Collateral Damage

8

Alexander stared at his father's stony visage. It had been several years since the two had seen one another, and it was much too soon, in his opinion.

"You ruined my life," Alexander stated.

His father raised his brow and stared at him skeptically, crossing his arms. "How can I ruin your life, I wasn't even there?"

Alexander's chair rolled as he stood, its wheels scrapping across the linoleum.

"You know what, I'm done. Get out of my office."

The door slammed, leaving Alexander to heave a sigh and glance at the drawer. That drawer that held all the things related to her. An unexpected visit from his father reminded him of what he'd told her. That he wasn't capable of love. He wasn't. It wasn't something innately broken in him, he didn't think. It was broken over time, watching his parents flounder in a loveless, toxic marriage, his father somehow absent for every moment, and his mother's quiet indifference. He was birthed for a purpose, to patch the hole in their marriage and make it all alright.

He came out and didn't find a hole. They were split clean in two, torn at the seams, and there just wasn't anything he could do. He wasn't big enough to fix that. With no example of affection, intimacy, or love, Alexander had hardened over, becoming stone, just like his parents. 

That night, the night they'd had sex, Audrey had sat up and pulled the covers over her breasts. She'd looked at him. He'd had his arm under his head, relaxing.

Then, in silence, she sat up and edged away.

"This was really something," She said awkwardly, dressing. "Really...something. But I got an uber coming and I--"

He'd nodded and turned over. "Yeah okay. Text me when you get home."

Audrey had left quietly. And then it was just him staring at the wall. Now, recounting everything, he winced. He'd known it would be a terrible idea, and of course, it was, why hadn't he listened to himself when he was so often right?

Alexander stood, leaving his office, turning off the lights, and closing the door with a quiet thud. It was time to pick her up, of course. He simply refused to let her walk alone, even the few hundred feet back to her dorm. The drive was silent, Bruno Mars cooing in the background over another broken heart. Alexander's lips turned up when she came into view. 

She was in a skirt today, baby blue, and long sleeve shirt.

He rolled the window down.  "Your mommy sent me to pick you up," He grinned, opening the door. 

Audrey rolled her eyes, her hair flopping into her eyes as she got in. "Ugh, my mom's dead, you piece of shit."

Alexander raised his brows. "Is that why you're like that?"

Frowning, Audrey silently stuck her middle finger up. "Probably. What's your excuse, geezer?"

Alexander's nose wrinkled at the name but rolled away as she shut the door. "I'm rich. And yes, that's my excuse for everything, and no I'm not gonna change, and yes," he grinned revealing a dimple, looking over at her under the red glow of the stoplight. "Your tits do look great in that shirt."

"Disgusting," She scoffed, looking out the window.

He chuckled, zooming away from the light. "Learn anything today?"

"I learned that you look infinitely better when you shut the fuck up. What about you?" She offered a strained grin. 

Alexander raised his brows. "I learned that you think an uber and a taxi are interchangeable terms and they're not. An uber is an uber from the uber app and a taxi is a taxi. So you're not very bright."

"Blow me. When I was nine my dad sat me down, on his lap. He said: you're not very pretty and you're not very bright so you'd better work hard."

Alexander frowned deeply, looking over at her. She seemed nonplussed about the memory, shrugging lightly.

"If you think your inaccurate summation of taxi politics was gonna hurt my feelings you're as stupid as your haircut." Her eyes narrowed, basking in her triumph.

He touched his hair sensitively. "You love my haircut."

"Well according to you, I'm not very bright," She responded simply, resting her jaw on her fist as she looked out the window. 

Of course, their back and forth was a ploy to ignore the real elephant in the room: the fact they'd had sex and we're both absolutely miserable about it. Alexander debated bringing it up but decided it was like a nuclear code--all it could be used for was mutual destruction, which really rendered it null and void. His usual scathing replies left a lot to be desired, in Audrey's opinion, seeming weak, all the bite sucked out of them.

"So then...are we just gonna dance around it?" He offered finally, parking outside her dorm, her hand freezing on the handle with a loud groan.

"No, white men can't dance. We had sex, you sucked, it's over, case closed. Gotta go, asshole."

Alexander scoffed. "I sucked? You barely moved. Sucking is 100% more effort than what you did which was nothing." 

Audrey shot him a withering glare. "I showed up and that's all you're gonna get from me. You got participation, and when I was growing up, that's an accomplishment. It's called a participation award. Congrats."

"When you were growing up," He echoed, with a skeptical scoff. "Aren't you 12?"

"What does that make you if I were? Because if I'm 12, that makes you a pedo, and I'm not gonna sit here and get lectured by a pervert."

"Okay," he scoffed. "You're further reiterating--"

"YoU'rE fUrther--" She mocked him, moving her hands wildly. "Literally, shut the fuck up."

Alexander's lips creased into a thin line, as he blinked at her astonished, and utterly annoyed. Then he cleared his throat. "I sense I've struck a nerve."

"Well that's the only nerve you struck," She grinned disingenuously. "Thanks for the ride douchebag." She got out, shutting the door behind her.

He rolled the window down. "Your tits do look great in that shirt!" He shouted.

She stuck her middle finger up. He chuckled.

"Hey, Audrey?"

She stopped, looking back at him expectantly.

"I gotta pee," He said simply. "She rolled her eyes.

"Come in. Dogs go on the mat."