Longing

Chapter Three

Melanie awoke to the smell of cigarettes and asphalt. She opened her eyes slowly and then rubbed them; she still felt hazy. There was somebody talking in the other room. Melanie couldn't make out what they were saying until she heard Kendo's voice interrupt.

"I don't care," he was saying, "She doesn't have anywhere else."

"Fine, do what you want."

A door slammed and a sigh reached Melanie's ears. She wiped her hair out of her face and finally looked around the room. It was like a poster bomb exploded and one of those things that shoot T-shirts into the crowd during concerts had gone on a wild rampage. Well it was definitely a guy's room, all disorganized and messy, but in a way Melanie found comfort in it. It reminded her of her own room, so clashing and chronically upheaved in disarray. She shook a stray thought of her room out of her mind; she didn't want to think about the past anymore. She was done. Just as she was about to swing her legs out from the covers and off the bed, Kendo entered the room with a protesting squeak of the hinges on his almost-ramshackle door.

"You're awake," he said.

"Uh, yeah." Melanie licked her lips and then bit them, a nervous habit from childhood she never got around to breaking. She couldn't decide what to say so she didn't say anything.

"Hungry?" Kendo asked.

Melanie's grumbling stomach answered for her.

"I'd offer you something extravagant but all we got is ramen and frozen hamburgers," Kendo informed her, going over to a CD-covered wooden dresser by the bed to dig for something that might fit Melanie. He ended up with a pair of black woman's jeans and a severely-oversized T-shirt with a white splattered paint design across the front. "Best I could do," he said holding it out for Melanie, "From my emo days. Don't worry, they're clean."

Melanie took the clothes and gave Kendo a suspicious look. "How did I get here? And how long was I out?" She asked, suddenly embarrassed.

"Well I carried you here, to answer your first question." Kendo shoved his stubborn dresser drawer closed as Melanie hid a small blush, "You've been asleep for about a day. Technically more like twelve hours or so, but it's Saturday now so it's pretty much the same. You slept the night through."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why does it matter? I'm starving so I'm gonna make those burgers. I'll make one for you too." With that, Kendo was out of the room and bustling around the kitchen, which was half-visible from his open door. Melanie had had enough of sitting around all indecisive and dragged herself out of bed. She didn't know where the bathroom was so she shut Kendo's door and changed in there. The jeans actually fit decently. The T-shirt was long enough to be a dress but that didn't matter to Melanie. It actually kind of matched her style. She folded her own sweaty clothes and placed them in the only empty floor space she could find, under the bed. Then she tiptoed her way back to the door and followed her nose into the kitchen where the wafting smell of stovetop burgers tickled her nostrils.

Melanie's mouth was watering so much she nearly drooled. Food sounded so good, sizzling in its own grease. Kendo flipped one over with the metal spatula.

"So," he said while he cooked, "What are you gonna do after this? I argued your case last night but I doubt Dad'll let you stay much longer."

So that's who he had been talking to this morning. "I... I don't know." Melanie had been avoiding that thought ever since two days ago when Grivgas had left her sitting there on the curb to bathe in her misery. She almost cried thinking back, but she didn't. She focused on the ever-tendering meat in the frying pan. Melanie was hungry enough to drink the juices straight out of the pan if she got the chance.