People Change

Brian roughly rubbed his right eye and winced. Sydney had somehow managed to give him quite the shiner when she punched him before storming over to her car. It hadn’t started to appear until that afternoon, and now it was itching and hurting as per usual. Brian suddenly realized how alone he truly was. He didn’t have a girlfriend to hang out with in the evenings; he didn’t have a best friend to call up and make arrangements with to meet at Johnny’s Bar. All he had now was himself and his television, the former being a companion he really wasn’t feeling like being with at the moment.

Brian heard a fist tapping at his front door. He sighed and switched the television off before unfolding himself from the couch, feeling ten years older all of a sudden. He dragged himself over to the door and pulled it open, becoming suddenly very alert once he found Jimmy standing on his doorstep, those damned storm clouds still very present in the ice blue eyes.

“I think we need to talk,” Jimmy said very slowly, forced calm framing every syllable. Brian nodded silently and stepped back to let Jimmy in. He glanced at Brian’s black eye with a look of contempt that looked very strange on Jimmy before walking into Brian’s house. He stationed himself in the center of the living room, turning around to look at Brian as he closed the front door. Neither of them sat down, preferring to stay standing and staring at each other from across the room.

“What did you want to talk about?” Brian asked carefully, controlling his tone so he wouldn’t upset Jimmy further. This could end very badly if he didn’t say the right things in the right way.

“Your version of what happened yesterday,” Jimmy answered. “And take as long as you want. I want to primed to punch you as hard across the face as I can once you’re finished.”

Normally, Brian would’ve found that statement of Jimmy’s highly amusing. When it was his face on the line, however, it wasn’t so funny. Brian took a deep breath and launched into a story that was bound to have a very upsetting ending, at least for Brian.

“I happened to run into Michelle about a week ago,” Brian began. “I hadn’t really seen her around since the break-up, and she was the one to approach me first. She told me she’d been thinking about our relationship lately. She wanted to maybe try to rekindle the old flame of our relationship. I agreed to meet with her and didn’t tell her about Sydney. I thought one meeting wouldn’t hurt, at least to catch up with each other. It would be like meeting up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. I saw no harm in it.

“When we met up at the mall, though, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it down to just one meeting. I love Sydney, but there’s just something about Michelle. I felt a spark that I hadn’t felt with Sydney, and I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. Before I knew what I was doing, I was kissing Michelle. I couldn’t stop myself; it felt as though there was a magnet pulling us together and I couldn’t fight it. But then Sydney caught us. She slapped me and I left Michelle and ran after Sydney. Then, she punched me; this is the result.” He pointed at his black eye. “I let her go and went back to Michelle. I told her who Sydney was and then left. Forty minutes later, you called me and told me Sydney was in a car crash.”

“That’s the whole story?” Jimmy asked, his arms folded across his chest.

“The whole story.”

“The truth?”

“I have no reason to lie.”

For several moments, Jimmy just stared. And for a moment, Brian thought maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t get punched over this.

He thought too soon.

Moving faster than Brian ever thought possible, Jimmy took one long stride towards Brian, cocked back a fist, and slammed it hard into Brian’s nose. Brian stumbled back, hitting the wall behind him and clutching his nose. Warm scarlet blood dripped out of both nostrils, and he tried to stem the flow as Jimmy went to punch him again. Brian dodged the punch, ducking and jumping out of the way when Jimmy tried to kick him. He lost his balance and slid sideways against the door. Jimmy pulled back another fist and gave Brian a black left eye to match the one he already had.

Brian pinched his nose and stumbled away from Jimmy as he stood glaring at him and breathing heavy like a bull that was very pissed off at a dancing rodeo clown.

“Sydney put all her trust into you, asshole!” Jimmy yelled, advancing one step towards Brian. Brian stood his ground, torn between trying to show no fear and getting the hell out of the range of Jimmy’s long arms. “I warned and warned her about your wavering faithfulness, but she still trusted you completely! And what the fuck do you do? YOU GO AND KISS YOUR EX!”

“I...I...” Brian, usually such a smooth talker, couldn’t think of one thing to say to defend himself. Jimmy was right, and Jimmy knew Brian knew Jimmy was right.

“Maybe Sydney should go find Carl and make out with him!” Jimmy bellowed, pointing vaguely towards the street. “Then at least you two would be even! You broke her fucking heart, Brian! You stabbed her straight in the back, too! Still smug as hell, aren’t you?”

“Of...Of course not!” Brian exclaimed, even though he knew Jimmy probably wouldn’t listen. Obviously, it was the wrong time to speak, because within seconds Jimmy strode over to Brian and slapped him upside the head. Brian stumbled, nearly tripping over his own two feet. Jimmy spun, sticking out his leg at the exact same time, knocking both of Brian’s legs out from beneath him. He landed hard on his side on the carpet, still clutching his nose, which surely had to be broken.

But even Brian knew he deserved every last punch, slap, and kick he received, and more.

“At least your face is easy to fix. Sydney’s broken heart...not so much,” Jimmy spat before turning and striding out of Brian’s house. He slammed the front door behind him so hard one of the framed pictures on the wall fell, landing on the carpet with a muffled thud.

After a few moments, Brian struggled to his feet and went into the kitchen to clean his face up. As he washed the blood from his nose off of his hands and face, Brian got an image of him standing by helplessly as Jimmy stomped around on the fractured pieces of his world, shattering them with every stomp of his Converse.

And the worst part was that Brian knew he deserved it.