Zach dempsey imagines

Our Secret?

Author: delacruzimagines

I startle, as I hear "Hey y/n, what's crackalackin?", and turn around, but only to find my best friend, Justin Foley. I smile, "You know I hate that phrase," I say, although I'm not too bothered because it brings some amusement to the moment. His response was "All the more reason I use it,". This was why your friendship worked, you understood each other, we made each other laugh.
"Where's Zach?" I ask, referring to my boyfriend of 6 months. "Coach has given the team for next game some extra practise, he says they're getting rusty," his response causes me to let out a disgruntled laugh, because his statement is far from true, Zach, basketball star and top shooter, getting rusty? Seemed unbelievable. I was cut from my thoughts by a question; "Do you want to get some lunch while we're waiting?" I freeze, "Um, I actually had quite a big breakfast, but I'll come with you," I reply as inconspicuously as I can, not wanting him to think something was up. "I swear you have a big breakfast every morning? What's up? You haven't been acting as normal at the moment, is it something with Zach? You know you can tell me everythi-" "I'm fine" he frowns as I cut him off, but doesn't push me as we head towards the canteen.
As we reach the entrance to the canteen, I pause, the smell of food triggering me. "Um," I hesitate, trying to think of an excuse, "I think I'm just going to go and study for my calculus test that I have next class..." I say, trailing off. Justin glances up, sees the worry on my face, and says "Sure... Is it still alright for me to come over later? Or are you seeing Zach?" "That's fine, I'm seeing Zach tomorrow night anyways," and without waiting for a reply, you were off.
Later that day, before Justin came over, you were feeling quite faint, so decided to lie down whilst you were waiting, and without realising you drifted off to sleep.
As Justin let himself into the house he saw you, asleep on the couch, he decided to wake you up as he didn't know how long you had been sleeping. "Hey sleepyhead," he whispered into your ear. "It's 6 pm, you shouldn't be sleeping yet," he said with amusement, as you began to open your eyes. "I haven't been feeling so well, I'm not sure why," you replied, nearly truthfully, even though you had a knowledge of why. Justin decided to make you beans on toast, a quick, simple classic in his eyes, because he assumed your fatigue was from not eating lunch earlier.
You could hardly look at him whilst you were trying to eat, you felt so self-conscious, you bet you looked like a fat pig scoffing down it's last meal, even though you'd barely touched any of the food, only cutting everything up into little pieces, and pushing it around your plate.
"Hey," Justin said softly, "I know something is up, I've been onto the NHS website, you know you can tell me about anything..." he trailed off, waiting for some kind of response, or recognition from you. He didn't get one, you just stared at your plate. "It's anorexia, right? I'm not mad at all, I just want to help, I just want to understand," "I'm disgusting," You blurted out. "No, no, no, y/n, don't think in that way, you're perfect, do you think Zach would still be with you if you weren't?" he responded. "I don't even know why he is with someone like me, a fat nobody, when he could have any of the gorgeous girls in our year, or hell, even in the school," you begin to tear up at the thought, so Justin pulls you into a tight embrace. "Yeah, and he still wants you, you're special y/n, and that's not something he'd give up just because of an illness that's making you think in such a way. Just talk to him about it," "No," you objected "He can't know, not yet anyways, I'm not ready," "Okay, Zach won't know," Justin clarified, "But only if you promise me you'll get help, and we stick through this together." "Of course," you promised.
Things seemed to be getting back on track for a few days, Justin had been staying with you most mornings, to make sure you had breakfast (as it's the most important meal of the day, Justin would always chime in!), until one morning when you were looking at yourself in the mirror, and all you could see were fat rolls on your stomach, cellulite on your thighs, and stretch marks on your sides. What had you done to your body? You forgot the reason why you started to stop eating in the first place. How could Zach love someone as gargantuan as you, you looked like a whale for crying out loud!
Deciding there was one last thing you needed to do, you stood on the scales for the moment of truth. 45 kg?! You hadn't weighed that much since you were in 6th grade, and 4′8, and did no sport, you were supposed to get slimmer when you grew up and grew taller, you were supposed to become elongated, and have elegant long legs, but instead you'd returned to the same weight as when the popular girls all mocked you!
You broke down into tears, astonished at yourself, and how Justin, who was supposed to be helping you, had completely let you down, and made you obese again! You were sobbing so loud, you didn't hear Justin come through the front door, or hear him walking up the stairs, trying to find you as he could hear you bawling from the hallway downstairs.
"Y/n, what's wrong?" Justin burst out, not understanding why you were sat on the floor, rocking, with tears streaming your face. "Look what you've done to me," You huffed, gesturing vaguely towards your body. "What? I don't understand what I've done," Justin said perplexed. "I look like an over-inflated balloon of flesh!" you retorted "Thanks to you over-feeding me with crap that my obese body clearly didn't need in the first place!" "Calm down," he whispered into my hair, after sitting onto the floor next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me in tighter. "Just calm down," he repeated smoothly, gently playing with the hair at the back of my head. "Can I call Zach?" he asked "I think it's time he knew, you guys should get through this together," he continued. You nodded, unable to form words.
"She's in here, on the sofa," you heard, coming from near the doorway. You look up to see Zach looking down at you. "Hey sweetheart," He greets you tenderly, with a kiss to your forehead. "May I sit?" he requests. You nod, smiling at him half-heartedly, you don't understand why he'd still come when you obviously were no longer good enough for him. "Do you want to talk about it?" he inquires, with love in his voice. You didn't, but you decided to tell him everything, from the beginning, not missing out any details.
You glanced up at him after you'd explained, expecting to see pity or disgust in his eyes. You didn't, all you saw was admiration, "And you've been going through all that by yourself baby girl? You're a soldier, my soldier, and we'll get through this together." He reassured you. "How do you know that?" you ponder out loud. "Because I love you and that's all that matters at the moment princess," "So, do you accept my offer to do this together, and to never ever suffer by yourself?" He questions, staring into your eyes. "Always," You promise, and seal it with a kiss. You could finally be happy again.