Riley's Box

Part 44

Eventually, the school day came to its conclusion, which was a good thing because I had a lot to do after school. 

I made my way out through the exit and into the torrential downpour. The New York weather was really being unpredictable today. 

One moment the sky had been a stunning blue, now I was being pelted by massive water droplets of destruction. 

"I hate the rain," Ira said, as he came to stand beside me. He kicked a puddle. 

I tried not to laugh, but he looked so exasperated. It was almost funny, in an endearing sense. 

"This does nothing for my hair, darlings. Should we get the bus home?" Prida asked, as she moved some of her purple curls over her shoulder. 

I nodded in agreement and led the way to the bus shelter. 

We waited there for a few moments, until the bus arrived, at last, so we could board it.  

"I just don't understand how you're still single," Adina said quietly to me, as we sat down on the bus. 

I didn't exactly have time for relationships, especially in my current predicament. 

It wasn't all bad, I supposed. 

The bus drummed down on the metal roof of the bus. It could have been an instrumental. The rain in combination with the growl of the engine sounded great. 

I was really enjoying tuning Adina out, as she rambled on about how I deserved a relationship because I was friendly and I was the only one that truly understood Jason and I was the only one that could truly be there for him. 

"Jase is a friend," I said it more abruptly than I would have liked. 

"And I'm best friends with Obama," Ira spoke from behind me. 

I sighed but turned to Adina with kindness in my gaze, regardless. 

Thankfully, again, nobody was sitting too close by who could see me talking to, what appeared to be, empty air. 

"I'll always be there for him. He doesn't need me in the way that I need him," I said quietly. 

The others grew quiet then, too. 

A few moments passed by and eventually the bus came to a stop at the bus stop near my house. 

I promptly exited the vehicle and started to march back home through the ongoing rain. 

It was cold. Actually, that's a lie. 

Some of the rain droplets were colder than others. 

Either way, I didn't like getting all soggy. Nobody liked soggy. Soggy food. Soggy hair. Soggy skin. It was never a fun time. 

My feet quickly carried me back to the house and I walked inside. 

The Sins climbed up and in through my bedroom window again, using each other as leverage to get inside as rapidly as they could manage. 

Once I was back in my room, I took a moment to recall what I had said about Jason on the bus. Had I really said that? That meant that I felt more for him than I initially had thought, right? This was rather problematic. I had only just started speaking to him more regularly, too. Now was not the time for distractions, not even these kinds of distractions. Jason-related distractions, as I had named them. 

I wandered over to my laptop and started typing away some plot ideas. 

Ira came to sit beside me and glanced over my shoulder at the computer screen. 

"We need one of those in Hell," he said. 

"Ask the Devil if he has an Amazon account," I replied. 

He smirked for a second, but his expression soon became one of bewilderment. 

"What's Amazon?" he asked. 

I released a soft laugh. 

"Are you writing?" Prida asked, as she dried off her hair with a towel. I suspected that she had probably taken it from my bathroom. It was no big deal. I would be able to get another one soon enough. 

My head nodded in answer. 

"You're very creative," she said. "Not as creative as I am, of course, but you are creative." 

"Thanks Prida," I replied. 

Adina flopped down on the bed and sighed. 

"I don't get it," she said. 

Everyone turned to her with an expression that asked a silent question- 'what don't you get'? 

"You're so approachable, and you're there for Jason, and I don't understand why you two can't just be together!" she said, throwing her hands up in frustration. 

I saved my work and then turned to her. 

"I've always been Jason's friend, Adina. I don't want to complicate things." 

I wasn't even sure what there was to complicate, yet. 

Did I really have feelings for Jason, or was this just Adina playing tricks with me? 

"You two can communicate with each other in ways that I envy," Invidia said then, promptly gaining the collected attention of the group. 

"I don't want to hurt Jason," I said. 

"It's a virtue to be considerate of others, but you should be selfish sometimes," Avidicci said. "Besides, I don't think that you could ever hurt Jason by being honest with him." 

I took one of the cookies out of my snack drawer and chowed down on it. I closed the door. 

A second later, I re-opened it. I would have to save one of the cookies for Jason. 

"He's the most important person to me," I said sweetly. Then, I thought about my family. "My most important friend, anyway." 

"There's that whole 'friend' thing again. Devil, you really can be so naïve at times, Riley," Invidia said. 

"How am I being naive?" I retorted. 

"Do you even see the way that Jason looks at you?" she asked me. 

I sighed. Again. I had a feeling that I was going to be doing that a lot more recently. 

"We have work to do here, guys. We don't have time for 'feelings'. I'll always care about Jason. That's about as much as I can do." 

The Sins looked a little disappointed and disheartened but they didn't say anything more on the subject, which I was grateful for.