I Didn't Know I Could Break Your Heart

All Tyler could remember was an unspeakable rage that filled his soul. He grabbed Marrietta's arm and half-led, half-dragged her down the street, unable to register that he was hurting her more than Rudy had with one little hit. His vision was blurred, not from tears, but from an anger so strong it turned everything red. The image of Rudy's face was burned into the back of the eyelids so that every time he blinked his petulance grew.

Blink. That bastard's gonna pay. Blink. How dare he touch her? How dare he get near enough to touch her, let alone slap her? Blink. That son of a bitch knew what this would do to me. He knew. Blink. When I see his face, I am going to kill him with my bare hands.

Tyler slammed through the front doors of the building, breaking the locks as he pushed on them. Alarms blared but the sound only mixed in with the unbearable agony of the blood pounding against his brain. He knocked sharply on Rudy's door, knowing fully well he was home since it was too early for him to be out hitting on girls and too late for him to be harassing the girl's at Hooters.

The door rattled on its hinges. It teased Tyler everytime he banged on it, threatening to fall down but never succeeding in doing so. The lock on the other side clicked and the doorknob turned. Before the door was even completely open, Tyler punched Rudy in the face.

He let go of Marrietta's arm and kicked his former best friend in the chest. Rudy groaned and Tyler shouted, "Get up! Get up you piece of shit and fight me!"

Rudy opened his eyes and squinted. "What the fuck?" He moaned out, "Tyler, I know you're certifiably insane and no doubt in some states you'd have been arrested for being a stalker probably eighty-seven times, but what... the... fuck?"

Pushing off of the floor, Rudy stood up, rubbing his jaw, "Punching me in the face is not cool. I'm not famous for the home runs I hit; I'm famous for my gorgeous mug!" He glared at Tyler angrily and added, "What the fuck was that for?"

"What the fuck was that for? What the fuck was that for? If you don't know what the fuck it was for, then I'm not gonna tell you!" Tyler yelled, taking another swing at Rudy.

This time he was ready for it and deflected the punch easily. He grabbed his friend's arm and twisted it downwards, causing Tyler to let out a slight moan of discomfort. "Dude," Rudy said, placing his other hand on his friend's shoulder, "You're going to tell me what the hell this is about or-"

His eyes locked with Marrietta's and he swore colourfully. Marrietta winced slightly. She had been mad at Rudy, but he had not hurt her that much. He could have swung a lot harder and done a lot more damage than the little bruise that he had made. Seeing him look at her so desperately made her sad and she reached for Tyler.

"It's okay, really," She whispered, "Rudy didn't really do anything other than slap me. You know he could have hurt me a lot worse than he did." Grabbing Tyler's arm, she tried to pull him back slightly, but he was stronger. With a sigh, she said, "Tyler, please, just... leave him alone."

"No!" Tyler exclaimed angrily, "I'm just supposed to let him get away with hitting you? Is that what I'm supposed to do? Let this guy beat on you just because you don't think it hurts you? Well, I'm sorry, but no asshole, especially not one of this high a calibre, gets to beat on my girlfriend without paying for it!"

"For the love of god, she's not your girlfriend!" Rudy cried, exasperated. He looked at Tyler with sad, tired eyes and added, "She hasn't been your girlfriend for eight years, shit head. I don't care what the fuck your twisted mind thinks, she hasn't been yours for eight years!"

Tyler spat on Rudy's arm and he let go to wipe it on his sleeve. As soon as he did that, Tyler took a swing at his stomach and hit hard. Rudy groaned and Tyler hissed, "If she wasn't my girlfriend, she was still what I needed, what I wanted. I was still the one protecting her because if I wasn't, who was?"

"Oh, I don't know," Rudy mused with as much sarcasm as he could muster, "Maybe me? I mean, it would make sense since I'm the one who was actually her boyfriend."

"What kind of bull-headed piece of shit do you take me for?"

Rudy licked his lips as if he were bored with this entire conversation. "Apparently I take you for a smarter bull-headed piece of shit then you are," Tyler moved to shove him, but he dodged the blow easily, "You should really listen to your friends more, dude, because I told you she found me."

"Fuck," Tyler hissed angrily, "Fuck! What is wrong with you? Why the hell would you doing something like that to me? Lecturing me about being a good friend? Maybe you should look in a mirror sometime, asshole!"

"Hey, hey, hey! I was fucking her before I even met you!" Rudy exclaimed, knowing fully well that that probably was not the best thing he could have said, but he went with it anyways, "And then when you tried to kill yourself just because you saw she was happy, I never touched her again! Until, well... about a week ago. But that's a different story."

"Like hell it is!" Tyler spat again. He was beginning to feel dizzy from all the new information that was being thrown at him. Looking up, his blue eyes met Rudy's and he hissed, "You know what? It doesn't matter. I don't want to know your story. I don't want to know why you hit her or what you did to her to make her want you. You're dead to me."

He turned and started down the hall. Rudy stepped out of his apartment and yelled, "You piece of shit! I hit her so she'd go back to you! I broke up with her so she'd go back to you! I'm such an asshole because I'm trying to protect you, you son of a bitch!"

Tyler kept walking as if nothing had happened. Sighing, Rudy turned back to his apartment, but he froze when he saw Marrietta. She inhaled deeply and he nodded at her, smiling slightly. As the door to his apartment closed, she turned the other way and headed after Tyler.