The Missing Piece

What He Does Best

Xavier woke up and rolled out of bed. He heads to his bathroom to start his morning business. He’s already late, but he’s in no hurry. Why should he be? Nobody has high expectations of him. He has nothing to live up to.

He arrives to school a period and a half late. He decides to just skip the rest of the class since he’s already missed half. He heads out back where he knows he’ll find he’ll find the people he calls his friends.

“There he is!”

His friends start exclaiming at his presence. He laughs along with them and lights up. He inhales and exhales. That’s what he was taught to do. He has no worries. He has no one to tell him right from wrong.

He has no one.

He pushes that last thought away and continues messing around with his friends. Before he knows it, he’s missed the whole day of school. Oh well. It’s not as if he was actually going to learn something in this place.

He heads home and is surprised to see that his father is actually home. He knows he’s in for it now.

He walks in with confidence. His father has no right to call him out. He was probably out all night at a bar.

“Where have you been, boy?”

He walks out. He doesn’t have time for this. Forget that man.

He heads over to his girl’s house. She’ll be there for him. She may be the only person he has.

He doesn’t bother knocking because he’s been here enough, it might as well be his second home. He heads up to her room. What he finds is something he wasn’t expecting. Although, he should have seen it coming. She was the one good thing in his life. Of course it was bound to end sooner or later.

“Xavier! It’s not what it looks like!”

He looks directly into the eyes he’s known since he was in diapers. Aiden. His best friend. Out of the people in the world, did it have to be his best friend?

He looks at her and smiles although he knows it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“By all means, don’t let me interrupt. Continue. I’m gunna bounce.”

He turns and storms out. He hears her crying and hears someone coming after him.

“Xavier! Look man. It’s not what it looks like..well it is. But just let us explain!”

Xavier is pulled to a stop and before he can stop himself he sends his fist flying. He feels it connect with Aiden’s jaw and immediately pain shoots up his hand, but he feels slight satisfaction at the sound of pain Aiden makes.

“What the fuck man?”

“That’s for sleeping with my girl.”

He turns and leaves. He starts walking to no where in particular. He has no idea where he’s going, but he just needs to get out of there. He ends up in front of a house. He has no idea who lives here, but as he looks through the window he can’t help but feel jealous. There’s a family. Parents with their daughter. She looks about his. He takes a second look at their house and notices that everything about this house seems too normal. Too typical. As if on cue he hears a commotion coming from inside the house. He looks at the man hit the woman and his fists clench. No man should ever hit a woman. He sees the man storm out and race away in his car. Inside, the woman is now yelling at the girl. She doesn’t even flinch. She just cleans and heads upstairs.

He suddenly feels like a creep and continues walking. But now he can’t get that picture out of his head. Who was that girl? She looked so.. broken. She put on a face, but he could see past it. He knew what it was like.

He decided to push his thoughts away and headed to his pal Trent’s house.

He knocked and waited for his friend to answer. Trent’s parents weren’t home. They wouldn’t be home for a couple of nights still as they had gone to a relatives wedding.

“Hey. What’s up man?”

“Can I crash here tonight?”

“Yeah sure. Everything alright?” he asked as he stepped aside so Xavier could come in.

“Yeah. I just wanted to get out of the house.”

For the next couple of hours they talked and messed around as if everything was okay. Xavier was a pro at this. He’d been doing it for so long. All of a sudden, Trent got a call.

“Hey man! What’s up?”

Xavier kept playing his video game as if nothing was happening.

“Woah. Chill out dude. Talk slower. What happened?”

Xavier suddenly tensed. He really hoped it wasn’t who he thought it was.

He suddenly looked over at Xavier with a look of confusion.

“Dude. Chill out. He’s at my place.”

Xavier curses and turns the game off. He starts heading for the door but before he get there he hears Trent calling out to him.

“Xav! Where you going man?”

“I don’t want to be anywhere near that prick.”

Trent looks shocked and tell Aiden he’ll call him back. Before he hangs up he also tells Aiden to keep his distance for now.

“You want to explain what the hell is going on?”

“Not really, but you’re not going to stop bitching until I tell.”

“Damn right. So you might as well get it over with.”

“Aiden slept with Daisy.”

Trent’s eyes widen. Trent knew how much Daisy meant to Xavier. Why would Aiden go and stab him in the back like that?

“Dude. That’s fucked up. Why would he do that?”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t exactly stick around long enough to ask him. I’ll be sure to get to that the next time one of my best friends sleeps with my girl.”

“No need to be an ass. I’m not the one who sle-“

Trent cuts himself off before he can finish. Xaiver glares at him, but deep down inside he knows it’s true.

Xavier turns to walk out, but he hears Trent calling his name again.

“Damn. Xav! I’m sorry. That was too far. Look. Just crash here tonight. Let’s get your mind off of things. I already told Aiden to stay away. You might as well just stay. We can blaze one up or drink it up.”

The thought of his best friend and girl in bed was enough to make his blood boil. He immediately headed up to Trent’s room and took out his hidden stash.

“Well I guess we’ve established that we’ll be blazing. Sure go ahead and help yourself. Thanks for asking.”

Xavier was too far gone to care. He’d pay Trent back. Right now, he just need to relax before he went insane.

As he was on his way to being completely gone, the girl in the too normal house crossed his mind. He wondered if she would ever cheat on a boyfriend with his best friend. He quickly pushed the thought away and went back to relaxing. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. It’s what he did best.