Bad Romance
Amber Brisk feels her pulse quicken. She stares at the computer screen, her mouth lolling open in shock.
It can’t be, she thinks. There has to be some kind of mistake. There’s no way he could possibly be back.
Yet right there, displayed prominently on her computer monitor, was the name of the man that had changed her life. The name of her worst enemy. Amber had spent the last decade and a half wishing that he was dead, and here he was.
Inbound Personnel: Maxwell Pierce
Amber attempts to find her breath, but her throat catches and she ends up coughing. She glances around her cubicle, making sure none of her coworkers is looking.
Then she begins to cry.
Fifteen years ago, Amber Brisk and Max Pierce were in the same grade. High school seniors, ready to graduate and begin their lives. They even had a few of the same classes. But that was where the similarities stopped.
Amber was never a very social person. She kept to herself, preferred to sit in the corner of the classroom, and spent her free time listening to music on her iPod. She was obsessed with paranormal teen romance novels, Broadway musicals, and television shows starring Nathan Fillion. Her academics were flawless, she was first chair clarinet in the band, and she volunteered at her local animal shelter on weekends. Even in the first semester of her senior year, she had already been accepted to an Ivy League school a few states away.
Whenever Amber looked at herself in the mirror, she was pleased with what she saw. She knew from her consumption of pop culture that this feeling made her relatively unique for her age, but it was true. She was 5’7”, which was neither too short nor too tall. She had deep brown eyes and long, brunette hair that had that kind of waterfall look when it moved like Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries. And her body rivaled that of many of the porn stars she had seen. Even though she had just turned 18, she wore a 34H bra, had a 23-inch waist, and measured her hips to be 40 inches around. It wasn’t what Sir Mix-A-Lot had asked for, but if she was honest, she liked her proportions better.
At school, Amber did her absolute best to hide her body from everyone around her. She usually wore baggy jeans, Converse that she had scribbled Broadway lyrics all over, and hooded sweatshirts with the album artwork from Taking Back Sunday or Dashboard Confessional. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of her body, quite the opposite, but she had developed much earlier than most of her peers. Being a fifth grader getting ogled by the gym teacher had made her want to put on as much clothing as possible, and there was no one she particularly wanted to be able to show off for yet in her life. She was a Bella in search of an Edward (though she would have happily settled for a Jacob).
Max, on the other hand, seemed to spend a lot of energy making sure that everyone saw him. Amber couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to him - probably in elementary school - but she had no issues finding out anything she wanted to know about him. He was the most talked-about person in school, and much of that conversation was generated by him. Loud boasts through the hallways, voluminous laughter in the cafeteria, and a seeming incapacity to either stay quiet during class or whisper all came together to make Max Pierce an infuriatingly loud presence in her life. Add to all that the fact that he was the topic of conversation by any group of girls, and Amber was unable to escape the boisterous antics of the world’s most stereotypical jock.
Unfortunately for Amber, this particular jock was also stereotypically perfect to look at. Standing at 6’4” and weighing in at 215 pounds (at least according to his stat line in the football team’s program), Max Pierce was a god. The way his smile started slowly at one side of his mouth and then rapidly spread to his entire face made her want to melt, and then kick herself for being so enraptured. His golden brown hair and piercing blue eyes were often the things that she thought about mere moments before cumming on her vibrator. Sometimes in class, she would see his body move in a way that made his tee shirt catch or stretch or cling to his immaculate muscles, and it was all she could do not to shove her hand down her pants right then and there. He was an asshole, but no one could deny that he looked good.
Of course, boys like Max Pierce were not interested in girls like Amber. No matter what Juno said, the jock guys went after the ditsy bimbo girls. Max was no different. He was perpetually in and out of a relationship with Margot Maginot, the head cheerleader, although that never seemed to stop rumors from spreading about his exploits at the various weekend house parties. There was the one about him drinking an entire bottle of Jack, then taking two volleyball players upstairs. There was one time when each member of the girl’s basketball team supposedly wore a different shade of lipstick and tried to make his cock look like a pack of Lifesavers. And there was a rumor about how Margot wanted to win Max back, so she invited him on a weekend beach trip with her mom and little sister, but Amber obviously didn’t believe absolutely everything she heard about him. Margot’s sister wasn’t even in high school yet!
There was, however, a nagging story that occasionally went around. It had a tendency to pop up every once in a while, and whenever it did, Amber would deplete her vibrator’s batteries thinking about it. Amber usually didn’t warrant much attention, so people would often say things in front of her that they didn’t expect her to overhear. Every once in a while, she would overhear someone saying something about Max that boggled her mind and drenched her panties simultaneously.
“It was on the bus ride to Young Life camp last summer,” one girl had said to her friends in the locker room one day. “I can’t really fall asleep in vehicles or whatever, so I was just reading Sense and Sensibility at like three in the morning. And Max was moving to the bathroom I guess, and he saw me. He leaned down and said, and I’m not fucking with you at all, ‘did you know that Bridget Jones is based on Pride and Prejudice? It’s like how Clueless is basically just Emma but in a 90’s high school.’ So we talked about it for a few minutes before I jerked him off right there on the bus!”
Amber had been astounded. Could Max Pierce have possibly been a reader? The boy spent his lunch hour sitting around with his football buddies as they recited lines from Judd Apatow movies at one another. Could it be that he had a depth to him that Amber had never imagined?
She heard stories like that every so often.
“Max saw me wearing my Deep Blue Something tee, and he said ‘Audrey Hepburn was also in My Fair Lady, which was based on Pygmalion, which was both a Greek myth and a play by George Bernard Shaw.’ My shirt still has his cumstain on it!”
“I guess my headphones are still pretty loud even when they’re in my ears, because Max heard me listening to Phantom on my iPod and said ‘when the Phantom appears at the masquerade dressed in red, it’s a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Red Death.’ I wrapped my tits around his cock so fucking fast after that!”
“All I said was ‘Scarlet was a bitch,’ and Max leaned over with that smile of his and said- I shit you not- ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ So I pulled him into the girl’s bathroom and rode him until he unloaded inside me!”
Stories like those were rare, but Amber cherished each one of them. Max, who once said to their entire Spanish class that The Carter 2 was the highest form of art, also knew about the real literature, actual films, and even Broadway! She imagined talking to him about all these shared interests, laughing at each other’s jokes, then feeling him pull her close to him for a deep, passionate kiss before he slowly, sensually took her virginity. How he would be strong but gentle, confident but not overbearing. How he would grunt as he spent himself inside her, then breathe ‘I love you’ into her ear as he held her tightly.
It didn’t exactly end up that way.
One day in the cafeteria, she was walking by his table. Other jocks and the popular girls all crowded around him, desperate for some of his light to grace their needy countenances. Amber had tried to tell herself that they were pathetic, but her mind flashed to the memory of that very morning when she had cum imagining the way he’d smile at her as he entered her for the first time.
She was so distracted that she lost her footing. She went careening towards the table, and landed right in Max’s lap.
She was mortified. She immediately began to stammer out an apology. Clumsy, stupid, all the excuses she could muster. Her ample ass pressed against his crotch while her enormous breasts were squashed to his chest. He had laughed it off, then helped her to her feet.
But she saw the look of surprise on his face.
She had done such a careful job of disguising herself from everyone. The body that she was secretly so proud of had just been up against the most popular guy in school. And now he knew that she had more underneath her baggy, ill-fitting clothes than anyone would ever have believed.
That afternoon, he came up to her.
“Hey,” he said, flashing her that All-American smile. “It’s Amber, right?”
She could only nod, clutching her binder against her chest.
“Well listen, I know that you are doing pretty well in History right now, and I could really use some help. Would you maybe want to come over to my place after school and study together?” His body was so close to hers. It was like he intentionally took an extra step so he was just inside her personal space bubble. She had to strain her neck to look up at him.
“Um, I… sure.” Amber’s mind raced at the possibilities. Studying with Max Pierce? THE Max Pierce?! It was the start to so many of her fantasies.
“Great. Meet me at my locker after class and I’ll drive us there.” He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her heart to explode. “Thank you, Amber. It really means a lot to me.”
The walk from his locker to his car was everything that she ever dreamed of. People stared at her, the nobody that was suddenly walking next to Max Pierce himself. It was more attention than she’d ever gotten before.
In the car, it didn’t take him long to change from the radio to his iPod. Dancing Through Life from the Wicked Soundtrack began to resonate through the car.
“I’ve always kind of felt a lot like Fiyero,” he said, glancing over at her. “Y’know, just skimming the surface, having to be the version of myself that everyone expects.”
“R-really?” Amber asked. “I… I’ve always kind of felt like Elphaba.”
“Yeah? Why?” His hand was on her knee. His hand was on her fucking knee!
“I just… well, people never really think about me, and if they do, it’s as more of an annoyance than anything else. Half the teachers in the school don’t even know my name.”
“Well, I know your name, Amber,” Max said. “And I think that, just like Elphaba, you have a lot more to offer than even you realize.”
She would have done anything he asked her to do in that moment. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“You have a really pretty smile,” Max said.
“Really? You… you think so?”
“It’s beautiful. I wish I saw it more often.”
“Wow, I… I mean… thank you.”
Once they were at his house, he took her hand and led her upstairs to his bedroom. It was much cleaner than she expected. But the only place to sit was on his bed.
“I’ve got to change real quick,” he said, peeling his tee shirt off and revealing his perfect body. His muscles were so well defined, his chest adorned in a small patch of hair. His abs had those striations on the sides, and those deep divots along his pelvis.
Then he pulled his pants down. His boxer briefs were tight against his body, and she could clearly see the outline of his impressive cock against the fabric. Amber had watched a lot of porn, but Max seemed to be both more muscular and more… equipped than the men in those videos. She looked at him for what felt like an eternity, and he seemed to pose for her, showing off his amazing body. Then, he grabbed a pair of gym shorts and pulled them on. He remained shirtless though.
“Do you always wear sweatshirts like that?” He asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything else.”
“Oh, I uh… well, pretty much, yeah. I just… I’m not very comfortable with people seeing a lot of me.”
“Well everything I’ve seen, I’ve liked.” Max said, taking a step towards her. Amber’s heart raced and her head spun.
“Thanks,” she breathed.
“Do you maybe want to get more comfortable too?” He asked, tugging at the hem of her sweatshirt.
“You mean, like… take it off?” Her breath was ragged.
“Yeah. Why not? It’s just us here.”
“I… well, I don’t… it’s just a bra underneath.”
“Even better!” Max laughed. “I think you’d look incredible like that.”
“Really?”
“Of course! You’re so beautiful, Amber. I wish that you could see yourself the way I see you.” He tugged on her sweatshirt more firmly. “Come on. Take it off.”
Amber knew that taking her clothes off would be crossing a line. That there would be the version of her before this moment, and the version after. A small part of her was reluctant, telling her that it wasn’t real. The quarterback doesn’t fall for the nerdy clarinet player in real life, and if he ever did, he wouldn’t ask her to take her top off five minutes after getting her alone in his bedroom. She knows these things. But he looks so handsome. But she’s never been wanted, really wanted before. But maybe she’s just as stupid as all those paranormal teen romance heroines she always wanted to yell at through the pages of her books. But she had spent too much time dreaming of this to deny herself now.
There was a fable. Aesop. He talked about a scorpion and a toad. That worked out well for everyone, didn’t it? And Max Pierce is hardly a scorpion. He’s the king of high school! So what if those rumors about Margot’s twelve-year-old sister were actually true? He’s Fiyero! And he wants her to be his Elphaba!
The sweatshirt came off rather quickly.
“Fuck!” Max said. His eyes went wide, and he smiled in a way that got seared into Amber’s mind so deeply that she could never forget it. Her breasts, barely held up by a bra that was only six months old and already too small, wobbled as she tossed her sweatshirt to the floor. Max stood between her legs, looking down at her. She could feel the heat from his body radiating off him, and she knew that his cock was only a few inches away from her face.
“They’re so big! If I had known…” Max looked down at her like a hungry wolf. “You’re so beautiful, Amber.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “So you… you like them?”
“I fucking love them!” Max said. Without asking - and really, what was the point of him asking at this stage - he reached out and grabbed one in his calloused, meaty hand. She gasped, then moaned as she felt him squeeze her. His grip was firm, controlling.
“I want to watch you lick my cum off of these fucking things,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
That hadn’t been a part of her fantasies. When Amber imagined the moment when Max finally saw her, really saw her, it was more kind. And less degrading.
“What… what do you… what do you want me to do?” She asked. It didn’t have to be like the fantasies. Life isn’t a fantasy, after all. She knew that. She was an adult, after all.
“Take the fucking bra off, for starters,” Max’s smile now had a sinister look to it.
Amber reached behind her to unhook the strap of her bra. She slowly slid it off, trying to act sensual.
“Having trouble?” Max teased. He gripped his crotch over his gym shorts, highlighting the immense bulge beneath.
Amber blushed violently. She felt like such an idiot. This was Max Pierce! If he wasn’t satisfied with her, he’d have a cheerleader (or that cheerleader’s middle school sister) over in a heartbeat. Amber quickly tossed her bra on the floor. She lifted her breasts up in her hands, massaging them for him like she had seen porn stars do.
“You like these tits, baby?” She asked, trying to sound confident and sexy despite feeling the complete opposite inside.
Max’s hands gripped her tits again, groping and fondling them roughly. He was not gentle, but she supposed he wasn’t really going to be. A man of his status didn’t need to concern himself with the woman’s pleasure. He deserved to be able to do as he pleased.
“Such huge tits,” Max laughed. He slapped one of her breasts playfully, making her whimper with a mixture of pleasure and pain. He smiled at her reaction, rubbing her nipples in slow circles with his thumbs.
“You’re the first man to ever see them. They’re all yours, baby,” Amber wanted to try to maintain some semblance of control over the situation. She could feel herself losing the ability to do anything other than obey Max’s diktats, but if she could make submitting to him a treat that she was giving him, maybe he’d still respect her once he was done. That could have happened, right?
“They were mine as soon as I felt them when you tripped onto me at lunch,” Max laughed. He pulled his pants and boxer briefs down in one smooth motion, causing his truly enormous cock to spring out and slap one of Amber’s breasts, leaving a dollop of precum there.
“It’s so big!” Amber gasped.
“It really is,” Max said with a satisfied grin. “I’m going to guess that it’s also the first one you’ve seen in real life?”
Amber bit her lip, then nodded. She was no longer feeling nervous, but starting to feel afraid. Max had such a strong, commanding presence. She knew she would do anything he told her to. Anything at all. Her stomach clenched at the thought.
“Max, I… I want to make you feel good, baby. Tell me how to make you happy.”
“Hmm…” Max said, slapping the head of his cock onto her breasts back and forth. “It’s been a while since I’ve taken anyone’s virginity.”
“I’d love to give you mine,” Amber hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.
He smeared his precum around her nipples with his thumbs. It felt good. Despite the fear currently rushing through her, Amber still felt her body respond to him: the way her nipples hardened, the way her skin broke out in goosebumps, and especially the way her pussy clenched.
“I… I want to do this with you,” she said. “I have thought about you this way for years. I… I always wanted you to be my first. But please, Max… please can you… can you f-fuck me?”
Max laid his cock across her face. She felt the way that his thickness pulsed with his heartbeat. She felt his precum seep into her hair. She felt his throbbing balls against her chin.
“Are you in love with me, Amber?” Max asked.
The question left her stunned. She had never really thought about it in those terms. She was infatuated, sure. She thought about him pretty often. But she had never really had a single conversation with him. She didn’t know him any better than she knew Captain Malcolm Reynolds or Edward Cullen. But she had an idea of what he wanted to hear her say. And, if she really searched herself, she couldn’t truly deny it.
“Yes.”
“Say it.” He commanded, massaging her large breasts while his cock rested on her face.
“I’m in love with you, Max.” Was it true? If not, was it really that far-fetched?
“How long have you loved me?”
“Since seventh grade.” That answer came out very quickly. So quickly that it startled her.
“What are you going to give me?”
“Everything. All of it. Whatever you want, baby.” The nerdy girl has always cared so much about answering questions correctly.
“What if I don’t love you back?”
“Can’t you just pretend for this afternoon? I don’t need you to mean it.”
“On your back.”
Amber Brisk looked up at Maxwell Pierce as he climbed on top of her. He met her gaze as he entered her. Her breath caught as the pain tore through her, followed by the feeling of fullness. She saw him smile, and it was like she always dreamed it would be. He began to thrust, and she moaned. He shut her up with a kiss.
She came quickly and often.
Max would spend a while fucking her one way, then switch positions. He was on top of her, then he was pushing her knees up to her ears, folding her in half. Then she was on her stomach as he pressed his full weight on top of her. She couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. He nibbled her earlobe.
“Tell me you love me,” he grunted quietly.
“I love you, Max,” Amber moaned.
“Louder.”
“I love you, Max!”
“Louder.”
“I love you, Max!” She wailed.
“Tell me more!”
“I’m so fucking in love with you! I’ve dreamed of you every day for years! Give it all to me, baby! Use me however you want!” She screamed. She told herself that it was still just what he wanted to hear.
“I’m going to fucking cum,” he groaned in her ear. “I want to cover your face and tits with it.”
“Do it, baby! Cum all over me! Mark me. Make me yours so that no one else will ever compare!”
He pulled out and she rolled over. She grabbed her tits, pushed them together, and propped herself up on her elbows in one smooth motion, the result of seeing endless hours of porn. She opened her mouth wide and extended her tongue, ready for the moment he began to spurt.
The first strand of Max’s thick, gooey ejaculate splattered onto her forehead and splashed into her hair. The next one hit her on the cheek and began to slide down onto her breasts. The third hit her right between the eyes. Over and over and over again, Max’s hot, creamy sperm pumped out of him, covering her face, hair, and tits. As he began to relax, she kissed his cock, tasting him and savoring his flavor.
“Thank you, baby,” she said with a smile. “You can do this to me whenever you want. A girl always belongs to her first. I love you.”
Max smiled down at her wearily, looking thoroughly drained. For the first time in her life, Amber felt like someone had truly enjoyed her.
Cleanup proved to be trickier than she anticipated, especially since the tremendous amount of cum that had landed in her hair seemed impossible to get out. She pulled her sweatshirt back on without the bra.
“Is it weird if I kinda want you to keep it? Like a… like a trophy?” She asked him. He chuckled softly, then picked it up and put it on his dresser.
“Margot is going to be so fucking pissed when she sees that,” Max said. “It’s easily three times as big as one of hers.”
That made Amber feel proud.
Max drove her home after that, having not opened a single textbook. As Amber went to sleep that night, she had a pleasant smile on her face. Her first time had been special and fun. Wasn’t that what every girl hoped for?
The next day at school, she found out that her first time had also been recorded.
She knew something was wrong when she saw the way people stared at her. Amber was used to people’s gaze bouncing right off her, almost as if she didn’t exist. But today she had put in a bit more effort to her appearance. She wore a button down shirt with a few buttons undone on top, added a tight fitting pair of chinos, put her hair in a long braid, and even applied some makeup. It was the dawn of a new era in her life.
But the people who stared weren’t just looking at her. They were giggling. Then glancing at their phones. Then laughing louder.
After walking through two separate hallways lined with laughing spectators, she saw someone from the band. The girl looked at her sympathetically, then showed her the video on her flip phone.
There had been a video camera in Max’s bedroom. It had captured everything. Apparently, he had broken it down into clips of a few seconds each to make them more easily distributable. In the clips Amber watched, she heard herself profess her love for Max, beg for his cum, and moan like a bitch in heat as she came over and over on his cock. Based on the angle of the camera, there was never any doubt that it was her.
Tears flooded her eyes as she rushed away. Amber flew past the giggling students, past teachers who all pretended like they didn’t know what was happening, and through the double doors out the back of the school. She ran to the football field, then hid herself behind the visiting team’s bleachers. She wept until the tears wouldn’t come anymore. She cried so long and hard that it felt like she would never do anything else.
“Amber?” Max called.
“Fuck off.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck. Off.”
“Can I at least explain?”
Amber turned and looked at Max. In the dimly lit depths of the under-bleachers, seeing Max standing there in the sunlight made him look even more like a god. He smiled softly at her. That fucking smile.
“What is there to explain? You humiliated me. You used me. I thought I was telling you things that would stay between us, and now everyone in school knows them all. They all saw my tits! They all saw me lose my virginity! What the fuck could you possibly have to say?!”
“You… you don’t have to let me say anything. But if you want to hear it, here’s the truth: I am broken inside. The quarterback? I fucking hate football. The popular guy? I can’t stand any of the worthless fucking peons that fawn over me every day. Margot? That whore would fuck anyone if he had a letterman jacket. It’s all fake. None of it is the real me.
“The camera was for Margot, who was supposed to come over yesterday. She likes it when I record us. I didn’t even remember that I had it on until she came by later that night and rewound the recording. She insisted that she take it. She was the one who sent out the videos.”
“How… how am I supposed to believe you?” Amber wiped her eyes, seeing that her mascara had run.
“You don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything. But I feel like I can actually be myself around you. And I want you to know that I’m sorry.”
Amber took a few steps towards him, then slowly stepped into the light. He looked so handsome. She hated herself for thinking so.
“Did you mean it when you said that you love me?” Max asked.
Amber looked at the ground, then looked up into his eyes.
“I… yes.”
She rushed into his arms. He wrapped her in a strong embrace, and she cried into his shoulder. He stroked her hair, and kissed her head. She looked up at him, and he pulled her closer. She felt his lips on hers.
Then she felt his hand on her breast. She moaned.
“Can we? Again? Just the two of us. No cameras.” Max said.
Amber nodded.
He was gentle with her this time.
He slowly unbuttoned her top, kissing his way down her body. He pulled her breasts out of her bra, sucking her nipples sensually into his mouth. He slowly pulled down her pants, then used his mouth on her. She ran her fingers through his hair, and quickly came. She laid down on the grass, and he unzipped his pants as he climbed on top of her. When he entered her, she gasped.
“I think,” he whispered in her ear. “I think I love you too, Amber.”
“Really?” She breathed, clinging to his back.
“Really really.”
She lost herself in the pleasure, casting aside everything that was happening except for the two of them. She gave herself fully to the experience, cumming over and over again as he thrust.
“I’m close, baby,” he groaned.
“Inside me,” she pleaded. “Please, Max. Cum inside me. I’m on the pill.”
Feeling him erupt inside of her was such a satisfying sensation. It felt like she was being truly loved.
Then she saw the football players hiding behind the bleachers, their phones extended to record the whole thing.
She looked in horror at Max, who looked down at her with a devilish smile. Before he could say anything, she ran, grabbing her clothes. At the edge of the school grounds, she hurriedly pulled her pants on and buttoned her shirt, then ran the rest of the way home.
Amber Brisk finished high school via home study. Her parents had spoken with the school administration. She did not attend graduation. No one ever came to visit her.
After high school, she went to the Ivy League school she had been accepted to, which was many states away. She poured herself into her studies, graduating top of her class before continuing her education at the law school there.
After graduating from that program, also at the top, she got a job at a law firm in the big city. She won every single one of her court cases, garnering a reputation as a fierce litigator.
Over the years, she dated a few men, and even a couple of women. Some of them had loved her, but she had never truly been able to trust them. Even her best relationships, where her partners truly cared for her, never really knew how to break through to her. Amber’s guard was always up.
At night, whether she slept alone or with someone else, her mind would inevitably find its way back to those two experiences with Max Pierce. She would cry, and then she would slip her hand under her pajama pants, rubbing herself until she came. It was often the only way she was able to fall asleep.
Then her father got sick.
Leaving the city and her job had not been a particularly difficult choice. Her parents were the only two people that she had ever really trusted. And now they needed her. Her father’s illness left him unable to work, and her mother’s job wasn’t enough to cover their expenses, let alone give her the time to properly care for her ailing husband. So Amber moved back in. She had been thirty years old, and she had moved back in with her parents.
She got a job at the local law firm, and spent her free time caring for her father. There was no time to date, and she had never had any friends in this town. Her days melded together into a mass of emails, court appearances, and paperwork during the day, followed by cleaning, cooking, and caring for her family at night. Three years passed this way.
She had secretly kept up with Max Pierce. Accepted to the military academy to play football, graduating and joining the Army. He had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, then left to pursue a law degree. He had never married, but occasionally she saw photos of him on social media standing next to one bimbo or another. At every turn, he had managed to find success.
Now, at thirty-three years old, Amber Brisk looks at her computer monitor. Max Pierce’s name was listed on the screen.
He was coming back.
Fuck.