golden girl (b.t.c.)

chapter fifteen

tuesday, february 17
     eliana sat in bed late at night, doing homework on her laptop, when a skype call from ben came in. she smiled and picked up, and his face filled the screen.
"hey!"
"ugh, i missed your beautiful face." ben said. sky's voice came from out of the frame. "get that cute shit outta here."
"i missed you too, sky!" eliana raised her voice a little. he came into frame behind ben and winked. "love you, babe."
she blew a kiss at him. ben palmed sky's face out of the way and rolled his eyes. "you two are ridiculous."
"so, how was the show tonight?"
"it was good." he looked to the right and giggles. "sky fell during seize the day."
"i'm sorry, who kicked me in the back of the leg?" sky's voice said. "it was you. you did that."
"benjamin!" her mouth dropped open in surprise. he held up a hand. "it was an accident, and i said i was sorry."
sky mumbled something. eliana laughed. "so, other than your little accident...good show?"
"good show." he confirmed. "i wish you were here."
"i know. me too." she said.
"how was practice today?" he asked. eliana tensed her jaw, but quickly laughed it off. she couldn't risk ben knowing that something's wrong. "easton showed up again and basically told me i needed a whole new floor routine."
"what? i love your routine. it's like, sassy and stuff." he shook his shoulders, which made her laugh uneasily. "yeah. it is."
in truth, that wasn't all of what had happened earlier in the day. coach easton did show up, and he did suggest a new routine. he also told eliana that she needed to cut more weight.
     "what are you at right now?" he asked.
"around 105, i think."
"get down to 87." he said.
"87?" she repeated. "coach, i don't think that's healthy for someone my height."
"you either cut the weight, or you're off team usa. you pick."
she went quiet and licked her lips. "i-"
"i'm sure phoebe sinclair would be thrilled to have her spot back." he said. eliana took a deep breath. "by when?"
"by the time you get to houston."
     "hey, ellie." ben squinted at her. "you okay? i think you spaced out."
she put on a smile. "yep! just tired."
ben slowly nodded his head. "i think we should both get to bed. i'll talk to you soon, sweetheart."
"bye, ben." she blew a kiss at him.

saturday, february 28
     "eliana, you need to eat dinner." her mom pushed.
"i said i wasn't hungry." eliana sat at the counter drinking another bottle of water, trying to distract herself from the hunger.
"this is the fourth day in a row that you haven't been hungry." she raised an eyebrow. "come on, i made chicken parm. you love that."
she felt tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "mom, please. i'm just-just not hungry." eliana abruptly got up and rushed up to her room. she pulled the scale out from under her bed and stepped on.
94, 95, 96...
tears ran down her cheeks as she stared at the number. only a week to lose nine more pounds of fat she didn't have. to escape her hunger, she changed into sweatpants and laid down. her phone rang, but she didn't notice through her sobs.
     the phone clattered onto the dressing room table as ben put his head in his hands. sky jumped at the sound. "who pissed in your cornflakes, benji?"
"ellie hasn't answered me all day." he mumbled through his fingers. "i've called her like five times, and she won't answer any of my texts."
"maybe she's still at the gym." sky suggested.
"it's almost six. she wouldn't be there this late."
"maybe she's just caught up with schoolwork."
"she finished all of this week's stuff."
"oh." sky shrugged. "i don't know, then."
"she's been kind of out of sorts when we facetime." ben chewed on his bottom lip.
"isn't she training more to get ready to go down to the ranch?" sky asked. "she's probably just really exhausted."
"i guess. that's probably it." ben shook away the feeling that something else was wrong.