hate is a strong word (bxb)

34

April 20, 6:00 pm.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair," Braxton shouted from outside, standing beside the ladder that he had propped up against the side of the building.

Ben wondered if Braxton were absolutely out of his mind. It was like he was trying to get them caught. He opened the window, took out the screen and prepared to scold Braxton for being so loud. Though, he thought that yelling back at him would just be counterproductive so he just remained quiet as he poked his head out of the window and looked down at Braxton. "Never mind, I take it back," Ben whisper yelled loud enough for Braxton to hear from the bottom of the ladder, "I fucking take it back—there's not a chance in hell that I'm climbing down this thing. Nope. Not happening."

Even with the distance they stood, Braxton could still see the fear written across Ben's face. So, he did what he saw fitting. He began to climb up the ladder, as he thought that the only way to get Ben to come down was to show him that it was perfectly safe.

"What're you doing?" Ben questioned as Braxton got closer to the top.

"I'm going to climb into your room and climb out to show you that you're being a little bitch," Braxton explained as he got to the top of the ladder, finding himself face to face with Benjamin.

"Wow, so romantic," Ben scoffed.

"I know, I really am a gentleman," Braxton gave a friendly yet sarcastic smile as he placed his hand on the side of the house to give himself more stability. He leaned in closer to kiss Ben, who was still poking his head out the window, pulling away as quickly as he leaned in, "Jesus, that was so cool. I feel so cool. I can totally cross that off my bucket list now."

Even though Benjamin tried to seem pissed off by Braxton's actions, the way his lips curved upwards by instinct betrayed him. "You're a dork, Braxton," Ben sighed, "just get in here already."

"People still use the word dork?" Braxton questioned, "and move over, I need some room."

Ben scooted out of the way to give Braxton room as he climbed through the window. It didn't seem like it should've been physically possible, and Ben found himself perplexed. He stood up and turned to Ben, "See? It's easy," Easy for you to say, Ben thought, "Alright, now I'm going to climb out and you're going to stop being a baby," he said, climbing out once again—as if it were nothing.

He climbed halfway down the ladder to give Benjamin some room to climb onto the ladder. Ben's hands shook as he began climbing out of the window, "I think that I'm going to die," Ben stated, "yeah, I'm going to die."

Ben hung one leg out the window as Braxton responded, "Don't be so overdramatic, Benji."

Despite the way that his legs shook as if they were going to give out, Ben was able to pull himself together and secure himself onto the ladder. Though, his success wasn't without a few hundred complaints on the way down. When he finally reached the ground, he never felt more glad to be on the ground. Finally, his legs stopped shaking so much.

"If you're done pissing your pants, let's put the ladder away and then we'll go, alright?"

"For the record, I wasn't pissing my pants."

"Yeah, ok tough guy."

Braxton carried the ladder back into his backyard and then they were on their way over to Scar's.

By the time that they got there, there were at least twenty to thirty people in the house—which may not have sounded like that many, but considering the fact that Scar lived in a house with only one level, that was a hell of a lot of people. The house was fairly packed.