Brittany sat there in disbelief, as she stared at the now empty muffin tray in front of her on the table. Her heart felt heavy with remorse, as her hands trembled, eyes grew wide, and her breaths became shallow. She felt like a thief and an intruder in her own kitchen. Cautiously eyeing all surrounding areas of the room, which currently felt smaller than ever to the eldest Miller sister. To make matters worse, her stomach was now bloated and in pain from all those blueberry muffins she had just greedily consumed.
She was not sure why this shocked her at all at this point. It was not like this had been the first time she went on an out of control binge like this. This was not even really the first time she had eaten food that was not supposed to be for her. It had been happening far too frequently now and she just could not seem to shake this horrible habit.
She recalled that time she had binged at the Seville house on that day she had finally been approved to go back to performing. And Jeanette and Eleanor had certainly been noticing the way food had been disappearing rapidly at the Miller house, but never seemed to suspect that she was the reason why. Or at least they never told her if they had their suspicions, anyway.
But this time, she knew she was bound to be Eleanor's number one suspect. After all, Jeanette was probably with Eleanor in the bedroom the two of them shared at this moment. So the middle sister was already accounted for. And Brittany was starting to run out of excuses to explain her behavior as of late. Plus, she was now so physically and emotionally exhausted from what she was going through. It was getting to be increasingly difficult to even think up a reasonable explanation for any of it.
The pink-clad Chipette tried to think fast. How could she replace all those missing muffins before Eleanor would even notice they were gone? What could she do right now, before her baby sister made her way back downstairs?
Then an idea crossed her mind. Maybe she could try to figure out the recipe Eleanor had used and attempt to bake brand new muffins herself? Sure, her cooking was nowhere near as good as Eleanor's. However, she had managed to bake all on her own before. In fact, there had been times in the past where she was forced to do so.
This was the case whenever Muffy and Courtney would come over to her house as part of their assessment of her, when they were trying to decide whether or not they would make a Sister that year. They expected Brittany to prepare all the snacks herself and even specified that she was not to have her maid or butler do it for her (not that the Chipettes ever had either of those). She was also never able to get the other chipmunks to help her out due to the fact that they all disliked The Sisters (although Jeanette would occasionally pitch in simply because it was in her nature to do so). This left the oldest Chipette to fend for herself during these preparations.
The teen Chipette's mind continued to race. Was there even enough time for her to bake nine new muffins? She was aware that the bake sale was tomorrow. And sure, maybe her culinary-gifted sister could whip up more in no time. But between Brittany's skills not being up-to-par and not knowing the exact recipe Eleanor used for these baked goods, she was not sure she would be able to get them done without Eleanor noticing anything.
Maybe she could go down to the food store and buy some blueberry muffins to replace the ones she ate? There was still some time before they closed. But then Brittany's thoughts were interrupted by a strong feeling of nausea in the pit of her stomach.
A clear reminder of the high amount of carbs and sugar she had taken in. Before she continued with any course of action, she had to do some major damage control on herself first. She needed to get rid of all the extra calories fast. Brittany would have even more regrets if all those muffins ended up causing the number on the scale to creep up for her. The Chipette took some comfort in knowing that at least being so nauseous would make this round of throwing up easier for her.
Brittany started to get up from her seat. This actually proved to be an extremely difficult task thanks to her overfull stomach weighing her down significantly. Then just as she was beginning to make progress and was about to stand up, she heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. She knew her sisters well enough to identify which one it was. And as luck would have it, it was the very sister who she had dreaded facing at this particular moment.
Sure enough, the blonde Chipette had made it into the kitchen faster than the auburn-haired Chipette was able to move from her spot. This left the latter with no choice but to freeze in her spot, taking on the expression of a deer caught in headlights. Damn it! Why was she struggling to move so much?
As soon as Eleanor entered the kitchen, she froze in her tracks as well. At first, she was confused when she saw her older sister halfway between standing up and sitting down, looking as if she had just seen a ghost. Just when she was about to speak up and ask the girl in pink what was wrong, her doe eyes happened to wander over to the now empty tray of muffins.
"Brittany!" The girl in spring green exclaimed in alarm, as her normally innocent brown eyes now widened in horror. "What happened to all the muffins that were in there?"
"Um... I... uh... I don't know!"
Seeing the usually composed eldest Chipette so nervous and stammering in this manner was a dead giveaway that something was very wrong here. And Eleanor knew exactly what she had just walked in on. Or at the very least, she realized she was witnessing the aftermath of the event that had obviously occurred right before she got there.
"Don't lie to me!" The green-clad Chipette snapped, her eyes flaring up. "You ate all those muffins, didn't you?"
"No! I..."
"Brittany!" The younger Chipette shouted out her big sister's name again. "I'm not stupid and you know it! Jeanette was literally just upstairs with me. And I know you haven't been home for that long. The tray is empty and you're literally right in front of it. Unless someone broke into our house, came into the kitchen, and stole all those muffins, I think that pretty much narrows it down."
"I was stress-eating, ok? I don't know if you've read the latest gossip about me..."
Yeah, I saw it. But I still don't understand why you would do this! I mean, it's hard enough getting you to even eat one muffin at breakfast. You're always going on about how fattening they are. Hell, you even used to lecture ME about eating too many of them when we were kids! And now you just ate a whole tray by yourself? Those were nine muffins, Brittany! They were supposed to be for tomorrow's bake sale. I needed to have fifty of them and now I'm nine muffins short!"
"Look, it'll be ok. I can fix this. I'll bake new ones for you. Just like I do when..."
"That was the last of the flour! Plus, I'm super pressed for time now. I don't have time to go over my special recipe with you."
"What if we just went down to the food store to buy some muffins? I bet Dave..."
"Are you seriously suggesting I use store bought muffins? This is supposed to be a BAKE sale!"
"Look, I'm just trying to help here!" The blue-eyed Chipette was now obviously irritated. "But if you're just going to be ungrateful and shoot down all my attempts to help you, I don't know why I'm even bothering! Yeah, I screwed up. I know that. But now I'm trying to make things right and you don't even appreciate it!"
"Honestly, Brittany," Eleanor began with a sigh as her angry tone switched to a disappointed one. "It's not even really the muffins I'm upset about. It's the way you've been behaving in general lately. Jeanette and I are worried sick about you. And the fact that you won't talk to either of us about what's going on with you at all is super frustrating! I feel like I don't even know you anymore."
Brittany banged her fists down on the table as her face turned red.
"Oh my God! You actually believe all those tabloids, don't you? You think I'm a druggie, just like the rest of the world now does! I thought if I could trust anyone to know that was all a load of crap, it would be my own sister. But I guess I was wrong!"
"What?" Eleanor asked, not believing what her ears just heard. "No! And I never even said that! I don't know what gave you that idea. I just don't get..."
"I'll tell you what? From now on, I think we should all start labeling our own food. That way, nobody accidentally eats something that isn't theirs again."
Eleanor stood there baffled. She was about to open her mouth. But before she could speak, Brittany walked over to the refrigerator, opened the door, and pulled out her own personal fat-free vanilla yogurt. She then opened one of the drawers, pulled out a black marker, and began writing something on the yogurt container. When finished, she put the marker back in the drawer, made her way back to the table, and angrily slammed the container down.
"There!" The blue-eyed Chipette yelled in rage with a huge scowl invading her face. "Now you and Jeanette will know that's mine. We'll never have another mix-up again."
The pony-tailed teenager then stormed out of the room as fast as she could and made her way into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Eleanor could then hear the clicking sound of her sister locking the door, which was immediately followed by running water. The squealing sound indicated that it was coming from the bathtub. This caused the blonde teenage girl to roll her eyes, wondering how many baths a person really needed to take in one day.
Eleanor walked over to the table and picked up Brittany's container of yogurt, intending to place it back in the refrigerator. But as she was holding it, something caught her eye. She could see Brittany's name clearly marked on it. And what stood out to her was that the i in Brittany's name was dotted with a heart. Her big sister still dotted her lowercase i's with hearts, just like when they were all little girls.
That's when all the memories of how her big sister had always been there for her throughout their whole lives started to come right back to her. She remembered when they were stuck in that Australian orphanage with Miss Grudge, Brittany would lead her and Jeanette into singing Tomorrow from Annie as a way of reminding them that they all had a brighter future ahead. How getting out of said orphanage and escaping to America had all been Brittany's idea. And when they all got to New York, the eldest Chipette made sure they all survived while they were living on the streets.
It was also Brittany's idea for them to travel to California. Then when they got there, she made sure they got to audition at all costs and got them their first singing job. She also booked them their first concert at that hotel where they ended up meeting The Chipmunks and their lives had all changed for the better. Additionally, Brittany helped them get everything they needed for their old treehouse so they could all live comfortably. Brittany was pretty much raising her and Jeanette at that point in their lives.
Eleanor recalled the way Brittany fought to get Alvin to accept her on his soccer team when they were all little kids. Brittany even tried disguising herself as their mother at a PTA meeting to keep their secret of not having parents safe. Of course, they ended up getting busted. But it all worked out for the best since it led to Miss Miller taking the girls in and eventually adopting them.
Not only did the thought of Miss Miller cause Eleanor to tear up, but it also served as a reminder for even more of the things Brittany had done for them. More recently, Brittany went through the trouble of getting herself emancipated so that she could take guardianship of the younger Millers and keep them all from going to separate foster homes. So that they could stay together as a family and close to the Sevilles, their biggest support system that they needed more than ever at that point.
The youngest Miller knew very well that she could be living in some strange foster home right now, far away from everything she knows. But Brittany made sure that would not happen. It was then that the brown-eyed Chipette's heart filled with gratitude. She clutched the yogurt tighter and held it closer to her as one more memory from middle school snuck up on her.
This had been before Eleanor had started to lose weight. And a bunch of girls in the locker room after gym were making fun of Eleanor about her weight, knowing full well she was right there and could hear every word they were saying. Eleanor tried to act as if it didn't bother her, but their cruel taunts truly did cut like a knife deep down. But before the shortest Chipette even had a chance to react, Brittany (who had the same gym period as Eleanor that semester) jumped in and defended her.
The oldest Chipette had warned all those girls that the next one to pick on her sister was going to get their ass kicked all the way back to last year. So they had all better shut up or else. This was an act from Brittany that had surprised even Eleanor. And once her eldest sister had frightened all those mean girls off, she put an arm around her baby sister and reassured her that only she was allowed to give either of her sisters a hard time.
It was so easy to write Brittany off as being egotistical, selfish, and snobby. So many people did. But underneath all that snootiness, the oldest of the Miller girls really did have a good heart that was largely overlooked by others. Eleanor truly did owe a lot to her extremely stubborn, yet protective and loyal sister.
Eleanor sighed and tugged slightly at the platinum blonde French braid in her hair. She now deeply regretted the fight she just had with Brittany. She realized she could have handled the muffin incident better. Especially having seen the article herself. She should have known there was a decent chance the oldest Chipette had somehow seen it too. And with life just being very difficult for Brittany in general right now, she definitely should have cut her some slack.
The youngest Chipette decided she needed to apologize to her eldest sister. But first, she was going to give her some time to cool off. Knowing Brittany, she was definitely not going to be ready to talk with her right away.
In the meanwhile, she was going to focus on trying to salvage her muffin quota for tomorrow's bake sale. She still had some time, but she had to act fast. She proceeded to put Brittany's yogurt back inside the refrigerator. Then she left the kitchen and walked on over to the house next door. She was going to the one person she could always count on to help her out in this kind of crisis.
Within seconds, Eleanor found herself standing right in front of the very familiar house she had known since she was eight years old. She knocked on the door of the home she knew so well. Almost right away, the door was opened up a crack by the man who had been like a father to Eleanor and her sisters.
Oh, hi Eleanor." Dave greeted the youngest Miller, slightly raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Are you here for Theodore?"
"Uh... yeah. I kinda need his help with something for the bake sale."
Dave nodded his head as he opened the door even wider to let Eleanor in.
"Come right in. He's been in the kitchen ever since he got home from school. He's preparing for the bake sale too."
As she walked into the Seville home, Dave shut the door behind Eleanor and led her into the kitchen. Once she had joined his youngest son in there, Dave went back out to the living room, leaving the two youngest chipmunks alone.
Eleanor stood right in the middle of the Seville kitchen for a few minutes as her boyfriend was intently focused on watching the timer for his batch of muffins. His back was turned to her. The whole room was filled with the appealing, sweet smell of melted chocolate, which was to be expected since these were Theodore's famous chocolate chip muffins. It was like a tiny little bakery in there. This instantly warmed the young Chipette's heart as she reminisced about all the giggles and flour-dusted clothing during joint baking sessions she and Theodore had shared in the Seville kitchen.
The green-clad girl continued to stand in the room, which was now hot from the oven obviously having been on for a while. Swallowing hard, she wasn't sure why she was so quiet right now. This was highly unusual for the youngest Chipette, who was typically very sociable. But for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to speak with all the anxiety that had overcome her. Instead, she found solace in watching her extremely dedicated boyfriend put so much care and effort into making his own treats for tomorrow's school event.
When the oven dinged, the green-clad boy put on his green oven mitts and pulled the tray out of the oven. As he turned around to place them on the table with all the other trays full of muffins, that is when he noticed his girlfriend's presence. This caused the Chipmunk in green to jump back in surprise, nearly dropping the entire tray on the floor in the process.
"Oh, gosh! You scared me, Ellie." Theodore exclaimed, while breathing a sigh of relief.
The Chipmunk placed an oven mitt-clad hand on his heart, while balancing the muffin tray in his other hand. Once he had sufficiently collected himself, he set the tray down on the table and promptly took the mitts off. He was wearing a white apron over his green t-shirt and jeans, complemented by a matching white chef's hat on top of his head.
"Sorry," Eleanor timidly responded, her voice soft as she nervously played with her French braid, bit her lower lip and restlessly looked all around the room. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's cool." Theodore reassured her, as he removed his hat and apron and set them down on a nearby chair. "So, what brings you here? I thought you'd be over at your own house doing the same thing I'm doing right now."
"That's just it." The brown-eyed girl answered. "I sorta need your help with something."
"Ok..." Theodore replied cautiously, feeling that something was off due to his strong sense of empathy. "What's up?"
"I'm short nine muffins." Eleanor admitted as she took a deep breath. "I was supposed to bring in fifty of them to sell tomorrow. But I don't have enough. Well, I did. But they're gone now."
"Gone?" The green-eyed boy tilted his head with a puzzled expression on his face. "Can we try to look for them? How did you lose nine muffins, anyway?"
"It's not like that." The blonde teen sighed as she rubbed each of her temples with her hands.
She debated whether or not she should tell Theodore about Brittany and the muffins. On the one hand, she was well aware it would likely embarrass her big sister horribly if anyone knew she ate all those muffins. Especially these days, when she seemed extremely reluctant to eat in front of anyone who was not her or Jeanette. It almost seemed as if Brittany wanted to give off the impression that she never ate. This seemed really strange to Eleanor.
On the other hand, this was Theodore Seville we were talking about here. If she could trust anyone to not judge Brittany at all and also not go blabbing about any of this to anybody else, it would be him. Theodore was one of the top people she trusted the most on this planet. So naturally, she eventually decided this information would be safe with him.
"How much time do you have? It's a bit of a long story." She hesitantly informed him as a look mixed with apprehension and hope crossed her features.
"For you? All the time you need." Theodore answered, flashing a grin.
He then pulled out a chair and motioned for Eleanor to sit down in it. Once the teenage Chipette did, her Chipmunk boyfriend then pulled out another chair and moved it right in front of her. After this, he sat down in his own chair so that he was directly facing his girlfriend. Theodore then took Eleanor's hands into his own.
"I got you." He murmured, squeezing both of her hands as his caring green eyes filled with concern.
Eleanor exhaled as she braced herself to tell Theodore the full story. She started from the top, telling him about the magazine article that accused Brittany of being addicted to painkillers and her subsequent conversation with Jeanette where they both discussed their concerns about their older sister. Theodore listened carefully to every word Eleanor was saying.
"I also saw a magazine with Brittany's picture on the front when I was at the food store picking up extra ingredients I needed earlier. I didn't have time to read it because I was in a rush to get home and start baking. And I had a lot of stuff by the time I got on line. But I could tell whatever was in that article couldn't be good."
"And you were totally right." The blonde Chipette confirmed.
She then went on to talk about what happened when Brittany came home. How Eleanor herself had been up in her room and then came back down to the kitchen. Only to find that an entire tray of muffins had been eaten. And Brittany was the only one there who could have possibly done it. Then when she called Brittany out for it, a huge fight between the two of them had broken out.
Eleanor burst out in tears once she started talking about the fight. Her voice was breaking and it was difficult to understand her through her sobs as she tried to explain it. It was pretty rare to see the normally strong and cheerful youngest Chipette cry like this. The only other time that really came to mind was when Miss Miller died, which made it understandable. But that was how Theodore knew something was very wrong. And it obviously broke his heart to see his girlfriend in this state.
He got up from his seat and then pulled Eleanor up from hers. He then wrapped his arms around her. The two youngest Chipmunks stood there embracing each other for several minutes in silence.
"Shh..." Theodore whispered soothingly, as he gently stroked his girlfriend's back. "It's gonna be ok. You and Brittany will make up. You always do. And you need each other right now. She knows that too."
As the teenage couple broke away from their hug, Eleanor wiped each of her tear-filled, reddened eyes with the long sleeve of her spring green sweatshirt, getting black mascara all over it in the process. She was sure her mascara was running down her cheeks as well, but she did not really care.
She knew Theodore would not care about her smeared makeup either. After all, he loved her for so much more than just her looks. She loved him as well. This was one of the major reasons why Eleanor would pick him over all the boys in their school who would ask her out any day. Nobody came close to being so perfect for her.
"I should have never flipped out on Brittany for eating all those muffins. I mean, it was never really about that, anyway. What got to me was realizing it's somehow connected to Brittany's behavior these last few months. She didn't used to keep secrets from me and Jeanette. Not like this, at least. And I guess I just freaked out on her. I'm really scared for her, Theo. You know? Jeanette's scared too."
The youngest Seville gave a sympathetic nod before he responded.
"Yeah, I've been worried about Brittany myself lately. Especially after she passed out when we were practicing for the spring dance. I'm not really sure what's going on with her, but something seems off. We barely even see her anymore outside of school or when Dave invites all of you over here."
"Have you noticed anything unusual about her... eating lately?"
Theodore stood there for a moment in deep thought.
"I guess... maybe. Yeah. I noticed she doesn't seem to eat much whenever you guys are over here for dinner. I didn't think that was weird at first. Just thought maybe she wasn't that hungry. But now you're telling me she ate nine muffins in one sitting? I think even I'd get a tummy ache after that."
"She won't tell us what's going on there. In fact, even attempting to start a conversation about it will just get her all defensive and angry."
"My brothers have been worried about her too. Even Alvin. I can tell he still cares about Brittany. Even if he's too proud to say it out loud."
"I just wish I could go back to before the fight I had with Brittany and handle it differently. Maybe try to show some compassion instead of snapping and accusing her of eating them all."
"Hey, you were upset. I get it. We all say things we don't mean when we're caught off guard like that. You can apologize to her when you get back home. Meantime, why don't we try to do something about those missing muffins? We have plenty of flour here. And I think we should have some blueberries too."
Eleanor smiled ever so slightly at Theodore's suggestion.
"Let's do this, Ellie. You know baking has always cheered us up when we're down."
With that, the two youngest Chipmunks worked together to recover all the muffins Eleanor needed for school the next day. She barely even needed to explain her special recipe to him. He just had a talent for being able to pick up on things like that.
As the two of them stirred up the batter and began mixing the blueberries in, the optimism she was known for was quickly coming back to her. She started to feel like everything would be ok again. And since she knew the Chipmunks were just as concerned about Brittany as she and Jeanette were, she believed that maybe they could all get through to her together somehow. The oldest Chipette just needed to open up her eyes and see that she had an entire support system right in front of her face.
Back in the Miller bathroom, Brittany climbed out of the tub. She then grabbed two plush ivory towels off the rack, wrapping one around her body and another in her hair. With the towels securely fastened, she pushed the lever down on the bathtub and watched the water drain. As the water slowly disappeared into the drain, it was as if this recent binging and purging session did too. Just one more step she took to cover her tracks. If only all her problems could simply go down the drain like that, for real.
She took in the smell of the strawberry and cream-scented shampoo and conditioner, rosy body wash, and lavender bubbles that now lingered throughout the bathroom. Each fragrance more powerful than the unpleasant odor from before. Just another method she used to deceive her sisters about what was really going on.
She felt like such a phony. Sure, she typically liked to enhance her natural beauty with makeup and hair products in the past. And having the best and most fashionable clothes was always super important to her. But for the most part, she used to believe herself to be genuine. After all, she was never afraid to tell her sisters what she thought of their less than stylish wardrobes and could not be bothered to sugarcoat her very strong opinions on most matters.
But now she felt so fake for hiding this huge thing about herself. Not only from the whole world, but those closest to her as well. It was like a facial mask that she was unable to scrub off. A part of her really wanted this to end. She wanted to just confess everything and not have to do this anymore. But she was too scared of what would happen if she stopped now.
What if she went back to being as fat as she was in the beginning of the school year, when she couldn't even fit into her favorite skirt? She remembered how proud she had been of herself when she was able to zip it up again and it was such an amazing feeling to know she had control over her weight like that. But she knew when she binged, it meant she was out of control all over again. But then when she got rid of all that food, she felt like the power was hers all over again. She loved that feeling she would get after taking back control, even though she hated the physical side effects that came along with doing this.
After sitting there deep in her thoughts for a while, the Chipette pulled the towel off her head and started patting her damp hair with it. Suddenly, Brittany caught a glimpse of something on the towel that almost made her heart stop right on the spot. She saw what appeared to be a large number of auburn hair strands that provided a stark contrast against the fluffy white bath towel.
She did not understand what was going on. She had never shed this much hair before, even when brushing it. Was she going to lose even more of her hair? What if she ended up needing a wig? The thought terrified her!
Yet somehow, that fear paled in comparison to her dread of gaining weight back. She was still determined to make sure she kept losing weight at all costs. With that, she removed the towel from her body and dried herself off with it. Then she threw both towels into the hamper. She pulled her soft pink bathrobe from the hook on the door, put it on, and exited the bathroom.
When Brittany got to her bedroom, she immediately spotted her bed, which seemed so inviting to her right now. She approached her bed adorned in pink and sat on top of it, letting out a huge yawn. She looked over at her pink alarm clock next to her bed. It was only a few minutes past eight. But she was exhausted. Her bedtime seemed to be getting earlier and earlier these days.
The teenage Chipette lay down in her bed, not even bothering to change out of her robe and into a nightgown or pajamas. Not even lifting the covers and getting under them. Simply allowing herself to drift off to sleep and forget about all the bad things that happened today. That was seriously all she wanted to do right now.
A/N: A little treat in this chapter for all of you Theonor fans! Hope you guys enjoyed it. Even though Alvittany is my OTP, gotta say I really enjoyed writing this hurt/comfort scene for Theonor. Those two are so sweet! Pretty different from writing Alvittany.
But fear not, fellow Alvittany fans! They have some scenes coming up too. Just gotta get through some more angst and drama first.
So Eleanor caught Brittany red-handed! No doubt this has only heightened her suspicions. Do you think her reaction to Brittany was justified? Or was she right in thinking that maybe she could've handled it better?
And poor Brittany! On top of everything else, now her hair's starting to fall out. We know this is normally something that would majorly freak her out. But her eating disorder has consumed her so deeply at this point. And it's not something she can just stop either.
I know, I know. I didn't cover Brittany going back to school after that incriminating article about her was released. I'm working out how that will go down and it should happen in the next chapter. But I really wanted to get an update in before the month of February was over and thought this chapter was pretty lengthy as is. The last scene just felt like the right place to end it.
As always, I'm super grateful for all the support I've received from my readers since I started this story back in May. Every review, favorite, follow, and PM I've gotten regarding this fic has contributed to me being determined to finish this one out. So keep it coming guys! I look forward to talking to each of you again and can't wait to hear what you thought of this chapter.
Thank you to everyone who's just been reading as well! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
See you soon!
