"Heather. Heather. Wake up. It's morning." I rolled over, looking at Ram. "Good morning." I smiled, still half asleep. "We get to go to the farm today." He looked happy. I rolled over and got out of bed. I had unpacked my suitcase earlier yesterday. I opened the dresser drawer, pulling out a green and white striped shirt. I put on some crappy old black leggings. "Wait. I have an idea." Ram walked into the basement and I grabbed my brush, brushing my hair. He came back up with a pair of overalls. "Oh god are you serious? I'd look horrible in those." He held them up, tilting his head. "Nah, I don't think so." He handed me them and I stepped into them, clipping the straps. I looked in the mirror. "Hm, maybe I do work with overalls." I walked out of the room, getting a glass of water. He walked out in a red flannel shirt and jeans. "Jesus christ just when I thought you couldn't get hotter." He walked around me, one arm around my waist, the other grabbing a snack from the cabinet. I looked up and him and he caught my eye, looking down at me. I leaned forward, giving him a kiss, setting my cup on the counter. I moved my hand to his chest. We pulled away and I bit my lip, grabbing my empty cup and setting it in the sink. "Are you ready? It's like a thirty minute drive. "Mhm, are you ready?" "Yep." I walked out to the hallway and put boots on. I opened the car door and got in, buckling my seatbelt. He started the car, resting his hand on my thigh. I looked out the window, watching the trees go by. We pulled into a gravel driveway with a small white wooden house. We got out, and I slammed the door shut. "Small house for a big farm like this." He shrugged. We walked inside the house. "Aunt Margie. Aunt Robin. We're here." One woman with ginger hair walked in from the living room. "You're here finally. Took you awhile. Oh, you brought a girl? I assume your girlfriend." She was a talker. I could already tell. "Marge SHUT UP. Let the boy talk." The lady rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I brought my girlfriend. Heather, this is my aunt Margie. Aunt Margie, this is Heather." She grabbed my hand and shook it. "Marge Sweeney, you can call me Margie though like Ram does." I smiled at her. "Robin get your ass over here and meet Ram's girlfriend." The other woman got up and walked into the room. She had blonde hair that went to her shoulders. "Hi Robin Sweeney." She leaned against the wall. She had a chill vibe. I liked her. "Wanna go outside?" Ram asked me. "Sure." He grabbed my hand and I blushed. God, he only grabbed my hand. Why was I blushing? He led me outside where we walked over by some horses. "Have you ever rode before?" I shook my head no. "Nah, I don't have the time." He opened the gate. "Well, that changes now." I walked into the pen, there were two Ardennes horses in there. A grey and white one and a brown one. "I'd say you should ride Mercury and I'll ride Mickey." I looked at him, confused. "Oh, you ride the gray one and I'll ride the brown one. Here, lemme help you get on." He grabbed my waist and helped me mount the horse. I swung my other leg into the stirrup and grabbed onto the horn of the saddle. He got onto the brown horse and grabbed the reins. "Alright, to get started just tug on the reins. Start heading towards the barn." I nervously tugged onto the reins and the horse slowly walked forward. "Holy shit the barn is far away." Ram and his horse trotted up next to me. "Go faster! You can do it." His horse began to gallop towards the barn. I moved my body forward like Ram had and the horse took off "JESUS CHRIST." I wasn't used to a horse going this fast. We reached the barn after about five minutes. I pulled the reins back and the horse skidded to a stop. Ram put his in the pen attached to the barn. "Uh. Ram. I'm stuck." He laughed at me, bending over. "STOPPPP." My face went red out of embarrassment. He lifted me off, putting the horse in the pen. "That was great. You got stuck on a horse." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Shut up nerd." We walked inside the barn, wood and other materials were neatly stacked inside. We climbed up a ladder to the top part, hay bales and loose piles of hay covered the floor. I layed down on the hay, getting it in my hair. Ram joined me. "This is fun. I like it here." I put a piece of straw in my mouth, biting down on it. We looked at each other, the sun shining on our faces. "You're so pretty Heather." I sat up, scooping up some hay and throwing it on him. The golden stalks covered his shirt in a pile and got in his hair. "Hey! Not fair!" He tackled me to the ground, on top of me. My face went red. He blushed a bit and so did I. "Oh uh. This is awkward." He said. "I-. Uh-." I couldn't form words. "If you wanted to-" I said. He got off of me. "No. It's clear you don't want to. It's fine! You don't have to if you don't feel comfortable." I took a deep breath out. Thank god. I didn't want to lose it yet. It was too early in the relationship. "Thanks." I said, sitting up. "It's no problem." I looked around, an idea sparking in me. "Wait, is that a pond over there?" He got up, looking out the window. "Yeah, why?" I smirked. "And, it's not freezing, right?" He nodded. "Grab some hay bales, trust me." He grabbed around 3, heading down the ladder. "Follow me." I walked towards the pond, stopping. "Alright, stack them up." He looked confused. "What are you gonna do?" "Nothing. Just do it." He shrugged and stacked them up, making about a 6 foot stack. I threw off my shirt and overalls, stepping out of my black leggings as well. "What the hell are you doing-" I climbed to the top of the stack, jumping in the pond. I bobbed under, cool water surrounding me. I went back up, taking a breath in. "Come on! It's fun!" I shouted, treading water. He shook his head and threw his shirt and jeans to the side. "I actually can't believe you're making me jump in a pond in the middle of fall." He climbed to the top, walking off the edge. He surfaced, shaking his head, water droplets flying out of his hair. I wrapped my arms around his neck, smiling. I closed my eyes, opening them again. I was in my bedroom, my brother next to me on my bed. I heard the door slam and my mom walked in my room, drunk. She threw my brother out, locking the door behind her. She looked at me, pulling something out of her pocket. The blade shined while everything else was dark. She grabbed me and threw me against the wall. The blade slashed my cheek and forehead, blood spilling on the wall next to me. I inhaled quickly, looking around. I was back at the barn. Sitting on the grass. I touched my cheek, a slim scab was all that was there. "God Heather are you okay? You started to get cold and you were shaking and, and screaming and crying. What happened?" I grabbed my arm. "I- I don't know. It was like the night of the incident all over again." He rubbed my back, speaking in a softer tone. "Hey, why don't we go back inside and you can get something to drink, okay?" I grabbed his hand, getting up and walking towards the horses. "Hey uh, maybe you shouldn't go inside with a bra and underwear on." I blushed, embarrassed. "Yeah uh, one sec." I put on my clothes again. We walked inside, joking around. He had this charm to him, he could make you smile or laugh no matter what. "Perfect timing kiddos, we made lunch." I stared at the ground. "What?" Ram asked me "I- I forgot my pills." He looked down at me. "Hey, it's okay. You can try to keep it in and if you do end up purging, at least we tried." I smiled a bit, feeling reassured. "Okay. Sounds like a plan." We sat down and the ginger lady slid us two plates with grilled cheese on them. I began to devour it, but was stopped. "Hey, take it slow." I had already eaten half of it. "Oh, sorry-" "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. No need to apologize Dewie" I snickered, taking another bite, slowing down. The cheese melted in my mouth. We talked for a bit before I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. "Oh god uh okay, is it gonna happen?" Ram asked me. I nodded and wrapped my arm around my waist. "Okay, follow me." He guided me to the bathroom and I kneeled before the toilet. I braced myself and puke started to flow out of me. I took a breath and released it again, my stomach and mouth in agony. It finally stopped and I took a few shaky breaths in. "A-Are you okay?" I nodded. "Yeah, I just, need a sec to get back together." I got up, flushing the toilet and turning around. I smiled at Ram, walking towards the sink. I cleaned myself up and washed my hands. "See? All good." We walked back out, chit chatting with his aunts. Eventually we left, driving back to his house. "That was nice. I like it there." I said, looking over at him. He smiled at me and we got out of the car. "I'm glad. You don't deserve half the shit you're going through right now, and i'm happy that you enjoyed it there." I smiled, happy somebody showed me sympathy. I shook my head, Heather taught me that sympathy made you weak, and that it would be used to trick you. "Is something wrong?" I looked up. "Oh, no. It's just that you shouldn't show me sympathy." He looked confused. "What? Literally who said that." I looked away. "Heather did. Says it'll make you weak and she'll hate my guts if she catches you doing that. She'll make a fool out of me." He smirked. "So what? If she does then fuck her. Fuck them all." I smiled, feeling confident. "Yeah, fuck them all." He held out his hand and I placed mine in it. He pulled me closer, wrapping his other arm around my waist. "Our love is god." I went red, getting hot. I was admitly touch starved, and had never been so close to anybody in my life. "Oh-, I-, Um-" He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and let me go. I froze, touching my cheek. I swallowed,

my voice going high pitched. "Oh, kay then." I walked inside. I climbed the stairs up to his room. "Uh, i'm gonna change." I walked inside and grabbed some pajamas, taking off my overalls, shirt, and leggings. I heard Ram walk in and turned around. "GET OUT." I screamed, caught off guard. "Calm down, i'm going downstairs. I'm not looking." I put on the shirt and long, big fuzzy pajama pants. I stormed downstairs, Ram was on the watching TV. I walked over to him and slapped him in the face. "Ow, hey. What was that for?" "You walked in on me getting changed." He was eating a bowl of popcorn. "HAHA. You act like we weren't just swimming in a pond with the same stuff we had on a couple hours ago." I rolled my eyes. "Whatever dork." I rested my head on his chest, taking a handful of popcorn. "Hey hey now. I don't want you puking again." I put some in my mouth. "Calm down, I took my meds." I chewed a piece and swallowed it, watching the show. "My fair lady might I remind you that the meds don't make your bulimia disappear." I leaned closer into him. "Popcorn is fine. You're overreacting." He stroked my hair, looking down at me. I tried to fight to stay awake, but soon enough I drifted into sleep.