One Love

Hearing Audio say all those nasty things about me really got to me. I left the room as if I was mad but otherwise didn't care, but in reality it completely broke my heart. I knew that what I was doing with other guys wasn't morally right or even ideal. I knew it wasn't something I should be doing and I really wanted to stop, but having Audio tell me how much it made me a bad person was the biggest slap in the face.

I sat in the kitchen where there was only one light on. It was just enough light for me to eat ice cream out of the tub. As I was shoveling endless spoonfulls of ice cream into my mouth, I thought about everything that Audio had said to me including the part about the feelings he had for me. The first part was a slap in the face, of course, but him having feelings for me was out of the blue and took me completely by surprise. I had no idea if I felt the same way. I loved Audio. I knew that much. I cared for him a lot and if anyone ever tried to touch him in an ill-mannered way, God knows I'd try to kill them. But the thought of loving him the other way had never crossed my mind.

I sighed, crossing the kitchen and entered the living room. I turned on the television as I scooped ice cream up to my mouth, but I honestly wasn't paying any attention to the tv. I just saw shapes and heard noises, but I couldn't tell you what I saw.

Once I was nearly half way done with the tub of ice cream, my phone lit up by my side as it received a text message.

Where are you? The text read. It was from one of my buddies. I threw the phone to the other end of the couch now more upset with myself than with Audio. Of course Audio hated me. Why wouldn't he? I'm supposed to be here supporting him and protecting him, but I'm still receiving messages from fuck buddy friends.

Before I let myself get too upset over how stupid I was, I called out for Audio. No answer. I tried again, but he still didn't answer. I stood up getting a little annoyed that he was ignoring me after what he had just said to me. I walked back to the bedroom and stood in the doorway looking at the lump in the bed sheets.

"Audio," I breathed, "We should really talk. I'm sorry for making you feel like I only care about my buddies. The truth is that I actually care about you way more. They're what I do to fill up my spare time. If Andy didn't always make you go home so early, I probably wouldn't have any spare time to worry about those other guys." I moved closer to the bed. "Audio, please answer me." As I sat down, the bundle of sheets fell into a flattened mess. Full of anger that I just expressed my feelings to a pile of sheets, I punched the bed and searched the rest of the apartment for Audio.

To no avail. He was nowhere to be found.

Without wasting any time, I dashed out to where the guards were and notified them of Audio's being missing. They appeared startled and dissatisfied. "How? We've been standing here the whole time!" one of them said under their breath.

Once they decided to go out searching for him, I demanded to go with one of them. I knew Audio better than any of them and there was no way they could argue with that, so one of the guards stayed behind in case Audio came back.

As we cruised through the streets, I kept my eyes peeled for Audio's figure. Of course, though, there was hardly anyone outside at this time of night and when there was a person every now and then, it definitely wasn't him. We drove a few blocks further until we noticed a crowd of people going every which way and hanging around every corner. I asked to get out of the car to question some people.

I walked up to person after person showing them a picture of Audio and I on my phone that we had taken weeks earlier. Many people were disinterested or just simply had not seen him. Some assholes just completely ignored my plea for help and information.

We kept moving through the crowd, asking everyone who would listen, but no one recognized my best friend's face. We reached the end of the crowd and I thought that I had lost Audio forever until I came across a homeless guy sitting on a bench. He had long gray hair and a long gray beard. His clothes were ratty and he was filthy from head to toe. He had clearly been homeless for some time and I figured he'd be so out of it that he wouldn't even know what time of day it was, but I gave it a shot anyway.

"Oh, yes. I talked to him about an hour ago. Nice young boy. He's been going through a tough time and we - "

"Where did he go?" I interrupted him once I was sure he was telling the truth.

"He said he was going to the train station."

"To go where?" I asked.

"I don't know. He didn't say. He just said he really needed to be there."