk much, when it came to them, I was good at lying.