Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"So you're the young man my girl stayed the night with, right?" Kalila's dad asked with a stern glint in his eye.

Alex spluttered, almost choking.

Dinner had been going fine so far, Kalila wasn't his girlfriend or anything so he didn't feel awkward. Annalise had been babbling on about high school – she had just begun it and the novelty hadn't worn off yet – and Matthew was talking about how hard he was finding the eight times table when Kalila's dad, Jim, sprung that question on him.

How was he even supposed to answer that? Technically it was true but not in that way, not like how everyone seemed to interpret it.

"Uhm I guess but no–" he began, cheeks tinted red, trying to get the right words out.

Kalila groaned, uncomfortable that Alex was actually witnessing how weird her family really was. She didn't know how he was surviving in between the interrogations from her dad and the flirting by her crazy sister. She was half considering stabbing herself in the eye with her spoon and she was the one used to them!

Jim Woods laughed heartily then, the angry stare in his eyes immediately replaced with amusement. "Sorry kid, I couldn't resist that. Your face was priceless!" He wiped a fake tear away from the corner of his eye in mock dramatics as Alex let out a sigh of relief.

Kalila's mum passed over the bowl of salad to her husband and addressed Alex, she could see awkward he was feeling. "He's just teasing dear, I know my Kalila, and she wouldn't go near a guy that has the potential of being her boyfriend with a ten foot pole! It's a miracle you even got her to fall asleep with you," she said kindly, hoping to calm him down.

That didn't work out so well however, as Annalise screeched when she heard this. Her mouth was open in shock with her fork suspended in mid-air, the food on it forgotten. "You slept with my sister?!"

Their dad cut in, distracting her by asking about homework and her friends in order to have the limelight off his eldest daughter and her friend. Kalila shot him a grateful smile, her face was still buried in her hands in embarrassment at the antics of her family. Although he knew his daughter would never admit it, Jim could see that Kalila was steadily growing attached to the boy beside her who was laughing at something she said. It had been a long time since he had seen her so comfortable around someone she hadn't known for long and anyone who could help her face the memories of her past – like Alex was doing – was in his good books.

He could plainly see the walls she had built up after Natalie's death crumbling down and for that, he was thankful.

"That was so embarrassing!" Kalila grumbled, jumping face down on her bed to hide her red cheeks. If she had known how much her parents would tease her today, she would never have invited Alex to stay for dinner.

'It's like they've never seen a boy before!' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes against the blue duvet of her bed.

Alex snickered and sat down beside her, kicking the white rug absentmindedly with his feet. "It wasn't that bad."

Kalila sat up and raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief.

"Okay, I lied, it was that bad. It was entertaining though," he answered before bursting out laughing. Kalila tried to keep a straight face but it was no use. Before long they were both clutching their sides, forgetting what they were even laughing about in the first place but not being able to stop.

When they had finally calmed down, Kalila sighed and walked over to the canvas to look at their half-finished piece. It was really good so far but she was slightly hesitant to start painting it just in case they ruined it. Alex grabbed a couple of brushes, the palettes and the cup of water before sitting down on the floor, ready to start painting.

They worked slowly and in silence, both aware that this was their best piece yet and wanted to make sure it was perfect. Alex knew how much Kalila needed her art scholarship and so he was careful with every brush stroke, trying to remember all the snippets of advice he had been given by Mr Jamison over the past few years in his art lessons.

"I can't believe we only have a few weeks left to do this," Alex muttered quietly, half to himself. It was the almost the end of December, they only had until after the Christmas holidays to hand it in but there was still so much left to do.

Kalila nodded in agreement, pausing in painting the curves of Emma's hair before replying to him. "What are you doing over Christmas? We can meet up on Boxing Day or the day after that if you're free...?"

Alex grinned, filling in painting the denim of Lacey's jeans as he answered. "Not much, gonna stay with my aunt and uncle on Christmas day but after that I won't be doing anything so Boxing Day is fine."

Kalila had never heard him talk about his family before, she knew his parents had passed away when Alex and Alice were quite young but hadn't heard a word from him about them or anyone else before. She looked at him in surprise, asking the first question she could think of. "Are you excited to see them?"

He answered happily, telling her about his cousins as well as how nice his aunt and uncle were when they took the twins in after his parents death. "The only thing that's annoying is where they live. It's all full of rich, snobby people who look down at you if you wear jeans and don't talk like the Queen. And all the kids go that private school, Pemrose High, and are all stuck up, they're really creepy," he shuddered.

Kalila laughed at his exaggeration before reminding him about her neighbours. "Cameron and Hannah go there too and they're not stuck up!" He grinned sheepishly, muttering a quick 'oh yeah' as they finished off the painting together slowly, smiling at how freely they were able to talk to each other.

'Can't believe we only met two months ago, it feels like a lifetime,' Kalila thought to herself with a smile.