Blythe woke up suddenly to hear the shower running and the microwave heating something up, she looked down to see that she'd been covered up with the blanket from her bed, and with a pillow underneath her head, "Greg?" she mumbled, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise I'd fallen asleep,"
"James," came the voice from the kitchen and Blythe turned her head to see James standing in the kitchen, his hair still damp from his own shower, and sticking slightly to the top of his back, "Greg's in the shower. Is everything OK? You were asleep under the blanket and with the pillow when I got up,"
"Yeah, no I'm fine, Greg and I were just watching some TV last night. I must've dozed off," she mumbled, and James nodded.
"Yeah, Greg was late to bed too. I was absolutely passed out. I think it must be these damn meds," he smiled weakly, and turned to take a coffee cup out of the microwave, "barely woke up when he decided to come to bed. The sooner I get off them, the better. Bring me back to normal. Do you want a coffee?"
"No thanks, love," she smiled at him; "are you doing okay?"
James creased his brow and cocked his head curiously, "I'm doing fine, are you?" and Blythe just nodded, James mixed in a single serve sachet of instant coffee into his cup before adding in a tiny dash of milk and walking over to sit in the lounge room; grabbing the remote and switching on the television before settling back. Greg came out of the bathroom dressed in his jeans and a new band shirt that he must've bought from Walmart yesterday.
"You're looking good," Greg smiled at James, who just rolled his eyes as Greg walked over to get a quick kiss, "taste like coffee though," to which James simply held up his cup. Blythe got a look at James, and he did look a lot better than he had recently; he'd washed his hair that had certainly needed it, he was wearing a new pair of jeans and an untucked button-down shirt. He certainly looked a lot better than he had for the last few days when he'd been in those black sweatpants that didn't quite fit him very well, not that Blythe would ever even think to mention that knowing what she knew now. "Did you eat breakfast?" Greg questioned, and Blythe saw James hitch slightly as he went to take a sip of coffee.
"Of course, baby. Most important meal of the day and all that," James mumbled as he put the cup up to his face, taking a sip.
"James. We've been over this," Greg sighed, as he walked over to James and whispered in his ear so he wouldn't be overheard; "James, don't start lying to me about your eating again, please. It's not good for either of us,"
"I'm not lying to you!" James hissed back, Blythe took this as her indication to get up and get in the shower herself and give Greg and James some privacy to sort out their disagreement.
"So, what did you eat then?" Greg questioned, crossing his arms with his cane dangling from one hand.
"Toast," James stated simply, before turning his head back to the TV.
Greg chuckled darkly, "well, that's a lie. You know how I know it's a lie? Because there's no damn bread! James, come on, you've got to have some breakfast," Greg's tone changed to a more pleading, desperate note.
"I told you, I've had breakfast," James didn't look away from the TV so he wouldn't have to look Greg in the eye.
"Instant coffee and two cigarettes aren't a breakfast, James!" Greg cried out in frustration, as he sank down on the couch next to him and lowered the volume of his voice; "I'm worried about you. Don't think that I haven't noticed over the last couple of weeks that your eating has deteriorated, especially since you got out of hospital. I don't know exactly why; but you trust me, don't you?"
"Of course I do," James responded earnestly.
"Good, then we're on the same page here. So, you trust me when I say that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the way you look, and I think that when you're looking in the mirror and seeing a distorted image of yourself, that maybe you might not be seeing yourself the way other people are? I think it's your body dysmorphia flaring up again?" Greg questioned, knowing that he was walking a very fine line between getting through to James and the distorted way he was clearly viewing himself, and just starting a massive fight where James ultimately shuts down and nothing gets achieved.
James put down his cup; "Lisa would disagree," he pointed out.
"Screw Lisa! Seriously! Whose opinion matters more to you? Mine or hers?" Greg snapped, immediately feeling guilt for the way he'd snapped, "James… I'm not mad at you, I'm pissed off at Lisa, but I'm not mad at you at all. I know… I know that you can't help any of this. You can't help what's going on with your mental health right now," Greg sighed and rubbed his temples, "but it's breaking my heart, James. It really is. I just can't help but to remember how bad it has been in the past with your anorexia, and I'm terrified that we could end up back in that same situation... But we have to take this at your pace. Please just know that I'm always going to love you no matter what. You are the man that I love, and… I don't know how to deal with all of this in the right way… But just know that you objectively look fine. I promise you, and I'd never, ever lie to you, James,"
James stared forward, and then dropped his eyes to his hands and he crumpled into tears and began shaking as he sobbed uncontrollably. Greg automatically wrapped his arms around James and pulled him in close to his chest as he tried to soothe him; "it's okay baby, it's okay," Greg murmured as he stroked James' hair, resting his chin on top of James' head and closed his own eyes as they began to spill with tears as he gently rocked James as he attempted to calm him down.
Blythe watched silently from the doorway; feeling incredibly awkward as she did so; this moment felt so incredibly intimate; much more so than probably any other moment she'd witnessed with her son and someone else. Not the lust that she'd heard several times on this journey, or even Greg shyly showing her the ring last night. This was an act of true love; from her son who usually avoided physical contact, especially such intimacy, with anyone. This was the two of them coming together and sharing such a private, loving moment where their love and connection was showing to be truly unconditional.
Blythe quietly crept past them, and neither of them moved a muscle or acknowledged her presence, which she was very grateful for. James continued to sob into Greg's shoulder and clung on as tight as he could while Greg stayed sitting there in total patience; calmly stroking James' hair and whispering sweet words of comfort and love to him, gently cradling and holding him.
After about half an hour, James had managed to cry himself into an exhausted sleep, and with his leg feeling increasingly numb and pained from being sat in one position for so long; Greg reached over and grabbed a cushion and gently laid James down and slipped the pillow underneath his head, before then standing up and covering James with the blanket, gently tucking him in as to not wake him.
There was a knock on the door, "mom? Did you order room service or something?" Greg called out, and before Blythe could respond that she hadn't, Greg answered the door, James, having been awoken by the knocking, sat up and watched over the couch. "Lisa," Greg growled, "what?"
"It's time to go?" Lisa said, "come on, I don't want to run late,"
Greg leant up against the doorframe, folding his arms "we're staying here for another night. You do whatever you want to do- I really do not care. You've hurt us all beyond words, Lisa. You have no idea how much you've upset all of us. I still really can't even stand to look at you right now,"
"And how are you going to get home, Einstein? You're going to be stuck here, you are on the no-fly list and blacklisted from every airline in the country, Mr. Big Brain. How are you three going to get home? I'm your only way out!" Lisa countered.
Greg shrugged, "I'm not holding you to stay here, Lisa. If you want to leave today, then leave. Honestly, I can't even put into words how much suffering and heartache you've caused,"
"What? Because I pointed out that James has gotten really fat? With the way that he and you have treated me on this trip, that's nothing!" Lisa snapped back.
"Yeah!" Greg snapped back, "that's exactly why! First off, James is not fat at all, Secondly, it is not your place to pass any judgment on his body, ever. And finally, you seriously think that you should hold any weight in that discussion? I love James for exactly who he is, and that's all that matters,"
"Fine! I'm sorry, James!" Lisa called out into the room, sounding very insincere.
"Apology not accepted," James got up and walked up behind Greg, "you're a big bully, Lisa; and you have been for years. We're getting sick of it and finally standing up for ourselves. You've just been awful to both of us, and you were rude to Blythe! If you want to leave, fine. We can sort ourselves out,"
"And how do you figure that?" Lisa questioned.
Greg cut in, "maybe we'll just stay here in Detroit! With the salary of two doctors and the difference in real estate prices, we could get a nice home, in a good neighbourhood, where we can have a family, we'll get a dog, we'll have a mortgage instead of having to rent, drive nicer cars, and just generally have a better quality of life,"
"And who is going to give you a job, Greg? You would be lucky to get yourself a job in a blood bank! I gave you two a chance when nobody else would, and you're both just spitting it back in my face!" Lisa yelled, "and you two want a family? Kids? Who the hell in their right mind is going to give you two a freaking kid? That kid would be better off living in abuse than having you two crazies as fathers! Because I know that as stupid as the two of you are being that you know that you can't have one yourselves!"
Greg rolled his eyes and James huffed, but Greg held out his hand to halt him from giving her a piece of his furious mind. "Lisa, you need to stop yelling, okay? The three of us are going to discuss all of this later and we'll get back to you in the morning. Do whatever you like, stay here until tomorrow, or go home now; I frankly don't care, but right now you're upsetting James an awful lot by just being here, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Greg stated calmly and flatly as he closed the door on her.
And with that, Greg turned around and walked back towards the couch and sat down, "were you being serious?" James whispered, "about staying here?"
"It's certainly an option," Greg shrugged, "think about it James, we could live a much higher quality of life here for the same cost of living that we pay back in New Jersey. It's not as though Lisa isn't going to be a big part of our lives if we go back, she is our boss after all. I mean, it's a big decision, and certainly something that all of us will have to decide on together,"
"But you've got your own department… you won't have that here," James countered, feeling extremely anxious about it all.
"James, I'd give everything and more up for you if I thought that it'd give you an opportunity to improve your mental health," Greg answered casually, as he stood up and put a mug of water in the microwave, "do you want another coffee?"
"Sure," James answered, and Greg made a grasping motion with his hand to take the empty cup of coffee that he'd been drinking from earlier that James then passed to him, Greg emptied and rinsed it out before refilling it and putting it in the microwave. "Are you being serious?" James asked cautiously.
Greg nodded, "deadly. If you think that it'll improve your mental health at all, then I'm absolutely more than happy to give up everything and move here, or anywhere else, for you; to help you. Name the place and I'll figure something out,"
"No one's ever done something like that for me, put me first…" James muttered.
"Well, I'm offering to, so have a think about it," Greg stated, taking the mugs out from the microwave and began making the coffee while James just stared at him; simultaneously flabbergasted and deeply moved by Greg's offer, to give up everything for him, and just be so casual about it.
"I'll do some research," James said cautioning if Greg was just playing a long and particularly cruel joke on him.
Instead, Greg just nodded and added, "good. Mom actually has some family that live in Detroit," and all colour drained from James' face as he immediately thought back to John and Henry, "the South Dakota lot are all my dad's family. So is Texas, so you might want to scratch that off your list for familial support too if you were thinking about it," Greg answered for him, "mom's family are very different, very accepting. We could probably organise to meet up with them for a meal or something. They might be willing to help,"
"Where would we eat?" James asked, and Blythe who was listening gave Greg an odd look for a question that probably sounded completely out of nowhere.
"Anywhere, why don't you look up different restaurants and places to eat, and then we can go there," Greg responded casually, as he then wandered off into the bedroom to plug in his phone.
"I think this might be a good idea, Greg," Blythe whispered, as Greg sat on the edge of the bed, "and a fresh start for you both,"
"Yeah, I think so too," Greg mumbled distracted on his phone, "plus dad will then have no idea where you are either,"
"You don't need to protect us, Greg, though, that's not your job," Blythe added, and Greg nodded, still distracted by his phone. "What's with James needing to research the restaurants? Why don't we just ask Rob and Josie which ones are best?"
Greg lowered his voice to a whisper; "it's so that James knows what to expect; what kind of food they serve, what the serving sizes are like, he can look at the menu, he can look at the food that's been prepared and is about to be served; all that stuff. So, he knows everything in advance, nothing is left to chance,"
"Oh, is this an eating disorder thing?" Blythe whispered.
Greg just nodded his head, "for some people it is, and at least it is very important for James. It doesn't affect me whatsoever, so why not just let him pick?"
"You're very patient with him," Blythe whispered, "most people… they'd really struggle to be this… understanding everything for his mental health, and keeping it up constantly,"
Greg frowned while he kept scrolling through his phone, "James has done a lot for me over the years, mom, this is the least I can do. I'd go to the edge of the Earth for that man, he's my world. Without him, I'd be nothing,"
"You're a wonderful man, son," Blythe mumbled, standing up and kissing him on top of the head like she used to do when he was a kid, before walking out from the room.
