skinny || h.s. au [Rewrite Now Up!]

twentyseven

I JUST WANT TO TAKE A QUICK SECOND TO POINT SOMETHING OUT.

Marley doesn't "look anorexic." She is around 5 foot 2 and approximately 94 lbs (last time her weight was mentioned). This is very skinny--and for some body types may be unhealthy--but I know plenty of people who have similar height and weight. My cousin is 18, the same height as Marley, and she has never weighed over 100 lbs in her life. She is not anorexic, nor does she look like it. She is just a naturally very skinny person.

Marley is not naturally this skinny, but she also hasn't yet reached the point where she's a walking skeleton. If you looked at her, you wouldn't know right away that she has an eating disorder.

I'm mainly pointing this out because someone asked on the last chapter why Harry doesn't do anything about her being so skinny. He suspects her eating disorder but also thinks she may actually be shy about eating in front of people (I also have friends like this too). But him doing something at this point would not be realistic, because while the reader can read (literally) Marley's mind, Harry cannot. Lol

I HOPE THIS CLEARS A FEW THINGS UP FOR YOU BABES. ENJOY THE CHAPPIE.XX.
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Marley feels like she's sleep walking. She kissed Harry this morning. All hot and steamy against a tree. And it's kind of surreal.

Not that they haven't kissed a few times before. But this time was different. And maybe it was because she was able to block out Maria's contradictions long enough to enjoy it.

And Marley would be lying if she said she didn't want to again.

She sits by the fire Harry built as he makes breakfast. Still shirtless.

"Aren't you cold?" She speaks up. She's not complaining but the morning air is frigid and she may or may not be a little bit concerned about the boy who previously had her pinned to a tree.

He shrugs. "Yeah kind of."

Marley laughs because it's an obvious understatement. She's feeling oddly giddy around him. And a bit like she's sleepwalking. "Go put some clothes on, I'll make sure the campsite doesn't burn down."

But the minute he walks away, she finds her gaze hazily watching the flames lick up the side of the largest log. Her dream of her mother replaying in her head.

Marley has never hated and missed someone so much in her whole life. She hates her because she did the most selfish thing a mother could do. But that's the problem. She's Marley 's mother.

And as much as Marley hates to admit it, she misses the mom she remembers in other memories. The one that loved gardening even though their house was run down and in a shitty neighborhood and no amount of flowers could hide the old roof and grey patchwork driveway. Her mother was warm hearted when she wanted to be. She had the power to make you feel special and loved. She would take care of you and you couldn't help but want to take care of her, too.

That's what the good memories were like for Marley. When Maria wasn't as strong and her mother wasn't gone. But her mother could also turn your life upside down. She could twist your heart right out of your chest. Blindfolded and without even trying.

She could make you feel like the biggest mess of cheap glass and fake flowers on the floor of her kitchen.

So in a way, Marley wasn't sad when she left. But she also wasn't happy.

Harry manages to make every possible sound despite his attempts to silently pull a sweatshirt from his duffel. And each time he pauses and listens for Xander's snoring to subside, but it doesn't.

By the time he steps outside of the tent again, he is convinced that Xander is, in fact, in a coma. A loud snoring coma.

Marley is sitting on a bench by the fire. Staring into the flame like her thoughts burn her more than it ever could.