Cold and Charisma (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Fifteen

"Don't touch me! I can do it myself," He spat, looking up at me with malice. A smile crept onto my face, "I know you can, Riley, but I'm not gonna let you." I gently snatched the roll of gauze from his hands, yanking a bit since he was clutching onto it tightly.

"You always treat me like I'm a little kid." He snarled, still wanting to argue with me even though blood continued to seep onto his uniform. "Well then I apologize, Riley. I don't mean to." I said calmly, a smile still present on my face.

If playing along with his attempts to start an argument is what it takes to bandage him up without resistance, I'll gladly be patient and endure his insults. I wanted nothing more but for his knee to be okay, and for him to forgive me.

While he went on and on angrily about hating me, and something about wishing I was dead, I gently rolled up his trousers to expose his wounded knee. When I saw the scrape, immense guilt washed over me, my small smile turning into a worried frown.

"Spare me the guilt trip, Archer. You're the reason this happened in the first place, so just hurry up and fix it before you screw up again." He was right– I was the reason why he got hurt, and the reason why he's sitting on the lid of my toilet seat, bleeding. I sighed, feeling guilty and even more worried.

I wasn't trying to guilt trip him, I felt genuinely bad. I was the cause of this whole mess, and if I'd just paid more attention to where I was going– "Are you gonna just let me bleed out until I die? If you're not gonna help, gimme that!" before he could snatch it from me, I moved the gauze away from his reach.

If I was the one who caused this, I was gonna be the one to help him. "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. God, I feel horrible, Riley.." I groaned, eying at his nasty scrape as I unravelled the gauze. "Feeling horrible isn't gonna make it disappear, dumbass." Riley snarled, arms crossed.

I was currently crouched in front of him, wrapping a roll of gauze around his bleeding knee, all while not even sparing him a glance. I knew that if I looked into those blue, furious eyes, I'd be feeling another wave of guiltiness, and I'd probably just say something else to get him all riled up. The least I could do was shut up.

After a few minutes of me silently putting ointment onto his scrape– with an occasional 'ouch' followed by a little flinch– I finished it off by securing the wrap of gauze so it wouldn't unravel. Even after finishing, I decided to stay quiet, although my mind was running rampant.

".. You really do feel bad, don't you?" He said, leaning back, his crossed arms somewhat less defiant. I looked up at him from the floor, staring right into his eyes, my expression showing nothing but concern, ""I do, Riley. More than you know. I just want you to be okay."

He rolled his eyes, and uncrossed his arms, "Get up from the floor. If you're done, can I go home?" I thought about it as I got up, dusting myself off, "Yeah." I said, not knowing how else to respond. I really did want him to be okay, and if that meant letting go of my chance to hang out with him to give him some space instead, then that's fine by me.

"You're not gonna beg me to stay? That's a first.." He said, snarkily, as he got up from the toilet lid. I chuckled a little, forcing a small smile, "No, Riley, I'm not," I looked down at him, now that we were both standing, and slowly put my hand on his shoulder, "Take care of yourself, okay? I know you don't need me to tell you, but I just want to make sure you're alright."

Riley aggressively ripped my hand off his shoulder, and looked up at me with a slightly angrier expression, "Why do you care? You just met me and now you're acting like some kind of hero. I don't need your pity, or your attention." He harshly bumped into me as he walked past to get to the door.