"You know that can kill you?"

Mel looked to Ella and smiled slightly, and then she shrugged in a friendly manner. Really, with the drugs in her system, she wasn’t in the mood to argue about her life. Melrose wasn’t the worse drug addict out there. For one thing, the use of drugs didn’t show on her outer appearance at all. Secondly, she wasn’t a mean addict and she wouldn’t sleep around for drugs even if she craved them badly. Was there such thing as a refined addict?

"You don't like me do you?" She tried to ask in a flat voice, but some sadness crept through. Turning her head, she went back to drawing, pulling out a color pencil. "I mean why should you?"

All of a sudden, Mel became serious. Flipping over onto her stomach she crawled up to where Ella was sitting on the bed and plopped down in a sitting position beside her. For a moment it seemed like she had moved too fast, and so she swayed before speaking.

“I like you…” She gave a nod, and then looked down to what Ella was drawing. “Really, I love all of you guys. You’re great. I’m sorry if it seemed like I didn’t like you.” She apologized, keeping her eyes on the sketch. It was surprising how coherent she was while on drugs. It was probably from the experience with them.

“I’m just a little shy I suppose…” In an Indian-style fashion she crossed her legs, and began to think about the manager. “About this manager thing…we’ll have to be careful to not pick a scum bag. Lots of people make the mistake of getting someone that only wants money.”

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