The Anatomy of a Parody Heart

the end of the world

He can't afford a tux.

He doesn't want to tell Dan this. He can't tell Dan this.

He can't afford a tux.

Mum needs Robyn's money. Everyone needs Robyn's money. Running out now, because Mum won't let Robyn see Alex anymore. It annoyed Robyn, to begin with. 

Enzo figures it probably annoyed Alex, too.

Gem has a dress in her cupboard, an old dress, that she is wearing to prom. Robyn has a suit - Enzo checked - but Enzo is taller than Robyn. The sleeves end just past his elbows. 

Enzo tells himself that that is okay. That he will just have to go down to a second-hand shop, or a hospice, and buy one there. But hospices and second-hand shops don't sell tuxes.

Everyone knows that.

He can't tell Dan.

Enzo wonders whether it is too late, to pull out of prom. Whether Dan will be hurt.

I don't want to hurt you, Dan.

Of course he'll be hurt.

Of course he will.

Enzo sits down. Stands up. Paces the room.

The doorbell rings.

It's Dan. It must be Dan. And now Enzo has to tell him that he's not going to prom.

Now Enzo has to hurt him.

I don't want to hurt you, Dan. I don't want -

"Izzy?"

Enzo stands, in the doorway, frozen.

Izzy?

"I knew you would be here," says the traitor. "Mum always said - she said that only the end of the world could ever make her leave this house. R-remember?"

"You have no right," Enzo says. Whispers it, really. "You have no right to come here. You - "

"Oh my God." Izzy steps forward. Steps back. "Is that - are you - Enzo, is that a cannula?"

Enzo doesn't move. 

"Are you - are you ill?" Her eyes sparkle with tears. "Oh my God. I - I didn't - I didn't know. I - "

"Of course you didn't know," Enzo says, savagely. "You haven't been here for the last three years, remember?"

The traitor gulps. Bites her lip.

And that's when Enzo sees it.

The bag. In her hand.

The bag.

"So you're trying to buy your way back into our family, now, are you?" he says. Shouts it, really. "You think charity's going to work? Are you really that stupid? Are you really that frigging stupid?"

Except he doesn't say frigging.

Izzy has never heard Enzo swear before. Mum never allowed swearing in the house. 

Izzy blanches. Covers her face with her hands.

When she speaks, she speaks through her fingers.

"I'm sorry," she says. "Enzo, I'm so, so sorry. I just - I-I heard about the prom, and I - I - "

"You assumed that I wouldn't be able to afford anything? What - because I'm poor?"

"No," Izzy says. "No. I wanted to get you something - you know, for past birthdays, and I - well, I - I thought you would like it."

She opens the bag, at her feet. Pulls something out.

Enzo doesn't want to look at it. He doesn't want to see whatever stupid, rich, expensive thing she has bought him - he doesn't want to look.

He looks.

A tux. She has bought him a tux.

Of course she has.

It is smart and clean and tailored - she had it tailored? - black, with a black bow tie. Just how Dan wanted it.

Dan. Dan.

"How - how did you know?" Enzo hates how choked he sounds. "Who - who told you?"

Izzy looks puzzled. "Who told me what?"

"About the prom. About - this."

"No one, Enzo. No one told me - "

"Don't lie to me!" Enzo yells it at her - yells because he really, really needs to yell right now. "He told you, didn't he? He told you how poor I was, how - how my life is going to hell! He told you to buy me a tux!"

"I - I don't know who you're talking about, Enz, please - "

"Enzo?"

Robyn, coming down the stairs.

Robyn.

"Enzo, what - "

Robyn stops. Stares. 

Opens his mouth. Closes it.

Stares.

"Rob," the traitor whispers. "Rob." 

Bursts into tears.

Enzo doesn't look at his brother. Won't look at his brother.

"Get out of here," he tells Izzy. "Get out of here, and don't come back. Take your stupid charity present with you. I don't want it. I don't want it!"

"Enzo - "

"Get lost!"

Izzy sniffs, gulps. Takes one last look at Robyn, at Enzo. 

Enzo turns his eyes away. He won't watch her leave. He won't.

"What did she want?" Robyn says, after a moment. His voice is slightly strained.

Enzo stares at the road. The now-empty road. 

The Izzy-has-finally-gone road.

Sets his jaw.

"To break us."

"And did she?"

She left the tux.

Enzo looks away.

The stupid charity present.

Stupid - charity -

"No," he lies. "Never."

The beautiful, beautiful tux.