“How did you end up here?” I cut her off.

“Your wallet fell out of your pocket when you ran to the washroom. You still had that piece of paper I wrote my cell number on when we first met. One of the nurses called me instead of calling security.”

Wow. I had totally forgotten that her number was still in my wallet. It was stuffed beneath my bus pass.

“Come on.” She grabbed my hand and we left the hospital.

Chapter 12 Mosh Pits and Fragile Men

Mel bussed with me to make sure that I got home all right. On the ride home, I could barely sit up straight. I was so tired and tried my hardest to stay awake. I felt Mel put a hand on my shoulder. It was so gentle, but real heavy at the same time. She tried to force a smile, but she could see right through me. She knew I hadn’t slowed down with the purging.

Once we got to our stop, she linked my arm with hers and walked me back to my house. She didn’t say anything; I knew she wanted to. When we got to my door, she let go as I balanced myself. I was ashamed to look at her, but when I did, she had an extended fist toward me.

“Friends?”

I knew I would find it hard to stay only friends, but Mel was someone I cared about deeply. So I extended my fist and bumped it against hers.

“Please eat something, Adrian,” she said.

“I will,” I lied.

“All right.” She made her way back to the bus stop, and I headed inside.

I settled myself in my bed and thought about what Mel said to me about “being more than the surface.” I knew that there was still so much work to do. I fell flat on my back, feeling stuck in the gravitational pull of my bed again. I laid there all day, just thinking about what had happened at the hospital and all the extra folds of skin that I was left with. It was strange, I felt uncomfortable in normal day-to-day life while being massively overweight, and now, when I was skinny I still felt uneasy.

I laid in bed until I could see the moon switch shifts with the sun and soft light splashed through my window. There weren’t many stars out that night, but I saw my phone light up with a text.

Mel: Dude. I know you’ve been in bed all day.

Me: How did you know?

Mel: Because I know you. And you just admitted it.

Me: . . .

Mel: You need to get out of the house. Wanna go to a show with me tonight? There’s probably going to be a mosh pit!

Me: That sounds . . . great.

She had told me about mosh pits once, how everyone was crammed together, sweaty, dancing, yelling . . . it was the stuff of my nightmares.