The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

Ugh, sorry for the typo, I was on my phone.

[thatsfascinating]

She smiled back. "Yes you do," she agreed. Her smile faded. "I'm not sure I'd scream, though. Crying would be a given..."

no worries!!

[abrightboy]

"Well, we don't want that," he told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

<3

[thatsfascinating]

"Not even a little," she agreed, closing her eyes and smiling as he kissed her forehead. "But I don't think it'll be a problem, because this is real. All of it. And it's wonderful."

[abrightboy]

"Good things do happen," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her again when the chef tapped on the doorway and announced that dinner was served. He lifted his head and looked at her. "Hungry?"

[thatsfascinating]

"Totally," she agreed, leaning in to answer that kiss when they're interrupted by the chef. She grinned at Malcolm. "Always and especially now," she said cheerfully. She gave him a quick peck on the lips before letting go of him and heading to the table.

[abrightboy]

The dining table was beautifully set, and when they got there, Malcolm pulled out Edrisa's chair for her to sit before taking his own across from her.

The chef placed a bowl in front of each of them and there was a basket of fresh bread in the middle of the table. Wine was already in their glasses.

[thatsfascinating]

"Thank you!" she said as she sat, beaming at Malcolm as he sat down. Then, "oh, wow, thank you so much!" to the chef as he served the bouillabaisse. She closed her eyes and inhaled the steam. "Oh that's good." She picked up her spoon and smiled at Malcolm, waiting to dig in until he was ready.

[abrightboy]

He gestured with his spoon for her to go ahead. He skimmed a little broth off the top and took a tentative bite. He had to ease into meals, even if it was something he could generally stomach. Especially so soon after a panic attack. Even as he took the small, careful bite, his eyes were on her.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa's spoonful was not small nor careful. She dug right in, and paused on that first mouthful of broth and fish, closing her eyes and savoring it.

"Mmm!" She swallowed and opened her eyes. "So good! What do you think?"

[abrightboy]

"I think I'll keep it down," he said with a grin. "It's the highest compliment I can pay to food." He took a slightly bigger bite. "It's nice. The flavours blend nicely."

[thatsfascinating]

"Oh good!" It was always great when Malcolm found a food he could stomach. She enjoyed being able to share a meal with him.

"Did you have this when you would come to France as a kid?" she asked, reaching for her wine glass.

[abrightboy]

"I don't think so. I don't remember eating much soup back then."

He took another bite.

"I might try the bread. Do you want to split a piece with me?"

[thatsfascinating]

"Yeah, definitely! Take as much as you want and I'll have the rest."

She sipped her wine, considering what he said. "Did you have your food issues when you were younger?"

[abrightboy]

He took a slice, carefully tearing off about a third of it before handing her the rest.

"I hope I haven't gotten overly ambitious," he noted, "but it just smells good, doesn't it?"

He took a bite of soup and considered her question.

"No, not really. I mean, I guess I was a bit of a picky eater, but the real difficulties started after the anxiety problems and medication cocktails came into play."

[thatsfascinating]

"It does!" she agreed, taking the bread and taking a bite. It tasted as good as it smelled, and she hummed and nodded in approval.

She nodded again at Malcolm's explanation. "That must have been such a chaotic time, having to learn how to deal with all of the fallout."

[abrightboy]

He nodded thoughtfully, taking a small bite of the bread.

"I mean... at least food was something I could sort of... control? People thought it was weird and I got judged a lot for what I ate or how much I ate... or didn't eat. But.... I could make choices. I didn't have a whole lot of choices."

[thatsfascinating]

"That's really common," she said with another nod. "It's one reason trauma can trigger eating disorders. Everyone wants to have some control over their circumstances." She shrugged a little. "But we have less control over our eating than we often think we do. Not that I'm lecturing! I'm sure you know all this stuff already."

[abrightboy]

He looked up from his bowl to her face. "You're not lecturing," he said. He canted his head slightly. "I'm interested."

[thatsfascinating]

She blinked. "Oh." It was still so strange to her, that he wanted to listen rather that shut her down. Of course, she had started shutting herself down, so she wasn't sure how to continue. She frowned faintly. "Which part?"

[abrightboy]

"Control. You were talking about how we don't really control our food like we think we do," he prompted.

[thatsfascinating]

"Oh right! Well, it's like I was telling your mother at Christmas dinner. Listening to your body is really important when it comes to food. You know what happens when you eat more than your body can handle. There are other things the body does when you eat less than your body needs."

She took another spoonful of the stew.

[abrightboy]

"I did pass out in twelfth grade calculus once, after not eating anything for two and a half days," he conceded. "That's one of the things it does, right?"

[thatsfascinating]

Her eyes widened in concern, her point forgotten. "Two and a half days? Were you okay???"

[abrightboy]

"Oh. Yeah," he said, waving it off. "They took me to the hospital and put me on an IV. I came around. That's actually where I discovered that certain kinds of soup didn't bother me. That was high praise for food."

[thatsfascinating]

"Do you still do that?" she asked softly. "Not eat for days?"