Picture Frame
@theknifedaddy
“You think I don’t know that?!” The response had been immediate. There was no hesitation in his voice. No question. He knew very well that the strain that had been growing between him and Craig was his fault. All because Robert had been doing a shit job at working on his relationship with existence. All because the Xanax that he had kept hidden from himself for so long had called out his name in a sweet Aria.
He knew that he had fucked up, and he knew that he would keep fucking up. There was no avoiding it. The real question was how the hell could Craig keep doing this to himself?
“Fucking asshole,” he snarled, kicking over an end table by the couch. A lamp shattered and a plastic black ashtray scattered its contents across the dark wood floor. The quick clicking of sharp little toenails filtered into his ears as Betsy ran upstairs to hide. “You can’t put this shit on me, though, you hear? You knew from the get go what kind of shit you were dealing with, and you know what? Your dumb ass decided ‘hey, let’s just go for it!’ YOLO or whatever the fuck you spoiled frat boys say!”
He sighed heavily, like a angry bull, and he leaned down to pick up a picture frame, occupied by a photograph of Robert and Craig and the girls. He chucked it at the other man, seeing nothing but red. “Now get the fuck out of my house, before I fuck you up, too!”
Craig took a shaky breath as he kicked the table over, doing his best to stay steady through it all. He could do this. He could grit and bear it, but then Robert had to bring up the Frat Boy section of his life and his heart dropped. Robert knew the shit that he went through in college, the pain and the scars he got from being a ‘spoiled frat boy’. He didn’t have to bring it up like it was something that didn’t bring up bad memories.
But then he grabbed the frame and Craig shielded himself from the object. The frame shattered to the ground, glass going every which way from the force of the throw. His body froze as Robert yelled at him, coming to terms that Robert threw something at him with the intent of hurting him.
He took a shaky breath when his body learned how to move again and leaned down to the frame. dusting away the shattered glass and broken wood from the picture within. That was such a nice day, too.. The girls had won a really tough softball game and the five of them went out for some shitty pizza and a trip to the arcade. It was.. one of the happiest moments Craig could remember. He remembered laughing, remembered holding hands with Robert in public and dragging him to a photobooth so they could take silly couple pictures like some high school couple. They kissed in the photobooth, staying there for longer than they should have, playing grab-ass and stealing a few kisses...
And he would throw this away. Sure, Craig spoke up first about it, but it was merely because they had begun to grow more and more distant. Craig couldn’t handle how far apart they’d gotten and it made his heart ache. Gripping the photo in shaky hands, he stood and looked at the taller man, water threatening to pour out of his eyes. “Yeah, I knew what I was getting into. I knew that.. That you weren’t the best man, but you know fucking what? I didn’t give two shits, bro!” The dam broke and the liquid burned at his heated face.
