Welcome

[Evelyn Stark]

Evelyn was surrounded by paperwork.

She was sitting on her bed, sketchbooks and papers everywhere. She had wedding plans in one pile, shop sketches in another, school work in one more and future house sketches in the last pile. Her hair was thrown up in a messy ponytail. For the first time in her life, Evelyn was a bit overwhelmed. She knew Erick wanted to save up money and help with the house and shop, but she still had to get estimates so they knew how much to save up.

"I think my head might explode."

She also hadn't seen Erick in a couple of days and missed him terribly. She couldn't wait until they were married and lived together. She was so busy, but she must be crazy because she loved it. If she didn't have a million things to do she would be bored. She pulled over the menu for the ice cream shop and scratched out some ideas for the menu.

[Gabrielle Gilbert]

Gabrielle Gilbert felt lonely.

A gust of wind propelled through the corridors, causing stray papers and litter to fly across it. Gabby walked down the hall, her heels clicking on the tiles ground, her hair blowing wildly in the inside stormy winds. Her extra short, extra clingy red dress was far less affected by the wind, and it was clear that movement in it was more of a struggle than in heels. A surge of powerful winds pushed aside any obstacle in Gabby’s path, which proved rather problematic when she drunkenly tripped over in her stride and had nothing to hold onto and break her fall.

She clicked up the stairs of the Poseidon House tower, and begun to break out in song.

“I’m down for whatever! I’m down for whatever! When it comes to you, I could make love on the floor! I’m down for whatever, I’m down for whatever! Baby let’s get creative ‘coz it’s you I adore! I’m down for whatever!” Gabby’s singing voice was generally nice, verging on beautiful. In a drunken daze, however, she sounded bad even to the tone deaf. With an exasperated sigh, Gabby threw the door to her dorm open and turned to crash on her bed.

Then she saw Evelyn sat at her desk and almost fell over again.

“Excuse me, don’t want to be rude…” Gabby slurred, her eyes glazing over, “But, why are you in my room?”

[Evelyn Stark]

Her door flew open and she briefly grew excited because she thought it was Erick. She had moved her stuff to her desk and looked up expectantly, but was surprised when she saw Gabby. The girl looked a little off. Her eyes were glazed over and she was slurring. Evelyn sighed heavily, knowing she was probably drunk again. When she was asked why she what she was doing there, she frowned.

"Gabby...this is my room." she reminded the young girl gently. Their rooms weren't even similar. Gabby seemed a little confused so Evelyn got up from her desk and ushered the younger girl into the room.

"Come in a sit down."

She sighed again when she saw Gabby stumble as she led her into the room. If she kept this up, Evelyn felt like she would need to talk to her about this drinking situation. Eve wasn't a prude. She knew her friends drank and she indulged a bit too. But there was a thing as too much.

[Gabrielle Gilbert]

Frowning Gabby shook her head. She was sure this was her room. All she wanted to do was crash on the bed and sleep for days. She couldn’t be bothered to sit and talk, and the world was spinning way too much. Why wouldn’t it slow down, or stop, or something? She stumbled as Eve led her into the room. She sat herself on the bed, and was unable to stay in a sitting position for more than five seconds before her head outweighed her body and tumbled onto Eve’s pillow. She tried to pull her legs up onto the bed, but was unable to. She groaned.

“Why do I do this to myself?” She said, almost crying. Gabby closed her eyes tight and then looked at Eve, “I don’t understand. I just go… I go and drink and then I don’t remember. I don’t remember everything.” Gabby started to sob. The tears ran down her face awkwardly, and she raised a hand to wipe them away.

Her arm felt numb and heavy, and she felt the world spinning even faster. Her head was pounding, and it felt as though her heart was pumping in her throat. “Don’t tell… Erick don’t he can’t tell. Okay?” Gabby continued to struggle with pulling her legs onto the bed.

[Evelyn Stark]

Evelyn immediately felt her face soften as Gabby began to sob. She didn't know why the girl did this to herself either. Especially since it made her so sick. She took Gabby's shoes off for her and lifted her legs onto the bed. She knew she wouldn't get the comforter out from under her, so she pulled a fuzzy blanket out from the trunk at the foot of her bed and draped it over the drunken girl. When she was asked not to tell Erick, Evelyn sighed and nodded.

She didn't like keeping things from him, but Gabby was giving her such a pleading stare she couldn't say no. She smoothed the girl's hair back from her face before she grabbed her small trash can from her desk and placed it on the floor next to the bed.

"It's okay, Gabby. I won't tell him, but you should try to be careful from now on. I know drinking is fun...believe me. But...if it makes you this sick try to cut back. Are you okay? Did you drink any water or eat anything?"

She had drank on an empty stomach plenty of times to know it sucked and made her feel like crap.

[Gabrielle Gilbert]

With a sigh of relief, Gabby grabbed the trash can and hurled a large amount of sick from her mouth. The sounds she made were less than attractive, but she didn’t really care. She held the trash can close so as she wouldn’t get any of her sick on Eve’s bed, and then when she was finished she looked up apologetically at Evelyn and more tears streamed down her face. She tried to say sorry, but she couldn’t. More sick threw itself from her mouth and into the trash can. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Gabby let out a wail.

“My biggest problem,” Gabby said, when she finally settled a little, and had wiped her hand on her red dress, which she had unzipped in order to be able to breath properly, “That’s not drinking, no no, I do bad stuff.” Gabby paused, and an expression of an internal battle spread across her face. She frowned, and opened her mouth multiple times as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words to put it across. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked back to Evelyn with a sorrowful expression on her face.

“I didn’t eat before I went to the club… No, I did. But it was gone from me by the time I left.” Gabby closed her eyes again, groaned, and then looked at Eve again. “I made it go from me. I made myself… Sick.”

[Evelyn Stark]

Evelyn didn't have a very strong stomach and she had to make sure she looked away from Gabby when the girl got sick. She was thankful she had one of the bigger rooms that had their own bathroom. When Gabby was done being sick, Evelyn cleaned the trashcan out quickly and brought it back, along with a cold wash cloth. Gabby's hair had gotten into her face again so Evelyn grabbed a hair tie and pulled it back.

She was sweating and Evelyn gently pressed the cloth to her forehead. When Gabby said she made herself sick, Evelyn frowned. "Why, sweetie?"

She had felt since the moment she met Gabby that the young girl was damaged, but she had never thought she was intentionally hurting herself or making herself sick. Evelyn felt horrible about it and wanted to help. Gabby was going to be her sister soon; but it wasn't just that. Evelyn genuinely hating seeing people in pain.

[Gabrielle Gilbert]

Gabby was grateful when Evelyn got her a cloth and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, but saying thank you was lost when she felt sick rise once again to her mouth, but she managed to keep it down that time. Her head spun when Eve asked her why she had made herself sick before going out. With a wince and a grimace, Gabby lay back on the bed and tried to keep any sick from getting on it. Even though she felt disgusting, Gabby also felt a lot better. The world had stopped spinning so fast and she could now put words together coherently.

“I do it all the time… I eat and eat and eat. Then I go and make myself get rid of it, by vomiting. Then I do it over and over.” Gabby smoothed out her dress, “I want a good body, an amazing one. And I want the sadness… I want it to go away.” Gabby shook her head rapidly. Then she took in a deep breath, and it looked as though she wanted to say something more, but she had decided against it. She looked at Eve and sighed, then closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be sick again.

[Evelyn Stark]

She definitely was not expecting such an answer.

Evelyn had never met anyone who had made themselves sick on purpose. She knew there was pressure in the world for girls to look a certain way. Evelyn herself had never felt this pressure, and she wondered if had been because Erick had always told her she was beautiful. Had no one told Gabby she was beautiful just the way she was?

Evelyn took a deep breath and held Gabby's face in her hands. "Listen to me Gabrielle Gilbert. You are beautiful just the way you are! You know what constitutes a great body? A healthy body! If some guy doesn't like the way you look, then say 'Screw you!' and move on! There are ways to have a great body without resorting to making yourself sick!"

Evelyn meant every word she said. However, thinking on Gabby's sadness, she felt like she was somewhat responsible.

"I'm sorry that...you know I never meant to hurt anyone when I asked Erick to stay with me. I know a great deal of your sadness is from losing him and I feel completely responsible for it. You don't need to be sad anymore. You have people who care about you right here. I do. Erick does. Izzy and Zoe do...and by default Connor does. We're all here for you."

To prove her point she pulled the girl into a tight hug.