Alan entered the infirmary, his eyes downcast as he approached his older brother. It'd been a month since that fight with Tin-Tin and neither of them had spoken since. He'd been summoned to the infirmary by the medic and Alan had gone grudgingly. He didn't see what the big deal was…he was fine.
"Alan, there you are. I was wondering whether I'd have to send a search party out for you." Virgil said as he sat at his desk, updating the med charts for his family. "Please come over here and have a seat."
Alan moved slowly over to his brother, taking care to observe his surroundings. He didn't want to be ambushed or anything. Virgil seemed to pick up on his observations.
"Nobody else is in here except for you and me Al. And to be sure…" Virgil pressed a button on his desk and a soft 'snick' sounded by the door. When Alan turned his head to look at the door, he saw the green entry light had turned red; meaning the door to the infirmary was locked tight. Not even zombies in a zombie apocalypse could break down the door to the infirmary and devour them. "I've locked us in."
"Why are you doing this Virge?" Alan asked as he turned worried eyes towards his older brother. Virgil stood at this question, before walking around his desk to look down on his brother.
"I'm doing this for your own good. You're tearing yourself apart and it's beginning to scare us. We want you to get better, but you have to let yourself heal and you can't if you aren't taking care of yourself." Virgil said.
"I am taking care of…" Alan said, before being cut off by Virgil.
"No you aren't. When's the last time you ate a full meal? Or eaten a full meal with the family? I haven't seen you eat but maybe three bites a night when we're having dinner and it has to stop." Virgil ordered. Placing his hands on Alan's shoulders, the medic looked his brother directly in the eye. "You don't look well Alan. You are getting too thin to be considered healthy and it's scaring all of us."
"I'm fine." Alan said, as he tried to brush Virgil's hands off him.
"No you aren't Al. If you don't believe me, then I want you to remove everything from your pockets and take off your shirt and shoes, before getting on the scale over there in the corner so I can see what your weight is." Virgil issued, before rolling his eyes towards the ceiling when Alan removed his jeans and t-shirt to stand in only his boxers and socks. "Or you can take off your pants that'll work too."
Alan went and got on the scale and felt as though he'd drop like a rock when he'd glimpsed his own weight. He'd lost almost eighteen pounds in just one month. He'd been 120 pounds and now he was 102. He felt like he couldn't breathe and only climbed off the scale when Virgil prompted him gently to sit on one of the exam beds. Still sitting in only his boxers, Alan felt cold.
"Do you believe me now Allie? Just looking at your height and weight tells me that you are in the 1st percentile of body mass index for your age group. I should be taking you to the mainland right now as we speak to get you tested and treated for eating disorders right now, but I'm not. I know you've been too depressed to eat and that's what has me most concerned for you." Virgil stressed as he held Alan's hand. "You need to eat, no matter how small your appetite has gotten. I'd rather deal with having to give you alka seltzer tablets for indigestion than watch you waste away. So please Alan, will you try to eat more? I don't want to haul you to the mainland and put you in treatment for eating disorders."
Alan stayed quiet as he stared ahead. Virgil was right, but Alan just couldn't make himself eat when he wasn't hungry.
"I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything." Alan replied softly.
"If you'd like, I'll talk to Onaha, see if she'd be willing to allow you to graze between meal times just so we can get the weight put back on." Virgil said softly, not wanting to tear the proverbial Band-Aid off the still healing wound. At Alan's nearly imperceptible nod, Virgil smiled before pulling Alan into a hug. "Thank you Alan…now what do you say we get you dressed and I'll see if I can't charm a chocolate caramel lava cupcake from Onaha for you?"
"Okay." Alan replied, not wishing to speak any louder than a whisper as he felt his slight appetite fall into his gut heavily like a stone.
… … … … … …
Alan was sat on the couch in the lounge, staring out past Virgil's piano at the ocean. He felt empty and his heart felt forever broken. He hadn't had the ability to even talk to Tin-Tin since their fight and he'd still not received an apology from someone he assumed was now his ex-girlfriend. They literally hadn't talked in a little more than a month, not since that horrendous argument. Not being on speaking terms made being in a relationship a little difficult.
What was not expected was to have the smell of rich dark chocolate and warm caramel wafted beneath his nose and he looked down to see an olive complexion hand attached to a plate holding one fork and two dark chocolate caramel cupcakes. Following the hand that held the plate up, Alan watched as the body attached to the arm materialized into none other than Tin-Tin.
"Tin-Tin?" Alan asked with an astonished gasp.
"Hi Alan." Tin-Tin replied sounding for the entire world like a little girl instead of a teenage girl. "Want to split a couple of cupcakes?"
Alan gawked at Tin-Tin, amazed that she was even speaking to him, but his mouth closed and he turned his head away from her. His feelings were still hurt over their argument and it'd take a little more than chocolate, caramel lava cupcakes to fix it. Standing slowly, Alan glided across the lounge to stand in front of the window, his arms crossed over his chest protectively.
"What do you want Tin-Tin?" Alan asked, his voice empty of all emotion.
"I wanted to…apologize. I jumped to conclusions and didn't stop to think that maybe my mom asked for your constructive criticism on her cooking so she could improve." Tin-Tin replied.
"So…what?" Alan asked, not bothering to turn around. He didn't need to see Tin-Tin to know she was grasping at straws when it came to apologizing to him.
"I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but please accept my apology when it comes to you finding out how bad I feel over having hurt you so bad. It was never my intention to cause you such pain and I am deeply sorry for what I've done." Tin-Tin said, eyes not wavering as she gazed at the back of Alan's head. "I still love you Alan and it pains me more than you could ever know, the pain I caused you because of my heartless words."
Alan who still stood with his back to Tin-Tin, felt his walls crumbling. Not only did those cupcakes smell damn good, but hearing Tin-Tin's apology repaired what damage was done to his heart initially. Sure his heart still felt broken, but hopefully it'd gradually get better.
"I'll make it up to you Alan, anything you want just name it." Tin-Tin said as she tried to think of another way for Alan to forgive her. Even if it meant that she had to walk around in an energizer bunny costume for a week while eating carrots…she'd do it. Anything to make Alan forgive her and let them move on and forget. "Name your price."