The Kids Aren't Alright

Chapter 51: Ronan

"Good morning, ladies' man. Forget to pack?"

Finn shoots out of bed so quickly you'd think his blankets had turned into lava. "Christ's sake. What time is it?"

"Time for you to get an alarm clock, buddy-boy."

"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no..." He flings his curtain to the side and receives a sunbeam to the face. "No!"

"Need a hand?" I ask. Finn whirls towards me, expression hopeful— until I continue, "Oh, wait. I forgot you have a girlfriend now. Why don't you ask Becca to help you?"

"You are a bitter human being," he says. True. 

I smile at him as I sling my duffel bag over my shoulder. "As much as I'd love to stay and watch you try to dig yourself out of this hole, I'm already packed, and I don't want to be late to the Hike. I heard that Karen is giving kitchen duty to the last camper that arrives."

"No, no, no. I haven't packed anything. I don't even know where my clean clothes are. Please, Ronan, can't you just drop the wise-guy act and help me out?"

"Why, and let you miss out on such a valuable learning experience? I don't think so."

"Alright, fuck you."

My eyebrow raises on its own accord. "You should really research famous last words. Because that was shit."

"C'mon, you've gotta help me here. I don't want to get kitchen duty. I can't!"

"Look, any other day I would help you, I really would. But I still haven't forgotten the week of kitchen duty I got because of you. So, consider this as making us even."

"That literally happened two months ago!"

"Yes, and do you know what's happening right now? Justice. And I'm exacting it."

Finn waves his hands around frantically, like he's trying to direct air traffic. "Okay, I get it! I gave you the wrong size shirts, and I got you a week of kitchen duty, and I broke your nose— I get it. I'm a terrible roommate. I've given you plenty of reasons to want to get even. I mean, I punched you off a canoe. If I were you I'd want justice too."

"I'm not getting any younger here, Fish. Get to the point."

"Okay. Okay. My point is— I know that we've done a lot of terrible things to each other, but please, just this one time, could we not fight? Could we not try to get even, or exact justice— can we put aside all of our grudges and just be, I don't know— friends?"

He turns those stupidly brown, cow-like eyes on me, and I hear myself sigh.

"You don't have shoes," I tell him.

"Excuse me?"

I sigh again. "Giselle stole your hiking shoes the night of Jasper's birthday party. She hasn't returned them yet."

"Seriously? Why?"

I cough the words into my hand.

Finn's gaze turns severe. "Ronan, what the hell did you do?"

"I may have asked her to steal them."

"You may have what?"

"Oh, you heard me the first time. Don't be such a baby about it."

"I need my hiking shoes to hike, Ronan!"

"Whatever. How about I make it up to you by helping you pack?"

He narrows his eyes at me. "Is this some kind of prank?"

"No. Are you some kind of idiot?"

A loud exhale through his nostrils tells me he didn't find this funny.