"I can't believe I have Flora Greensteen in a crowded public place in the daytime." Mel nudged me while sipping on an iced coffee that I'm sure had more than just caffeine. Still started with 'C' but it was definitely not as legal as caffeine. 

I scrunched my face in an attempt to keep my awkward seagull laugh inside. "You know what, I'm just here to get some exercise." Dramatically, I swung my arms like some of the grannies around us who were swinging their arms during some intense power walking. Mel snorted while trying to force the liquid down her throat. Her freckled face became a light shade of red as she lifted it into the air to let gravity to do its job and get that drink down. 

"Remind me to never drink around you." She coughed, blinking the tears out of her eyes.

"Okay but you're going to have to remind me to remind you to not drink around you." I laughed as well as she did but the joke was on her. I somewhat had a terrible memory when it came to little things like that. 

Her mouth made a small 'o' when her eye caught a small Chinese restaurant. "Flora." She hissed into my ear.

"Huh?" I tried to match her hushed tone though there wasn't really anyone near us.

She pointed to the little eating area. "I'm going to so destroy that Chinese place." Her strong hand grabbed onto my wrist and tugged me to the innocent eatery that was about to get a beast that they wouldn't be able to consume. 

A man whose lit up as bright as the sun was ready to take our order once we walked over to him. He had a pen and paper ready, eager to take down whatever requests we asked for. "Welcome, how may I help you?" The man did not know that he was about to regret saying those words in front of Melody Hamilton.

I stepped up first because I already knew that I just wanted the meal marked as number one. It looked small and something that would cater to the lack of appetite that had taken over my stomach. "Number one please." I said, clearly with a smile on my face. Internally, I wanted to give myself a high five for not awkwardly messing up while saying my order. The guy nodded and then looked at Mel.

"Yeah, I'll have number one, three..." she paused, resting her hand on her sharply outlined chin. "Flora, should I get the number five or six? Maybe both?" She whined at not being able to decide. 

"Six." That one stood out to me the most plus it was an even number so why not?

A sheepish smile spread her thin lips as she sat in the seat in front of me. Her hands were full of the tray that held three of her meals that slowly slid off the sides and onto the plastic. She gawked at the food once the tray slapped the table. "Shit."

"What?" I asked, rolling my food with my fork that I knew that wasn't going to be used a lot that day.

"I don't know what I want to start with." She kept looking at the food with a loving stare. For a moment, I looked at Mel and wanted someone to look at me like how she looked at food.

"....Does it matter?"

She fake gasped, acting as if I offended her. "Good lord, do you just get a plate of food and dig in?" I shook my head. The crazy woman gasped again, this time she flailing her arms and caused attention to our table. "WAIT. YOU DON'T TAKE TIME TO ENJOY THE GLISTENING BEAUTY THAT IS SITTING NEXT TO YOU?" Mel licked her lips. "Look at that broccoli in front of you. Do you not see how beautifully puffy it is? And it's color? That's a pretty green." She pointed to the piece that just looked like a piece of food to me.

My eyes squinted as they took in the scene in front of me. "Mel, do you like food?"

"Three G's bro." She said, finally taking in the first bite of her noodles that had mixed vegetables in them.

I furrowed my brows, chewing while trying to think what in the world started with 'G's'.

She realized my absent of talking and answered the question that swirled in my mind. "Gym, guys and good eats."

Though I laughed after she said that, I felt a little bad. I had no idea that Mel was actually pretty interested in food. All I knew about her was that she knew how to threw a punch and that she was pretty nosey when it came to others. She would continuously ask questions and willing to hear anything.

Like a train, reality hit me. I'm not talking about a nice Choo Choo train, but one of those really fast and harsh trains that go three hundred miles per hour.

The reason why she was so nosey that no one was willing to tell her anything but when they did, it was about them and probably never asked her what was going on. She was just trying to get herself out there to anyone who wasn't afraid of her. A tinge of sadness overlapped the doing of the pills and forced me into a world where food was not necessary. 

"Guys? Who do you like?" I continued on, trying to get Mel to open up. 

She had shock written on her face like some second grader took a brush to a canvas. "Guys? Did I really say that?" Her fork dropped quickly onto her plate as a lock of her hair took its place in her hand. The fiery lock twirled easily in her hand when her cheeks nearly matched its color.

"Yeah, you did." Now, I'm not the one to pry on someone. This was mostly due to me not caring for others but I found myself to caring more these days less on what others thought about me and more about what was going on with them.

"Oh, you know all the hottest celebs." Her accent became thicker.

"You're hiding something." Her poker face sucked and I saw right through it. It was cute when she became bashful but that didn't mean I was going to let up on her. As much as I loved my mom, I couldn't really talk about the boys at my school with her. Mel was going to have to take it.

She groaned. "No...."

Without thinking, I swiped her tray and took the food that was on it. "Spill it or else I'm going to spill your food." Okay, I knew this was mean and this type of behavior was going to leave me burning in the dark depths of hell but this was the only way for me to get Mel to open up.

"Okay, okay!" She practically yelled, causing more attention to us.

Something about her and her cousin had a way of getting eyes on them.

"Who do you like?" My eyes narrowed.

"Okay so you know that one kid, he's tall and new?"

I blinked. "You're going to have to be more specific." It wasn't like I counted all of the kids on a daily basis to know exactly when someone new came in.

"Sai." She finally said the name with an edge.

My mouth made small 'o' before it moved into a big smile. "Aw."

She squealed, making an 'eek' sound. Her hands went to her crimson red cheeks in an attempt to hide them while squinting her eyes. Usually, in the hallways of the school or when she was punching the shit out of a punching bag, she looked intimating. Now, the girl was as intimating as a fly with her blushing cheeks and stomping feet.

"STOOOOP."

I laughed. "Why? It's cute, you have a crush."

After a moment of freaking out, she calmed down. "I want to talk to him more but I don't know how. All I know is to not punch and kick him."

A snort came from me. "That's a start. I'll help you out, somehow."

Her eyes lit up brighter than any star in the galaxy, nearly blinded me. "Really? Why?"

"Because we're friends." It was nice to actually say those words. Not because it made her grin from ear to ear but it was nice to know that I was beginning to grow. At first, it was just my mom and I but now I've gained Melody and Thorin.

"Flora-" her voice cracked.

"Hey!" The girl who had asked me about Thorin's hickey came up to our table. Her blonde curls were perfect as she slid them behind her tanned ear.

I jumped, nearly spilling Mel's food. She gasped and quickly took the tray back before I could do any actual damage to her true love. The girl's hand went to my shoulder, calming me down to where she could actually talk to me.

"Hi." I said slowly.

"Remember me? I asked you about the bruise on your arm." She wiggled her hands in the air. A nod came from me and caused her to smile even more. "Oh great, I wanted to give you something."

She handed me a pink envelope. With hesitation, I took it while eyeing both her and Mel. My brows furrowed when opening it and seeing the words 'You're Invited!'.

"What is this?" The words came off the page in a blur from reading it too fast.

"I'm throwing a party and I want you to come." Her voice came out calmly and low. "It's not for another week but I just wanted to make sure you come. Bring your friends."

I looked to Mel who just shrugged. "Alright, thanks."

Bad ending, I know. I'm sorry haha but yay! We're finally getting to know a little more about Melody and her last name. Also, I'm posting like two days early so at least we got a chapter in! Anyway, back to the story. Is anyone a little concern about these pills that Flora is taking? Because I kind of am. BUT WE HAVE AN OFFICIAL SHIP GOING HERE BETWEEN MEL AND SAI. Remember:

Comment; give Mel and Sai a ship name.

Vote; vote for how cute Mel is.

Share; know someone who loves food? Show them this story!

Thanks for reading!