The Art of Dilapidation (Kellic)

5: Suicidal Skeletons

"You sure you don't want me to get the ladder?" Vic called from the ground.

"Vic, I'm sure. Do you think I would've climbed halfway up this tree if I wasn't?" I said, looking down at him. I was standing on one of the many branches of the dogwood in my backyard. Vic was a good twelve feet below me and was staring up at me worriedly. "Just start climbing!" I said encouragingly, being careful not to be too loud lest my mother or the neighbors hear. "You'll be fine."

"You're mental," he said.

"Well, do you want to stroll in through the front door? My mom won't be leaving for another hour, so just get up here," I said, pulling myself up another branch. Vic, muttering under his breath, started up after me. I swung myself through the open window of my bedroom and grinned in a mildly evil manner, watching him with my head tilted slightly to the side. He made it up surprisingly quickly and I helped him into my room. "I hate you," he said under his breath. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you." That made me laugh a little bit. Climbing the tree wasn't that bad. Had he fallen this supposed hatred of me would be justified, but since he hadn't there was no reason for him to complain.  Heck, I would've given him a little leeway if he'd at least gotten a splinter, but he was completely unscathed. 

"Huh," Vic said once he had gotten over himself and stopped his miniature strop. He looked around my room, arms crossed over his chest. "What?" I asked, suddenly quite self conscious.

"It's not quite what I imagined," he said, surveying the gray walls and dusty black furniture.

"Spend a lot of time imagining my room do you?" I asked, leaning back against my window sill with a mischievous smirk.

"No," Vic said, a hint of pink coloring his cheeks. I laughed lightly at his embarrassment. "Well, are you disappointed?" I asked simply to tease him. "I'm sorry it's not as lavish as you wanted."

"I'm not disappointed. It suits you," he said with a firm nod. "It's simple just like you."

"Oh, so I'm simple now?" That got Vic blushing again and gave me a sense of reward. It was fun to mess with him. He had to learn to choose his words carefully or jerks like me would twist them around and make fun of him. "Not like that!" he said hurriedly. "You're just not...overly...fake and you don't make yourself out to be some king of everything. I just-"

"Jesus, Vic, I was only kidding. You can calm down now," I cut him off. He looked incredibly relieved when I did, his shoulders sagging a little as the tension left them. A cool breeze blew in past me and sent strands of Vic's hair fluttering around his face. I would've been content to watch them fly, but unfortunately some of my loose drawings were also caught on the wind. They sailed into the air, moving out of and around my bedroom. I scrambled to catch the ones that had travelled down the hallway, rushing past Vic, practically pushing him out of the way. I caught the papers as they danced to the ground, terrified that they would go downstairs where my mom might see them.

With a sigh of relief I picked up the last piece and when I returned to my room Vic was looking through the drawings he had retrieved. "These are amazing, Kellin," he said, his eyes widening as they moved over the pages. "Why didn't you tell me you draw?"

"It never came up in conversation," I replied. "I don't exactly introduce myself with the fact. 'Hey, my name's Kellin and I draw stuff sometimes when I get bored'. No." Sarcasm dripped off my voice like honey off a spoon. Vic rolled his eyes, not even looking up to see my over exaggerated hand gestures and fake smile. He leafed through the pages again, his lips slightly parted as he absorbed them. They were just rough sketches and barely even qualified as art. I don't know why he was so impressed.