Part 21 — Explanation

"Well, took you long enough. Glad you're awake." Zap looked up and saw Xin, sitting on a bed near him. Feeling the bandages on his head, he said, "Guess I fucked up, huh?"

"You know what? Yeah. Let's put the blame on you. Yeah. You fucked up, Zap."

"Good to know. So? What are you doing here?"

"Huh?" Xin looked confusedly at him. "Well, I am your roomate. I'm supposed to live with you."

Realization came to Zap. "How long...?"

"Till the end of the month. Meaning, 23 more days."

"Oh well. Wait—"

"I've settled everything already. Rent is paid, and the room is reserved are ready for us as soon as we come back."

"So...are we going to talk about the word 'us' in your sentence?"

"Hmmph. Fine. I'll tell you why I left, even though you already know why."

"Yeah, because it's one of the many times that I fucked up. Still, you should've told me."

"Hmm? I didn't expect anyone to be as much of a dickweed as you in the apartment. Hell, I'd go so far to say living with you is even worse than being at college, if it wasn't actually true, and if we didn't experience what we just did."

"Okay..."

"Anyway, I moved over to Dreamlands Deluxe—it's far from here—and lived alone for a bit. And I have to say, only using one jug of milk was one of the most uncomfortable things that happened to me."

"Huh."

"Well, I decided to return to college, so I drove there everyday for the next two weeks, and that's when Grace started being a bitch to me. Asking why I wasn't fighting with you, etc. Eventually she just started pissing me off, and then she started humiliating me in front of the crowds. And in front of nobody. As long as we were together, she'd humiliate me, day by day. Eventually, I told myself, 'Fuck it,' and started driving back to our apartment. Er, your apartment, I guess.

"At a stop, I felt a buzz in my pocket, so I pulled open my phone and got a notification from the security app, saying that you had started viewing a camera live video. I wanted to see what was up, and when I saw that bitch at our door? I went insane. Thought of nothing but killing her. Went to grab a gun and waited at the door.

"And even though you showed up instead of her, my murdering intention told me that you were a bitch too, with all the trouble we got into when I still lived with you, so that's why we got into all of that. Sorry about, you know... shooting at you."

"Yes, 'shooting,' which is plural," Zap said, remembering her chasing him. "Go on."

Ignoring him, Xin continued. "I mean, there's nothing really much to go on with."

"False."

"Piece of shit. I only went back for you because I figured you'd be in the mess you were in. I guess it was my fault for running off after Grace, but still, this is all your fault because you fucked up."

"Okay."

"We good?"

"Sure."

"Great. It's still early. I'm going back to bed." Xin laid down on her bed and rolled over.

Zap touched his bandages again. "Fucking Blake..."