Brian

“There’s too much drama in this house.” Brian said, reflecting on the night’s happenings. He and Rachel were sitting on the steps to the front porch of his apartment building. She had shown up and hour earlier and gotten tired of hanging out with “those losers” and demanded to go outside. She was obviously in a bad mood.

            “There’s too much drama in this house,” She said in an irritated tone. “And do you know why?”

            “Why is that?”

            “It’s because your lives are so dull and meaningless, that you have to create your own drama to make it appear more interesting.”

            Ouch. That hurt.

            “It gives you the illusion that your lives are actually worth living.” Rachel continued her rant. “All you guys do is sit around all day, drink beer, and play on your guitars.”

            “That’s not all we do.”

            “Yes, it is. But you just deny it to yourself. I mean, look at Marc. He’s a fucking drama queen. He will do whatever he can to get attention brought onto himself.”

            “That is not true.” Brian began to laugh.

            “Whether it’s positive or negative,” She continued. “It doesn’t matter to him. Attention is attention. He will lie, connive, or start a fight for no apparent reason. All this for attention, and to get people to start talking about him. He is so afraid that everyone will forget he’s there.”

            “You are just so sure of yourself, aren’t you?” Brian began laughing even harder. “I hate this house! I’m getting out of here as soon as I can!”

            “You are always talking about how badly you want to get out of this place. You cannot stand your roommate. You hate how you are living your life. You talk of living a better one, of owning your own house, and having car. But I don’t see you even attempting to reach that goal. It’s all just a dream to you, but you don’t realize how easy that dream is to reach. You could be out of this place and forget about these people in a matter of months!”

            “I just got fired from my fucking job, for chrissakes! Be easy on me, will ya?” Brian was steaming while he sat there. He wanted to walk upstairs to his apartment and leave her there. But he knew that if he did that, he would never see her again.

            “Yeah, you got fired for Oak Express, and I’m sorry for that.” She said, snotty. “But you didn’t save a penny while you worked there. You blew it all. I watched you. You got paid for two weeks worth of work, and all the money was gone within three days. Twelve hundred dollars spent in three days! It’s not like you pay rent or have bills to pay.”

            “I’m not always going to be like this!” Brian was now getting defensive.

            “It’s like you expect some rich relative to die and leave you their fortune. You’re not going to get out of here, unless you get off your lazy ass and actually start working at it. I’d rather be dating a guy who was living with his parents than a guy who lived like you.”

            “Then, why don’t you just leave then, if you hate my lifestyle so much!”

            “Believe me,” Rachel continued as she stood up and began searching her pockets for her keys. “I’m not materialistic, but I’d rather be with someone who actually has ambition.” With that, Rachel began walking toward her car. Brian sat there, trying to figure out what went wrong with the night.

            “I was just trying to make conversation!” He shouted after her. But it was too late. Rachel was already in her car. Without anything else to say, and wanting to have the last word, Brian chucked his beer bottle at her car as it drove away. The relationship was pretty much over anyway. The bottle, to Brian’s surprise, hit and broke her rear window. The car came in a screeching halt in the middle of the street. Not wanting to see Rachel’s wrath, Brian ran upstairs to his apartment and locked the door behind him. “Nobody open this door!”