Caged Mentality

POV: Khristos Larkin

“Hey, bartender! Get me a motherfucking beer!”

I turned to see Noah grinning at me from his bar stool, Isaac and Riley on either side of him. Riley smiled and waved, Isaac just stared at me with a half-smile. I laughed a bit as I walked over to them, grabbing a beer and setting it down in front of Noah. My friends showing up brightened my evening.

“It's nice to see you guys. I was getting sick of work, needed a distraction.” I noted, then turned to Isaac. “You want anything?”

“Surprise me.” He replied, pushing his black hair behind his ear.

“What about me?” Riley frowned as I started mixing a drink for Isaac. I knew what he liked enough to be able to just give him something.

“You're not old enough. I'm not falling for that.” I smirked, glancing up at Riley. His frown broke into a grin.

“Just testing you. But you know, it's really not fair, you're underage too but you get to drink whenever you want.”

He did this almost every time. Just trying to get me to cave in, I suppose...

“I know how to drink responsibly.” I stated, setting a glass in front of Isaac.

“Cheers to Riley, our designated driver!” Noah exclaimed, raising his beer bottle in the air. Isaac raised his glass and they clicked both together, then Isaac drank down half of his drink while Noah chugged his whole bottle.

“You guys are assholes.” Riley muttered and we all laughed.

“But you love us anyway.” Noah grinned, shoving Riley playfully. “Another beer, motherfucker.” He demanded, staring at me and holding out his hand. I handed him another beer. He always went through so many.

“You have such great language, Noah.” Isaac commented with a slight smirk.

“I know I do. It's so fuckin beautiful.” Noah took several swallows of his drink. He was pretty big on drinking. Well, partying in general. Once he finished his drink, he placed it on the counter. “I'm gonna go dance with chicks!” He stood, grinning, then walked off.

“Hell yeah!” Riley stood as well and followed Noah. I watched them disappear into the crowd, then moved to stand across the bar from Isaac, resting my hands on the counter.

“So,” He began, staring at me, his hands around his glass sitting on the counter, “Anything new with that Riel guy?”

I shook my head no, staring at the counter. It had been four days since I spoke to Riel on the phone, and it kept getting harder and harder to stay away from him. I missed him so badly. I wanted to see him happy again, even just hear him happy. But when I talked to him, he wasn't happy at all and I couldn't change it because he wouldn't let me. It just wasn't fair.

“I haven't heard from him since I called him around you guys.” I replied, looking back up at Isaac. He stared back at me thoughtfully.

“He still refuses to be with you? But he has feelings for you.” He said, looking for confirmation. I nodded. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don't know... I can't just give up, I want to be with him too much to forget about it. But there's not much more I can tell him to convince him to date me... The most I can do is start seeing him again and repeat myself over and over. But would that even get me anywhere?” I sighed, leaning forward on my arms.

“Possibly. You won't know until you try.” He took another couple swallows of his drink, then smirked. “This guy is definitely a lot more stubborn than I was.”

“Yeah,” I laughed a bit, remembering several years back when Isaac and I were together, “By a lot. You were very easy to convince. The only reason you hesitated is because you didn't want to take the chance of ruining our friendship.”

“Well, we had been best friends for over ten years. I didn't want to lose such a big part of my life.” He chuckled.

“And you didn't, even after we broke up.”

“And I'm glad for that.” He smiled a bit. It was nice to be able to talk to him without interruptions from Noah or Riley.

“I am too.” I agreed. “So I guess I'll wait a while before bothering Riel again... We'll see if he still wants to date me by the time I see him next.”

“He will, I'm sure of it. I mean, how could he not? You'll get to be with him in the end.” Isaac assured me, and I felt a bit better about the whole thing. Isaac was honest, and he had never let me down. I trusted him.

“Thanks, man.” I smiled. I was happy I had a friend like Isaac that I could talk to about these things.

“You can talk to me anytime you need to, kid. I'll always be here for you.” He told me sincerely and finished his drink. He would always be my best friend, that could never change. It's been that way for years. We'd never have gotten this far in life without the other to help us through the hard days. I was so thankful for him.

“So you got anyone new yet?” I questioned out of curiosity. I figured he'd tell me if he did find someone, but I wanted to ask just in case.

“Nah. Haven't found anyone worth my time yet.” Isaac said with a nonchalant shrug.

“Oh. I think you should be with a chick, you'd be cute with one.” I said with a grin, imagining Isaac dating a girl. It worked.

“Yeah? We'll see.” He gave a very small smile, his eyes locked with mine.

“Maybe you should find a chick here.” I suggested, mostly joking. I knew he wouldn't do that. He wasn't the type to just ask a random girl at a club for her number. That was more Noah's thing.

“Right.” He chuckled, rolling his eyes. “You know I wouldn't do that.”

“Yeah, I do.” I agreed, straightening.

“Hey, motherfucker!” Noah walked over with a wide grin and a girl on either side of him, his arms around their waists. “Beers for me and my friends here. On me!”