No Good For You

XXIV

I went and spoke to B first after their hours were up.

"Do you wanna tell me what's goin' on?" I asked him and sat across the table.
He sat slouching with his arms crossed and stared at the mahogany.
"Are you still mad at him?"
"Yea."
"Why?"
"Because."

It's like trying to get a 4 year old to be emotionally mature.

"Because?"
"Man, he keeps sayin' stupid shit. He pisses me off."
"What'd he say?" I pretended to not already know.
He looked away. "Don't worry about it."
"You can't tell me?"
"No."
I snickered. "Why not?"
"Because."

A child.
If their father would have actually cared to teach them how, the three of them would be a lot more emotionally stable and intelligent.

"Fuckin' bullshit. Asshole is always ruinin' somethin'. We can't ever just have shit without him tryin' to break it." he grunted.
I thought about that comment deeper and wondered what else Riot had broken.

"Well, you can leave the room now. Your time is up." I stated.
"Okay."
We both got up and I headed for the door.

"Leila..." he called from behind me.
I turned to look at him. "Yea?"
"I need you to promise me somethin'."
"Okay?"
"Don't get with Riot...please."
"Wh-..."
"Don't. Ever. I need you to swear to me that you won't. I don't know how I'd live with myself."
I just stared at him.
"Leila, please, sweetheart. Don't do it. It's for your sake not mine."
My eyes caught the floor and I looked back at him to nod in agreement.
"Okay..."

We left and I went to find Riot.

He was in the boys' lounge room and sitting on the couch.
I closed the sliding door behind me after I entered.

"Hi." I greeted.
He looked at me then looked away again.
"You're still upset?"
He didn't answer.
"Riot..."
"Nah." he claimed.
"Well, you look upset."
He didn't respond.

I went and took the seat next to him.

"Why were you fighting?"
"Cause he pissed me off."
"I heard you pissed him off first."
"I ain't do that shit. He keeps tryin' to-...never mind."
"He keeps tryin' to what?"
"Motherfucker just pisses me off. Tellin' me what to do and actin' like he knows me."
"Well, he's known you your entire life."
"So have I! He don't know shit but what I show him! He fuckin' thinks the worst of me like I'm some kinda...I don't know..."
"I mean...you haven't necessarily proved him wrong..."
He didn't respond.

"If you only show him the bad sides, it's kinda hard for him to assume there's good." I explained.
"Of course you side with him."
"I'm not siding with anyone. I'm just saying you admit that he only knows what you show him but you keep showin' him that you're some big angry man that only thinks with your dick. He's not gonna think you're a saint."
He ignored me and just looked down at the floor.
"I'm not tryin' to insult you."
"Oh really? Sure don't feel like it."

He got up and walked out of the room.
I sat there and sighed as I rested my head on the back of the couch.

I got up and walked out of the room.

Psycho and B sat in the living room.

"How'd it go?" Psycho asked.
"Could've been better." I replied.
"Not surprised." B claimed.
"He just...I don't know," I tried picking my words carefully. "He isn't good at being vocal. He'll say somethin' but based off of his frustration I know it's not how he means it. I don't know what to do about that other than try to decipher it but a good bit of the time that shit doesn't even work."
"He's always been like that." B stated.
"What do you mean?"
"When we were little he ain't talk much but if he got hurt or sick, Meredith would ask what the pain felt like and he'd just grow frustrated and cry more because he ain't know how to explain it. He got to a point where he'd just say he didn't know if someone asked him somethin', but he did know. He just ain't know how to describe it." B explained.
"You never got him tested for anything?" I wondered.
"I gotta get him tested for some shit?!" B yelled in annoyance.
"I don't know! How did you know to get Psycho tested?!"
"I didn't. Meredith took him with her and said they were goin' out for ice cream. They came back and all of a sudden he had ice cream and mental disorders."
"Fun times." Psycho joked.

"He don't need to get tested for nothin'. He just ain't good with his words." B claimed.
"But what if it's deeper than that, B?"
"He survived this long. He'll be alright."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Speaking of Riot, I need to go to the mall."
"What the fuck do Riot and the mall got to do with one another?" B wondered.
"His birthday is tomorrow. I haven't gotten a gift yet. I'll probably have to make a few stops."
"Alright. You takin' Psycho or Rayne?"
I looked at Psycho.
"I'll go." he shrugged.

"Don't be out past..." he looked at his watch. "11. It's 6:30 right now. That's plenty of time."
I rolled my eyes. "You're fuckin' exhausting." I sighed.
"And you're still alive. Clearly that shit works."
"Nobody is tryin' to kill me. I don't mean anything."
"That ain't true."