Oh.

A Chapter by wordupbro

Melanie's first day in Detroit begins.

“Do you really have to go all the way to Detroit to visit this friend of yours?” Melanie’s mom asked her, busily putting (well, more like slamming) dishes into the dishwasher.

“Kelly lives there, though. She’s not going to move to another city just for your convenience, Ma.” Melanie replied, clearly frustrated. She’d made it clear at least 100 times that she’d be perfectly fine going to Michigan alone to meet up with Kelly, a girl she’d met last year on a cruise to the Caribbean and became instant best friends with.

“I’m just a little wary of you going there, that’s all. I went there for a job interview years ago and it scared the absolute crap out of me. Are you sure you’re going to be safe? You and Kelly aren’t going to go wandering into the bad neighborhoods, are you?” Her mom continued nagging. Melanie had been hearing this kind of talk from her mom for the last week now.

“Alright, in one second I’m going to take this dish,” Melanie removed one of her mom’s favorite dinner plates out of the dishwasher, “and smash it over your head.” Many mothers would be off-put by this blatant rudeness, but Melanie’s had come to expect this sort of retort by now.

Her mother couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Okay, okay. You’re 19. I trust you. Sorry I’m being a typical worried mother. I’ll stop. I promise. Just don’t go getting yourself into trouble.”

Melanie rolled her eyes and sighed, picked her gigantic orange backpack up off one of their kitchen stools, and walked out into the foyer of her house. She stood there for a moment next to her shiny, new black carry-on suitcase before yelling out, “Well…Aren’t you going to come out here to see off your daughter to the murder den that is Detroit?”

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“MEL!” Melanie heard a high-pitched scream as she walked into the baggage claim area of Detroit Metro Airport. Her head whipped around in all directions trying to find the obvious source of this obnoxious greeting. She finally saw her. A petite blonde girl bouncing up and down with her hair in pigtails waving her arms like she was at a Justin Bieber concert. Kelly. Before she knew it, Melanie had Kelly’s arms wrapped around her neck, practically cutting off all oxygen supply.

Kelly wasn’t letting go. “I’ve missed you more than you know. Did your hair get longer?” Kelly stepped back and reached for a lock of Melanie’s slightly wavy brunette tresses, and then suddenly dropped it. “Oh my God, I love your shirt! You’ll have to let me borrow that while you’re here,” Kelly’s mouth went off a mile a minute when she was excited, but Melanie was more than happy to have Kelly back in her life, even if it was only for a week.

Kelly grabbed Melanie’s suitcase and started rolling it out the automatic doors. “I got a new car, by the way. The stereo system is absolutely insane. My dad had it installed for my birthday. You’re going to be extremely jealous.”

Melanie laughed and smiled at her friend. “You mean you’ll let me listen to hip-hop to see how your base measures up?” Kelly, throughout her 18 years of life, had never really warmed up to rap. She proclaimed last year that it always gives her a headache. However, it was Melanie’s favorite genre of music other than rock.

“Does Trey Songz count as hip-hop?” Kelly feigned innocence and opened her bright green eyes extremely widely.

“You’re ridiculous. Let’s go see this bangin’ new car of yours,” Melanie laughed again and looped her arm through Kelly’s.

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“Before we get to my house, I have to make a quick stop at Meijer,” Kelly exclaimed before she turned off onto an exit. Mel had been continuously staring out the window since the car started moving. She’d never been to Detroit before, but she’d heard a lot about it. Detroit Rock City, home of Motown. Home of Eminem, once of her favorite artists of all time. She wanted to see everything she possibly could.

“Is that okay, Mel?” Silence. “MEL?” Kelly said a bit louder before lightly shoving Melanie’s arm while keeping her other hand on the wheel.

“Oh, sorry! Meijer’s. Right. Sure, that’s fine,” Mel shook herself out of her tourist-in-awe mode. “Wait. What’s Meijer?”

“It’s a supermarket. I’m inviting some of my old high school friends over tonight. We’ll have a bit of a…party of sorts,” Kelly’s eyes lit up mischievously. “My parents are going off to visit my mom’s aunt in Ohio today. They’ll be there throughout the weekend, so we have the house to ourselves for a bit.” By the time Kelly finished explaining her plans in more detail, they had arrived in the parking lot.

Kelly stuck her hand into her gigantic purse and pulled out some 20s. “Dad wanted to make sure we wouldn’t die of starvation. What he doesn’t know is that this is all going to loads and loads of junk food and pizzas,” Mel laughed with her friend. Kelly’s dad was a nutritionist, and would probably die if he were around for this little shopping expedition. Kelly grabbed a cart and started attacking the first aisle. Snacks.

“So, what should we get? Cheetos or Doritos?” Kelly held the bags up dramatically, side by side. Mel shook her head, grabbed them from her and threw them in the cart.

“Don’t even play. We’re getting both. We’re also getting some of these bad boys,” Mel dropped a gigantic bag of Fritos into the cart as well. Kelly eyed her suspiciously. “What, you didn’t know I was a Fritos fan? You learn something new about me every day!” Mel laughed.

Kelly smirked and shook her head dramatically. Mel smiled back at her and then watched Kelly’s eyes widen, fixed on something over Mel’s head.

“What the hell is over there? A dinosaur?” Mel asked and began to turn around, ready to fulfill her curiosity, but Kelly grabbed her arm and started leading her down the aisle in the opposite direction. “Come on, we still have the whole cookie aisle to raid!"

“The cookies can wait, Kelly. Seriously. You look like you just saw a person walking around with their head cut off. What is going on?” Mel was a little bit perturbed. What was so important that she couldn’t see?

Suddenly a random pair of hands were over Kelly’s eyes. “Guess who?” the phantom female voice taunted Kelly before she suddenly turned around to meet her surprise.

“ALAINA!” Kelly squealed, feigning shock. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“I know you saw me before standing with my dad. You practically ran away. I haven’t seen you in, like, months! I’ve missed you.” She hugged Kelly again. Her eyes then moved over to the stranger standing beside her. Melanie was stark silent.

“Is this your friend, Kel?” Alaina asked. “Okay, that was a stupid question. Of course she is. Why else would she be standing right next to you?” She laughed at herself before putting her hand out to Melanie. “Hi. I’m Alaina. I go to the same high school Kelly went to.”

It took a moment for everything to register in Mel’s mind. Alaina? Like, Eminem’s daughter, Alaina? The one he talks about in a lot of his songs? The one that lives in Detroit? How many Alaina’s are there in Detroit anyway? she thought. She finally decided to speak.

“I’m--I’m Melanie. I mean, you can call me Mel. Melanie’s really formal. My mom likes to call me Melanie,” It was like she couldn’t shut up. Then she realized Alaina wanted to shake her hand. Her hand slowly moved to meet hers. “Hi. Sorry about that I’m just--“

Kelly quickly tried to cover up for her friend’s extremely odd rambling. “Mel just flew in from Pennsylvania today. She’s a bit tired. You know how airplanes can screw with you,” Kelly laughed and put her arm around Melanie, pulling her into her side.

Alaina just nodded in understanding. “What are you even doing here, Kel? I thought you hated Meijer. Shouldn't you be at Walmart?” she asked as put her hand on her hip.

“Walmart's too far," Kelly replied with a laugh. "We’re just buying some supplies for this party I’m having tonight. I’m having Mel meet some of my old friends--you know, I want to give her a proper Detroit welcome. It’s so funny that you’re here, though. Do you want to come over later? I tried calling you the other day, but your number was out of service or something.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I got a new phone and haven’t gotten around to texting everyone the new number, but I’d love to come! That sounds really fun,” Alaina smiled. She looked down at the cellphone in her pocket that was now vibrating. “I think that’s my dad. He probably thinks I’ve been kidnapped. I should go, but I’ll call you later, okay? I still have your number! It was nice to meet you--Mel, right?” Alaina waved before sauntering back in the direction she came from.

“Yeah. Mel,” Mel muttered after Alaina was already out of sight. She turned to Kelly and smacked her hard in the arm. “Was that what you didn’t want me to see? Alaina and her dad shopping in the supermarket? What did you expect me to do, run over and bow at his feet? I’m not crazy, you know," she scoffed.

Kelly sighed and rubbed her arm a little. “I know. I just didn’t want anything weird going down. Alaina’s my friend from high school, and I didn’t want anything to freak her out. You kept your cool around her, though. Well, mostly.” Kelly laughed. “I’m very impressed.”

“She’s just a girl, Kelly. She’s the daughter of my favorite rapper, but she’s just a girl. I wasn’t going to make her feel uncomfortable. I still can’t believe you prevented me from seeing him, though.” The last sentence came out somewhat like a whine.

“Oh, please. You’ll see him later tonight when he drops Alaina off at my house,” Kelly smiled and threw a box of Oreos into the cart.

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