chapter five
It had been three month since our last visit with the slightly anticlimactic pair of Asia and Mindy, and honestly, nothing eventful had really happened in those months. Asia had grown larger—to her horror she was beginning to show, which meant Mindy would parade her around the fitting rooms of Bloomingdales, and buy everything with a credit card that had expired 12 weeks ago; Mindy had grown skinnier. (She was on this terrible diet that only consisted of syrup and asparagus.) The two had moved out of Mindy's parents' house in to a ratty one bedroom apartment on the East side. The previous owner had used the bathroom to hold a rare breed of shrimp, and they had to share their washing machine with an Asian women down the hall—but it was a home, and it was totally and completely theirs. The rent was paid by a combined effort, both shoving their tips they had earned—rather unwillingly on Mindy's part—at the café three blocks over in a rusty tin can that perhaps had once contained coffee.
Although this wasn't the stereotypical Happily Ever After they had dreamt of as young girls, it was a future that promised adventure—honestly if you lived with Mindy, what else would you expect? The lazy happiness that Asia had settled in to was soon to be shattered by an unexpected visitor, bringing the all-to-familiar feeling of icy fear that settled between the walls of her heart.
(This seemed exceptionally dreary, so I thought I'd mention Mindy had adopted a cat that they had named 'Janet' because according to Mindy—"animals deserve proper names too, how about Janet? Or Abraham?" and little Janet spent her days catching bugs and pawing through the shower drain in an attempt to retrieve shrimp.)
Asia and Mindy were leaning against the bare walls of their living room—neither had anticipated the cost of furniture to be so drastically high, and settled with a futon that Mindy had stolen from her Aunt's house at 4:15am on a Tuesday—the silent Sunday air occasionally filled with the turn of a magazine page and the suppressed laugh as they continued to find endless pictures of Asia.
The tabloids had always been particularly fond of Asia, claiming that hers and Calum's 'whirlwind' romance was straight out of every twelve year old girl's fantasy, and when the breakup had occurred—it had been confirmed three days after by a slightly drunk Ashton—they had kindly backed off, and allowed her to slip unnoticed once again, within a sea of people. But ever since three weeks ago, the tabloids had lit up once again, the name of Asia Mills on everyone's lips. (everyone's but Calum's, of course.)
"This one says you're aglow with motherhood, the only thing you're aglow with is the lack of sexual intercourse." Mindy commentated, her shift began in four minutes, but she was notorious for being late; Asia grimaced, and shoved the magazine away from her face.
"Could you stop that? What if I am aglow? Can't I be aglow?"
"You just like saying that word."
Asia's lame response was cut off by a timid knock on the door, Mindy flung herself on the kitchen floor—incase it was the Italian Pizzeria owner who she owed 56 dollars to—leaving Asia to hoist herself up and slightly waddle across the floor. Their door was lacking a peep hole, along with the complete first layer of paint, so she just swung it open with a sigh.
"Oh my god."
Mali was standing in her doorway, a pair of overalls positioned crookedly across her skinny frame, and a cake the shape of a bowling ball in her hands.
"Hi Asia."
Now the two had only properly met once, over a Skype session—in which Asia had walked in not wearing pants, and sat with her head buried in Calum's chest the whole time, feeling the vibration of his laughter against her bright red cheeks—and as she stared at the walking memory before her, she felt a sudden wash of feelings she had done her best to discard of.
