To Be Young And In Love In New York City

Chapter 29: "I Literally Have Thor's Body"

River opened his eyes, the beautiful morning rays of New York City greeting him.

He smiled. Life hadn't been the greatest, but he was grateful for little warm moments like that. He glanced sideways to take a look at Jesse who was sleeping on a cot on the floor, snoring so quietly that it sounded peaceful. 

Getting up, he walked to the bathroom and gently closed the door behind. He brushed his teeth, took a quick shower, put on deodorant, put on clean clothes, brushed his hair and sprayed his signature perfume.

He went to the kitchen, made himself toast, grabbed a glass of fresh fruit juice, finished his breakfast and came back to his room. Jesse was missing. The bathroom door was open and he waved at River from the mirror with one hand, brushing his teeth with the other.

"Morning," River said, making his bed.

Jesse rinsed the paste out of his mouth and poked his head out of the bathroom. "Where you going?" 

"Niki's."

"Why?"

"Just haven't seen her in a while. I wanna see how she's doing."

Jesse nodded. "Okay."

It had been exactly a week since Colette stormed out of River's apartment. He hadn't said a word about it all week, pretending like it never happened. Jesse tried, subtly, to get him to talk about it but River always dodged it or changed the subject. He decided not to push it- River clearly was too hurt to talk about it and he was avoiding his feelings as much as he could. Typical of him, Jesse expected nothing different.

He knew at the back of his mind that River was in the wrong, but he didn't know how to convey that to him without making him explode. Especially after Colette used two words that no one ever expected her to use, the great 'fuck you', the last thing River would want to hear was how she was right.

If only pride wasn't a thing.

River sat down on his newly made bed and started putting on his Converse. He sighed. "I know I've been avoiding it all week, but we have to talk."

Jesse launched himself onto the bed. "Finally."

River glared at him. "I just made the bed you idiot."

He waved his hand like it was nothing. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"You have no regard for cleanliness."

"And you have no regard for Colette's feelings."

River's mouth dropped. Somebody had to say it. "Rude!"

Jesse sat upright. "I'm sorry for being blunt, but I'd rather just say it than beat around the bush."

River scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're so annoying."

"But I'm honest."

River let go of his shoes and sat cross-legged on the bed, facing Jesse. "Okay, let's do this." He took a deep breath and clapped. "What do you mean I have no regard for her feelings?"

Jesse sighed. "I personally think she has a very good reason as to why she's reacting the way she is, but you don't understand her feelings. I don't blame you, her point of view isn't something you can easily see. Her feelings are very complicated. But what I do blame you is for pushing her away when she reacted."

"Pushing her away?"

He nodded. "Look, that fight you had at Niki's apartment? From what you've told me, it was very chaotic. I don't think any of you three were wrong in thinking the way you did, but you both did hurt Colette unintentionally. An ideal situation would be calmly discussing your reasons and feelings with each other, but who am I kidding? Colette's human. She reacted, and I don't blame her for it. She was angry, upset, disappointed and felt betrayed. And maybe you didn't mean to hurt her, but she was hurt and instead of letting her emotions take their toll, you reacted to them, further enraging her."