It's Just Business (COMPLETED)

Chapter 34

"Hey, um, Aaron? Can talk to you quickly?"

"Don't you have rehearsal or something?" Aaron asked, looking up from writing.

"Uh, not yet."

"Then sure. What is it?" Virgil got the feeling that Aaron wasn't happy and he could think of a few reason why.

"Can we try the experiment again? Just... shit has kinda hit the fan after the first one."

"Yeah, Roman told me." Aaron sighed. "Look, I'm not a therapist-"

"You started the whole experiment."

"I know. You didn't let me finish." Virgil bit his lip and shut up. "I'm not a therapist but what seemed to work last time was locking you and Roman in a room together. But that was nerve-racking for everyone. So we're not gonna do that. Have you tried actually talking to him?"

"I... kind of. I've apologised."

"Mhm. And how did that go down?"

"Uh... not well."

"I thought as much." Aaron sighed and half-closed his notebook. "Look, best thing to do when apologising is let it sit for a little while before apologising. That gives the other person time to calm down and they probably won't feel bitter when you're trying to apologise. Got it?"

"Yeah?"

Aaron sighed through his nose. "Jesus Christ, you have two brothers, how are you not adjusted to life?"

Virgil shrugged. "Remy always kinda left me alone and Issac's a kid."

"Remy did not give off that vibe but whatever." Aaron put the cap on his pen. "The experiment didn't work, Virge, and I'm not interested in helping either of you work out your shit anymore. I've given you advice, take it. And leave me out of this."

"Uh, right." Virgil nodded. "So... do I apologise now or-"

"I don't know, Virgil! I just said 'leave me out of this'. Do what you think's best, I guess."

Virgil ran a hand through his hair. "You do realise how terrible that idea is, right?"

"Hey, uh, Roman?"

Roman ignored Virgil and focused on his script.

"Can, um, can we talk?"

"No. I'm pretty busy, if you haven't noticed."

"Um, what... what are you doing?"

"Memorising lines. So I'm not 'utterly useless'." Roman didn't exactly snap but his words were still sharp.

"Oh. Okay."

Roman looked up at Virgil, an eyebrow raised. It shocked him a little how unsure the smaller boy looked. Not enough for it to show on his face, but he was still shocked.

"Are you gonna leave me alone or...?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry." Virgil turned on his heel and started walking. A few minutes later, Roman sighed and put his script in his bag. He couldn't concentrate, his mind was on someone else.

"Stupid, Goddamn..." Roman muttered. "Idiot."

He ran down the stairs and shot a small smile at Mina, who just stared dead-pan back, and went outside.

"Aah!" He yelled as he nearly walked into someone.

"Shit!"

Roman jumped back and glared at Virgil. "Seriously?"

"Roman, I missed my bus for this so, please, can we just talk?"

"No." Roman turned around and started walking away.

"Roman, please."

"No. Leave me alone, Virgil."

"Roman, I really am sorry."

"Save it." Roman snapped. "I'm really not interested in listening. I don't even know if you're telling the truth, so I'm not going to believe you just to get hurt again."

"I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Well you did. And there's nothing to be done to fix it."

"I'm trying to fix it, Princey!" Virgil snapped. "But you won't give me the time of day-"

"Yeah like you've never done that before-"

"I was a kid, Roman!"

"You were self-aware every other day! What was it, the selective memory card that stopped you from realising that you were hurting me?"

"It's how I'd always acted! I didn't realise that it was wrong because no one ever told me it was wrong."

"Don't go blaming this on other people."

"What else am I meant to do?!" Virgil yelled, pushing his hair out of his eyes and glaring at Roman, his face flushed with anger. "I have been blaming myself the past few days and I've been feeling awful and I've been a dick, basically. I have tried to apologise to you, I have apologised actually, and you aren't even listening to me!"

Roman glared back at him. "How does it feel?" He hissed. "How does it feel to feel so bad and so guilty and then have the other person not let you fix it? Deal with it, Virgil."

"I was a kid, Roman. An upset, stupid, hopelessly in love kid."

"You had a funny way of showing it."

"So do you!"

Roman scoffed. "You really think I'm hopelessly in love?"

Virgil curled his hands into fists. "I wasn't talking about that. I am sorry about the way I acted and the way I treated you. It was horrid and stupid and kinda like how you treated me-"

"I was a kid, Virgil!"

"Exactly!" Virgil snapped over the top of Roman. "That's what I've been saying. We were both kids. Both stupid little kids. And we're both holding stupid grudges about something that happened a decade ago!" Virgil sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You were right. We're pretty alike, actually. We're both stubborn and both hold stupid grudges. I'm not saying 'let it go', I'm saying give me another chance. Like you asked me to."

Roman sighed and looked up the blue and grey-speckled sky. "Fine, fine. Whatever." He looked at Virgil. "Happy?"

Virgil nodded and crossed his arms, almost hugging himself in. "Yeah."

I know that was a weird ending but this chapter is very long. And hey, at least the fight's over... ish. Anyway, I had fun writing this so there's that for this chapter... it literally has nothing else going for it.
Bye,
Blaize