That night was another video chat with Vic. He sat on the other side of the computer, some three thousand miles away in New York, wearing a tight lavender polo and some ridiculous leather bracelet arrangement on his wrist. I on the other hand looked a wreck – as expected, with a baggy tee hanging loosely around my frame and my hair thrown up into a messy ponytail. Victor beamed as I waved nervously into the camera, and his warm expression alone gave me a sense of relief. My best friend could always make me feel better with a simple smile.
“Okay,” he began, his voice sounded a bit fuzzy through the crappy condition of my outdated headphones. “First off, I want you to promise me that you won’t judge me.”
I stared at him for a moment, leaning onto my hand as I narrowed my eyes at the computer screen. “What did you do?” I said. He was silent for a moment, so I assumed the worst. “Vic, did you have a one night stand?”
“God, no! Who do you think I am, Paige?” He paused for a moment, his body turning and disappearing from part of my screen. When his entire body remerged into my view, a large cardboard box was displayed before him, the word “PIZZA” printed boldly across its surface. “Yes, this is a large pepperoni pizza. And yes, I’m planning on eating it on my own.”
My eyes widened. “The whole thing, Vic? Really?”
He opened the box quickly, ripping a slice from the pie. As the cheese stretched lightly from the rest of the pizza, I felt my stomach grumble and my mouth salivate. He took a large bite out of the slice, chewing rapidly and groaning aloud.
“I’m depressed, okay?” he said through a mouthful of food. “It’s almost inevitable that when a girl is depressed, shitty pizza and sappy flicks are a must.”
I smiled slightly, “But you’re not a girl.”
With a wave of a hand, Vic took another large bite. “I’m practically a girl.” Pausing to swallow, he looked at me for a long moment. “I wish there was a way to send this through the computer, you look fucking awful, Anna.”
“Thanks, Vic. That’s real sweet.”
“You look almost emaciated! You’re practically skin and bones!”
I sighed, glancing at my desk and reaching for my half-eaten bowl of dinner. I rose it towards the screen, giving Vic a view of its contents. “I don’t think living on a diet of soup and oatmeal will give me sexy curves, Victor.”
He set his slice of pizza down, his lips down turning in a frown as he shook his head. “You can’t just eat that, Anna. You’re going to become malnourished.”
“I know, but there’s not much I can do,” I said. “My funds are so low – “
“Let me help you!” he practically shouted. “I’ll send you a check! You know my funds are flourishing, I mean I’m sitting here eating an entire god-damn pizza, Anna. It’ll take two seconds – please let me send you something.”
I shook my head. “I can’t accept that, Vic. It was my decision to move out here, I have to fend for myself –“
“You can’t exactly support yourself when you’re unable to stand up or walk from lack of nutrition, honey,” he pointed out. “Why don’t you call your mom? She and your stepdad are living in a house that’s practically a fucking mansion.”
“You know I can’t ask her for help,” I said quietly, looking away. My heart throbbed for a moment as thoughts of my family flooded my mind. “She won’t speak to me unless it’s the holidays.”
“She helped out Christian and Elle,” he replied, his tone of voice carrying a bite. “She paid for their entire education.”
I glared down at my desktop, my jaw clenching as Vic brought up my older brother and sister. Christian lived in Northern California, a successful thirty-two year old surgeon with a wife and kids. I never saw him or my sister Elle, who was living in Chicago as a lawyer with her fiancé.
