Riot

Chapter 6

Alison's POV

'... And this is the library. Do you want to go inside, or is that too boring for your taste?', I teased.

Mike just rolled his eyes at me. I decided to take that as a 'yes, too boring'. He was interested in some particular forms of literature, mostly newspaper articles, but I never managed to get him to read actual books. There had only been two times that I'd found him reading anything out of the ordinary.

The first time was when he was twelve years old. He had found a book my father bought at a local book market. The only reason my father had taken it in the first place was to look like an intellectual. He had filled the bookshelf with several books from all over the world, but he never actually read them. I was convinced that Mike's wanderlust had started after reading that particular book, called 'Seven Years in Tibet'. It was an autobiography written by an Austrian mountaineer, Heinrich Harrer. I had read it several months before Mike did, obviously. The second time was years later, when he had just met Amber and tried to impress her.

'Are you still with me?', a familiar voice whispered in my ear. I silently nodded, realizing I had lost my train of thought again. That happened quite often; I was very easily distracted.

'Anything else you can show me?', he tried again. I snapped back into reality, forcing myself to get out of my head.

'You better believe it. They serve some delicious coffee and apple pie in the cafetaria', I said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him in the direction of my second favorite place on campus.

After three hours of wandering around campus and showing Mike literally everything there was to see, we arrived back at my dorm. I was pleased to find that Marylee wasn't home yet. That meant I had the chance to talk to Mike in private one more time before he would leave.

'So, do you want to come to the book reading tonight?', I asked him. I already knew the answer, but it felt wrong to not ask him at all. As I suspected, he shook his head.

'No, thanks. You're going with a friend, right?', he said. I nodded, taking a sip of my tea.

'Then you don't need me, you already have a chaperonne', he continued. He probably wasn't being serious, but I shot him an annoyed glare.

'I literally live here alone. In a city that is quite a ways from mom and dad. The last thing I need now is a chaperonne', I muttered, slighly annoyed by his protective attitude. Even if he was only joking, I knew very well what he was going to propose next. As Mike noticed my sudden mood change, he put his hand on my shoulder.

'You know I didn't mean that literally. But is there any chance that you might want to... move a little closer to home? I know that mom would appreciate that, she really misses you', he explained. I turned to face him. I didn't want to have this conversation again, but I didn't want to shrug it off either. Especially since I knew exactly what he was getting at. My parents wanted me to get a degree, but preferably at a college closer to home. I hadn't visited them in forever, and they were not happy about it to say the least. Their wishes were very contradictive.

'How am I going to finish my studies here if I move back in with mom and dad?', I retaliated. He wanted to say something else, but decided against it.

'Forget I said anything. It's not my place to tell you what to do', he sighed. His half-hearted apology didn't please me, but I blamed it on his lack of empathy.

'Did mom and dad make you come over?'. I was afraid to ask him that, because they would be capable of doing just that. Sending their son to check on their daughter and keep her in line. They were old-fashioned like that.