An imperfect body reflects an imperfect person

-Anorexic quote

I want to see you again. The text message before Alice's eyes read. It had been eight days since their chance meeting in Starbucks, and Alice and Jasper had been text messaging or talking almost nonstop since then. She knew she shouldn't, she was well aware that she should be drifting from him, not getting closer, but she couldn't let him go. She had never had much interest in boys before... or people in general, for that matter. So why was Jasper pulling her in so strongly when she repelled everyone else? How had he broken down her walls without even trying? Or had he?

I wanna see you too. Alice zipped off, wondering where this was going.

Do you want to come over to my apartment? You can meet my roommates. Jasper sent back, fast enough to clearly show he already had the plan in his mind. Alice had to laugh a little about the meeting his roommates part, a discreet way of saying they weren't going to be alone. Jasper was the only person Alice knew who could be so adorably awkward and pull it off.

Sure, where do you live? Alice asked, hoping she wasn't going to have to drive a long way. Then, she thought she should probably take the bus, since parking in Portland was as iffy as New York City.

It took Jasper a few minutes to get all the directions typed out, and Alice knew that area was right next to a parking garage, so she was good to take her car there. Alice hated when she couldn't find a place to park, you would think that in a town as big as Portland, they would have the room for a few parking lots.

Okay, I'll be there in half an hour. Alice promised, and rushed into her room to get changed. She winced as she pulled her top over her head; some thing had hit her side when she did it. The area didn't look as scary as it did eight days ago, but it still wasn't the prettiest thing to look at. Alice had looked it up on line, and it said that it could take up to two months to heal. Two more months of this, and she was ready to pull her hair out after only eight days. Of course, not eating never really helped...

Alice had lowered her calorie intake to a maximum of one hundred and twenty calories every day, a full eighty calories less. Even though she was trying her very best to only eat when she felt like she was going to pass out, Alice still knew that she was failing. She shouldn't even have to eat at all. If only she lived in a world where you could do that, where you didn't die if you ate too little, and didn't die if you ate too much. Every one in that world would be thin, because food had no effect on your weight. How wonderful would it be to live in a forever thin world? Alice could only dream. None the less, Alice did every thing in her power to only eat enough to survive, bringing her one step closer to making that world her own.

Alice changed into a flowing yellow top and jeans that would have been the perfect size two years ago. She didn't want Jasper to see how skinny she was, there was no way she could let him think any thing like that about her just over a week after they met! If he found some thing out after a week, where would they be in a month? Six months? A year? She had to stay hidden, and the best place to hide was in plain sight.

The drive to Jasper's apartment wasn't a long one, and as she got closer and closer, Alice's heart started to beat faster and faster, and her breathing got more and more shallow. What if she did some thing today that made him never want to talk to her again? The only person Alice talked to this much was Rosalie, and she lived three states away from her! She didn't want to lose him, and she could only hope he felt the same way about her.

When Alice got there, she had to force herself to knock on the door, and not just go back down the steps and drive back home, where she belonged. Looking back, she had no idea how she had made the drive there, she was so out of it now.

"Hey, you must be Alice." A brown haired girl said when she answered the door. She had a warm smile, and Alice's nerves cooled a little. Only a little.

"I'm Bella, one of Jasper's roommates." The girl told her, leading her into the apartment. It had a homey feel to it, and Alice could tell that the people who lived here loved their home. The walls were painted lime green, and the carpet was brown, a mixture that Alice had never seen match so good before. She could feel the happy emotions the had dug into the structure, making everyone that came in happy as well. Alice had no idea why she had been so scared. There was light music drifting around, which Alice found out came from a piano in the corner of the living room, played by a pale skinned boy.

"That's Edward, my boyfriend." Bella pointed to a boy with an odd yet nice shade of brown hair, and striking green eyes. He stopped playing when he saw the two girls, and stood up to put an arm around Bella. Alice smiled at how cute they looked together, like they were each others soul mates.

"Jasper's been talking about you." Edward told her, and Alice could feel herself blush as deep a red as some one like her could. When you live a self controlled life, you don't get the same aray of blush shades as you used too, only a sign that you were doing your job right. Edward chuckled a little at her now rosy skin and told her: "It's okay, Bella blushes much worse than you do." Which made Alice laugh a little. Bella playfully smacked Edward on his arm and laughed too. Alice couldn't help but notice that her skin was now a deeper shade of pink than it had been before.

"Hey!" Came a vice that Alice remembered all too well. She turned around to see Jasper, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw just how happy he looked to see her, like he had been waiting for this since they last said goodbye eight days ago.

"Hi." Alice said, smiling as well. It was like he could make every one in the room happy by being happy himself. Alice wondered if it worked the same way when he was mad or upset as well. Even though every thing was going good so far, she had only just got here, and her heart was still laboring so hard Alice was sure every one in the room wold be able to hear it perfectly, counting out the foot steps she made towards death, ticking down the seconds she had to live.

"Let me formally introduce you all, Edward and Bella, this is Alice, and Alice, this is Edward and Bella." Jasper said, coming to stand next to Alice. Now she was sure he could both feel and hear her heart beat, and she was starting to gasp a little. Being next to him was almost too much for her, and yet, she liked having him near her, so close to her. She didn't realize how much she missed him until just now, this perfect stranger.

"Thank you Jasper." Bella said, looking like she wanted to say some thing else as well.

"Yeah, you guys can go now." Jasper said in a joking voice, but the two people laughed and left any way.

"How long have you known them?" Alice asked once they were gone. They didn't look much older than him, but Alice was never really good at guessing people's ages, so she couldn't be sure.

"Four years, we took a fine art class together during our freshman year." Jasper told her, never looking away from her face. She felt her blood boil under her skin, and she tried to keep it out of her cheeks. There was no way she was going to blush in front of him.

"So you do poetry, I'm guessing Edward plays the piano, what's Bella's talent?" Alice asked.

"She paints. Very good at it as well." Jasper told her, pointing to a picture hanging above a mantel which Alice had not noticed before. It was of a field full of wildflowers, many different colors and sizes, and all looking life like. The sky above was sea blue, with a few gray clouds spotting it, lined with silver. The sun's rays danced gracefully over the flowers, and of a small river running through it. It was like some one had taken a photograph of it.

"It's beautiful." Alice said, wondering how long it took to paint that. It wasn't too big, but the detail must have been a pain.

"She loves it just like I love my poetry." Jasper told her.

"Speaking of which, you owe me a poem." Alice laughed, not thinking he actually wrote her one. When they talked on the phone a few nights ago, he told her he was, but still, she didn't know.

"I'm not sure if you want to read it." Jasper said, looking down for the first time.

"What do you mean? Of course I do!" Alice said, wondering what he could have written about her that would make her not want to read it. Some thing bad?

"Fine, here." Jasper said, handing her the book (which had been siting on a side tabel) and flipped to one of the last pages.

Alice's heart stopped beating and her blood ran cold when she saw it.

She did the first thing she could think of, the first thing that came to mind.

She left.