Wish I had someone else to blame

 

"I just wish I belonged, you know." 

Darry heard Nico's words, but he wasn't really listening while he was putting books away. 

"What?" Darry looked back at him and winced. He thought Nico came by to relax with a book in the back of the library, but evidently, he was here for a reason. They were sort of new friends. Well, they were going to be, and then things got a little heavy with Jude, but at least she'd gone back to studying, and they only texted a bit at night. 

"How would you know?" He fretted. "You're so..I dunno," He sighed heavily. "Something, I'm not. You've got friends. Everybody loves you. People who know me hate me in the end."

"Quit being a drama king," Darry gave him a dead stare. "Just remember, you've got a place to stay, you're able to work. Things will get better." Darry tidied up the shelf of nonfiction books and moved on with his cart, leaving Nico behind.

"Do you ever call home?" Darry wanted to know, looking back at Nico.

"For what? They won't answer. They don't have the funds. They don't need me around anymore." It sounded like the story of Nico's life.

"I'm sorry, man, OK." 

It was the best Darry could do. Maybe, Nico was right. He was so alone. "What do you even like?"

"I don't know." He shrugged, being Mr. Invisible in sweat pants and hoodie.

"Don't you, um, play games, build things?" Darry didn't know what Nico wanted to hear.

"I used to mess around with cars," Nico shrugged.

"Good." Darry nodded. He didn't know any mechanics, but there was that neighbor who ran a mechanic place. "Maybe you need to meet Joe, he's a friend of my Dad's. Maybe you could, you know, do some part-time work there."

"God, anything to get away from the Coffee Shop." Nico looked troubled as if he could be trouble.