One of the advantages to having lived the majority of my life on the streets was the fact that I never had enough to eat. This may not sound like an advantage, mind you, but it was very helpful. People don't notice you when you're small and thin, and men don't look at you with that hungry look in their eyes when you have the figure of an adolescent boy. Being half-starved is probably what saved me all those years.
I don't live on the streets anymore, though. My days of dumpster-diving and picking up odd jobs in exchange for barely enough money to buy a sandwich are over. Now, I reside at the MCC, where the food is plentiful and the food is delicious. It was for this reason I barged into Ela's room one day and slammed the door closed behind me.
"Ela! Look at me!" I said, shrugging off my jacket and ripping off my loose t-shirt. I was left standing in front of her in just my baggy jeans and my now uncomfortably tight tank top.
Ela was unimpressed. "So you've gained weight. Big deal. At least you don't look anorexic anymore."
"That's not the point!" I choked out, verging on tears. "I....I have boobs now! I look like a...a girl!"
"Oh, the horrors," Ela drolled, rolling her eyes.
"I'm so glad you understand!" I said, totally missing her sarcasm as I poked my hip. Instead of feeling solid bone I felt a soft layer of fat. My body was ruined!
Ela watched, amused, as I tried to redistribute my hip fat. Why couldn't I just gain weight in my stomach instead? But noo, my stomach stayed flat even as my hips and boobs exploded into proportions. I cursed my genetics and my nymph qualities and resolved to stop eating.
"Ela," I said again, pouting. "Look at this!" I pointed toward my protruding hip.
"I don't want to hear about how you're getting fat," Ela said, looking like she was trying not to giggle (which is strange. She's really not a giggly person).
Fat! The word nearly struck me down in a moment of inspiration. I didn't need to stop eating. I needed to keep eating! I would eat and eat and eat until I weighed as much as an elephant.
Maybe I would even drink those protein shakes and work out until I looked like a sumo wrestler. No man would mess with a girl who was so huge and muscular that she could snap him in half!
"Ela, you're a genius!" I said as I piled all my clothes back on.
I ran out of the room, leaving Ela with a confused air about her.
...
To say the flight was completely and intolerably miserable would be a gross understatement. It started off well enough, with my ticket placing me next a kind-looking old lady instead of Tommy (who kept shooting me sad puppy-dog looks throughout the plane ride). I decided right away that I would try to make the best of the trip and just sleep right through it, but I overestimated my ability to sleep in tight, cramped quarters filled with the loud, monotonous droning of the engines. With sleep out of the question, I started scarfing down all the complementary peanuts and sodas, determined to get an early start on my "get fat" plan. I had to stop after a while, though, because the old lady sitting next to me kept shooting me strange looks and because the exorbitant amount of salt and carbonation I had consumed left me feeling sick to my stomach.
I watched as the other club members cuddled up to their seat buddies and drifted to sleep with a deep-seeded jealousy. Even the old lady next to me was softly snoring away. I wanted nothing more than the sweet relief of sleep to distract me from the pain in my overly-stuffed tummy. After what felt like an eternity (and a landing so bumpy that I lost all my peanuts in one of those nice little vomit bags), we arrived in Germany.
As soon as we had all exited the plane, Tommy attached himself to my side. I was feeling so exhausted, sick, and all-around terrible that I missed the discussion the club had about what to do next, although from what I gathered after the fact, it was about Charlie's inability to receive us right away and how we should entertain ourselves in the meantime. It wasn't until everyone decided that going clubbing would be the perfect way to pass the time and Tommy started leading me to the cab, arm around my shoulders, that he realized I wasn't putting up a fight.
"Are you all right?" he asked, gently turning me to face him.
I nodded agreeably and then threw up on his shoes.
....
Sorry this is so short! I'll have a second post up eventually, and there will be clubbing! :)
