Memories

LI

MIND YOUR MANNERS

'Manners
You better reconsider
Cause you will never do better
There is no one like me'

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"Where is he?" 

"He took a bottle and left again." Nicky replied. "Don't know where he went."

"With coach?"

"Don't think so. Aaron left, too, right after you did."

Neil didn't care what Aaron did. He nodded and left, and Nicky didn't call after him. Neil took the stairs up to the roof and fought the knob the way he'd seen Andrew jar it loose. It only needed a couple of tries before he got it open, and he stepped out onto the windy rooftop.

Andrew was sitting on the back end of the roof this time. He was holding a bottle of vodka that looked empty from Neil's angle, but the sunlight flashed and showed there was a little bit of it left. Neil made his way across the roof and sat down out of Andrew's reach. He looked at the carpark, where a few cars still sat, but people were already scrubbing the concrete.

"Give me a good reason not to push you off the side," Andrew said as he passed Neil a pack of cigarettes without looking at him. Neil took it and lit one.

"I'd drag you with me. It's a long way down."

"I hate you." Andrew took a sip of his vodka and looked over at Neil. "Ninety percent of the time the very sight of you makes me want to commit murder. I think about carving the skin from your body and hanging it out as a warning to every other fool who thinks he can stand in my way."

"What about the other ten?" Neil pushed. 

"I told you not to put a leash on me."

"I didn't. You put that leash on yourself when you told me to stay no matter what. Don't be mad at me just because I was smart enough to pick up the other end of it." Neil replied.

"If you pull it again I will kill you, Thalia's brother or not." Andrew said. Neil narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe when the year is up you will," Neil said. "Thalia's brother or not."

"I don't think it was the money," Andrew said after a few moments of silence, startling Neil. He looked at Andrew with a confused frown on his face. "Why they chased you so long. I imagine at some point they realised it was more important to hurt you than to recoup what they'd lost."

"But Thalia was supposed to be Moriyama property, and I was supposed to be dead." Neil shared. Andrew looked at him oddly and then his face regained its bored mask and he stubbed his cigarette out between them. "I want to see you lose control."

"Last year you wanted to live. Now you seem hell-bent on getting killed. If I felt like playing another round with you right now, I'd ask why you've had a change of heart. As it stands, I've had enough of your stupidity to last me a week. Go back inside and bother the others."

"Am I bothering you?" Neil asked as he got to his feet. 

"Beyond telling."

"Interesting," Neil commented. "Last week you said nothing gets under your skin." Andrew didn't say anything in response, and Neil took his victory as what it was and went inside.

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"I'm going out." Thalia said. She had her things to go partying, and even though she desperately wanted to make a run for it, Riko was sitting in the room closest to the entrance with most of the team around him doing something quietly. He looked up and glared at her.