Cassie POV

I can't believe this is happening. Holy shit.

I mean, Lucy might not have been my favorite person today but seeing her like this killed me inside. She's battled this for so long, it kills me seeing her so broken.

This was so stupid. Brett and Lucy are obviously irrevocably and unconditionally (hell yeah Cassie, big words! Patrice taught me those…) in love with each other. Now this happens because Brett and Lucy are too stubborn to admit they were wrong.

Must I do everything?

After yelling at Brett and making him feel as guilty as he should, I turned on my heel and made my way back into the bathroom, only to hear a gagging sound.

Shit!

I ran to the nearest stall, and pried open the door, possibly breaking the lock, to see Lucy hunched over the toilet once again. Her weak fingers curled around the seat, not even bothering to hold back her hair any more.

She coughed and choked on what I can only assume to be vomit, and I quickly kneeled down beside her and gathered her hair and tied it expertly into a messy bun.

One problem out of the way, about twenty seven more to go.

After she was done, her hands remained on the seat, her grip getting tighter and tighter as another round of sobs racked through her body. Her black makeup filled tears leaked onto the floor and into her lap, she quickly starting gasping due to the lack of oxygen.

I grabbed her, despite her many protests, and pulled her towards me. Her head went onto the crook of my neck and her arms wrapped themselves tightly around my neck. I felt her wails vibrate throughout me and I couldn't help but die a little inside each time another tear fell.

Poor Lucy. One thing I do know for sure, I'm kicking Brett's ass for this.

After a few minutes, her crying slowed down so the tears flowed silently. Well, almost silently.

She sat up so she was sitting next to me and wiped some of the tears from her face. "He doesn't love me." She whispered, sending a whole other round of tears to fall.

"Yes, he does." I told her sternly, grabbing her hand. "He's just being stupid."

Stupid doesn't begin to cover it.

"No, he do-does-doesn't." she spit out, kneeling over the toilet and bringing her hand up once again.

"Oh no, Lucy don't you dare!" I shrieked grabbing her wrist and yanking her back down next to me. Her body caved in and she shook violently and tears of love and loss and pain and misery and need flowed from her bloodshot eyes. I had to hold her down when she tried to get up again, she started scratching and thrashing against me, trying to force her way up.

For the first time ever, it was a good thing she was so weak.

"Cassie, move!" she sobbed, "I have to! I need to do it, I need to, I need- I need- I need Brett!" She collapsed under me, her body being engulfed in the tears once again.

Somehow she summoned the strength and started pushing on me to get up again. Dammit when did this chic get so determined? She kept pushing. Leaving me no choice, I lightly smacked her cheek and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"Lucy! Snap out of it. You don't need to do this. There's no reason to do it. You know there isn't. Just calm down." I shook her more harshly, and tried to get her to understand.

"No! I need to! I need to- I need-" the sobs cut her off and she started choking.

"Why? Why Lucy? Give me one good reason why you should do this?"

"Because Brett will love me!" she screamed, looking deep into my eyes. "If I do it then I'll be skinny, and skinny is pretty, and he won't love me unless I'm pretty!" she thrashed a few more times before giving up and slumping into a ball. "He won't love me unless I'm skinny." She whispered.

Alright Brett's officially dead to me.

I pulled her into my lap and slowly rocked her back and forth. I kissed the top of her head and squeezed her a little tighter. "Lucy," I whispered strongly, tears welling up in my eyes. "Brett loves you for you. Because of who you are." A few tears leaked down my cheek, seeing her like this was making me so emotional it was ridiculous. ""Not because of how much you weigh." I smoothed her head back and placed my hands on her cheeks so she could look me in the eyes. "You are beautiful and strong and don't let Brett or anyone ever make you believe otherwise."

She smiled softly and kissed my cheek before placing her head back on my shoulder. It was silent for a few minutes, the only sounds were our heartbeats and Lucy's occasional sniffling, other than that we sat as our tears silently fell. Both for different reasons, but both out of love.

"I love him, Cass." She whispered, breaking the silence that had fallen over us.

"I know, Lucy. I know." I soothed, smoothing her hair back. "And he loves you too."

"Then why doesn't he wanna be with me?" she asked, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

"He does. He's just being stubborn." I promised. "He wants to be with you and he does love you, well at least that's what he told me." I added, knowing it'll get her attention.

"Really?" she asked smiling, ha, it worked. "He said that?"

"Yup. Now let's get out of here. I'll take ya home." I stood up and held my hand out to her, she took and we walked towards the bathroom door hand in hand.

Something dawned on me when Lucy grabbed the door handle, and I jumped in front of her.

"What?" she asked, looking at me like I was crazy.

"If I know Brett, and I do, he's still going to be out there waiting for you. You ready for that or do you just want to leave?" I asked looking, at her carefully.

"He's ruined my life enough for one day, let's just go, I'll deal with it later." She answered, crossing her arms across her chest, as if to protect herself from more heartache.

"Very wise decision, malady." I answered very Patrice like. By that I mean very nerdy.

Lucy laughed and I yanked the door open. He was leaning against the wall, like I knew he'd be. I pretended not to notice how important his girl was to him. I didn't pretend not to notice how quickly the smile vanished from Lucy's face when she saw him.

"Luce, I-" Brett started, walking up to us.

"Lucy why don't you go wait for me by my car?" I cut him off, handing her my keys.

She nodded, grabbed the keys, and sent me the most grateful look I have ever seen Lucy where in my life. She slipped out without looking Brett, thank god, if she had she would have broken down again and there are only so many hysterical break downs I can take in one day.

"Cassie what the hell?" Brett demanded, stepping towards me, with anger in his eyes. "You're the one who told me to talk to her!"

"Yeah, I realize that Brett. But I just spent a half an hour comforting your hysterical ex-girlfriend because you broke her heart." I narrowed my eyes at him and felt anger surge through me, "I should smack you. Do you have any idea what you did to her? I haven't seen her like that in a long time. You really hurt her Brett."

"I know I did," he ran his hand through his hair, and I could have sworn I saw a tear in his eye. "I'm sorry, and she needs to know that. She needs to know I love her." He leaned back against the wall and put his head into his hands,

"Look you know she loves you. She's just a little shaken up right now. Just give her some time to think things through and get a grip on life and then talk to her, okay?"

As much as I completely hate to admit it, I did feel bad for him. I mean it was obvious how much he loved Lucy. He needed her, as weird as their relationship is, they really do fit together. They're completely and totally in love and I know how seeing Lucy like that tears Brett up inside.

Last time she caved into her disorder, Brett spent three days straight with her making sure she ate and didn't throw up again. He was terrified and wanted nothing more than for her to be okay.

I can only imagine what he must be feeling now.

. . .

Brett POV

. . .

Oh my god. I can't believe this has happened. My poor, poor baby.

Oh, Lucy. I feel horrible for everything and I would give anything to go back and change what happened.

My heart is breaking at just the thought of her doing that to herself.

I could hear her and Cassie from the inside of the bathroom, and every time she screamed I had to resist the urge to run to her.

Every time she cried, or screamed, or threw up again, tears welled up in my eyes.

Does she not realize how much I love her?

My girl is hurting and it's all because of me.

I will never be able to make up for this.

And I'll never stop trying.