Love Among the Pizza Boxes

…
…
I sit straight up.
Where am I?
…
This is not my house.
This is not a fountain either.
I look around.
White walls.
There’s a dresser.
That’s it.
I look down at myself.
Whew- I’m wearing clothes.
…
These aren’t my… clothes.
Oh crap.
Where am I?
I stand up and ignore my head that’s throbbing life a mofo.
The pants I’m wearing fall down.
I try and pull them back up but they’re too big.
So I just kick them off and continue to search around the bedroom. I spy with my little eye… A lamp on the bureau.
I unplug it and grab the lamp. I hold it and swing it like a baseball bat a few times.
I nod grimly and walk to one of the doors.
I gently poke it open.
It’s a closet.
Great. Wrong door.
I go to the other one and push it open slowly without making a sound.
It opens to a hallway with a door at one end and an opening to a larger space on the other. I go towards the larger area.
I tiptoe out and see a hulking shape snoring on the couch.
I grip the lamp tighter and peer over the back of the couch. “-You!”
Him!
And then he falls off the couch and kinda screams.
Then he scrambles to his feet. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah. So? Why would you care? Why would you even care if I was alive?!”
Ugh! He’s such a pig. He’s sleeping on the couch that he… Ugh!
I drop the lamp and glare at him.
It’s a good glare.
I know because I practiced it in the mirror.
He seems very confused. “What do you mean, why would I care? Why wouldn’t I care? You’re my girlfriend.”
“Yeah. About that. Not anymore. You…” I shake my finger at him.
And then I feel like I’m going to cry so I try and get angry again.
So I hop over the back of the couch and slap him.
He kinda grunts at the contact. Then he rolls his tongue along the inside of his cheek.
“Ouch.” Then he slowly looks at me again. “What was that for?”
He looks like a little boy who just found out there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.
And then I laugh at him. It’s a mean laugh. I don’t like it. “You should know.” I sneer at him. “You couldn’t just have me. No. You had to have Kairi too! You are such a pig! I can’t even look at you!” So I look away and glare at my feet.
“What? Kairi?” He blinks a couple times. Then his eyes widen a bit. “… Shit.” He runs a hand down his face. “Shit, shit, shit! No. Shayla, no. I’ve got some serious explaining to do, I guess.”
Yeah. Yeah he does. “Yeah. You do.” I try and look up again, but I can’t. So I keep my head down.
He kinda sighs. “She came to my house a few days ago and tried to kiss me. But I pushed her away and she got mad and left. End of story.”
I look up at him now. I’m so pissed. So pissed I’m gonna cry. “…And why should I believe you?” My voice cracks on the ‘you’ part and I grit my teeth.
Is he lying? I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.
“Because I would never lie to you, Shayla. Why would you believe Kairi?”
…
Why?
“Because there’s a thing called ‘girl code’.” And now I sound stupid.
“Girl code…” And that’s all he says.
“… I have to go,” I say.
“No, Shayla – don’t.” He grabs my wrist.
I look at my wrist. And I shake his hand off. And then I look at him. Right in the eyes with laser precision. “Don’t touch me again.”
He looks right back at me, hurt in his eyes, and doesn’t do anything.
It’s hard to look at him.
It’s hard to turn away.
It’s hard to look down at myself and realize I’m not wearing pants.
“Where are my clothes?”
…
He changed my clothes.
…
I’m so disgusted right now.
He used those same hands to hold her.
How dare he?
And I grit my teeth even harder and squeeze my eyes shut and hope everything will be gone when I open them.
I hope that Riku never existed.
That I didn’t like pizza.
That this whole damn place didn’t exist so I wouldn’t have to be here.
He gestures with one hand to the first door in the hallway. “In the bathroom.”
And I turn and go in.
My clothes are in the bathtub.
I close the door.
Change into the damp clothes.
And I go into the hallway.
I walk past Riku on the way out and I shake my head.
And then I shut the door behind me.
And I’m going to be okay.
Be fine.
Be… Anything but what I am right now.
And so I walk downstairs, past the doorman and onto the street.
It’s overcast.
There’s a kid crying on the street corner.
She’s got a scraped knee.
A little boy walks over to her and helps her up.
She stops crying.