Generation Why Bother

Riley and Chuck were literally getting the exact same story told to them as when Tegan and I were brought in. Like, I don’t even think Andy bothered to paraphrase certain things. The only difference was that Andy was flying solo for this one – Mick wasn’t even awake, and Anthony and Chance were standing with Tegan and I behind the couches that our two new recruits sat in, taking it all in.

Andy was showing them the monitor and explaining how far off the danger was. I do have to say, it was hard to take him seriously when he was explaining everything in his underwear – when he was giving us the details wearing jeans and a t-shirt, for some reason he just seemed so much more credible. Maybe it was the lack of hair gel, making jet black strands fall in his face when normally they’d be neatly pushed back. Maybe it was the way he kind of forced what he was saying, seeming so rehearsed. It was weird to see it happen a second time in such a more disheveled way.

As an aside, Anthony sighed in frustration and grumbled, “I swear to God that’s the same speech he gave you two.”

“Did you guys fight again or something?” Chance asked directly. Wasn’t trying to be rude, he was probably just curious.

“That is literally none of your business,” he hissed back.

Chance elbowed Tegan and I and whispered, “They fought.”

Anthony snorted in protest and continued to glare straight on ahead at Andy, who was carrying on with such aplomb that it was like he didn’t even notice the laughs that were coming from Riley. The guy was shaking from laughing so hard. It didn’t even sound like he was forcing it – he genuinely found it hilarious.

Soon enough, Riley held up a hand and asked Andy to stop between chuckles. “This has got to be the most vivid dream I’ve ever had, but now I see what Chuck meant when he wanted to go back to school down in Florida.” He then stood up, brushing off his jeans with a bright smile. “Welp – I’m gonna get a plane ticket and go back home. I figure I’ll wake up in the airport at some point.”

Chuck turned around with his elbow on his knee and said, “Riley, I’m starting to think the crap you did was linked to this. It would make sense, after all – it’s not like the earth just spontaneously shifted on its own.”

“So are you gonna come home with me or what, Chuck? You’re gonna stay in a town full of strangers and these losers who buy into this shit, or are you gonna come home with me?” He sounded so sure of himself. A bit manipulative, but he had the swagger of someone who knew how to hit home.

Chuck hesitated. He looked at the ground and pushed his glasses up, and then he turned around and shocked the crap out of Riley when he declared, “No. I’m gonna stay here.”

Stopping dead in his tracks and stammering over sentence fragments with his palms up, Riley looked completely betrayed by his friend. A crisis of confidence was happening right in front of us, and what solidified it was when he sighed heavily after a few seconds of stutters and stated, “Fine. I’ll just go back home by myself.”

Cracking his neck, Riley flared his nostrils at Chuck and crossed his arms.

Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the apartment without anybody stopping him.

For a second, Chuck just stared at the closed door with his mouth agape and his forehead wrinkled together in worry.

“Uh…that kind of went in the opposite direction I thought it would,” he mumbled softly.

It would’ve been creepy to openly empathize with Chuck, so I kept it to myself. I knew it wasn’t the first time he’d been left for dead in a place he didn’t know anybody in after something didn’t go the way he predicted, and the way he shrunk into himself after that incident let everybody know his insecurity. Now wasn’t the time for beating him up over it. There were bigger fish to fry.