Selfishness

Brandon was a firm believer in the concept of re-gifting. After all, if you really liked something, chances were someone who liked you would also like that something. It wasn’t cheap; it was economical and earth friendly.

It was also why none of Brandon’s romantic relationships could last longer than a year.

Brandon told his band mates it was because he wanted to play the field while he was young. He told his parents that none of the girls he had dated had been good enough to join their family. He told the girls that he had dated that his family was too terrible to inflict upon them. But it was his devotion to re-gifting that was the real culprit.

The latest lady in his life was Alicia. Brandon thought about her as he sat atop his single bed, picking out a tune on his guitar. It was her birthday next week. She had asked for the same thing his last five girlfriends had asked for on their birthdays; what they all asked for on their next birthdays – the birthday before he had to let them go.

A song.

Brandon sighed. He really liked Alicia. She laughed at his jokes and came to all the gigs his band put on. It was a shame that their time together had to be so brief.

He reached into his guitar case and took out the folded up sheets of tabs, used so many times they were almost falling apart. Spreading the music out over the windowsill, Brandon pulled a pen from his pocket. The song was called Baby You’re My Everything, a simple little piece in d minor with sappy lyrics that girls always seemed to love.

By now Brandon knew the song by heart, but old habits were hard to break. He shook his head as he scratched out every place the name “Susan” appeared and replaced it with “Alicia”, ignoring the cluster of crossed out names that surrounded these sections of lyrics like angry spiders.

He had written one good song – why did they always want more?

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Published by rsjeffrey

Robin Jeffrey was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming to a psychologist and a librarian, giving her a love of literature and a consuming interest in the inner workings of people’s minds.

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