No Such Thing as Too Young

She sits up high, surrounded by the sun.
One million branches and he loves every one.
Mum and Dad, did you search for me?
I've been up here so long, I'm going crazy.
"Hold on til May" - Pierce the Veil ft. Lindsey Stamey

I was woken up the next morning by the sun shining bright through the dirty window above Vic's bed, coupled with the sound of Vic groaning as he woke up.

"Morning, sunshine," I said in the cheeriest tone I could muster, propping myself up on one arm to look at him. He rolled over to look at me and groaned again.

"Kellin, what are you doing here? And... how did I get here? I don't remember anything," he croaked.

"I'll bet you don't. You had one hell of a night." He ran a hand over his face.

"What did I do?"

"Nothing too embarrassing, don't worry. You might have clogged up Barakat's toilet with the contents of your stomach, though." I laughed as he buried his face in pillows.

"I'm sorry you've had to deal with me in this state. Was I too much trouble?"

"Um, no, of course not." I didn't want to make him feel bad, but I'm a terrible liar.

"What happened?" he said. Of course he could see through me.

"Well... Mike and I kinda had to drag your unconscious body back here from Barakat's house in the dark. It took us an hour."

"Fuck... I'm so sorry, man."

"Hey, it's cool. I'm just glad you're okay. You are, right?"

"Well, I know I'm going to have the worst hangover in the world, but other than that I'm fine. Um... did I, like, say anything weird? Like, I dunno..." What does that mean?

"Nah, man," I replied. "You said some things about being sick of everything and you insulted me a fair bit, but that's it."

"Okay, cool man. Now I'm starving, so let's go get breakfast."

"Sounds good." I stood up and stretched out my aching body. Sleeping on a hard, wooden floor all night definitely wasn't fun.

Vic managed to get himself on his feet, but then he nearly passed out again.

"Whoa, Vic. Are you okay?" I said worriedly, reaching out to steady him.

"Yeah, yeah. Just dizzy, is all. Man, my head fucking kills," he slurred.

"Here, put these on," I said, handing him a pair of sunglasses sitting on his bookshelf. "And I think you need a coffee. How about I make you breakfast in bed?"

"No thanks, I'll be right. And I don't like coffee."

"What!?" I cried. "How can you not like coffee??"

"It's too bitter or something. I just can't stand the stuff," he shrugged. Shaking my head at him, I led him out of his room and down the stairs.

"Morning," we chorused when we found Mike sitting in the kitchen with his own coffee and plate of toast.

"Morning," he croaked back. "Vic, how're you feeling? You were so smashed last night."

"Alright," Vic muttered. I can tell he's getting sick of hearing about last night already.

"Here buddy, you sit down there and tell me where stuff is so I can make us breakfast." Vic mumbled something that might have been a protest, but he sat down anyways when I gently guided him to sit next to Mike.

I have to say, I've been trying not to piss myself laughing at him all morning. I mean, I feel sorry for him, but it's still pretty funny. But I'm afraid, too. It's not good for him to get so smashed like this and Mike said it's a bit of a frequent thing, and I'm worried about what he said last night. I know it could have just been drunken nonsense, but what exactly was he referring to when he said he was sick of everything? Judging by the state of their house and from what I've heard about the careless attitudes of their parents, it's possible that Vic might be struggling with his home life or something. He's really grown on me in the time I've known him and I hope everything's okay. Or maybe I'm just overthinking things.

I managed to scrape up a breakfast of jam toast for both of us, including coffee for me and aspirin for Vic, with Vic telling me where everything is and how to work things in his kitchen. It wasn't as big a disaster as I thought it was, considering how low my skills at following instructions are.

"Feeling better yet?" I ask Vic when we're finished.

"A bit. So, uh, do you want the grand tour of this shithole we call home?" he asks, taking his sunglasses off and gesturing around the room.

"Sure," I laugh.

"Alright, so here's the kitchen, obviously, and the living room's right there. There's the downstairs bathroom and the laundry... Ok come upstairs, but be quiet because my parents are sleeping. There's the upstairs bathroom, my room, Mike's room and my parent's room. And that's pretty much it. It's a piece of shit, I know." It wasn't untrue. The whole house was creaky and wooden and dirty and old, with a funny smell throughout the whole place and furniture that was simple and often broken. It kinda creeped me out, but I didn't tell Vic that.

"Oh, it's not so bad. What about your backyard?"

Vic hesitated when I said that. "Umm... alright, I'll show you. Follow me."

He led me downstairs and through the filthy laundry, where there was a door up the back. There were clothes piled everywhere and it smelt really bad, so it was a huge relief to step out into the backyard where I could breathe some fresh air. And also a big surprise, because compared to the rest of the house, the backyard was gorgeous. The grass was green and not too long, there was a garden that went around the edge of the yard full of colourful flowers and vines that creeped up the fence and the yard was littered with leaves of red, orange and brown, coming from a beautiful maple tree at one end of the yard.

"Wow," I breathed. "It's beautiful out here!"

Vic gave a shy smile. "It's kind of my retreat. I look after the whole garden and plant all the flowers and stuff."

"You've done an amazing job."

"Thanks," he said, his cheeks reddening slightly. "Come over here," he said, heading towards the tree. When he reached it he jumped a bit to reach the lowest branch, swung himself up and started climbing the tree like he'd done it a thousand times. "What are you waiting for?" he called down to me. I tried to follow his example by jumping up to reach the first branch, and managed to swing myself up much less gracefully than he did and begin awkwardly climbing up the tree.

I made it up with a shit tonne more effort than it took Vic, and managed to settle myself down next to him on one of the highest branches in the tree, breathing heavily.

"This is kind of my secret place," Vic said softly, his voice sounding distant all of a sudden. "I go here when my parents are fighting or if I'm feeling alone. When I'm up here, it's just so easy to... forget. All my problems are just left behind on the ground, and I can just sit up here for hours, reading or sometimes just thinking."

"And you chose to show it to me?" I said, feeling kind of humbled.

"Yeah. I think I can trust you. And you're kind of the best friend I have at the moment. Well, the best friend I've had ever, really." I didn't have words for that, so I just took his hand and held it.

We stayed like that in silence for a while, just lost in our own minds. He was right; it was very easy to forget up there. I could barely see anything through the orange leaves, and I was overwhelmed with things like the birds tweeting, the smell and sound of the leaves and just the sense of peace.

"Vic..." I began after a while. "Are... are you okay? Like, are things hard for you at home or something? You mentioned that your parents fight and..." I trailed off awkwardly. I'm not good in emotional or sentimental situations.

"Yeah, I'm okay. My parents aren't too bad, but they just don't... care very much, I guess. They aren't divorced but they fight a lot and they have a tendency to neglect Mike and me a bit. And since I've never really had any friends, besides Mike, I just get lonely sometimes. And even though Mike and I get along we do still fight and he spends most of his time out with friends, partying and smoking weed and whatever it is he does. I guess that's his way of coping, and this is mine."

"Well, you have me now," I said firmly, giving his hand a squeeze. "You're not alone anymore, and you're not going to be alone again. I promise you that."

His face lit up at that, and he gave me the most genuine smile I've ever seen from him. And in that moment I felt... something. My stomach clenched up and gave a sort of twang, and my heartbeat sped up a lot. I also became very aware of how my fingers were still entangled with Vic's, and how much I... liked it. But I just ignored it all and smiled back at him.

"Come on," I said after a minute. "I don't know if you've realised, but you smell like shit and desperately need a shower."