Page 123 of Pistols and Plush Toys

“Right?” Xander took an angry sip of his coke. “And when I asked him, Caleb just said that we ‘needed’ the money.” Xander made air quotes. “And he couldn’t take out credit cards in his own name because his credit was fucked, but mine was ‘great’ so…”

“That’sawful,”Elliot said. “Oh my god, Xander.”

“We didn’t even fucking need the money,” Xander growled. “He was buying stupid shit, those trips and gifts. I didn’t fuckin need that! But I did need a fucking car, and couldn’t get one.”

“Holy shit,” Elliot said. “What–I’m so sorry–”

“Yeah.” Xander let out a long breath, “I wish I had realized what was going on. But whatever, it’s over. I broke up with him and moved out. I had to move back in with my parents because I didn’t have any money, but–”

“No,”Elliot gasped, horrified. He remembered that Xander and his parents didn’t get along. They’d always wanted Xander to take the route of math or science, and he’d always been more the side of arts. They were extremely critical on the best of days, and he’d moved out of their house the minute he’d turned eighteen to escape their influence and guilt.

“Yeah,” Xander sighed. “So that’s been super fun. But anyway! Back topositivenews, with Blue Snake I’ve been able tomake a lot of headway. I’m actually pretty close to paying off all the debt now, and then I can actually save up for an apartment.”

“That’s—but—you can’t get Caleb to… pay it back?” Elliot asked helplessly. He didn’t remember every detail about Xander and his parents, but he remembered distinctly how, before Xander had moved in with Caleb, Xander had struggled to make ends meet and worked so hard to pay his bills. He’d said he’d rather live off of ramen than be under their roof. The idea that he was back there was terrible.

“I did actually go see a lawyer when I first found out,” Xander said, back to playing with the music note necklace. “But she said it would be really expensive and difficult to prove I didn’t authorize those purchases, especially since a lot of them were things I used or enjoyed. Like I could definitely go that route, but it would just be a lot of time and money, and no guarantee they would even make him pay all of it back. And honestly… I just didn’t want to see his face anymore.”

“Wow,” Elliot said quietly. “That… really fucking sucks. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, well, so,” Xander waved the hand not playing with his necklace. “I know it’s not the same thing at all—Caleb neverhurtme, but I—I get the shitty ex thing. At least mine fucked off when I told him to.”

Elliot was looking at Xander, so he saw when his eyes dipped over Elliot’s shoulder to where Gerard was sitting.

“I’m glad you have some people looking out for you,” Xander said with feeling. “And I’ll say it again, that I’m glad we reconnected. If you need me to go kick your ex-boyfriend’s ass, I totally will.”

That got a startled chuckle out of Elliot. Xander had been a band geek in high school and college, and while he wasn’t as slight as Elliot, he was not a large or intimidating figure.

“Have you ever even been in a fight?” Elliot laughed.

Xander grinned. “I mean, almost! This one time I was busking in the park and some drunk came over and grabbed a handful of cash out of my case. I had to threaten him with my bow to get it back. I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to hit him or anything, my bow is worth way more than the like, ten bucks he grabbed, but a lot of arm waving and loud words will generally make people listen to you. Or leave you alone.”

“Somebody tried to steal from you?” Elliot asked, eyes wide.

“Oh, uh—“ Xander flapped a hand. “I don’t think he really knew what he was doing? He was pretty wasted. But I can hold my own,” he declared, puffing up.

“Of course you can.” Elliot smiled. Of that he had no doubt. “But sorry, um, what’s busking?” Elliot wasn’t sure he’d ever heard the word before.

Xander lit up. “Oh! It’s like, um—okay, so, when you see people in parks sometimes playing music? It’s called busking. You perform and people can tip you. I make decent money in an afternoon, especially because I do requests and people seem to like that,” he said proudly. “I started when I moved back in with my parents because I needed to do something out of the house so I wouldn’t lose my mind, and the money sure didn’t hurt. Now I’m kind of a regular down by the Park Street fountain.”

“Oh, cool!” Elliot said. “Still the violin, right?”

“Yeah.” Xander was beaming now. “Like, living at home really sucks, I won’t lie, but it got me started with busking, and I’ve met a lot of cool people. I’ve even collaborated with some of them.” Xander’s smile turned sort of sad. “I didn’t realize how much I missed playing. It always annoyed Caleb, so I kind of fell out of practice while we were together. It’s been great to get back to it now.”

That made Elliot think of cooking, of the way he’d come back to it as well.

“I’m glad you’re playing again,” Elliot said. “I’ll have to come by and see you sometime.”

“Oh man! You totally should!” Xander said excitedly. “I can even do movie soundtrack stuff now. That’s the stuff that people tip a lot for. What was that movie you liked—Lone Winter Trail? If you come by, I could play you a song from it.”

Elliot stared at him. He’d talked to Xander about his favorite movie, but that had been literal years ago. “Yeah, Lone Winter Trail,” he said in awe. “How did you remember that?”

Xander beamed at him again and tapped his own head. “Memory like an elephant. But yeah, it would be cool if you came by. Layla–you remember Layla?–she says there’s a couple videos of me on social media that blew up. I’m not really on social media, but that’s pretty cool. It’s nice to get to play for an audience and do something that I love.” He shrugged. “It’s weird, you know? Like some things suck more now after everything with Caleb, but this part of it sucks way less.”

“Yeah,” Elliot said, thinking about Mattia, about the ways in which his life had changed after him. “Yeah, I can relate.”

Their food came out not long after that, and they dug in. Elliot had gotten himself a BLT, which he scarfed in record time. He enjoyed his own cooking, but there was nothing quite like a cheap diner meal. Xander seemed equally as famished, but with what he now knew, Elliot wondered if his friend was eating enough. If Xander was putting all of his money toward debt, what was his food situation like?

Did his parents feed him at home? Or was that another way that they tried to control him?

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