"Royce, I told you to put it down! I swear I feel like I'm talking to a child!"

I rolled my eyes at Pablo's scolding and flipped him off before placing the expencive vase back in its place.

Once again he dragged me along to buy a gift for my dads and Angelas wedding. It was in a couple of days and once he found out I still didn't have a gift, he brought me here to this old fashioned antique store to buy something.

This place was surrounded with old people who looked like they had a bit too much money and time on their wrinkly hands.

They all kept sending me dirty looks because of the way I was dressed and thought I was trying to steal the ugly items they had here.

If I wanted to get arrested it would be for something worth stealing not some hideous vase that already looked like it belonged in the trash.

All I wanted was to do was sleep but stupid Pablo kept complaining that it would be rude if I didn't get a gift.

"Can we go now?" I whined to Pablo, who was inspecting a yellow lap in his hands.

He huffed in frustration and carefully put the lamp back in its place. "Not until we find a gift." he firmly stated.

"Just get something from a thrift shop. It's not like there's a big difference." I replied and pointed to the items on display.

The lady behind the counter glared at my comment but stayed quiet.

"Sorry ma'm, can you help us choose a wedding gift?" Pablo kindly asked the woman.

It's like he loved be-friending my enemies.

"Of course, my name is Donna and I'll gladly help you. These beautiful engraved kitchen utensils just came in today." the woman replied.

Donna had short blonde hair and wore heavy makeup to cover her obvious wrinkles. Her lipstick was a bright red and it almost made me gag when I noticed some on her teeth.

I hated Donna already.

"So the set comes with the cups as well?" Pablo questioned with enthusiasm causing me to cross my arms at his dorky ways.

"No need to get all hot and bothered for cups, Pablo. We can easily find the same ones in the dollar store across the street or maybe even better ones." I stated and received another hateful glare from wrinkly Donna.

Pablo nervously chuckled and gave me a warning look before pushing me away from the conversation.

I pushed his hand away and got what he was trying to tell me. I didn't want to be in their conversation anyways.

I walked across the store and stared at some fancy looking eggs. They were in a row and each had different designs on them while some had small diamonds.

That was exactly the type of gift I wanted...a freaking egg.

"Can I help you with something, sir?"

I turned around and was met with a Donna look alike. The woman had a different shade of lipstick but wore her hair the same as hers.

Ugh..just what I needed.

"No." I simply told the woman and faced the funny looking eggs again.

"Are you sure?" the woman persisted and made me rub my temples in irritation.

I was seriously going to kill Pablo for bringing me here.

I walked away from the annoying woman and left the store completely. I needed some fresh air and definitely needed to be around youth again.

Luckily an arcade was next to the antique store so I decided to spend my time there while Pablo shops like the pretty princess he is.

I changed a five dollar bill into quarters and started to play a game that involved holding a gun. My player was in the army and hunting down the enemies but I shot down whoever crossed my path.

"C'mon...C'mon..." I whispered to myself when I couldn't find anybody to kill.

Finally the enemy came running towards me with a knife but I shot him right in the head before he could get any closer.

"Take that you piece of shi-" I started to say proudly but stopped when I realized I was surrounded by children playing their own indvidual games.

Once I got bored I looked around for a better game to play. The arcade in general was small but had a lot game stations so it wasn't so bad.

Better than being with wrinkly Donna and her followers.

"Hey, do you have a quarter?"

I glanced down at the small child in front of me and knew the brown eyed boy couldn't be more than six years-old. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed his hand palm up ready for a coin.

"Go ask your mom for a quarter." I replied and passed by him.

"I don't have a mom.." I heard the kid sadly whisper.

I groaned and turned back around. "Neither do I and you don't see me telling the whole world. Don't tell people your weaknesses kid or they'll crush you like a fly. Here." I said handing him four quarters.

He smiled brightly and I hated the way he looked at me with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

"Thanks! and I won't I promise!" he squealed in delight and ran off to some mario game.

I ran my fingers through my hair and walked towards an empty game station that had a cool looking rifle attached to it.

As I was about to insert the two quarters in I felt somebody shove me. I turned around and saw some nerdy kid with thick glasses.

"I-I'm so s-sorry!" he quickly apologized like I was going to punch him if he didn't.

I fixed my jacket and shrugged. "It's fine, bro. Just watch where you're going next time." I replied.

"U-Uh can I know what your name is?" he nervously questioned causing me to notice a blush on his cheeks.

"I'm not gay." I firmly replied and turned around to continue with my game.

I heard the nerdy kid leave soon after and felt no guilt for being so blunt. I wasn't gay.

The stupid brat was the only one I became a little fairy for but that was about it.

I couldn't even have sex with Cymphony anymore without thinking about him yesterday. It really pissed me off so instead I left her house and got drunk with Frankie.

I hated what the brat was doing to my head...not a day goes by now that I don't think about him.

"Hey mister can I have another quarter?"

While I was stuck thinking about the brat again I didn't realize my game had started and was now over.

Just great.

I turned around to face the brown eyed boy again and was about to yell at him to leave me alone until I noticed he had a fresh bruise on his cheek.

"What happened to the quarters I just gave you?" I questioned.

The boy shyly bowed his head down and looked at his dirty light up shoes instead. "The big kid took them from me.." he whispered and pointed to some guy that had to be the same age as me.

He was playing on the game the brown eyed boy was on first and I couldn't believe he would hit a child for some quarters.

"Stay here." I told the kid before I approached the jerk myself.

I tapped his shoulder and was not surprised that he was the same height as me. His hair was spiked up with gel and he reeked of cheap cologne.

Once he turned around I almost felt bad for him since his whole face was covered in pimples. No wonder the guy was such a jerk.

"Hey man, what's your name?" I questioned and extended my hand with a smile.

The ugly guy eyed me suspiciously but shook my hand anyways. "It's Denis. What the hell do you want? I'm playing a game." he rudely stated.

"Just curious...how old are you Denis?" I simply asked and leaned against the machine he was playing with and crossed my arms.

"21." he answered.

I nodded and glanced back at the brown eyed boy who was watching me with curiosity and nibbling on the side of his thumb.

"Can I tell you something man to man?" I questioned my dear friend Denis.

He stepped away from his game with an annoyed face and was about to tell me something but my fist beat him to it.

My hard knuckles collided roughly with the side of his jaw causing him to fall on the ground. He whined in pain and made me smile when blood spilled from his mouth.

I kneeled down beside him and pulled his hair so he would make eye contact with me. "Never hit a child you pimply jerk." I spit in his ugly face then let him go.

I stood up and walked away from the crying twenty one year old. I was about to leave to see if Pablo was done finding a gift but was stopped by the brown eyed boy.

He tightly hugged my legs and wouldn't let go. "Okay, that's enough." I told him and unwrapped his small arms from me.

"Thank you so much mister! You're my hero! You could of gotten hurt but you didn't care at all and just punched the big kid in the face like in the action movies!" he rambled on with so much excitment he started to jump up and down.

I couldn't hold back a chuckle and ruffled the kid's hair before starting to walk away again.

"Those are the perks of not being able to feel pain..." I told him with a wink and smiled when he gasped in awe.

I waved goodbye and for once was happy with the thing I hated the most about myself...

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

....

I threw the sparkly blue ball against the wall and kept hitting it every time it bounced back towards me.

"Royce, I told you to stop hitting the wall with that damn ball. Go outside if you want to do that!" my father scolded outside my door.

"Okay!" I yelled back and kept hitting the ball against the pale wall without a care.

The door then swinged open and in rushed my dad with an angry face. He tried to take the small ball from my hand but I kept moving it away from his reach.

It was actually entertaining.

"Royce I swear I'm going to ground you if you don't give me the damn ball!" he yelled causing me to chuckle.

I threw the ball outside my door and made a fake frown. "Aww you scared it away." I teased.

My dad narrowed his eyes at me and took a deep breath. "You're lucky tomorrow I'm getting married so I'm in a good mood today. Now come down for lunch." he replied.

"Oh, I'm not staying for lunch. I'm going to a friend's house." I lied and started to fix my hair.

"No you're not. Angela made your favorite meal so you're staying." he firmly replied.

I made my way out the door and felt him following me downstairs. "Nobody asked her to cook my 'favorite' meal." I protested.

"I said you're staying and that's final!" my dad yelled causing me to stop in my tracks.

Pablo was in the kitchen helping Angela set the plates on the table while the brat sat silently beside them.

They stared at us with concern and part of me just wanted to leave through the front door that was right across from me.

I heavily sighed and decided to just stay. I guess I could go a day without drinking.

I took off my jacket and placed it on the couch before making my way to the kitchen and sitting beside the brat.

He gave me a weak smile as my dad looked happy with my actions. Angela placed a plate of chicken Alfredo in front of me and did the same to the rest.

I looked at the food and didn't know how to feel about it. Everybody was eating in delight as I continued to stare at the plate in front of me.

I never liked eating at the table and it felt very uncomfortable to do so. I wanted to just grab my plate and head to my room but I stayed in my place.

Just then I felt a hand on my thigh. I glanced over at the brat and knew it was his. The pressure and heat radiating off his simple gesture gave me some sort of reassurance I needed to pick up my fork and start eating.

I slipped my hand above the brat's and gave it a gentle squeeze before continuing to eat my favorite meal...