Killing Distance.....................Dear Mella 9

December 11, 20071

To my best, dearest friend Mella, 2

First of all, if by 'in a few days' you mean 'in twelve days', sure! Unless I'm horribly mistaken, your birthday is on the 19, so hopefully this letter will get there on your birthday, give or take a day or two. I'm dearly sorry if it's late, you know the mail system in this world, although they did get your letter delivered surprisingly quick. There must be a good omen on my side. Second of all...3

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY!!! Yes, that second day was intentional. I wish you happiness forever, good fortune and a quick patch up with Aspen. (more on that later)4

I'm so excited to see you in D.C. for Christmas break! Moreover, I'm also excited to meet Aspen (he'd BETTER be coming), have you meet my Cimon, and see my mom and my sister... I hope my dad doesn't plan a surprise visit like he did last year. Life is so much easier when he's not in the same country as me, but as that will be unavoidable, at least he'll be all the way on the other side of America. Well, I think I'll have a rather enjoyable Christmas with all the people I love most, unless something goes horribly askew in our plans and he comes to visit...5

Well, a birthday is a happy occasion so I won't think about that for now. How is it going with Aspen? If I know you (and if anyone knows you, it's me) then I'm guessing you were totally overreacting about a not too big a deal. I bet by the time you're reading this you and him are back together partying it away. If not, if he did anything more to hurt you, kindly let him know that he has a vicious 18-year old girl gathering up nuclear warheads and preparing to hunt him down. I have a nasty vendetta, especially when it comes to friends, and I am NOT afraid to use it. As it is, he's already hurt you, so he has something nasty coming to him either way. I'll try not to be too brutal when I see him (like I said, he's coming, isn't he?).6

Everything is pretty much the same here. Hardly anything worth mentioning after the hour I spent talking to you on the phone last week. It's been snowing and raining on and off the last week or so, which was cool I guess, no pun intended... The snow was really soggy and gross though, and everything was generally gray and miserable, not like the winter rains we have back home. Well, not that D.C. isn't gray and miserable in the winter, but you get the gist. Worst part is, what was left of the weekend's snow melted away into sickly looking puddles this morning, so now everything is all muddy, the streets are a depressing shade of brownish gray and it's just generally not a pretty day to go outside, not that it has been any day this week.7

Cimon and I spent all weekend cooped up inside keeping ourselves amused through various improv games we played with Zoe and David who slept over one of the days because of how wet it was outside and their lack of motivation to walk four blocks to their place. Despite his occasional serious undertones, David is really fun when he's in a good mood and is a born actor, though he denies it.8

Whoops, sorry about that random spot right there -->9

Cimon and I made pizza after class because we both had an odd urge for Italian food. As you know, I'm a rather messy eater... 10

We also played a game introduced to us by Zoe called the random question game. It's kinda like truth or dare, cept minus the dare which I thought was pretty lame at first, but it turned out to be exceedingly fun as you can ask anyone any question and they can't chicken out. I found out a lot about Cimon and my friends... For one thing, Cimon's parents named him after Simon and Garfunkel, which was their favorite band. I thought that was absolutely wicked as I love Simon and Garfunkel, especially Dust in the Wind and Cecilia, but I guess everyone loves those two. He said that when we get back from D.C. we're taking a little road trip to see his parents, who live in northern England. Apparently we're renting a car and driving there so I can see the sights along the way, and as Cimon grew up ultra British and has never touched a car, I get to drive. Whoopidee doo. Really not looking forward to that, I hate driving for long periods of time, and I'm completely out of practice. 11

Anyway, some other interesting things I found out about Cimon: If he could be any animal he would be an owl simply because he thinks it's awesome to have huge yellow eyes and turn your head all the way around. The most embarrassing thing to ever happen to him is when he jumped off the high dive and lost his trunks somewhere in the pool and they sunk to the bottom so he had to run to the towel place and wait completely naked until he got a towel. I asked him why he didn't just ask someone to bring him one and wait in the pool, but apparently he didn't really care. He says he doesn't get embarrassed easily so he didn't really find that very bad, but I asked for MOST embarrassing, so it worked. His favorite food is Indian, which totally rocks. I adore Indian. He admitted a ton of hilarious stuff which I'll have the courtesy not to write in this letter, but pretty much it was fun.12

Later on, Zoe and David started getting all intimate on us so Cimon and I went outside for a little while. It wasn't raining too hard, but it was enough to put a nice shiver into me. We went to stand under a tree and he pulled me really close to keep me warm. I remember the moment beautifully: he looked at me with his warm eyes, water running down his face slowly, then he moved some wet hair off my forehead and whispered, "I love you, Clarissa Diego Winfrey." Then he kissed me, and I could tell it was one of those super extra romantic kisses because of how soft and perfect it was. Suddenly it wasn't so cold anymore. That was probably the best moment of my life, standing under a freezing tree in the pouring rain, kissing the love of my life. The kiss was long, and I paused in the middle to whisper in his ear, "I love you too, with all my heart. You're the first person to ever make me feel this way." He later admitted that I'm the first person he's ever felt this way about, and the same thing was happening with me. 13

So in one sentence, he brightened up the bleak, uneventful week. Cimon. My one and only love.14

Sorry about that last part, sounded like an excerpt from some cheesy romance novel. Except now it's my life, and this is now, baby, this is the real thing.15

I really do love Cimon... so much, it makes my heart ache just thinking about him. He's in the other room, but even so I feel too far apart from him. 16

Well, this letter's coming to a close. I just want nothing more than to go hold Cimon in my arms right now, but trust me girl, you're right behind him in my thoughts! Once again, I wish you the happiest of birthdays, and I hope you and Aspen are together good as new. I just know you will be.17

Enjoy your present! I painted the one in the big package wrapped in sketches and ribbons myself. The the other one... well, I just knew you'd love it.18

See you soon!19

In love,20

Clarissa Diego Winfrey21

AKA your best friend Clay22

P.S. I love you! Don't think this Cimon-crazy stage will stop me from missing you one tiny bit!