Addicted to Donuts.

“I was downing two a day for a while!” she screamed as her hands forced her curly blond bangs back behind her ear. “Are you serious?” I asked with a face of bewilderment because there was no way this skinny girl before me could eat two donuts a day. “Yes,” she said, exasperated. “I’m serious. I get one on the way to chem class and one on the way back from physics; every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, trying to add up the calories per donut and do the math. Her metabolism must be faster than the speed of sound. “So, that’s why you gave them up for lent?” I asked. She rolled her eyes, twirled her wiry hair around her finger and said, “yes. I need to stop eating them before I gain four hundred pounds.” Typical Leigh, always exaggerating, I thought. This was just like the time she swore she would not buy another pair of sparkly sandals, because she already had six and any more seemed ridiculous.

A few days past since our conversation and we were in the dining hall. Our trays overflowed with pasta, salad, French fries, cookies and all other collegiate dining hall staples. I left the table to get more water and saw two of my friends from calculus class. We chatted for a few minutes in the middle of the chaos of the dining hall and then I returned to our table. “Apparently I had homework in my calculus class I didn’t know about,” I said and waited for Leigh’s usual snort and remark about how if I remember anything, it’s a miracle. But she was staring off into space until I said, “Leigh. What are you thinking about?” Before she could give me an answer, I turned towards her and saw traces of cinnamon sugar on her lips. Then I looked down at her hands, propped up on her tray because they were covered in glaze and she was preventing it from getting on her clothes. Finally, I see rainbow sprinkles littering her tray. “Leigh!” I yell, “did you eat three donuts while I was gone??” She wiped off her lips and fingers with several napkins and shrugged, “it’s Sunday, let’s just pretend today is a mini-Easter, ok?”