Because You Suck: Chapter 16: Part 5

At the other end of the caftereia, amidst the crowd yet detached from everyone and everything, Zach sat in a corner with his cheek on one fist. Thinking, deliberating, detached from everything.

A pig.

Zach scoffed to himself at the pink monstrosity he had stuffed in his locker. It didn’t feel right to take it home, so it stayed there like grotesque Lord of the Flies reference… fucking pig.

Yet, in all fairness, he quietly questioned himself why he was so annoyed at this. First off, it wasn’t a cheap stuffed animal--- according to an online search, it cost $35 plus tax. That was a good price, but still cheap enough to buy something back so that the relationship cash balance would remain even. Good.
Besides, Mikey had no way of knowing that the only thing he hated more than guinea pigs were stuffed animals. That fact had never been established or so much as hinted at.
And theoretically, it was the thought that counted, and the thought was good enough.
Besides. Mikey hadn’t rigged the elections meeting, either…
Sure; he hadn’t spoken up against Casey’s bullshit, but he hadn’t rigged anything.

So, in summation, all signs said that the pig was an appropriate present and that his own reaction was inappropriate. Then, if propriety was good, impropriety was bad, so hating the pig was not only unfair, but bad.

Well. Try applying logic to feelings.
Logically, he should take the pig home and love it the way he ought to love a thoughtfully selected present from his “boyfriend.” Yet he could hardly stand to look at it, much less have it touching his stuff…

“This is crazy. Maybe I’m trying to justify myself.” Zach reasoned, weighing it along with other options.
“Well… I’m not limited to marrying my high school sweetheart. Nothing that’s established here will last forever--- In fact, it will end when I go to college. At least I won’t miss him when I graduate. Mikey is ok.”
But Mikey wasn’t Gentry.
Perhaps it was some pathetic idea of a Divine joke to have a rival that was a firecracker in bed, had a tongue that could cut glass, and possessed a mind like a time bomb--- yet was also one of the most thoroughly despicable people Zach had ever had the displeasure of meeting.
At least he wasn’t boring, maybe he could keep him on the side.
No. That was wrong.