Burgundy & Krimson

“FUCK!” He groaned out doggedly, “What are you trying to do to me, man?” I laughed at him and the pitiful look he was making, shrugging my shoulders lightly I replied, “Nothing man, just giving you what you asked for.” I’m sure the mischievous glimmer in my eye wasn’t lost on him, I know this because a minute later he muttered I was making this as painfully as possible, I rolled my eyes at that because I wasn’t, Zack was simply put, a pussy. He knew it, I knew it, hell the world knew it, but Zack refused to acknowledge the fact. Which was how he’d landed his arse in this situation in the first place, swearing up and down there was nothing Taylor (his twin brother) could do that he couldn’t.

And unfortunate for him that included getting an extremely painful tattoo, if Zack’s sorrowful face was anything to go by. It was hilarious, I honestly kept thinking I haven’t laughed this hard since that time Taylor and I teamed up to make Zack think he wet the bed and I thought NOTHING in this life or the next could top that but this was cutting it pretty damn close. I snickered some more at the thought of what Zacky would do after he discovered just what I’d etched into his skin, he’d said he didn’t really care what I drew as long as it was interesting…and what I choose was definitely that, I just wasn’t sure Zack would appreciate my artistic sensibilities. No, actually I was pretty sure he wouldn’t – which made me laugh inwardly all the more.

“I swear man this has got to be the best fucking thing I’ve ever drawn, ever.” I could tell without having to look at his face he was rolling his eyes to high heaven, he’d never much cared for my sense of humor – not that anyone really did, besides Taylor but he didn’t count since he was pretty much a given when it involved me. When it came to the two of us it was almost as if he and I where the real twins instead of Zack and him given that we were more alike where else Zack and Taylor couldn’t be more different. In this weird exaggerated way too, sometimes…I’ve wondered if the little shits do it on purpose to state their ‘independence’ from each other. Whatever, it didn’t matter because in the end I’d never mistake either one of them for the other. The three of us had been best friends forever and seeing as our high school days were drawing to a close we all thought it was time for us to step outside of our comfort zones. Zack with his new bad arse tattoo I was currently slaving over and Taylor actually studying for longer than five minutes so maybe he could graduate with more than just decent marks.

I had yet to decide on what I’d be attempting to prove - I was finally growing up, but I wasn’t worried because between the two of them I considered myself the mature one. For I was the one who actually had some idea of what I was planning to do with my life, even if I had to join up with the army to get it done. My parents weren’t exactly known for being overwhelmed by money. Not like the other snotty nosed brats that attended my little prep school. I was a kid on scholarship and I was well aware of my situation thanks to my fellow classmates and teachers alike. It wasn’t too bad though, people usually thought better about messing with me and the twins. Somehow they’d gotten it into their heads that we were dangerous, now I don’t know if that had anything to with the fact that I was middle class or if they’d actually heard about one of our wild adventures....either way, they avoid us. It didn’t bother me or Taylor but Zack as I’d mention before was different from us - he had a good track record with the school, hell the boy hadn’t even missed a day yet hanging around with us was enough to convince everyone he was the same if not more sneaky than me and his brother.

It was a shame really, because I’m sure if it weren’t for the two of us he’d be quite popular but as things were, I’d planned to do all I could to cut him some slack this year - it was after all supposed to be our last year together before we all headed our separate ways for college, well if Taylor made it to college. He’d been going on for a while about how he was going to travel the world before he even thought of college and with all of his daddy’s money, I didn’t think it was too impossible...that was the luxury of being loaded, wasn’t it? I remember my dad telling me something similar back when I was younger, back when things were still simple. Or as simple as things could have been with a workaholic for a father and a distant stranger for a mother but that was in the past now, there was no need for me to remember these things for I’d already decided I’d never walk in my parents footsteps.

I know how that sounds, it’s something everybody says, but I’m not everybody and I always make good on my word. With that thought came the end of Zack’s torture otherwise known as his tattoo being complete, I took a few steps back to admire my work than quickly cleaning the new ink and bandaging it. Stretching my hands above my head I kindly told Zacky-boy he could open his eyes - the worst was over, well if his parents didn’t find out it was over...otherwise I wouldn’t want to be him...man I hoped they didn’t find out or I’d be in deep shit. It was bad enough when they found out about Taylor but me helping to further corrupt the golden boy? It would be like I was asking to get my asre kicked, which by the way I wasn’t so I hurried to say I’d see him later and to take care of his new ink least he get an infection.

Zack wasn’t happy to see me go, he made that clear by whining some more and I did what I did best in those types of situations, “Look, Zack babe I know you love me but, you’re just not.. -”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET OUT!” came Zack’s rude interruption and me being me, I laughed my arse off picking up my stuff as I went mumbling about how that worked every time, he really was too easy to embarrass when you knew all the right buttons to press and I knew them all but I couldn’t just leave like a total jackarse, “You’ll be all right, won’t you mate?” looking over at me with a glare he responded quickly with a yes and that was all the cue I needed to get the hell outta there. I was late as is - as I always was though it’d been bothering me more than usual to make my mother worry. I didn’t know why in particular I’d been feeling guilty but I had and that was all that mattered, so I’d been making more of an effort than usual. What was I turning into? If I kept up with being considerate people might actually start to think I cared and that was the last thing I needed.

Smirking something fierce I hoped on my bike and took all the back alley shortcuts I knew to get me home. It didn’t take me long, not with all the speeding I was doing, so here I was back in the attic I’d made my room, staring at my ceiling with a lit fag in hand. I was replaying the conversation I’d had earlier with Taylor - that kid was always saying something clever at the oddest of times, usually after he’d gotten a good buzz going otherwise he was likely to ignore whoever he was with. I think he pick that up from me - I didn’t talk much outside of the twins, to who did I have to talk to besides them? No one worth mentioning, that was for sure, it didn’t bother me, I had plenty of thoughts that should probably just remain in my mind - like any other teenager, I suppose, yet darker. Everything about me was darker.