Sweet
(Day 134: Sunday Afternoon)
When Evie walks into the kitchen Ben watches as she goes over to the second fridge, pulling out the jug of red liquid, "What are you doing?"
"When people are sick they get healthy cravings," Evie evenly remarks, before she pours some into a bowl and takes it to the microwave.
Ben watches her put the blood away, "That's for Mal?"
"Yeah." She turns to him, "Why?"
"I just didn't think Mal drank blood," he slowly answers.
"She never did." Evie smiles, "You're a good influence on her."
"Influence," he repeats with a frown.
"You made her eat rare steak, and now she's willing to eat right," Evie informs, before she goes back to the microwave. "Oh." She take the bowl out, "That's why."
"What's why?"
She goes to find a butter knife, "I saw a vampire cooking and he was stirring the blood on the stove." before she breaks through the skin. "A film built on top." She looks at Ben, "The top of the blood turned solid. That must be why he was using the stove." Ben doesn't speak, "Sorry. Am I speaking slow enough?"
"Yeah," Ben answers as he tilts his head. "I was just thinking that I could have told you that it would do that."
"Then, why didn't you?"
He lifts a shoulder, "I didn't feel like it."
Evie opens the fridge again to find some ground hamburger, "So." and she scoops a chunk into the bowl before shutting the fridge again and turning to Ben. "I see you are eating all my cookies." She walks up to him as he stares down at the pile with a gaped mouth, saying, "It would have been nice for you to save some for the other students." before he can get a word in.
He looks back at her with an awkward smile, "I was hungry." before he glimpses the bowl of pink meat and rich red juice. He breathes and recognizes the sweet scent.
"Want some?"
Ben swiftly look back up at her, "What?"
She smiles, "You were staring."
Ben glances at it again, wetting his lips, before meeting her dark brown eyes, "I just don't get how Mal can eat it. It's completely gross."
"When a carnivore hunts in the wild," Evie points out, "when they eat meat it's raw and has blood in it." She looks him over, "Don't act like it's so weird." He opens his mouth to speak but sighs instead, before she looks back at the plate of cookies, "Are you enjoying those?"
He smiles, "Yeah."
"Good," she smiles back. "That vampire I mentioned before, he suggested that I change the recipe."
Ben's smile falls as the cookie slips from his fingers, "What?"
Evie grins, "Yeah. He said it needed more protein and iron and sooo I added more chocolate."
He breathes in relief, "Chocolate."
"That's a lot of chocolate," Evie glances at the cookies again. "You must be really low on protein and iron to be craving so many of them."
"I just wanted them," Ben excuses. "I didn't, like, need them."
"Hmm," she hums before going to grab a spoon. "Enjoy them. I need to get this to Mal before it gets cold." Ben watches as Evie leaves the kitchen, before he stands from his seat, goes to toss the bitten cookie away, and puts the rest back in the container.
When Ben enters the dining room his father smiles, "Hey. Someone got their sling off."
Ben stares at him for a long moment, before his mother comments, "Come sit. Dinner has already been served."
Ben does as he's asked, and as he looks over the meal he places a lot of cheesy potatoes onto his plate next to some stuffing. He takes a bite of the potatoes, noticing his parents watching him intently; however, the comment he waits for doesn't come, and his mother smiles. "Why are you so happy?"
"I'm just glad to see you," she answers, before she takes a bite of the mixed vegetables. "How was your week?"
"Well," he pauses. "I got my sling off, so that's something."
"You must be very happy about it," she comments.
"Yes." Ben frowns, "But I still have a whole year for it to fully heal, so…" He glimpses his father, "Yeah." before he digs into the stuffing.
"What else happened this week?" his father continues on.
Ben sighs, "Well, as you are already aware, Mal is sick."
His father hums, "I heard about that."
"I wish I could do something for her," he quietly responds.
"Honey," his mother sadly tenses. "You know you can't."
"There's no guarantee that I'll get sick," he faces her.
"But if you do," his father points out, "you'll end up back in the hospital." He stabs the fork into the turkey. "We can't have that."
"I know," he whispers as he pushes the potatoes around. "I just wish I could, you know. It sucks that I have the highest body temperature anyone can survive, and I can't even offer it to something who could literally be freezing to death."
"Surely, it's not that bad," his mother chimes in.
Ben lifts a shoulder, "I don't know… Evie knows about my problems, so she made sure to push me out of the room before I even had a minute to talk to Mal." His parents merely give each other a look, and Ben begins on the potatoes again.
"Well, it's not like we're lacking resources," his mother starts. "Why don't you buy something to help her?"
"She already has a heat lamp and a sleeping bag," Ben mumbles. "What could I possibly give her to help?"
"A tanning bed?" she suggests.
Ben sighs, "Don't those cause cancer?"
It takes a minute for his mother to respond, "I just want you to know she's okay so that you can focus on yourself. When people get depressed their appetite can lower, and you already have enough problems with eating the way it is. I would hate to think—"
"Mother," Ben interrupts, before he meets her brown eyes. "I don't know what to tell you. If I say I'm fine, you cry. If I don't talk, you'll continue to worry. And…" He shakes his head, "I'm not willing to say I'm going to die just because of some irrational fear." He looks down, "No. That's not right." before he faces her again. "Because of some intense feeling of things just being so wrong."
His parents give each other another look, before his father frowns at him, "Before you think about leaving the table, maybe you'd like to have desert."
Ben looks around, "Where is it?" His mother hands him a small bowl of black, clumpy paste. "What is it?"
"It's pudding," she immediately says before continuing her main dish.
"What is it, chocolate?" he questions, but his parents fail to answer. He smells it a couple times before thinking aloud, "It smells sweet."
"Well, most puddings are sweet, honey," his mother tries to smile.
Ben picks up on her breathing, and he sets the bowl down before furrowing his eyebrows at her, "I don't believe this."
"Honey," she tries to calm him down.
"You tried to trick me," he yells.
"I just thought if you liked it," she begins.
"That what?" Ben interrupts. "That I'd eat more of it?"
"Would you just eat something?" his father stresses, and when Ben turns to him he swears he can see tears in his eyes. "Please."
Ben slowly shakes his head, "Fuck you." before he motions a hand over the table. "Fuck all of this."
When he stands up his mother pleads, "Honey."
"No," he glares at her. "I trusted you." His expression softens as he sighs, "Maybe I shouldn't have."
After he starts to leave she calls out, "Ben." but he ignores her and steps down the stairs.
- Next Up: Audrey breaks up with Chad, Carlos is told about Jay's girlfriend, and Evie ends up in the hospital.