Rarl: Just Think Positive

1.8 ❁ Suck It Up, Buttercup

Ron pressed a blue, ice bag against the left side of his mouth, soothing the pain that his fathers fists had created after a heated argument about him having friends over. At the end he could talk him around but it had its price...

"Mr. Baker wants to give each student in his class half an apple to eat for a snack. There are twelve students in his class." Mikey read aloud from a thick math book, face so close to the page that he could almost muzzle it "How many apples does he need to bring to school for snack time?" He stared at the page for a while, frowning before he slammed his hand flat on the table "What the hell, how should I know?!"

"Maybe if you count?" Ron suggested sarcastically, leaning back slowly agains his hot-pink beanbag, his hand with the ice-bag not leaving his face.

Enid lay spread out on Ron's bed, chewing her gum loudly and obnoxiously but no one of the boys dared to raise a word against it, yet obeyed her when she told them to stop man-spreading. "How 'bout you use your brain for once, Idiot? Oh yeah it's cus yours has shrunken after thinking about Lydia all day, every day" she stuck her tongue inside the gum and blew a pink bubble.

"Hey! I'm trying okay?! But all my brain comes up with is thinking why Mr. Baker only brings half an apple each, i mean-" he drummed the end of his pencil against his lips, thinking "-I mean, it's an apple a day keeps the doc away, aha?"

Ron snorted "Maybe he wants them getting cancer"

A pillow directed from Enid, landed on his head and the blond groaned as he slid down with the ice-bag and his jaw bone started aching again.
"Cancer-jokes suck! screw that right out your mouth, Ronald"

"It's not like anyone's gonna die from cancer anymore in a world like this anyways.." Ron mumbled, sucking his bottom lip in as he moved the ice bag to the right spot again.

A loud bubble pop was her response and Ron shut up instantly.

"How long's your Daddy gonna keep you caged?" Mikey asked absently while peering over his textbook, supporting his forehead with his arm

"Uh, he said two weeks, five days to go, woohoo" Ron said, jerking up one fist in feigned enthusiasm, then he asked a bit quieter "Um, did you ask Carl...?"

Mikey peeked over to him with puffed up cheeks and frowned then he blew out the air of them slowly with a loud sound that earned him a cluck of Enid's tongue "Yeah, he was really... errr, disinterested, to put nicely, told me to fuck off basically"

"What did he say?" Ron pressed.

"Nothing, just gave me a pissed look and acted deaf" Ron's heart sank, his gaze fell downcast with his lashes throwing shadows. The last time he had spoken to Carl was after they separated from their ride on Pestilence. But since then he only saw the brunette walking around Alexandria, but he went nowhere close Ron's window.

"Why you so obsessed with this dude anyways?" Mikey asked, raising both eyebrows and Enid tilted her head to look at the blond as well, her jaw muscles working the gum in her mouth

"I'm not" Ron defended himself, dodging their eyes by looking at his white carped which was sprinkled with dirt of his friends shoes.

Laughs roused from all his friends and the blonds cheeks flushed, and though his jaw still hurt, he put the ice bag on the other side to cover his red cheeks.

"Sure," Mikey stated, but he decided that Ron's love-life wasn't in his interest so he switched the topic to a more aspiring one and thought Ron didn't want to hear it he still thanked him for that "You guys won't believe what Lydia asked me last time, take a guess, do it" his mouth turned into a wide uncloseable gap of a giant, proud grin

Enid propped herself up on her elbows with one of her brown hair streaks almost falling into her mouth that she chewed open with "I honestly don't want to know,"

"Me neither" Ron agreed from down the beanbag but Mikey didn't seem to have heard them "SHE ASKED ME IF I HAD CONDOMS, OMF!!"

Ron shushed him down instantly "Shhhht! My parents can hear you" He hasted a glance at the door

"But I didn't have any!" Mikey continued, lowering his voice.

"Tragic" Enid called, falling back on the blue bed covers.

"What Enid said, also, don't fucking use chat language" Ron said, putting the ice bag on his jaw again as his redness had dissolved from his skin.

And Mikey went on about Lydia till Enid threw her hardened gum at the boy to shut him up. They stayed a bit longer until they decided they needed some fresh air and left Ron sojourning in his room and the boy succumbed to his boredom, as there was nothing more to do than playing video games, reading comics or kill the half-smoken joint that Enid left for him in pity.

Ron sat on his beanbag, thinking about Carl. Then, he moved over to his bed and thought about Carl's lips. He laid on the covers and the printed-on robots mocked him for thinking about the brunette with one eye.

His jaw stopped aching after a long while and so, the ice bag wandered, controlled by his hand over his chest. Cooling down his now aching heart. It didn't do much though.

He looked at the white ceiling and thought about Carl, and as he rolled over to his side to look at his window, he thought some more about Carl. Wishing he would bulgar his way in again. He tortured his mind thinking about the kiss, wondering if it meant something or if it was a mishap from being drunk. Well, they weren't exactly that drunk but maybe two pints of whiskey did it for Carl's untrained body.

The door swung open and Jessie walked in with a pink mug clutched in her hands, the string with the small plastic label swung around as she walked closed her put the mug on the drawer next to his bed, then she settled next to Ron, her blond curls falling over her face as she gave him one of those sympathetic mother-smiles. "How are you feeling, sweetheart? I made you some fruit tea with sugar in it"

Ron groaned his answer and his mother patted the boys shoulder, then rubbed his arm "Hey, sweetheart, you will be running with your friends outside in no time. You just have to endure this little much and then you're free again"

Ron groaned again and Jessie went on "How about, hmm... how about you have a visit to your brothers room and help him draw his picture out? Does that sound good to you?"

"I'm fine, mum." Ron replied, resting his head on his arms.

"Okey sweetheart, I won't force you but I think your brother would be happy to see you" she smiled again and stood up, nodding at the tea "Drink it up, buttercup, and your sun will shine brighter again." She left the room slowly and Ron let the tea untouched, let the steam escape and wailed internally while the beverage cooled.