Jessie was standing right besides Riley and his car, as he watched Riley open the trunk and rummage though it. He heard the trunk close behind him, as he turned to see Riley toss him an old jacket.

"Put this on before you freeze to death."

Jessie complied as he zipped up the jacket. "A little dramatic..."

Opening the driver's side of the door, Riley looked at Jessie from over the bonnet. "I think the words you are looking for are 'thank you'."

Jessie eventually mumbled it as they both strapped themselves into their seat. Riley had turned on the ignition as he then drove them both back to their dorm.

The car ride was quiet, with Riley finding some random radio station that was broadcasting this late. The sky was dark and cloudy, and the only light was from the occasional street lamp and Riley's headlights.

"So... getting drunk and smashing an engineer's door. Got to say Jessie, that doesn't sound much like you..."

Jessie refrained from lashing out at Riley, who was laughing at the tragedy that was tonight. "How'd you know he's an engineer?"

"I talked to the guy at the station when I paid for your damages."

"That's... nice of you." Jessie was very surprised to hear that Riley helped bail him out. He was worried about finding the money without his parents knowing about what he did, and Jessie was taken back by Riley's generosity.

"I can be nice too." Riley chuckled.

Jessie looked at Riley and could see the smile on his face in the middle of the night. Riley drove all the way down to the police station to bail him out, and Riley had no obligation to do so since he's been treated like crap from Jessie ever since.

Jessie was questioning the way he had been treating Riley recently. 'Maybe I don't give him enough credit?'

"And I wanted to see it with my own eyes at how golden boy was this close to getting a criminal record, because he was a dumbass that was trying to get laid."

Jessie questioned himself for 5 seconds before he realised that Riley truly was a jerk. Jessie didn't have a comeback for that because it was all true, he felt like a massive idiot for getting into trouble.

Riley stopped looking at the road for 1 second so that he could study Jessie's face. He saw that Jessie was in a depressed mood, as he was a lot more quiet than his usual snarky self.

"Parents fucked you up hard, right?"

Jessie laughed to himself as Riley only hit the tip of the iceberg. "Like I'm going to share my life with you. You'll only judge me, and then use everything I say against me."

"It's because I don't care about you that I won't judge you. Just let it out before you implode again." Riley mocked as he wanted to know more about why Jessie was in such a rebellious phase.

Given that Riley already knew so much about him, Jessie thought that a little extra wouldn't hurt. He really wanted to vent his frustrations out to someone, anyone, including his part time lover and full time enemy.

"I feel like my parents don't care about me as much as my brothers. I try so hard to give back the love that I want from them, but I just end up feeling ignored and neglected."

Jessie sighed with disappointment as he knew it was unhealthy to try and seek their approval so desperately, so much that he was wallowing in his own self-pity whenever it failed.

But he couldn't help it, he was just a young boy who felt like he had drifted away from his parents. And no matter how much he tried, his parents' were never going to treat him the same as his brothers.

Riley honestly never saw the different relationships Jessie's family had. It had been years since he saw Jessie's parents, so he just had to take Jessie's word on it and try to offer some comforting words without having his hand bitten off again.

"If this has been going on for as long as you make it sound like, then I think you should just give up."

Jessie furrowed his brows as he looked at Riley, confused and angry. "What the fuck kind of advice is that?"

"You can continue trying to be the perfect child in their eyes, but you're clearly miserable doing it. You're like a model student in terms of academics, looks, and personality. If that hasn't won them over yet, then fuck them all."

Jessie didn't know how to feel about all of this. Riley was the last person he expected to dish out some of the nicest and most meaningful words to him, and the fact that he didn't laugh or stutter once showed how genuine he was being.

Riley had stopped the car as they arrived outside the dorm. Both of them didn't make any motion to leave the car, as they continued to sit together without anything interrupting them.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk to you earlier." Jessie admitted, "You were right about how I was kind of taking it out on the wrong person."

Riley scratched the back of his head as he chuckled afterwards. "I'm sorry too."

"Can we keep this a secret between us? I don't want anybody knowing about tonight."

Riley pretended to draw a check mark in the middle of the air. "Add that with 'don't tell anyone we've been having sex', as well as 'don't tell anyone how loud you can get in bed'."

"Thanks Riley." Jessie said as he chose to ignore the teasing.

From a distance, both of them could see the sun was starting to rise across the horizon. They could hear the birds begin to chirp as the streetlights began to fade into oblivion.

"The night doesn't have to be over you know..." Jessie then placed his hand suggestively on Riley's knee. "Want to head upstairs together?"

Riley's signature smile came out as he then had to regretfully move Jessie's hand back onto his own lap. "As much as I would love to, we both really need to sleep since we have to get up early tomorrow - or should I say today."

Jessie nodded his head as he was glad at least one of them was responsible tonight. "I'll just send you a picture later of what you're missing then."

"Looking forward for it." Riley laughed.

Once they both made it upstairs together, they went their separate ways as they both turned in for the night - keeping tonight to themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~

The weekend had went by smoothly as all of Jessie's worries seemed to simmer down.

He found out that Riley was telling the truth about paying for his damages. Even though he heard Riley admit it out loud, he was still surprised that he didn't need to crawl back and apologise over the broken door.

Jessie felt that things were starting to look up for him, as he tried to tone down the perfect image he tried to live, and love the life he was currently living.

Riley felt a little spark inside of him after doing a good deed for Jessie. He had promised to keep the vandalism and being arrested thing a secret, and he kept his word when Cameron asked about the accepted call on his phone log that he didn't answer.

Even their hateful-friendship seemed to get better because of it, with less snide remarks and snarky backhanded comments coming from each other.

But it could only last for so long, as a thunderstorm was approaching in high heels.

~~~~~~~~~~

Riley was running late as he was putting things away in his lockers. After getting out his gym gear, he walked down the busy corridor to go and meet his class at the gymnasium. His feet had stopped when he walked past the principal's office, recognising a woman in high heels standing there - a face he hadn't seen in a very long time.

Kathy Summers was stood in front of the desk, pleasantly talking to one of the hall monitors as she laughed at something they said. Riley saw the pearly white teeth from her smile, and her loud laugh filled the room with vibrant energy and positivity.

"I'm just here to see my children, Jessie and Cameron Summers. You couldn't be so sweet and fetch them for me, that would be such a treat." Kathy smiled as she stood tall in her high heels and smart get up. "Thanks again darling."

The hall monitor had turned to Principal Shepard with a questioning look, followed by a approval nod from them as she explained Kathy Summers had close ties with the school.

All the smiles from Kathy cracked when she saw Riley walk in, recognising one of her neighbours' kid. The fracture in her happy image had cracked, and Riley had notice her eyes were cold when they were directed at him.

"I can take you to them if you like?" Riley suggested, "I'm on my way there now."

Kathy immediately shook her head, "This sweetheart was going to take me, I don't want any help from you, Riley..."

Riley was surprised at how cold she was coming off to him. He didn't know the reason she was so distant with him, and Riley didn't know why her attitude changed between the hall monitor, the principal, and himself.

'Like mother like son...'

"That will be brilliant Riley, thank you." Principal Shepard declared as she stood up, and used her hand to gesture Kathy to follow him.

Already on a busy schedule, Kathy picked up her handbag and swung it over her shoulder. She followed Riley towards her children, looking straight ahead as Riley led the way.

"How come you drove all the way down here?" Riley innocently asked.

Kathy remained silent as she ignored Riley. This didn't stop Riley from trying to make small talk, as there was quite a distance until they made it to the gymnasium.

"The weather's so lovely today..."
"How's your husband?"
"You look really nice! Not that you usually don't."

All of it fell short on Kathy's ears, and Riley was lost at why her facade disappeared when he was around her.

"Has Jessie been talking about me to you?" That was the only conclusion Riley came up with. She must have known how much her son hates him, and thus treats him with the same the frosty attitude.

"Don't mention my son's name in your mouth!" Kathy suddenly bursted our loud. "Now hurry up! I've got places to be."

The icy exterior was coming out as Riley flinched away from her. He remained silent until he stood outside the door to the gymnasium, telling her to wait there as she then huffed at Riley with frustration and annoyance.

"Stop wasting my time Riley, and get them already..."

Riley rolled his eyes as he walked inside, glad to be away from her now.

He eventually found the twins on the treadmill and walked up to them. "Your mom's here, and I think she hates me."

Jessie and Cameron turned their heads to see their mom at the door way. Cameron smiled, while Jessie became tense.

"What's she doing here?" Jessie asked nervously.

Riley got onto the treadmill next to them and turned the machine on. "Go out there and find out."

Talking to the teacher, they both excused themselves as Jessie and Cameron left the gymnasium.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cameron, sweetie!" Kathy hugged him as she placed a kiss on his head.

Cameron chuckled as he pushed her away. "Mom, you're embarrassing me..."

Kathy then turned to her other son and nodded at him as if they just passed each other at the hallway. "Jessie."

"Hi mom." Jessie replied back, as his heart dropped at not receiving the same affection as his brother. "Why are you here?"

"Don't talk back to me like that, Jessie." Kathy smiled through gritted teeth. "I need to talk about what you did last week."

Jessie swallowed the nervousness in his throat as he played innocence. "What do you mean?"

Kathy grabbed her son by the arm and looked for an empty classroom where she could talk to him. Cameron followed them as he became nervous for his brother, and uncomfortable at the same time.

Shutting the door behind them, Kathy closed all of the blinds as she addressed her son. "You. Were. Arrested?!"

Cameron felt the urge to laugh out loud at the insanity. "Jessie? Mom, come on..."

Kathy opened up her handbag and fished out several printed out photographs. She displayed the images in front of them, and looked down at Jessie as their eyes roamed them.

"Here's Jessie so drunk he can't even walk straight. Here's Jessie standing outside a building with a brick in his hand. Here's Jessie being arrested by my friend. And here's Jessie leaving the police station several hours after he was arrested!"

Cameron picked up the pictures and studied them closely. "No way!" Cameron laughed, "Jessie, you dark horse!"

Jessie began to panic as he was caught red handed. "Mom, I can exp-"

"Cameron?" Kathy walked up to her other son and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Give us a minute please, sweetie."

Cameron stopped joking around as his laughter stopped. He saw how Jessie looked nervous, and he didn't want to leave his brother alone at the moment. "I want to stay."

"Cameron honey, it wasn't a question..."

Jessie saw his brother look at him, and he nodded because he didn't want Cameron in the room anymore. With a comforting pat on the shoulder, Jessie watched his older brother reluctantly leave them both behind.

Left alone with his mother, Jessie was trying to scramble up with any words that could help. "It's all been sorted! I'm not in trouble with anyone!"

Kathy's eyes had frozen over, as the sound of her heels pacing the room was ringing in Jessie's ear.

"How could you do this to us?! Embarrass our family like that!" Kathy yelled.

Hearing his mom scold at him made Jessie shrink inside, like the time he was 7 years old and was caught sneaking in cookies past his bedtime.

He felt his legs become weak as he sat down, after Kathy pushed him back so that he would be away from her touch.

"I didn't mean to... I was drunk-"

Kathy interrupted Jessie by slamming her hands on the table, which caused Jessie to jump back slightly. "That is no excuse! You should know better than this, Jessie. I'm extremely disappointed in you..."

Jessie felt his eyes begin to glisten as the unbreakable bond a mother was meant to have with her son was clearly non-existent between them. "I'm sorry."

Kathy snickered as she looked Jessie in the eyes. "Why can't you be like your brothers?"

Every time Jessie heard that sentence, he would die more on the inside. It was further proof that he was treated different, that he was always looked down on by his parents, and Jessie didn't know why.

"I'm sorry."

Kathy stepped closer and stroked her son's hair. "I believe you sweetie."

The strokes became harder as Kathy turned up the aggression, practically forcing her hand on Jessie's head. "Just don't do anything like that again, you understand?"

Jessie quickly nodded as he apologised again. He just wanted to get out of his mom's bad books, and have everything go back to normal.

"Okay. Go back to class sweetie, your education is all you have. If you don't even have that, then I'm going to be worried for you Jessie. Do you understand?"

Jessie nodded his head again as he remained silent. He understood that he had to remain the perfect student in her eyes, it was the only thing he had going that was 'passable' in his mother's eyes.

"I only do this because I care, Jessie. You need to make sure you get your degree, and a nice job, and then a nice house and wife." Kathy explained as she mapped out her son's path. "Now hurry along sweetie."

Kathy ignored her son's tears as she adjusted her outfit so that it wasn't creased. With a kiss on the cheek, she left Jessie alone in the room, and missed how he sank down in the chair he was barely holding himself on.

==========