Chapter 31
Jon Snow Stark POV
I'm nervous to talk to my mom and dad, but I know this is important. I go to my dad's room and knock on the door. He normally has it closed so he can do work in there.
"Yes?" He asks through the door.
"Can I come in?" I ask. "I want to talk to you about something."
"Sure." I walk into his room and see him doing work on his computer.
"What is it?" He asks me.
"I want to talk to you about Sansa," I say. "She's worrying me and Dany."
My dad sighs. "Close the door," he says. "Sit down so we can talk."
"Dany told me that she caught Sansa purging the other day at her house."
"Purging?" My dad asks. "What do you mean by that."
"She was making herself throw up," I say. "It looks like that's what she does after we make sure she's been eating."
My dad puts his face in his hands and sighs. "Oh my God," he says. "How long have you known about this?"
"Only since today when Dany told me. I though maybe she had done it a couple times last year, but I didn't know for sure."
"I had no idea," my dad says. "I thought she just didn't want to eat. I didn't know it was this bad."
"Dany promised Sansa she wouldn't say anything," I say. "But then she figured it would be best that you and mom knew."
"I'm glad you told me," he says. "Tell Daenerys that we're really glad she told you, and we're really glad you told us."
"What are you going to do, now that you know?" I ask him.
"I don't know," he says. "I'm going to talk to your mom tonight, and see if she has any ideas about what to do. I know she'll want to make sure Sansa starts being healthier."
"Thanks for letting me talk to you, dad. We just got really worried about her."
"Thank you for telling me."
I leave his room and go to my room. I'm glad they're going to do something about this, and maybe my dad will start to like Dany more now that he sees how much she cares about our family. I just hope Sansa doesn't find out it was me that told mom and dad, I know she'd be really angry at me if she knew.
Cersei Lannister POV
I can't believe Bronn and Jorah actually offered to help Tyrion adjust to moving here by finding a roommate. The last thing I want is him infiltrating my life by making his way into my friend group. I wish I had more girlfriends, but at least Dany will be living here soon. It'll be just like old times when she basically lived with my family, except we'll be able to do whatever we want.
I've been self harming more recently, and luckily Jaime hasn't noticed. He's seen little cuts here and there, but I've been able to explain them away. I guess it helps that we aren't having as much sex as we usually do. We've both been so busy, but I wish that wasn't affecting our sex life like it is.
I'm in a newspaper meeting when the editors start getting onto me about getting behind. "Cersei," one of them says to me. "You're a great writer and reporter, but you've been struggling to submit your articles on time."
"I'm just trying to make sure they're perfect," I lie. The truth is I haven't had much motivation to meet the deadlines.
"Well they don't need to be perfect," the editor says. She also knows that the writing I do submit is far from perfect. "We can touch them up after you submit them, you know that."
"Okay," I say. "I'll work on it. Could you excuse me for a second?" The editor just nods and waves for me to go. I love the paper, but sometimes I feel like they're too rigid about deadlines.
I go into a bathroom stall and pull my reusable water bottle out of my backpack. I started stashing vodka in there for when I get overwhelmed. I take a swig and walk out to the mirror where the sinks are. I fix my hair so it still looks like I'm put together. I take my bottle out of my backpack again and take another swig.
I go back into the newsroom, and I'm getting a little dizzy. I guess I drank more than I was planning to and it's hitting me harder than I expected. I unexpectedly burp.
"Cersei, are you okay?" One of the editors asks me.
"Yeah," I say. "Just some heartburn."
I head home after the meeting and Jaime is on the couch working on some schoolwork.
"How was it?" He asks me.
"It was fine," I say, setting my stuff down. "They got onto me a little for not meeting deadlines on time."
"That's not good."
"It's not that serious, I think they were overreacting." I stumble a little and sit on the couch next to Jaime. I drank a little more on my walk home so I'm a little tipsier than I was.
"Did you drink?" He asks me.
"Maybe a little," I say. "I just got a beer to have on the way back."
"Your breath smells like vodka."
"Well it's not!" I say, snapping at him. "It's just beer."
"Cersei," he says. "I know you're lying to me." I cut him off by kissing him, and we eventually go to the bedroom. If there's one way I can always shut him up, it's by seducing him.
I know that drinking, self harm and sex isn't exactly a healthy coping mechanism, but everyone drinks in college so I don't really see the problem. It's not like I'm hurting anyone else, and it's not like this will have long-term consequences, I'm just having fun.
Sansa Stark POV
When I get home from school after cheer practice, my parents are sitting on the couch. They look really somber, like something serious is about to happen. That makes me feel uneasy.
"Sansa," my mom says when I come in. "Sit down."
I walk over and sit in a chair across from the couch. "What's going on?" I ask. "Is everything okay?"
"We need to talk to you about something," my dad says to me. "We're really worried about you. Your eating patterns have been really scaring us."
"Mom and I have talked about this," I say, looking at my mom. "I'm working on it."
"No, this is more serious," my mom says. "We've recently been made aware that you've been purging."
"What?" I ask. "No, I haven't." That's a lie, but they have no proof that I've been doing that.
"Sansa, don't lie to us," my mom says. "Jon told us, and he says Daenerys witnessed it happening. Why would they make that up?"
I start tearing up. I'm so angry that Dany told Jon because she promised me she wouldn't. I can't believe Jon told my parents, I never thought he would do that in a million years.
"I've just been having a hard time," I say while crying. "It was only a couple of times."
"Well, we're putting an end to it now," my mom says. "This can't continue."
"What your mom is trying to say is that we want to get you help," my dad says to me. "We found a treatment center you can go to once the school year is over."
I suddenly stop crying. "What?" I ask, in complete shock.
I thought maybe they would say they were going to monitor me more, or that they were putting me in therapy (God forbid). I didn't expect them to say they were sending me away.
"We want you to get better," my dad says. "We think it would be better to put this in the hands of professionals who know how to deal with this better than we do."
"They have you on the waitlist," my mom says. "A bed will be available by the time the school year is over. Until then, we'll have to take you to the doctor periodically and monitor you for 2 hours after each meal."
"No," I say, tearing up again. "Mom, you can't make me do this. I won't do it!"
"You have to," my dad says. "You don't have a choice anymore. We won't allow you to keep hurting yourself like this."
"What if I refuse?" I ask.
"Then you'll have to go to the hospital," my mom says. "Would you rather go to the hospital or stay here until we can get you adequate help?"
I start crying and get up to go upstairs.
"Sit back down," my dad says. "This isn't up for debate. You're doing this."
"Why?" I ask, crying even harder.
"Because we're your parents, and we said so," my dad says. "We don't want you to die."
"You guys just want to ruin my life," I say. "You, Jon and Daenerys all want me to suffer for some reason."
I walk up to my room and slam the door. Luckily Arya isn't here, so I don't have to explain what's going on to her just yet. I pull out my phone and start texting Dany.
*Thanks for ruining my life. Don't ever talk to me again.* I say in the text.
Ding. *We were just trying to help.* She says in her text back to me. I don't respond.