Why Can't You Love Me

2/Chapter 1

"BAM!" I watched Lip take punch after punch as the people around us cheered on the fight."Get your guard up Lip." Ian tells him as he is ruthlessly getting his ass beat, you would think growing up on the Southside he would know a thing or two about fighting, but hey at least he was a genius. "Kick him back, you're punching like a fag." Ian said as he pushed Lip back into the circle. I laughed at the comment and looked back up as my big brother tried to at least get one hit on the guy. "Man the fuck up Lip, you look like a pussy!" I yelled to him, but that didn't change a thing because seconds later he gets body-slammed by his opponent. The bell rings signifying that round 1 is over as Lip drags his body over and sits in the chair in front of us.

" You know you're supposed to hit back right?" I said to him as I handed him his water. "That kid hits hard Lex." Lip replied, "Well what did you think this was?" Mandy then asked, " I didn't think he could punch me with his foot!" He replied exhausted. Ian suggested throwing in the towel but Lip instead said "I would if I was smart" and jumped back in the circle, I sigh with my head down as he immediately is punched to the ground.

We walked out of the building where Lip just got his ass handed to, talking about the other fights that we saw and then Lips pussy of a fight. " Did we make any money on my fight?" Lip asked " Nope, nobody wanted the odds." Ian answered, "What'd you put down." "In the fight, you lost, Nada." "What about you Lex ." "Nothing," I said, shaking my head and lighting my cigarette. "So Mickeys out soon." Lip started, I see Ian look more interested in the conversation as Mickey was brought up and smirked a bit while blowing out smoke.

" In about a week or so, if he doesn't stab anyone else," Mandy answers back. She then explains how he got an extra 30 days for stabbing a kid before. I've always liked Mickey, I've known him for as long as I've known Mandy and before he went to juvie I sometimes hung out with him when I was bored, or to just see Mandy.

9 months ago

I was walking from school when I saw this kid who seemed familiar and to be about two-three years older than me shooting empty bottles of a random table. For some reason, the sounds of gunshots didn't scare me and I walked up to him as he spun around confused as to why I was coming near him. "The fuck you want kid." He looked down on me. "Where'd you get that gun?" I asked carefully, usually, the only people I ever see shooting them are adults, cops mostly or the usual gangsters "None of your fucking business, now move the fuck on kid." He says then tries to turn around.

" Will you teach me how to shoot one." I genuinely want to learn because you never knew what could happen when we need to protect ourselves, even from Frank. He thinks it running his hand over his face then sighing "Get over here." I drop my bag on the ground and come in front of him. He positions the gun in my hand, moving my fingers and corrects my footing and then steps back and instructs me to put my finger on the trigger. "Use your left eye to get the best aim and try to knock down one of the bottles," he says and once I pull the trigger I jump back a bit but smile that I had knocked down one of the bottles. " Great shot kid you might be a natural at this," he says laughing slightly. I came back the next day and he gave me my own gun. "I shaved off the serial number so it can't be traced by the cops if you use it," he says as he hands me the 9mm. I thanked him and put it in a shoebox under my bed labeled "Old Test/HW" so that not even Carl would try to get into it.

I then looked over at Mandy, I've known for almost a year and since then I feel that my life has been tiled so that I just kept slipping. She was just so gorgeous and fascinating, I couldn't but slowly fall in love with her. " Hey, you're staring again," Ian said, smirking at me. " Was fucking not," I say start but turn away from him embarrassed. Ian knew about my crush on Mandy for a while now. He always found it funny every time I would try and tag along every chance I could. Everyone knew I was gay when I had come out when I was thirteen after Fiona caught me kissing a girl in my class in the back yard after school. For some reason, she and everybody else I told from then on weren't surprised, just treated like it was normal, same with what they did when Ian came out. For some reason, she still treated me like a little kid even though I was sixteen for Christ sake!