For around half an hour, Rick kept throwing questions at me. I managed to dodge most of them, but other's were impossible to ignore.

       "So you eugh designed a lab at eleven?" He pulled his flask out of his lab coat, downing a fair amount before putting it back.

       "Yea. It was all I could do. Without my parents being there, I couldn't convince the principal that I should've graduated that year. I was stuck in that useless hellhole for five more years before he finally noticed." I scratched the back of my neck, a nervous habit of mine. "I barely attended at all. At one point, my parents had tried to put me through Catholic School, but I refused to attend. They had to hire a guard at one point, just to keep me in the classroom." I sighed. "At one point, I had been drawing up design plans for a portal gun, but my teacher called it the Devil's Art and threw it in the shredder. It took me half a year to recover the information. After that, my parents put me back in public school and told them to expect poor absence. Never got in trouble again." I stood up, "I'm gonna get some tea. Want anything?"
       Rick shook his head. It looked like he was trying to understand something. I sat back down, tea in hand.

         "Did urp you ever finish the portal gun?" I looked at the ground, "Not yet. That's why I told you not to touch the garage boxes. I didn't think I could trust you guys not to break anything. When Beth dragged you all over, I had a field day."

       "Wasn't exactly fun for us either. One eugh second we're lazing around, the next we're dragged out the door to help you move in."

       "I tried to tell Beth it wasn't necessary."

       "Maybe you should've tried harder."

       "What?"
       I was genuinely confused. Did he really think I didn't try? "I'll have you know I tried very hard. She cannot be convinced."

       "Yes eugh she can. You just have to be strong minded."

       "Strong minded? Really?" I put my tea on the table, "What is your problem? Yesterday, you were an ass. This morning, and through part of this afternoon, you were helpful. But right now, you're worse than yesterday."

       Rick just shrugged. "Yesterday I thought you were urp strong enough to convince Beth. But you aren't. You're just a liar. That's all you do, you lie. Your parents weren't killed on a mission. Yes, they were never home, and yes they sucked, but they were never killed on a mission. And you do know where your money comes from, you're just too afraid to ask about it. You want to forget your parents eugh because they were never there for you. You didn't adapt quickly because 'they were never there to begin with', you adapted quickly because you made yourself. Deep down, you want your parents to come back. In that picture over there," he pointed to the table at one end of the couch, "you're crying because you knew they were gonna urp walk out as soon as it was taken. You got into inventing because it took the pain away. It was easier to forget your parents and get lost in your projects than it was to remember them. You eugh never dated because you didn't want to continue the cycle. You didn't want what your parents had, but you still took what you got from their death because you wanted that one little part that you could know you had, but could also forget was there."

       I hadn't realized I was crying until he had finished talking. "Get out of my house." I wiped at my face, trying to dry it off. I watched Rick stand and walk to the door. "You know I'm right. I know I'm urp right, because I'm just like you."

       I threw my glass at the door, hearing it shatter and watching the shards and the tea fly everywhere.

       I sat on the couch and put my face in my arms. I refused to move for the rest of the night.