Love Among the Pizza Boxes

I’m woken up by a banging on my door and Virginity barking like crazy.
I groan and roll off the couch, narrowly missing the poor little dog.
I walk over to the door, and as I open it, I realize I’m wearing nothing but boxers.
Great.
Even better – it’s Kairi.
“Hi, Riku,” she coos at me, and invites herself in.
Virginity is going berserk now.
And with good reason.
She doesn’t take kindly to bitchy sluts.
Nor does she like many women.
I know this because she never barks at the doorman, but if ever a lady that lives in the complex were to walk by, she’d have a conniption.
“What the hell’re you doing here?”
I’ve noticed that right when I wake up, I slur my words.
I leave the door standing wide open and I scoop Virginity up in one arm.
“I heard about you and Shayla,” she says as she leans over the arm of the couch, showing a fair amount of cleavage.
I set Virginity down by Kairi and my good little puppy attacks her boobs with her vicious puppy teeth.
“Oh yeah – sorry. Virginity doesn’t really like women.”
“Get it off me!”
It?
Ouch.
I pull Virginity off of Kairi and raise my eyebrows at her.
Kairi pulls her shirt up to cover the scratches.
“Anyways, I just came by to see how you’re holding up,” she tells me in a low voice, trying to sound sexy.
“Peachy,” I grumble at her.
Her face falls.
But she doesn’t say anything else.
“Why’d you do it?” I ask her.
Virginity squirms around a little.
“It just isn’t fair!” Kairi whines. She childishly throws her arms in the air as she speaks, then they flop down on the couch on either side of her. “If I can’t have you, why does she get to?”
Then she tries to kiss me again.
Sick ‘er, girl.
And I set Virginity down.
She attacks Kairi’s knees.
Kairi backs off, and so does Virginity. She’s sitting, waiting, watching. On my command, Virginity would do just about anything.
She’s a good little puppy.
“It’s just not fair,” Kairi whispers. Tears are in her eyes. I can’t tell if she’s faking it, or if she really is crying.
Then she stands up and leaves. And closes the door behind her.
And I don’t really know what triggered it.
I really don’t.
But a single tear fell from my face and landed on the arm of my couch.
“What the hell?”
I look down at the place where the tear fell, confused.
Virginity crawls up onto my chest and licks my face.
I hold her close with one arm.
Why wasn’t it fair?
She had Sora.
She had just about every other guy in the world.
Why did she need me?
….
I look at my bedroom door from my spot on the couch.
Shayla was in there this morning.
Shayla.
And that’s all I think about for a little while.
Her name, over and over.
My own form of self-mutilation.
Virginity licks behind my ear.
I smile a broken smile at her.
I scratch her behind her ears.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.”
Virginity nuzzles my face.
“You make me happy, when skies are gray.”
I look out my window at the sky.
It’s late at night.
The clouds never went away.
“You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.”
I look at the observatory.
Shayla, Shayla, Shayla.
Love.
Shayla.
Love.
Yup.
Virginity whimpers and licks my cheek.
“Please don’t take my sunshine away.”
I close my eyes.
My voice broke.
Shayla.
Love.
Virginity’s nose pokes my eyelid and she licks the tears from my eyes as they fall.
I’m crying.
I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.
But I am.
Because Kairi took my sunshine away.