No Such Thing as Too Young

“They say that love is forever;
Your forever is all that I need.
Please stay as long as you need.”
If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn” – Sleeping with Sirens

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my mum moving around in the kitchen and the delicious smell of pancakes cooking downstairs.

“Oh my god,” said Vic beside me. “You’re finally awake. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for nearly two hours!”

“Vic, it’s only eight-thirty,” I groaned. “And we were up late last night; how could you have woken up two hours ago?”

“It’s Christmas, how can you not be awake? And besides, you should just be grateful that I didn’t wake you up at six-thirty, because believe me, I really wanted to. But, since I woke you up last night, I decided I probably shouldn’t.”

“Good, because you would have regretted waking me up a second time, even if it is Christmas. Trust me.”

“Yeah, whatever. But now you’re awake, and I’m starving, and breakfast smells great! So get up! Let’s go!”

I sighed and let him drag me out of bed with him, leading me downstairs by my arm.

“Morning, boys!” said Mum cheerily. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!” we chorused.

“Are you two hungry for breakfast? I’ve made pancakes!”

“Yeah, we’re starving,” I replied, sitting down at the kitchen bench. Mum piled some pancakes onto three plates and gave a plate each to Vic and I. “Eat up, because after breakfast we can start opening presents!”

Vic and I cheered and started shovelling down pancakes.

“Although,” she said, giving us both a look. “You two have already opened some, haven’t you?”

“We only opened the ones we got for each other,” I said, trying to give her my best puppy eyes.

She gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head. “Well, what did you both get?”

“Vic gave me a guitar,” I grinned. “He’s going to teach me how to play.”

“Oh, wow! How generous of you, Vic! I hope you’re a patient teacher, though, because Kellin sure isn’t a patient student.”

“Hey!” I protested. “That’s not true!”

“It’s true, Kellin. Anyways, what’d you get, Vic?”

“A mixtape that Kellin made himself,” he said, smiling happily.

“It’s not as good as a guitar, though…” I said, hanging my head.

“Nonsense, Kells, I love it!” replied Vic enthusiastically. “It’s an amazing idea, and it means we’ve got a collection of songs ready for you to learn. It’s perfect!”

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you, Kellin!” Mum leaned over to kiss me on the cheek.

“Mum, don’t…” I mumbled. I could feel my face going red. “Can we just open the rest of the presents now?”

“You’ve both got to get dressed first. Oh but Vic, before you run off, I wanted to ask you something. You invited Mike over for Christmas today, right? Do you know if he’s coming?”

“I did invite him, but I don’t know if he’ll show up or not. Don’t count on it.”

My mum sighed. “Well, I’ve got him a present just in case he shows up. I hope he does.”

Vic nodded. “I hope so too. Thank you so much, Lisa.”

“For what?” Mum questioned.

“For letting me stay here for Christmas, and inviting Mike, and being so nice and everything,” said Vic shyly.

“Oh of course, Vic, you don’t have to thank me. I’m very happy to have you stay, and I know Kellin sure is.” I grinned at Vic, nodding my head.

“Alright, go and get dressed!” ordered Mum, clapping her hands. “Then presents!” At that, Vic and I both jumped off our stools and ran upstairs.

“Kellin,” Vic began once we’d reached my room. “I want to thank you, too. You’ve been so patient and kind, letting me stay here, and it really means the world to me.”

“Vic, you know I’d do anything for you,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “And I’ve loved having you stay here, it’s been amazing. I… I’m going to really miss having you here when you go to rehab.”

“I’m going to miss you too,” he whispered.

“Actually, let’s not talk about that today,” I said quickly, silently cursing myself for bringing it up. “It’s Christmas! We’re just going to stay happy and have a great day, okay?”

“Okay,” Vic grinned, nodding his head.

“Alright, let’s get dressed so we can open presents!”

By the end of present-opening time I had some new CDs I’d been wanting, a new iPod, some new t-shirts and some pyjamas. Vic had an iPod too, as well as some t-shirts and pyjamas.

“I still can’t believe your mum gave me an iPod,” Vic was saying as we sat in my bedroom that evening, waiting for dinner. “An iPod! They’re so expensive!” He sitting on my bed and tuning my guitar for me, preparing for my first lesson.

“I’m not surprised. If she was getting me one, she’d definitely get you one too. And I’m pretty sure she loved the earrings you got her. Hey, I can lend you the CDs I got, you can put them on your iPod.”

“And I can put your mixtape on it, too!” he said excitedly. I grinned at him.

“Alright, all done,” he said after a few more minutes. It was amazing how he could just tune it by ear; he didn’t even need a tuner. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking the guitar as he handed it to me before grabbing his own. My mum had driven him over to his house to pick it up last week, since he said he missed it. His parents weren’t home, which was probably a good thing. I often wonder if they miss him at all, or if he misses them. I know his parents never seemed to care for him much, but they were pretty upset when he left. Sometimes I wonder whether Mum did the right thing, taking him away from his parents like that and refusing to let them have a say in whether Vic went to rehab or not. But when I see how happy and comfortable he is here, I know it had to be the right thing. And they haven’t taken any sort of legal action or called the cops, like they threatened to.

“Alright, you ready?” Vic asked. I nodded, shaking the dark thoughts out of my head. “Alright, so before we start learning a real song I’m gonna have to teach you some of the guitar basics. So, starting from the thinnest string, you’ve got E, B, G…”

We continued on like this for ages, learning individual notes and then some basic chords. I felt like I was picking them up pretty quickly and not struggling too much. It felt awesome, since I generally struggle with a lot of things. I could tell I was going to like playing guitar, and I couldn’t wait to start learning some real songs.

“You’re a natural, Kellin!” said Vic after a while.

“Or maybe you’re just a good teacher. You know, you actually would make a great teacher. You’re really good at it.”

“Oh, thanks,” Vic laughed, blushing a little. “I actually wouldn’t mind being a teacher… Like a music teacher at a school, or a guitar tutor or something.”

“I think it suits you,” I smiled.

“Boys!” my Mum called from downstairs just as I said that. “Dinner!”

“Finally! I’m starving!” I exclaimed. “And dinner is the best part of Christmas!”

We ran downstairs to find the kitchen table laden with delicious food. There was baked vegetables, mince pies, Christmas pudding and a big roast turkey with cranberry sauce.

“Wow, this looks amazing!” exclaimed Vic as we all sat down and started piling our plates with food.

A few minutes after we’d started eating, there was a knock on the door. Mum, looking confused, got up to answer it and of course Vic and I followed, out of curiosity. She headed to the front door and swung it open to reveal Mike standing outside in the snow, with his arms wrapped around him.

“Uh… hi.”

“Mike!” said Vic brightly.

“Oh my goodness, Mike, come in out of the cold!” gasped Mum, hurrying him inside. “You’re just in time, we only just sat down to eat. Here, give me your coat.” Mike took off his coat and gave it to her before she bustled him into the kitchen and sat him down at the dining table before going to hang his coat up and get him a plate.

“Mike, I’m so glad you came!” said Vic. “I didn’t think you would.”

“Well, Mum and Dad went out and… I dunno. I was lonely, and you said I could come here, so… here I am.”

Mum came back with a plate for Mike and started piling food onto it for him. “Here, you dig in, it’s nice and hot.”

“Thank you so much,” said Mike as everyone started eating.

“Oh, no trouble,” replied Mum. “There’s more than enough food, so help yourself!”

“That was good, Mum,” I said when we’d all finished.

“Yeah, it was really good,” said Mike.

“Oh, Mike, I just remembered something,” said Mum, getting up and heading into the lounge room, then coming back out with a small, wrapped box. “It’s not much, but I wasn’t sure what to get you.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything,” said Mike, looking shocked.

“It’s no trouble, don’t worry,” said Mum dismissively. “I wanted to get you something. Open it!”

Mike unwrapped the box and opened it to reveal a simple, black wristband made of woven leather.

“Like I said, I didn’t know what to get you, but I’ve noticed the wristbands you wear and so I thought you might like another one,” said Mum, looking a little anxious.

“I do like it! Thank you,” said Mike, immediately putting it on his wrist.

“Oh! That reminds me, I got you something too!” exclaimed Vic, getting up and rushing out to the lounge room before returning with another gift, which Mike opened to reveal an album by some rapper I didn’t know. “I know you’ve been wanting to buy this, so I got it for you.”

“Thanks, bro,” grinned Mike. “This is awesome, I can’t wait to listen to it.”

We all spent a while longer around the dining table, Vic and Mike catching up and Mum asking Mike how things have been at home. He said that things are pretty normal and he’s mostly been spending time at various friends’ places, and after much insisting from my mum, he eventually agreed to stay at our place for the night.

Afterwards we all helped to clean up the kitchen and then set up some extra bedding in the lounge room for Mike, as well as laying some blankets on the couch so Vic and Mike could stay in the same room for the night and spend some time together.

It was weird sleeping in my bed without Vic that night, which only made me dread what it was going to be like when he left for rehab. I’d spoken to my Mum privately before, saying that just staying here might be enough. He’s been much happier and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been taking any drugs, but Mum insisted that he needed professional help. He might be fine now, but just staying here won’t provide any long-term help, like rehab will.

Don’t think about that now, Kellin, I thought to myself. Instead I switched my thoughts to the fact that I’d just had what was probably the best Christmas ever. I got a guitar, and I got to spend the day with my amazing boyfriend who has promised to teach me how to play. I fell asleep feeling very happy, and very satisfied knowing that this was probably Vic’s best Christmas ever too.