Teach Me How To Love

Part 36 ~ Nobody Knows My Heart Like You

I stop and wipe my tear. I can't go to sleep knowing Casey is crying in there. I just can't. I walk back inside the guest bedroom and close the door behind me. Casey doesn't even bother to look at me. I sit down next to him and wrap my arms around him. 

He refuses to hug me back. I'm hugging him from behind, I can't see his facial expression but I'm guessing he's not too unhappy about this hug . . he would've pushed me away already if he didn't like me touching him. 

I give him a kiss on his cheek, still having my warms wrapped around him from behind. "Please stop crying, ok? . . I'm right here . . if there's anything you wanna tell me . . you can go right ahead . . I won't judge you . . I won't yell . . and I won't get mad . . I promise"

"I don't have anything to say, Mike . . . I don't wanna talk"

"That's alright . . you don't have to talk . . I'm not forcing you . . I just want you to know that I'm always here for you . . and I apologize for meddling in your life . . I just care about you . . ok?"

. . . . .

"I suck at school, Michael . . ."

"No, you don't . . I'm sure you don't"

He turns around, I let go of him. He looks at me with teary eyes. "I suck at school, I'm not smart like you are . . I suck at math, I such at English, I suck at pretty much everything at school. I don't even remember the last test I got a better grade than a D . . . I SUCK"

"Casey . . why didn't you come to me? . . why don't you tell me this stuff? . . I wanna help you!"

"You see . . this is where I have a problem . . I don't want you to teach me! . . you're my brother, it's just too freakin' weird, ok?? . . I'm supposed to learn this shit on my own, I'm supposed to be taught by my teachers . . but I can't . . because I'm too dumb!!"

"You are not dumb! . . don't ever say that again . . I will help you out of your funk, ok? . . you will get your grades up, I promise you . . . Casey, please tell me the truth . . . why are you hanging around with that Russian dude? . . you know he's bad news"

"I hang out with him because he's my friend . . you're not going to tell me who's my friend and who's not, right?"

"No . . I'm not telling you who's your friend and who isn't but . . let me just tell you that I have a gut feeling that this dude isn't the right guy to be your friend. . I care about you, alright? I'm not trying to make your life miserable . . I'm your big brother . . I'm here to help you out, ok?"

"Sure . . I know that"

"Good . . now . . get some rest . . see you tomorrow!"

____________________________

I'm sitting at this coffee house in the city, waiting for Nastasia to come. I can't believe I actually agreed to meet her here. Without Zaira. It's just gonna be the two of us. I know I'm playing with fire right now . . and I didn't tell Destiny about this meeting with her, either. I don't know what possessed me to meet up with her here . . but in my heart I felt the need to set things straight with her and try to have a healthy bond with her . . because after all, she's the mother of my daughter. It makes things so much easier if we get along. 

She just walked in and sat down at my table. "Thank you, Michael . . thank you for agreeing to meet me here, it really means a lot to me" I give her a friendly nod. "You're welcome, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good . . thanks . . how are things going for you, Michael?"

"I'm doing great . . Zaira is wonderful . . and . . uh . . my relationship with Destiny is doing wonderful, too"