Chapter Text
Family brunch did a number on Daisy. She shrunk away from physical contact. She didn’t say more than three word sentences. Daisy had this way of shrinking around her mother. Bending to her will. Swallowing every ounce of darkness and somehow making everyone else around her think it's sunshine. Not me. She could never fool Ryke.
Daisy changed into one of Ryke’s old college sweatshirts once they got home. Which under normal circumstances, Ryke would not complain about. But, today, it rubbed him the wrong way. She was hiding.
Ryke and Daisy were eating dinner. Well Ryke was eating, Daisy was pushing her portion of rice and chicken around on her plate. Her fork made moves towards her mouth every so often but she never actually ate anything.
She looked drained. Like it was a struggle to even lift her fork above the plate.
“You have to eat something.” Ryke said, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I’m not really hungry,” She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest and suddenly finding the floorboards very interesting.
Ryke dropped his fork onto his plate. “You’re tired. More than usual.” He sighed, shaking his head, “You move slower. You’re irritable.”
Daisy stood on wobbly knees. “I don’t feel like talking.”
“Because you’re not eating the way you should.” He was beyond frustrated. His jaw was set as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Food isn’t a punishment Daisy. You fucking need it to live.”
“You don’t understand.” She was backing away from him now. Or maybe she was running from the full plate of food across from his nearly empty plate.
“What am i fucking missing, Calloway?”
“I used to be able to…” She choked on the thought as a sob fought its way out of her throat. “I used to be able to s-starve myself. I feel like a failure when I’m only able to skip a few meals. When I finish a meal.”
Ryke crossed the room and held her close to his chest. “Fuck, Dais.”
“I just want to go back to the way it was before.”
“You were miserable before.” His voice lacked its usual. It was more tired sounding.
“But I was thin,” she whined, hiding her face in the hard plane of Ryke’s chest.
“Look at me Dais.” he took her chin between his thumb and pointer finger and directed her gaze up at him. “You’re a little older. Your body wasn’t going to take kindly to starvation for forever.”
“I can’t do this.” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “I don’t know how to do this,” her voice broke.
“We’ll you fucking have a village of people that want to support you.” He gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re not alone in this.”
He turned his back to her, keeping a hand interlocked and led her over to the sofa. "Maybe you should talk to your therapist about this. And I want you to lean on your sisters too. I know that you have a history of dealing with things on your own and as much as it pains me, I can’t change that. I can’t take away that pain. But they’re here now and they care about you. But you have to open up. I’m sure they understand this to a degree I never will. But, whether I understand completely or not, I will always fight for you, Dais. And for now, you should eat around one of us. That way we can keep you accountable.”
“Okay,” her voice came out as a broken whisper. “I’m scared.” She closed her eyes. “What if I get bigger?”
Ryke’s heart ached for her. He wanted to scream. To curse Samantha and Greg for not protecting her. For instilling these thoughts. Rose’s worth was determined by success. Lily’s by her relationships, and Daisy's worth was so intimately tied to her body image. She will never look like she did at 15-years old. And Ryke didn’t want her to. She shouldn’t want to either. She was robbed of the beauty of growing up and changing.
“What if you get too sick to ride a motorcycle? Or swim? Or dance?” Ryke said, a solemn plea. He was the one fighting tears now. “You know I’ve never cared about your size.”
Ryke pulled her in for a chaste kiss, his thumb lovingly caressing the scarred flesh of her cheek in feather-light strokes. “You are so fucking beautiful, Daisy Petunia Calloway.” He pulled back and took in the way her long lashes fluttered, the cool dampness rapidly spreading down her cheeks. “I’ll keep telling you that until you believe it.”
“I want to believe it.”
“That’s good.” He breathed. “I can work with that.” He kissed her temple. “Now, can I tempt you into eating your dinner?”
“I don’t want to over do it again.” Binging. She tended to do that on days when she’d starve herself. She would make it most of the day with an empty stomach and then she would fall prey to her cravings in the middle of the night.
“I got you, Calloway.”
Together, they took a seat at the dinner table. It wasn’t perfect. But it was a start.