Page 102 of Xavier

“What the fuck?! Stop! Marcel!” a familiar voice yells out, and Meathead stops his fist mid-swing, looking up.

“Get the fuck off him,” I hear Ram say. Fucking hell.

“Dude, I warned him,” Meathead says, getting up off me.

“Just shut up and go work out somewhere else.”

I lay there, head-spinning, a streak of wetness leaking from my mouth.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hear my friend ask, as I feel him kneel by the side of my head. “You trying to get yourself killed?”

I almost laugh.

He pulls on my arm, helping me up. My head feels like it’s been run over by a snow plow, and my mouth like I’ve been hooked by a marlin fisherman.

“You’re a fucking mess, man.”

“I’m fine.” And I am, I feel better than I have in hours. I’ll take this over the red-hot iron poker skewering a hole from my gut all the way to my fucking heart any day. “Jesus, I’m fine!” I yell, as he tries to turn me over, checking for wounds.

“What the fuck is going on with you? I haven’t seen you this bad since... since I first fucking met you.”

“Huh, that sorry sap had it fucking good,” I sneer.

I push myself up but the ground shakes under me and I fall back onto the mat.

“Whoa, steady, man.” Ram catches my arm and I shake him off.

“I said, I’m okay! Geez, like I’ve never taken a punch before. I’ve taken plenty of YOURS in the past.”

"I was pulling them, dickhead. Now, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

“Nothing, just blowing off some steam, it’s been a hard week.”

“Problem with the girl?”

I feel my head whip around, and it just makes him appear in front of me in double.

“What? What girl?”

“Shut up, I’m not an idiot. I’ve seen this all before.”

I can’t argue. He has. I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly, until there’s nothing left in my lungs before I inhale again.

"I found her. Well, she found me. Or, I dunno. Fate found us. Or Lucifer."

“The girl?”

“Yeah.”

“Holy fuck, man.”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“It’s not sunshine and rainbows, dancing around in each other’s arms singing ‘la dee daa’?” He purses his lips together and makes a kissy noise.