Caged Mentality

POV: Khristos Larkin

Walking into my old home, I was greeted almost immediately with a hug from my little brother. I smiled and hugged him back. “Hey, Roman.”

“Thanks for taking me with you. I didn't wanna sit around alone all day,” he said, smiling up at me.

“No problem. What are big brothers for?” I grinned, messing up his short brown hair.

“Hey, Kris.” My dad walked out into the hall and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged back. “It's nice to see you. How are you with your disorder?”

“Better, I guess.” I shrugged. “I don't like calling it a disorder though. I'm not some disabled kid or something. I just get a bit angrier than most people.”

My dad laughed, as if it was funny. I guess it was the way I put it. “Alright, I'm sorry. But I'm glad to know you're doing alright. Are you still with Riel?”

I nodded twice. “Of course.”

“See, it was a good thing I put you in counseling.” Dad smiled happily. I smiled slightly, just glad he was happy. “What are your plans for the future? With him, I mean.”

I stared at him blankly a moment. “Plans for the future?” I repeated, realizing I hadn't given it any thought. “I... I dunno, I guess. I mean, I'm not planning on leaving him, but I'm not getting married anytime soon either.

He laughed. “Alright. I'm glad the two of you are happy, and I'm glad you're not jumping into things too quickly.” I nodded once. “But I won't keep you here any more. You and Roman can go ahead.” He smiled. “Have fun.”

“Alright,” I said. “Bye, Dad.”

“Bye!” Roman smiled at Dad, and we both headed out the door as Dad waved. We walked out to my car and got in, and I pulled away from the curb.

I was taking Roman with me to band practice today. Dad had a long shift at work today, and Mom was out doing whatever the hell she wanted. Roman didn't like being alone too much, and I liked spending time with him anyway. He's been to several band practices with me.

Since Riel was going with Eli to see their parents today, I would be spending my whole day until I had to work with my little brother.

“Hey, Kris?” Roman began, looking over at me. I glanced over at him as I drove.

“Yeah?” I fixed my eyes back on the road.

“When do I get to meet your boyfriend?” he asked, bringing me to the realization that they hadn't met yet. Why hadn't I brought Riel over to their house or something?

I looked over at Roman. “I'll talk to him about it. Maybe I can bring him over for dinner or something tomorrow.” I turned to the road again. “Dad hasn't seen Riel outside his office.”

“That would be fun,” Roman said happily. “You should find out his favorite meal, then.”

“He likes roast beef. You're going to cook for us?” I smiled. Roman was easily a better cook than me. He and Dad both enjoyed cooking. Roman had to cook for himself a lot, when Dad was at work or something, because Mom doesn't cook for him. Ever since I've been moved out, Roman has been bringing me food as often as he can, which is usually about twice a week. It made him happy, and it made me happy, since I couldn't cook worth shit. It was nice to have something other than canned food, microwavable meals, and frozen pizzas.

“Dad and I both will,” Roman said with a proud smile. “I hope he'll come.”

“If he refuses, I’ll drag him there.” I smirked and messed up Roman's hair. If meeting Riel would make my little brother happy, then I would do everything I could to make it happen. And something tells me I had a lot of persuading to do tomorrow.

“So, how's school? Got a girlfriend yet?” I teased.

He laughed. “Nah. Not yet.”

“Good. You're too young.” I chuckled.

“I know, I know. You tell me that all the time.” And I did. At least once a month, I'd tell him he was too young to date. He was only thirteen, after all. If I had anything to say about it, he was going to be waiting until he graduated high school and college to start dating.

Unfortunately, I probably wouldn't have much say in the matter.

“But anyway. You're getting good grades, right?” I asked.

“Of course. Aren't I always?”

I nodded. “I'm counting on you to do better with school than I did. Don't let me down.” I grinned. He laughed.

“Kris, you weren't that bad with school. You got good grades.”

“Barely. I was average.” I laughed. “I want you getting straight A's.”

“You got it,” he promised, smiling, and then we fell into a comfortable silence, my radio playing Slipknot on low volume. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song, wanting so badly to be sitting at my drumset, playing along. Psychosocial was one of my favorite songs to play.

Just when my thoughts started to drift off toward Riel, Roman's voice cut through my thoughts. “Kris... When's Mom going to be better?”

He asked with such a sad, yet innocent tone that it nearly broke my heart. But I held so much resentment toward my mother that I didn't have much room to feel sad.

“I don't know, Roman. Maybe never,” I responded, choosing 'maybe' instead of the 'probably' that would have fit better. As much as I didn't want to get his hopes up, it would be too hard to tell him that there was only a slim chance he'd ever get his mom back.

I looked over at Roman to see why he was so quiet all of a sudden. He looked lost in thought, so I turned to the road again. He turned his head to stare out of his window.

“She was fighting with Dad again yesterday,” Roman said thoughtfully. “But it was the first time she's mentioned anything about divorcing him.”

I nearly slammed my foot on the brake. “What?” I asked, hoping I had just heard him wrong.

“It got Dad really upset... I spent a lot of time trying to calm him down.”

I pulled onto the shoulder of the road and put the car in park, even though we were almost to Noah's house. I felt horrible. How could I just leave Roman to deal with these things? What did he do to deserve that?

“Why are you stopping?” Roman asked, looking over at me. I stared at him with an apologetic expression, trying to figure out what I could do to make his life better. He couldn't stay at my apartment, it was too dangerous there... He was too young to live on his own... No way in hell he was going to an orphanage or whatever.

Fuck... When would my dad have that money for a new house?

I unbuckled my seatbelt, leaning over and wrapping my arms around Roman. He hugged back tightly. “I love you, kid.” I pulled back and smiled at him. He smiled back.

“I love you, too.”

I buckled my seatbelt again and put the car in drive, pulling away from the shoulder of the road, driving the small remainder to Noah's house.

Roman and I entered the house without bothering to knock. I never knocked. Noah's house was like a second home to all of us in the band.

We entered the den to find that everyone was already there. That was normal, since I was always late. Isaac was sitting on the windowsill, watching as Noah and Riley wrestled in the middle of the room. Isaac stood, but the other two couldn't be bothered to stop for us.

“Hey, Roman,” Isaac greeted with a small smile as Roman walked over to him, hugging him tightly. Since I've been best friends with Isaac since we were kids, he was sort of like a second big brother to Roman. Or... Maybe not quite that, since Isaac and I dated.

“Hi,” Roman greeted smilingly. When he pulled away, I hugged Isaac.

“Having fun watching those two?” I smirked, releasing him. He half laughed.

“Oh, definitely,” he said sarcastically. “The three of you roughhouse too much, I think.”

“It's not like we seriously injure each other.” I shrugged, still smirking. I turned to Noah and Riley. “Hey, losers! Get the hell up already!”

“Not 'til I win!” Riley shouted back, still wrestling against Noah, who simply flipped me off. The moment he did, Riley pinned him to the floor. Noah tried as hard as he could, but he couldn't get Riley off of him. “You lose!”

“Aw, man...” Noah frowned. “You motherfucker!” He laughed, trying to push Riley off. Riley laughed, sticking his tongue out at Noah before getting off, standing up, and turning to me.

“Hey, Kris,” he greeted, grinning. “Wanna wrestle?”

I laughed. “I'll pass this time. We're supposed to be practicing.”

Noah stood. “Awh, you brought the little squirt!” He grinned at Roman, messing up his hair. “Hey, kid!”

“Hi, Noah.” Roman smiled, then looked at Riley. “Hi, Riley.”

“Hey, Roman. Do you wanna wrestle?” Riley joked. Roman laughed and shook his head no.

“Pick on someone your own size, Riley.” Isaac smirked.

“I would, but Kris doesn't want to wrestle.”

“Kris is shorter than you,” Noah commented, grinning at me.

“Oh, shut up. You're being insensitive to Isaac, who is the smallest one of us.” I smirked. Isaac just rolled his eyes. Not only was Isaac shorter than me by two inches, he also had a small build. Not that he was scrawny, he just didn't have the genetics to be very big. He had toned muscles, but they didn't show much.

Riley was about an inch and a half taller than me, but we had about the same build, and Noah was an inch taller than him and a bit more muscular. Roman was around an inch below Isaac, but he's not in the band, so he didn't count. He was still growing, anyway.

“We should practice,” Isaac stated as he picked up his bass, putting the strap over his shoulder. “We're never going to get anywhere if we spend all of our practices messing around.”

We all agreed and found our respective instruments, while Roman made himself comfortable on the couch.

We started playing what was probably our most covered song- Hero of the Day by Metallica. We all liked Metallica, some of us more than others, and this song fit with Riley's voice the best. But we had barely gotten halfway through the song when the door burst open, and in walked some blonde-haired chick that looked pretty furious. We all stopped playing at the same time.

“Riley, you fucking bastard!” she yelled, charging right up to him and slapping him hard across the face. The rest of us stared in shock and wonder at the scene unfolding before us.

“Whoa, Erin? Why are you... How did...” Riley stuttered, rubbing his cheek. That slap did sound pretty painful.

“I'm here because you've been avoiding my calls, and you never seem to be around when I show up at your house!” she yelled. “Where is the child support money you owe me?” she demanded, and Noah's, Isaac's, and my jaw dropped to the floor. Child support money?

“I don't have it yet! How did you find me?”

“Because I knew from Noah you were in his band and I knew you guys have practice every Saturday, but that's beside the point!”

“Wait, you know Noah?” Riley questioned, confused. This was turning into quite the soap opera. They were more interesting in real life though, especially if it was your friends.

“Yeah, I've slept with him a few times,” she said in an irritated tone. She obviously didn't want to deal with a hundred questions.

Riley turned to Noah, incredulous. “What the fuck, man?” Noah just grinned, throwing up his hands.

“Riley, I need that money!” Erin yelled, and Riley turned to her again. “You're supposed to be paying it!”

“Oh, come on! I paid some of it. It's not like I still owe you that much, can't you just ask your daddy?” Riley retorted.

“It's one hundred fucking dollars!” she yelled, then paused, her eyes slitting into a glare. “I am going to sue you for all you own.” She turned to leave, but Isaac's voice stopped her.

“Wait. I owe Riley about a hundred dollars, I can just give it to you.” Isaac pulled out his wallet as Erin turned to him, a look of relief on her face.

“Oh, thank God at least one of you is a decent guy.” She smiled as she walked over to him, taking the hundred dollar bill he held out to her. Wait, was she saying I wasn't decent? She didn't even know me. Well, maybe she didn't even notice I was there.

She walked over to Riley and grabbed his shirt in her small fist, pulling him down to her level to glare at him. How did he end up knocking up a tough-ass chick like her? Then again, Riley could be pretty tough himself when he needed to be. “You better pay when you're supposed to next time around.”

“Alright, alright, jeez...” Riley mumbled as Erin turned and left. The moment we heard the front door slam, Noah and I burst out laughing while Isaac just smirked, holding back a laugh.

“Dude! Since when did you have a kid?” I said through laughter. Riley turned around to glare at both me and Noah.

“And with Erin? How did you manage to get in her pants?” Noah laughed.

“Oh, you just think you're so much better than me, don't you?” Riley questioned, crossing his arms and glaring at Noah. Noah thought he was so much better than everyone. That shouldn't have come as a surprise.

“Seriously, though,” Isaac began, and Riley turned to him. “Since when did you have a kid?”

Riley sighed, no longer glaring. I forced myself to stop laughing, as did Noah, so we could listen. “He's a bit over a year old now. I didn't tell you guys because it's not something I’m proud of. I just liked messing around with her, I never planned to become a dad... I didn't think she'd get pregnant...”

I never would have pinned Riley as a father. He was only eighteen. I guess it's a good thing Erin broke up with him and kept the baby to herself. Riley wouldn't make a very good dad. At least, not yet.

“You could have told us, Riley. We wouldn't have thought any less of you, and we could have helped you out if you needed it,” Isaac said seriously. Always so compassionate. Maybe he really was the only decent one of us.

Riley smiled. “Thanks. Oh, and for saving my ass back there, too. I owe you, big time.”

“Yeah. A hundred dollars, plus interest,” Isaac responded in such a tone that none of us could tell if he was being serious or not. So we all just stared at him for a moment, while he stared at Riley, a small smirk crossing his face.

“Wait, you're joking, right? About the interest?” Riley asked. Isaac just stared at him with that crooked smirk he liked to wear. “Please tell me you're joking.” We all started laughing, except for Riley, since he was the one in trouble if Isaac was serious. “Isaac?”