Chapped Lips and Cold Kisses

Mela never did get back to Ville. Her life in New York was hectic with dance practice taking up most of the day, then being absolutely exhausted at night or hanging out with Ari. She felt bad when she thought about him and how they’d left off, but then would quickly be distracted by other thoughts. All she could think about was food lately; eating food, buying food, counting the calories of food, finding excuses to purge the food she ate. She’d managed to lose ten pounds in just the span of a month between all the dancing and her obsession with food. Calvin was happy with the weight loss, but when she looked at Bethany and some of the other girls, she felt like it wasn’t enough.

Sometimes Ari dropped by with a pizza and stared at Mela as she ate a piece then monitored the bathroom to make sure she wouldn’t throw it up. That was the only time Mela ate any real food without purging. She hated pizza. The last time Ari pulled that stunt, Mela almost threw the pizza at her and told her to get out of her apartment. Mela couldn’t afford to lose her only friend in New York though. She hadn’t even talked to Essie since she went back to Finland. The only person from back home that she stayed in contact with was her dad. Why? She asked herself the same question. If she had time to talk to her dad then she should have time to call her friends. Then her negative thoughts sank in about Ville probably having a new girlfriend by now and Essie forgetting all about her. Perhaps Essie was Ville’s new girlfriend. The thought disturbed her so much that she disconnected her phone from receiving long distance calls, she deleted her email, and didn’t go on the computer. She didn’t need them. She had herself, Ari, and a tiny apartment that had become home.

It was about 9pm when Ari knocked on her door. Mela looked out the peephole to make sure she wasn’t holding a pizza, then sighed with relief when she just saw her friend, no pizza box in hand. She opened the door, “Arizona.”

“Melena.” Ari greeted back. She walked in the apartment and headed right towards the fridge. “There is nothing in here! You’re gonna literally starve to death right in front of my eyes. And as much as I’d like to see someone kick the bucket, I don’t want it to be you.”

“I eat out,” Mela said, fully knowing that she was a terrible liar.

“Sure ya do Skeletor. What’s on the agenda for tonight?” She asked as she rummaged through Mela’s kitchen.

“Um…. I have a feeling that you’re gonna tell me.” Mela said.

“Well we could go find a stray cat and skin it or we could go to the movies, on once condition, you have to eat popcorn.” Ari joked in her dark way. That was one thing she loved about Ari. You would think she was a serial killer by the way she talked.
“Or we could stay here and watch a movie-“ Mela started.

“But we can’t do that because you have no food.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“But I am.”

“Then go back to your apartment.”

“No.”

They argued about this at least five times a week.

“Fine then I will.”

“You will what?”

“Go to your apartment.”

“You might not wanna do that. Jason could be naked in there.”

“Even better.”

“Ew Mela, what does that even mean?!”

Mela loved her new friend but every time she was with Ari her old friends came to mind. She wondered what they were doing without her, how much their lives had changed since she last seen them. It’d only been a month, but so much changed for Mela in a month. She was now starving herself to death, best friends with a weird death-obsessed girl, a professional dancer, and a resident of New York. So many things can change in a month.