Mercedes heard beeping sounds and heavy breathing as she was waking up. She also felt the weight of someone on her and the familiar smell of zest soap. She looked down and saw her boyfriend peacefully sleeping on her right side. She smiled to herself, but then she remembered why she was in the hospital and was suddenly overwhelmed with the guilt of having put him through this.

She slowly begins to move him so he would wake up. "Sam, babe.. hey Sam." Sam head flings up he almost falls out the bed. He looks down into the eyes of his beautiful girlfriend and he feels the tears well up in his eyes. "Mercedes!" He screams out falling back onto her chest and giving her the best hug he could.

Mercedes just smiles and returns the hug. "Hey baby, I…"

"What the hell were you doing on a treadmill?" he says as he sits up. Mercedes doesn't look him in the eye and opens her mouth to explain but her parents and the doctor walk in.

"Baby girl! Her dad says with a huge grin on face and comes running toward the bed.

Sam slides off as Mr. Jones almost picks Mercedes off the bed in a hug. As he lets go Mercedes sees the tears in his eyes. "Daddy, Im okay."

"I know baby, I know. Im just happy to see those beautiful brown eyes of yours."

Mrs. Jones comes to her daughters side and gently kisses her forehead. Mercedes knows that her mom is angry at her but is trying to withhold her questioning till later.

Its then that Mercedes begins to feel a pain at the back of her head and realizes that she has an excruciating headache.

"Ms. Jones, do you remember what happened?", the doctor asked with a slight accent. She looks away and finds her blue blanket very interesting.

" Dr. Kairu is waiting for you answer sweetheart," her mother said through slightly gritted teeth. "He has other patients to see."

Mr. Jones shot his wife a look, which she ignored.

"I...decided to do a little exercising before I went to bed, that's all. I was just doing a little power walking and must have slipped." Mercedes was praying that her parents and the doctor would leave it at that. She was doing well with her diet plan, she was lowering her caloric intake each day by 50 calories and she was trying to burn twice as much as she ate. She had gotten down to 750 calories a day with a goal of 500. She got her ideas from researching the thinspiration blogs on the internet. She knew that these girls knew how to drop weight quickly. She had no choice. Mercedes felt like she was losing the best thing to have ever happened to her. Sam cared for her greatly, telling her that he liked the way she was but growing up her mother always told her that men want a woman that looks good and keeps herself together. As the relationship progresses she needs to keep up with the younger women around her. "That's why most men cheat ya know," her mother would say, "men are always looking for the next younger, thinner woman to walk their way."

Mercedes was shaken from her thoughts by Dr. Kairu, "Uh, Ms. Jones? Did you hear my last question?"

"Oh, no I'm sorry sir I didn't hear you." Mercedes gave him a wary smile.

"I asked if you were on any kind of diet."

DAMN.

Mercedes eyes shot up to her mother and her mom smiled down at her and rubbed her hand gently.

"Are you dieting, baby?" she asked. Mercedes furrowed her brow at her mother for a split second before answering the doctor.

"Oh!..uh..no sir." She could feel Sam's eyes burning a hole in her forehead. Dammit, why did he have to be her best friend. He could see straight through the b.s. that was spilling out her mouth right now.

"Are you sure baby girl? Cuz Ive noticed a quite bit of weight loss these past couple weeks." Her dad asked with a tilted head and questioning eye.

"Honey, have you noticed anything?" he glances up at his wife to see her shrug her shoulders.

"I haven't noticed any weight loss in her." She said quickly.

Feeling the slight tension in the room, Dr. Kairu explains why he asked, "Well, Ms. Jones I asked because we ran a full blood panel on you and we noticed that you were lacking on certain vitamins and minerals and if you hadn't had slipped you would have been in here for worse reasons. So make sure you take a multi vitamin and eat healthy foods." And with that Dr. Kairu was gone.

Sam sat there the whole time glaring at Mercedes, "What is she hiding from me? And what the hell was that look she gave her mom when the doctor asked about the diet foolishness," he thought.

Mrs. Jones then cleared her throat and asked if she could speak to Mercedes alone. Her father began to object, but his wife cut him off with a quick, "Girl talk," response.

Sam begrudgingly got up from his chair and followed Mr. Jones out of the room. Sam respected Mr. Jones so much. He was strict but loving with his son, Mason and Mercedes. Mason was four years older than Mercedes so he was in college. Sam thought to himself that he wanted to be a mix of his own dad and Mr. Jones. A pushover at times like his dad, but be able to put you in your place when the time came like Mr. Jones.

"Mercedes, what the hell were you doing on the treadmill at that hour?" her mother asked with a sharpness in her tone that made Mercedes cringe. " I specifically told you to only do forty five minutes, what on earth have you been doing?"